Old farts of ATOT - how did you buy homes with 8-10%+ mortgage rates?

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PingSpike

Lifer
Feb 25, 2004
21,749
584
126
not sure if serious...

Probably not, but I've heard some people say they know its not free but the only way they can save money for a large purchase is doing this. Basically, the only reason they don't spend it is they don't have it.

I'd make fun of them but that is the only way I can avoid eating large amounts of cookies so I actually share their logic in other aspects of my life.
 

sdifox

No Lifer
Sep 30, 2005
96,950
16,210
126
Probably not, but I've heard some people say they know its not free but the only way they can save money for a large purchase is doing this. Basically, the only reason they don't spend it is they don't have it.

I'd make fun of them but that is the only way I can avoid eating large amounts of cookies so I actually share their logic in other aspects of my life.

normal people setup a savings account with auto transfer right after paycheck deposit.
 
Nov 8, 2012
20,828
4,777
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i quit doing donations when they doubled the standard deductible and i couldn't itemize them anymore

finally made peace with the fact that i am a selfish piece of trash

See my post up above, the CARES act changed this - and now $300 in charitable giving (or donations) can now be taken regardless of itemizing or not (so, on top of the standard deduction).
 

JulesMaximus

No Lifer
Jul 3, 2003
74,534
911
126
I bought my first home in 1997... don't remember what the interest rate was but it had to be around 7% based on historical rates of the time.
 

Leymenaide

Senior member
Feb 16, 2010
750
368
136
First home 13.5 % refinanced as soon as I could and paid down the mortgage as fast as I could. It took 5 years to own it outright. I had a job that I traveled a lot and put my whole check into the mortgage many months. 10 years later I had the cash for a nice place and never looked back. I had no furniture for the first 5 years and no credit card debt. I also payed my way through University with my check book. University of Connecticut. Once more no debt.
 
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Red Squirrel

No Lifer
May 24, 2003
68,458
12,612
126
www.anyf.ca
I have no idea what half of this stuff even means. Itemizing? I sometimes wonder if there's something I could be doing to pay less taxes and I just don't know about it. My tax accountant usually is pretty good at finding all the proper tricks (legal) though. I do a lot of charitable donations, but I don't really do anything fancy with it other than giving receipts to my accountant.
 

KeithP

Diamond Member
Jun 15, 2000
5,661
199
106
Anything that revolves around a computer can be done remotely.

Well, except hardware support. You can't replace a power supply remotely but I get your point.

I am not sure everyone is thinking through the ramifications of more jobs being done remotely. The potential for opening up the job market for employers is huge, even if just limited to the USA.

Your employer would now have access to people qualified to do your job that live in areas of the country with much lower costs of living. When supply increases relative to demand, prices drop. Once employers figure this out, for many jobs, wages will stagnate or wages will drop.

Of course this could all start a wave of people moving away from more expensive areas to less expensive areas. It is going to be interesting to see how all of this plays out in the next 5-10 years although I am not convinced the country won't completely implode in that time frame.

-KeithP
 
Nov 8, 2012
20,828
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Well, except hardware support. You can't replace a power supply remotely but I get your point.

I am not sure everyone is thinking through the ramifications of more jobs being done remotely. The potential for opening up the job market for employers is huge, even if just limited to the USA.

Your employer would now have access to people qualified to do your job that live in areas of the country with much lower costs of living. When supply increases relative to demand, prices drop. Once employers figure this out, for many jobs, wages will stagnate or wages will drop.

Of course this could all start a wave of people moving away from more expensive areas to less expensive areas. It is going to be interesting to see how all of this plays out in the next 5-10 years although I am not convinced the country won't completely implode in that time frame.

-KeithP

I think that will mainly be applicable in places like Silicon Valley area.

The rest of the world and the rest of the industries - my employer included - have already figured this out.

My job is 100% remote, they don't even have an office in my city. Nearest one is a 4+ hour drive.


But yeah... might I suggest folks take up job skills that have very niche skills :p

Knowing things like COBOL still pays 6-figs just because no one teaches it anymore.
 

Red Squirrel

No Lifer
May 24, 2003
68,458
12,612
126
www.anyf.ca
Damn 6 figs for knowing an old language? I wonder if there are remote jobs for that. I'm sure there must be resources out there to learn it.
 
Nov 8, 2012
20,828
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Damn 6 figs for knowing an old language? I wonder if there are remote jobs for that. I'm sure there must be resources out there to learn it.


It's just simple supply and demand on things.


There is a small supply of jobs left for old legacy languages - yet there are plenty of things like banking systems that are still (and likely for the inevitable future) will be based on those systems.

Thus, given the limited supply of jobs - it isn't a skill that is often taught or emphasized in school. I'll be honest, I took COBOL as a BUSINESS class (NOT a CS grad here) before I graduated.

But also since it isn't a skill that is actively taught, that limited the number of people that are qualified for the number of jobs still in existence.... And as old people that know COBOL start to retire.... that means they have to be replaced..... Limited supply = higher pay to meet the demand.



I'll also relate it to my work in tax. I can name 10+ people that I personally know that are CPAs....They also don't know jack fucking shit about taxation. People often associate those 2 topics - but they really don't necessarily correlate.

I guess my point is that I know plenty of general accountants that are paid $60-80k to do accounting work.... But doing work in taxation is a niche within the business sector that people often don't specialize in. Thus the pay is substantially higher.
 

Red Squirrel

No Lifer
May 24, 2003
68,458
12,612
126
www.anyf.ca
It's just simple supply and demand on things.


There is a small supply of jobs left for old legacy languages - yet there are plenty of things like banking systems that are still (and likely for the inevitable future) will be based on those systems.

Thus, given the limited supply of jobs - it isn't a skill that is often taught or emphasized in school. I'll be honest, I took COBOL as a BUSINESS class (NOT a CS grad here) before I graduated.

But also since it isn't a skill that is actively taught, that limited the number of people that are qualified for the number of jobs still in existence.... And as old people that know COBOL start to retire.... that means they have to be replaced..... Limited supply = higher pay to meet the demand.



I'll also relate it to my work in tax. I can name 10+ people that I personally know that are CPAs....They also don't know jack fucking shit about taxation. People often associate those 2 topics - but they really don't necessarily correlate.

I guess my point is that I know plenty of general accountants that are paid $60-80k to do accounting work.... But doing work in taxation is a niche within the business sector that people often don't specialize in. Thus the pay is substantially higher.


Actually reminds me a lot of DMS10, DMS100 etc... we are losing a lot of the highly skilled people in that in my industry. Some people with like 35+ years of experience retiring and there's not much training or resources on that now days. It's also not really something you can learn on your own as there's not much resources on google.

They are always looking at phasing out that equipment though but it seems it just lives on since it's rock solid compared to anything new.
 
Nov 8, 2012
20,828
4,777
146
Actually reminds me a lot of DMS10, DMS100 etc... we are losing a lot of the highly skilled people in that in my industry. Some people with like 35+ years of experience retiring and there's not much training or resources on that now days. It's also not really something you can learn on your own as there's not much resources on google.

They are always looking at phasing out that equipment though but it seems it just lives on since it's rock solid compared to anything new.

Not just that - but as someone that has previously done implementations to replace old systems... the failure rate is something like 50-60%.

Companies are just bad at big projects. They often don't have the right resources or don't accurately hire/contract the correct resources....

And a failure costs a shitload more than simply a delayed go-live.