In my real life, I work on a contract basis. I write code for a nice hourly rate and that's about it. Since I'm not an employee, I don't have to deal with stuff like reviews or silly employee surveys. I simply do my work and collect a check every week.The downside of this arrangement is that I give up some benefits. If I have to travel for work, I pay for it myself. While … [Read more...] about Thursday Rant: Disasterous Drivers and Airbnb Adventures
Rants
Thursday Rant: Mr. 1500’s Fashion Guide
I was on a flight recently and popped open one of my favorite business magazines. I was a bit taken aback when I opened an article that discussed a watch that costs $176,300. Holy hell, people pay one-hundred and seventy-six freakin' thousand dollars for a watch?!? To put this in perspective, the home we bought in June of 2013 set us back $176,000. Yes, this watch costs $300 … [Read more...] about Thursday Rant: Mr. 1500’s Fashion Guide
Thursday Rant: 1500 Portfolio, Part 3: No Empire Lasts Forever
"No empire lasts forever." -a sign on a co-workers desk"There have been thousands of American car companies. Almost all of them are now gone. When the car came out, instead of investing in a car company, a better idea would have been to short horses." -Warren Buffett at the 2013 shareholders meeting.What do those quotes mean? More on that in a moment. First of all, I … [Read more...] about Thursday Rant: 1500 Portfolio, Part 3: No Empire Lasts Forever
Thursday Rant: Corn cobbin’ it!
Last week in my rant, I wrote about how some people who struggle with money bring on their own problems through ridiculous spending*. There is no shortage of folks who live like that here in the States. However, I recently read about the opposite; people who have gazillions of dollars, but pay loads of money in an effort to live like those who struggle.I love living in … [Read more...] about Thursday Rant: Corn cobbin’ it!
Thursday Rant: Frugalsaurus and the American Money Trap
Have you ever heard of an Indian monkey trap? It's a device with a hole barely large enough for a monkey to stick its hand in. You put a banana in the trap and the monkey reaches in to grab it. The monkey finds out that with its hand wrapped around the food, it can no longer remove it from the trap. The monkey is too stubborn or lacks the intelligence to let go of the food. … [Read more...] about Thursday Rant: Frugalsaurus and the American Money Trap