bostonimproper's journal

Where are you and where are you going?
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Chris
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Re: bostonimproper's journal

Post by Chris »

bostonimproper wrote:
Sun Jan 30, 2022 2:41 pm
$5000 Use points and travel hack if we do another big trip this year
Maybe start banking points this year, regardless to near-term travel plans? There are some good signup opportunities ATM, as airlines and hotel chains are trying to stoke post-pandemic travel interest.

bostonimproper
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Re: bostonimproper's journal

Post by bostonimproper »

@Chris Oh, I didn’t know that! I was getting consistently rejected from new rewards cards for a while (too many inquiries from churning in the past), so I was waiting until they fell off my report before starting up again. Any suggestions on best up-to-date resources on good cards? I used to rely on Doctor of Credit and Nerdwallet but not sure if there are better resources nowadays.

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Chris
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Re: bostonimproper's journal

Post by Chris »

I follow DoC and The Points Guy to keep up-to-date, but I'm not crazy with it. I try to do 2-3 cards per year, staying under the 5/24 limit, and keep a spreadsheet of historically-best offers, so I don't burn a spot with an average offer.

I think IHG had an offer out recently for 150k, $50 statement credit, and no AF on $3k spend, which is high. Air Canada just launched a card with Chase recently, so that's a 100k offer. Of course the attractiveness of offers also depends on how you like to juggle your points accounts.

bostonimproper
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Re: bostonimproper's journal

Post by bostonimproper »

@Chris Thanks!

bostonimproper
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Re: bostonimproper's journal

Post by bostonimproper »

I am back to having a lot of work anxiety. Sigh.

I’ve decided to enroll in a UX design course. I enjoy wire-framing and doing customer interviews, so maybe if I feel like I need to eject out of product because of the pile of stuff I don’t like, that might be an option to transition out. At least it’ll be something new to distract myself with for a while.

bostonimproper
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Re: bostonimproper's journal

Post by bostonimproper »

Finally sold off my remaining ARKF and ARKG. Let it serve as a $30K reminder that I should just DCA into passive index funds from now on.

MBBboy
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Re: bostonimproper's journal

Post by MBBboy »

That definitely smarts. What made you go into those funds in the first place? It's possible to tilt toward the thesis without making such a concentrated bet.

Or just go passive indexes and play the probabilities!

bostonimproper
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Re: bostonimproper's journal

Post by bostonimproper »

@MBBboy In concept I think fintech and genomics are going to be areas where we see a lot of innovation/adoption over the next 10 years. And, for what it’s worth, I still believe that. Losing my investment is not the worse thing in the world, and I’d’ve been willing to stick it out if I thought it was a problem of just growth stocks getting pummeled and the pendulum swinging back a few years down the line.

The problem is that I don’t have faith that the management team knows what they’re doing. Got sucked in by the marketing/hype, but looking at their ARKW picks (basically their generic “tech” ETF) I think they are… not in alignment of where I’d stick my capital, to be sure. And if I don’t trust how they pick ARKW, why would I think they do any better in ARKF or ARKG? Particularly ARKF, they clearly don’t know what’s going on with international fintech development, which is where the interesting stuff is happening.

The other issue I have is that for ARKF, I think longterm fintech growth is likely to come from “up and comers”, so to speak. But by the time stocks are coming into the public markets, they are already over-valued based on priced-in growth. See, e.g., the spate of SPACs which have since declined tremendously in 2021. So a lot of value capture happening between private funding rounds. I think while money is still sloshing around, this will continue to be the new normal and I don’t have much interest myself in helping Softbank liquidate out of their dumber investments. Plus ARK doesn’t invest in any crypto tokens directly, so things that would be in, say, the DeFi Pulse Index isn’t in their holdings. (I don’t have a similarly long rant about ARKG because I don’t know the genomics space.)

In practice I could find another genomics or fintech ETF or do stock picking on my own, etc. But I’d rather just stick it all in passive very-broad index funds and just not think about it anymore. Which I think complements my concentrated bet in crypto well enough.

MBBboy
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Re: bostonimproper's journal

Post by MBBboy »

Got it, thanks for sharing! FWIW, I've had a thesis for 5-6 years now public markets will slowly degrade over time as the private money game gets stronger. Companies are staying private for longer, and as you mentioned the best money is made BEFORE the public "exit". The number of publicly traded companies has been dropping over time (variety of reasons, including consolidation).

The regulatory state (SEC etc) has gotten increasingly burdensome, and there's a ton of capital available in the system for a variety of reasons - so why WOULD a company want to go public? It's pain for little reward, and they don't need public markets to fund their companies anymore. And that's without considering all the random ETA: Political / ESG noise and twitter mobs that might pop up. I don't blame companies for opting out.

Learning to navigate options only available to accredited investors might become more important. Alternatively, there are companies coming up that are attempting to "index" some of the private stock. Places like Vanguard are also creating options for clients to get into the private game more easily.

And if you aren't willing to just take the word of this guy on the internet, see the SEC's recent actions to try and force private companies into their regulatory / disclosure realm. They've also realized companies are just staying away, so they are looking for ways to hook them. I'd prefer they just address the reasons companies aren't interested anymore, but alas.

bostonimproper
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Re: bostonimproper's journal

Post by bostonimproper »

Me: Can you promise me everything will be okay?
Husband: No, I don’t know that. Why? What are you stressed about?
Me: Work.
Husband: I can promise you the stakes are very low and you are probably doing mediocre enough to skate by.
Me: ……

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Chris
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Re: bostonimproper's journal

Post by Chris »

Ha, right on! Honesty FTW. You know if he replied, "Yes, everything will be okay", you'd be questioning if he was just trying to comfort you. Much better this way.

MBBboy
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Re: bostonimproper's journal

Post by MBBboy »

That's hilarious

bostonimproper
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Post by bostonimproper »

Also the YouTube algorithm served me this today. I feel attacked.

zbigi
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Re: bostonimproper's journal

Post by zbigi »

bostonimproper wrote:
Fri Mar 04, 2022 10:00 pm
Also the YouTube algorithm served me this today. I feel attacked.
This guy is gold, I've been a fan for some time now.

bostonimproper
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Re: bostonimproper's journal

Post by bostonimproper »

Thinking through if there’s anything we should stock up on before inflation gets worse due to wartime and supply chains. Other than filling up on our bulk dried items (5 gallon bucket style) and rotating our stored water in case we have issues with utilities, I can’t really think of anything. Open to ideas if there are tools/non-consumables that might be useful too.

Also considering getting solar battery array. We have panels already and after taking a look it seems that our state has a lot of incentives such that it’d be basically free with a 10 year payback period (assuming they don’t kick the bucket before then). Would require us allowing the grid to access the battery and drain during the summers when there are emergencies though.

bostonimproper
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Re: bostonimproper's journal

Post by bostonimproper »

Happy little people and things

One, spring weather is here. My seasonal affective disorder has lifted quite a bit as the days have gotten longer. And now it’s nice enough to just amble about aimlessly outside.

Two, I’ve been spending more time helping babysit my BFF’s newborn. He’s a cute little bean and I adore him. I know it’s mostly rose-tinted glasses because I am in no way sleep deprived and I can hand him back to his mom and dad after I’m done getting my baby time, but for now even the most mundane things just make me feel so happy and present. Like seeing him fall asleep halfway through a bottle or even his confused crying and wriggles when changing his diaper (c’mon you silly potato, you want this too!). Being around him makes me excited to meet our own kids one day.

Three, one of the other folks on my team recently announced they were leaving, which means I get to take their job (which is more aligned with what I want to be doing) and set aside my current role (which I have never really been all that interested in). I think this is the first time in my career that a manager has actually made a promise to me and followed through on it.

Four, the daily exercise is paying dividends. I kinda wish someone had told me to start weightlifting years ago. Feeling strong, mood is pretty good, and can very comfortably fit in all my pre-pandemic clothes again.

Five, my brother just got an exciting new job. He called me asking if he should take it; he often asks me for career advice, and I feel happy that I get to fill the big sister / mentor role in his life.

Six, my husband —who is between jobs— has recently started doing all the cooking, where previously we were doing half and half. My job is to make the meal plan and grocery lists, which means I basically get to pick all my faves and cravings. :mrgreen:

Just taking a moment to appreciate how good life is right now.

mooretrees
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Post by mooretrees »

What a great post! Happy that you're having a good Spring.

bostonimproper
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Re: bostonimproper's journal

Post by bostonimproper »

Dealing with madmen

One of the things I’ve tried to do in my life is to buffer myself as much as possible from irrational, belligerent people.

Growing up, my mom would yell at us— not because we did anything wrong, but to exorcise anger that had been bubbling up inside her. It wasn’t how she was always, but it came up often. As an example, one day she came home from work in a huff and yelled at me for about 20 minutes for having a 99% grade overall in my algebra class instead of 100%. “Why aren’t you checking your assignments? Stop being lazy! You think you’re soooo smart. Why are you crying? Stop being so sensitive.” Another time, I came home red-eyed because I had to get up at 5 AM to catch the bus to school each morning and never got enough sleep; my mom asked me if I was taking weed, and told me if I ever took drugs that she’d turn me into the police and they’d send me to prison. It was weird and irrational, and even as an adult I don’t entirely understand why she would say the things she did.

I picked up some behaviors whenever I felt “trapped by a madman”: agree with what they say, nod along, avoid direct eye contact, sometimes look off into the distance pretending you can’t hear them. If you can just endure it for long enough they’ll run out of steam. If you argue it’ll last longer and it could escalate, and then you’ll be really sorry.

Since I left home for college, I’ve been able to sequester myself in a bubble where everyone I deal with on a day to day basis— friends, coworkers, the checkout person at the grocery store— are just generally nice and eminently reasonable people. We are capable of communicating and not being assholes to each other for no reason. If my husband and I get in a fight, we can apologize and figure out what went wrong, and over the course of our relationship have gotten pretty good at being open and communicative with each other and working as a team. I am very privileged.

But, sometimes, the bubble bursts. Sometimes you have to sit on a prospective customer call and listen politely as they call you “a fucking con artist and they hate dealing with people like you” because you won’t cut your rate in half. Sometimes you’re stuck in the window seat on the bus, next to a drunk guy telling you “chink suck my dick or go back to your country.” Sometimes you check your phone and find a barrage of angry texts threatening to call the police because you didn’t pay the rest of the rug delivery guy’s invoice until an hour after they left, because you were moving furniture around and your phone was on silent.

And in those moments I just feel so small. Physically I am small. But also I feel so powerless. And angry that the best thing that I can do is just do my best to de-escalate, remove myself from the situation, and make sure I never see this person again. A part of me wants comeuppance for those jerks.

Today I had one of those experiences. It was jarring and I cried the rest of the morning. It was also dumb, because why am I letting this aggressive jerk, who I’ll never see again and has no power over me, live rent free in my head and make me feel bad on what is otherwise a beautiful sunny day.

Anyways, that is all to say: the world is big and full of kind, generous, easy-to-talk-to people. And my life is generally great. But if there was a way I could 100% of the time be able to avoid the madmen, I’d be willing to delay my FI date another two years just for that.

chenda
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Re: bostonimproper's journal

Post by chenda »

bostonimproper wrote:
Sat Apr 02, 2022 2:50 pm
Sometimes you’re stuck in the window seat on the bus, next to a drunk guy telling you... "
Does this happen a lot? Have you reported it to the police?

(personal ramblings redacted)
Last edited by chenda on Sat Apr 02, 2022 4:29 pm, edited 1 time in total.

bostonimproper
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Re: bostonimproper's journal

Post by bostonimproper »

chenda wrote:
Sat Apr 02, 2022 3:25 pm
WTF?? Does this happen a lot? Have you reported it to the police?
Doesn’t happen a lot, but does every once and a while. Something akin to it probably once every two years or so? I don’t think reporting to the police would really do much of anything. Kind of chalk it up to living in a city.

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