Sorry I guess then I don’t understand the distinction you’re making? It’s not as though stocks are not liquid (or that margin loans are not) or that stocks are all funny money. I suppose if the tax rate was so exorbitant that selling stock would tank the share prices these ultra wealthy folks are holding them I see your point. I don’t think these numbers are that high though.

I agree if you’re saying that the cash-out net worth of these people is lower than their market valuations, but I doubt that it’s so much lower that they are no longer ultra rich. Besides, stocks are still assets to borrow against which is how the game is played at that level, so while the number is “fake” it’s also kinda not.

NBD, I saw this first actually.

True fact. That said, where I live A10s fly out of Grissom AFB still all the time.

Yeah it’s taxed at a much lower rate. Short term capital gains is a real bitch. Long term isn’t so bad unless you’re liquidating a lot… Like enough to buy a house or car or something we are discussing now. Over 450k ish is taxed 20%, but you can get a margin loan for 3 to 12 percent AND it’s tax deductible lol.

Really, if you aren’t rich with stock you are getting F-ed in the A…

Well, if you take the current US “budget” as $4T per year, it’s a bit over $10B per day. So yeah it runs for more than a day.

Of course, this should be treated the same way as if you were to lose your job: you probably cut your expenses so as not to spend all your money in the first 2 weeks. Maybe the US would finally stop paying for tanks the army doesn’t want?

You’re mostly right here, except stocks are an asset you can take a loan against with a margin loan or a line of credit. I suggest if you are doing that it SHOULD count as realized gains because you absolutely can use such a loan to buy a house, a car, a yacht, an island in the South Pacific, or an aircraft carrier.

That definitely looks like a guy who would have ploopy open source headphones.

Doesn’t this defeat the point of taking your shoes off inside? If your concern is tracking in dirt or germs on your shoes, tracking them on your feet is arguably worse unless you’ve got foot wash stations at the doors.

My feet are kept warm by keeping my house at a temperature where I am comfortable.

I think I’d still just go barefoot personally. Socks aren’t bad, but shoes for carpet kinda misses the point of carpet IMO.

I don’t think $7 is a particularly hefty fee. If it’s a grocery store they typically aren’t paying employees to do shop for you, it’s an extra service for an extra charge. I think I pay $10 per order from my local grocery.

Yeah I kinda figured that was the case but I didn’t want to sound like some rich prick that people here in the comments would like to eat lol. As I understand it, you’re just better off taking the interest off your bank accounts vs trying to swing a single rental. Flipping can work but it requires an amount of skill that not everybody has, especially if you have to hire contractors to do the work for you. But yeah if I were to do it, I would probably run straight to a management company.

It seems to me that the average “slightly above average Joe” could afford a second property; my parents are not wealthy (they are semi retired and generally gross less than 20k/year, but own all their stuff outright) but found a house to rent to my brother and I while we were in college and it was a huge boon for everyone involved. My family income is significantly higher, but we don’t have a pool full of money to swim in. From the outside it looks like real estate is an attractive, stable way to grow an investment as opposed to stock market dabbles.

As an aside, and this is all an incredibly “first world” kind of a situation, but I’m not sure how you address the bitterness of some circles (like maybe this thread?) toward the layer of people who got ROI on hard work: I’d also be a proponent of limiting legacy wealth and eating billionaires. I was in college for 15 years at a state school and worked 10 at a university before I made big boy money and got stuff on my own. Not everybody who has some extra money got it by lucky birth or by exploiting the masses and I’ve still got loans to pay, why not own some houses for people like past-me to rent and make a little extra for the effort? I guess it’s easier to see it this way from this side of the problem.

I appreciate a sane viewpoint.

Buy a second house, fix it up, then sell it OR rent it to help cover the debt and maybe generate enough income to retire early. It’s one of not very many ways regular(ish) people can reliably climb the financial ladder or not work until 75.

Nobody needs 40 properties, but I don’t see anything wrong with one or two. I’m not a landlord myself, but I’ve rented and owned and can see the appeal of a second property.

I prefer to do mine on the grill with a few pieces of a louisville slugger Maplewood bat on the coals. Instead of 12 hours though I wrap mine in foil at about 7 hours when it hits the stall.