Financial Competence and Wherewithal of Eliters

[RWG]

After an energetic discussion in Discord, and several similar discussions over the years, I question the financial competence and awareness of eliters.

Select all you have currently and discuss financial ideas, plans and situations here.  Also perhaps give advice to the less financially competent among our community.

The poll is open so feel free to abstain from voting if you feel it reveals too much about your personal financial situation.

[deletedprofile.u]

Not sure why people like keeping financial numbers private; as if the numbers in their bank accounts represent them as a person or something goofy.

I have student loans teetering just over $14,000 at the moment, about $300 on a credit card, and one chequing account. Apart from really having only a part-time job during studies, I've worked a full-time minimum wage job for about 7 months. Nothing has really sparked or interjected my thoughts to motivate me to crack open a savings account. I've always figured that I'd sort it out when I had something legitimate going, rather than only having to worry about rent/mobile phone bill/gym membership/food.

On a scale of 1-100, I'd say my financial literacy & responsibility combined is a resounding 20 or so.

[TheFlash]

as if the numbers in their bank accounts represent them as a person

Well I know one guy.....

[RWG]

Alec - serious question, not trolling or trying to offend.

You've been working "full time minimum wage" for 7 months.  Why haven't you tried to find a job that pays more than minimum wage?  You have enough credentials, references and experience to do it.  There are many positions around from receptionists and office work, to stuff more towards the field you want to work, like driving an armored truck, security positions, etc, that you could easily get and pay more than minimum wage.

You are clean cut, orderly, disciplined, follow instructions, punctual... I could go on.  Why are you still working minimum wage?  Genuinely curious.

[Jimbo]

as if the numbers in their bank accounts represent them as a person

Well I know one guy.....

I've been pumping my 401k up for years doing some math as to what it will be when I'm 60 years old. Should hit a million bucks with an 8-10% return on investment and compounding interest. Everything I own is paid off (Bachelors degree, 2 vehicles, trailer, Amber's 1 carat engagement ring) and I have just shy of $35,000 in savings - I am a mega saver on a $35-$40K salary but I live in a place where that's a solid wage; in California, I'd be dead broke.

I live a very minimal but optimal lifestyle. No cable, but I stream everything for free; No gym membership, use the one at work; drive a $3000 pickup truck instead of a $30,000 pickup truck. I do a lot of extra work at my job for side cash (tax free) and work weekends for additional side cash. That side cash goes into a slush fund so when Amber and I go out and spend 50 bucks on dinner, I don't have a heart attack because it dipped into my paycheck.

Lastly, I'll upload the average of my last 6 months of income (post-tax), side cash per month, bank interest, and total bills. I like this stuff.



Phone - Sprint unlimited with 2 gigs of data. I never even touch that data limit. I am grandfathered into this insane deal until I upgrade my phone (never), otherwise it's $75.
Internet - Stuck at $62.99, I am salty at this rate but it's 30 down/10 up.
Utilities - I pay my own heat and electric. Winter sucks, but April/October are dead cheap, sometimes under $50 a month.
"Other" - This is what I classify dumb shit like insect killer, propane, charcoal, personal hygiene, etc.
Rent - This is literally what I pay to live in my trailer on this lot of land. I own the trailer, but rent the grass and garage.
Water - Paid every 3 months, $38.00 on the nose is not made up lol.
Insurance - What I pay per month for my Charger, this will change as I change to my 20 year pickup after January 1st.
Netflix and Costco - Costco is $57 per year (divided by 12), plus Netflix at $10.49 a month.
Vehicle registration - $75 a year for the Charger, $84 a year for the pickup. Add those 2 up, divide by 12, boom.
Food - This has been as low as $160, and as high as $400 when I started this whole shin dig. Gas station food is not cheap, I stopped that quickly.
Gas - 2 vehicles with big V8 engines, paying at a rate of about $2.25 a gallon.

[deletedprofile.u]

Alec - serious question, not trolling or trying to offend.

You've been working "full time minimum wage" for 7 months.  Why haven't you tried to find a job that pays more than minimum wage?  You have enough credentials, references and experience to do it.  There are many positions around from receptionists and office work, to stuff more towards the field you want to work, like driving an armored truck, security positions, etc, that you could easily get and pay more than minimum wage.

You are clean cut, orderly, disciplined, follow instructions, punctual... I could go on.  Why are you still working minimum wage?  Genuinely curious.

No offense taken, like I said I don't mind being open about financial info and I can take constructive criticism and advice when necessary. 

In a nutshell, I started a PT job in Sept 2014, went FT in May 2015, and went back to PT because I started school again in January of this year.
Minimum wage jobs were the only thing I could personally think of looking for because before this particular job, I'd only ever worked one other which was also minimum wage. Funny you should mention the field, because during the winter break now I finally have the time to get things sorted and hunt around, finalising my security license (which was literally the one hurdle I've had the past couple months). Definitely above minimum wage, and getting my foot in the door for the industry I'm getting into. Being in school just makes it a bit more challenging for certain positions that pay well.

I can talk about my plan for the future and aspirations for quite a while. As far as strictly financial know-how; investing, how to save properly and where, etc, I'm pretty noob. Being responsible with what I DO have and utilising it properly is 10/10, though (which is obvious and basic anyway, lol).

EDIT: WTF Jim you only spend $200 average on food every month?!
No wonder you're so skinny. 

[OHMSS]

Alec - serious question, not trolling or trying to offend.

You've been working "full time minimum wage" for 7 months.  Why haven't you tried to find a job that pays more than minimum wage?  You have enough credentials, references and experience to do it.  There are many positions around from receptionists and office work, to stuff more towards the field you want to work, like driving an armored truck, security positions, etc, that you could easily get and pay more than minimum wage.

You are clean cut, orderly, disciplined, follow instructions, punctual... I could go on.  Why are you still working minimum wage?  Genuinely curious.

I've been wondering a similar thing about Icy. He is a sharp and well-organised statistics fanatic, which happens to be the most sought-after profession at the moment. He could have fun with huge data sets while earning 160k. Like Goose, I don't wanna offend but am genuinely curious about the status quo.

[Shadow]

Wow, nice frugality Jimbo. That's impressive. With five kids, ours is at least a couple hundred per month higher

I'm a well-paid electrical engineer (current job for 4 years) and I've been maxing out my employer's retirement savings plan, plus my own Roth IRA for a number of years now. Current projections, at a 8--10% APY, range somewhere around $6M--$10M at age 65. Life insurance, health, my family should be covered if I kick the bucket, which is a great peace of mind to me.

Only debt I ever had was for my home, which we paid off in a year (it's an older home). Current net worth around $360k, age 31.

My main advice would be pretty obvious: live within your means. If that entails buying an older car (I drive a 25-year old vehicle I've owned for 17 years) then do it. If it means saving a little longer so you have cash instead of getting a loan, do it: interest is a killer in the long run. Lastly, never, ever think that just having a bigger paycheck will make all your financial problems go away. I know so many people who are constantly in debt and the first thing they do when they get a raise is celebrate by going into more debt (i.e., new vehicle). It's your attitude and lifestyle more than the amount of money you make.

A couple of practical suggestions:
Create a rainy day fund: having a few months worth of living expenses in a bank account makes you hugely more flexible and secure.
Start saving for retirement early. It was hard, but after doing the calculations you just can't argue against it. I started saving for retirement even when I was only making $500/mo but the earlier you start, the more valuable what you put in becomes. Use compounding interest to your advantage, don't wait until you have more money!

[harambe]

Shadow,

What exactly do you do as an electrical-engineer? I'm genuinely curious.

[Joshua Nash]

Just curious Jimbo what is the rate you're getting on savings?
Or clarify what your Banking interest is. Is that what you make a month in interest or year? Either way I doubt you're filling out a 1099 come tax time.
 

[Icy]

I've been wondering a similar thing about Icy. He is a sharp and well-organised statistics fanatic, which happens to be the most sought-after profession at the moment. He could have fun with huge data sets while earning 160k. Like Goose, I don't wanna offend but am genuinely curious about the status quo.

I majored in Stats+Math in university, but I got incredibly burned out before I finished. I've spent the last couple years learning more about myself, figuring out what I want to be doing exactly, experiencing life, working, etc. In the meantime, I've paid off 100% of my student loans, and currently building savings and money for tuition. I fully intend to finish, possibly pursue grad school, and live a financially successful career, I've just been taking my time to get it done.

[Shadow]

I work in long range radar. We mostly maintain and modify older systems at the moment but part of it entails acquisition of newer systems.

I just got my Professional Engineer (PE) license, which I'm happy about, even though I probably don't currently need it

[007]

183k/Yr  Definitely weak for a Government job, but whatever. 

  I have a friend working on the Pipeline and clears 300K in 6 months.  Savage work as you are away for the whole 6 months, but the pay is insane. 

[RWG]

Congratulations on your election as a Member of Parliament!  I hadn't heard about it.  Which riding's by-election did you win again?

Here are the "government" jobs that pay $180k btw; http://canadaonline.about.com/od/houseofcommons/fl/Salaries-Canadian-MPs.htm

[007]

  Mr.White, it has been with utmost respect, acquiring your attention for such elementary topics.  I'm actually surprised you did not mention something about my friend who nets way more than I.  Funny to think, what would you have said if I was making 300k?(Probably would have linked another obvious indication of what certain jobs pay). Of which sector of research I work in, I cannot say, it is without doubt, that I do not dabble in such pathetic areas of government that deal with politics(Games for low IQ's that get lost in such elementary debates) and only deal with relevant areas of developmental research that actually benefits society.  I understand the World more than you will ever fathom in this lifetime and can grasp things quicker than most individuals, so save the links for people that need pointless information to thrive on. 

It is beyond painful to realize that you use valuable time to post such irrelevant nonsense.  I guess for a man that is looking towards 'IRL' campfire talks about beyond pathetically-downgraded politics and Pokemon GO that grade 5 students can comprehend, this would seem to be the perfect pesona of what it's like to be a true degenerate. 

One more thing, if you truly are an intellectual, then why are you lacking success and a real job in areas where other intellectuals thrive?  Usually, people like me get picked up quickly if showing true potential, I mean, how hard is this to grasp for you and others?   Living under a rock you are. 

[RWG]

bla bla bla do you actually think I read your posts anymore, lmao

[007]

bla bla bla do you actually think I read your posts anymore, lmao

  If you did not read the post, then why would you reply?  You are a transparent book, no context and a true intragenerational. 

  May we all perhaps, see what Mr.White has to offer when it come to"Financial Competence and Wherewithal of Eliters"?

  May we all perhaps, see what Mr.White has to offer when it come to"Financial Competence and Wherewithal of Eliters"?

  May we all perhaps, see what Mr.White has to offer when it come to"Financial Competence and Wherewithal of Eliters"?

  Don't forget to add'Mom's allowance monies' when calculating your 'soft/ hard costs', if you even know what those are, LMFAO.  Get educated Mr.White.  I'm looking forward to these 'campfire talks'. Honeslty, I cannot wait to challenge you in fornt of your Twitch audience and make you look like a complete tool that will be so lost without being able to look at a computer to help you, that you will probably breakdown and cry.

[RWG]

Oh, so you watched my stream for 3 hours last night?  Yeah, you're still just a jealous fanboy that feels like he's been scorned by his favourite Twitch streamer. 

You probably had a little shrine of me with pictures and sweater replicas and quotes from my Twitch stream. And you were probably so keen and had such a boner to build me a house so that you could sneak into my room when I was out and sniff my underwear.  You're embarrassing, and completely obsessed with me.  It'd be sort of endearing, if you were an attractive woman.

I'm calling the police before you get any creepier.

[007]

"Oh, so you watched my stream for 3 hours last night?  Yeah, you're still just a jealous fanboy that feels like he's been scorned by his favourite Twitch streamer. "

Your streams use to be sweet yeah.  Tuned in as you went on this speech about 'IRL" campfire talks and was seeing if you were going to play for the WR on Cradle and you were, nothing more, nothing less.  Not jealous of someone who lives at home with a basic education, no offense, but you claim to be smart and I was wanting to challenge you in a debate sometime.  Then you pull the,"I'm creepy card" because deep down, you are scared of what topics I would bring to the table, just for people to see how uneducated you really are. 


"You probably had a little shrine of me with pictures and sweater replicas and quotes from my Twitch stream. And you were probably so keen and had such a boner to build me a house so that you could sneak into my room when I was out and sniff my underwear.  You're embarrassing, and completely obsessed with me.  It'd be sort of endearing, if you were an attractive woman."

More assumptions with no context?  That is the creepiest assumption made with no evidence, it's almost worth checking your state of mind, Mr.White.

"I'm calling the police before you get any creepier."

Go for it, watch how freedom of speech and lack of evidence(zero evidence) Will get you nowhere, very fast.   

Will this be the 1st time that Goose cannot handle some friendly banter on a troll forum?  Stay tuned.

[deletedprofile.u]

Oh, so you watched my stream for 3 hours last night?  Yeah, you're still just a jealous fanboy that feels like he's been scorned by his favourite Twitch streamer. 

You probably had a little shrine of me with pictures and sweater replicas and quotes from my Twitch stream. And you were probably so keen and had such a boner to build me a house so that you could sneak into my room when I was out and sniff my underwear.  You're embarrassing, and completely obsessed with me.  It'd be sort of endearing, if you were an attractive woman.

I'm calling the police before you get any creepier.

Lost it at "sweater replicas"

DEAD. 

[RWG]

I will debate you on stream for $5000 CAD.  You make $183k, plus have a massive financial portfolio, so this is pennies to you.  I bet you regularly spend $5000-10,000 on nights out and trips; this will surely be as fun as any of those.

Send me $5000 CAD to my paypal and we can have a debate on my stream under any rules of your choosing, and on any subject matter.

[007]

No offense Goose, but no money is needed for a debate, it is not about winning money.  It's about wit and for you, probably not knowing how to reply.  No IEM, no tooth V-Back.  5k on night clubs would be satire!!  Just becuase having some money, does not mean I am just throwing it away.  I, infact donate to animal shelters across BC, how many thousands have you donated to homeless and animal shleters?  I bet zero..  I have not even fully worked a year yet, so settle down kiddo.

Quick question, I say this with respect, are you religious by any means?  No, this is not to attack your beliefs in any way.  It's to separate what I talk about so no feelings can get hurt.

[deletedprofile.u]

Decipher are you SURE you aren't an MP? You troll around like a politician.

Can't even answer a straight and logical question..

[007]

Decipher are you SURE you aren't an MP? You troll around like a politician.

Can't even answer a straight and logical question..

I'm impressed with that evaluation. 

I will debate you on stream for $5000 CAD.  You make $183k, plus have a massive financial portfolio, so this is pennies to you.  I bet you regularly spend $5000-10,000 on nights out and trips; this will surely be as fun as any of those.

Send me $5000 CAD to my paypal and we can have a debate on my stream under any rules of your choosing, and on any subject matter.

On second thought, any man who puts money over wit for terms of achieving a healthy debate when defining a win or loss of topics, can not be a man of true moral and comprehension.   What I would bring to the table is now transparent to me that, you lack any understanding of what I would bring up.  You have lost your chance to prove your pathetic intellect and have bored me beyond belief today.   Goodluck in your future, Mr.White, and may Twitch forever be your succession in life. 

[deletedprofile.u]

Deflection 100%

*makes 183k/year, won't dump $5k to enforce his oversized ego on the world*

top kek

[Rigger in Chief]

I'd be keen to host a debate between rwhitegoose and decipheration. Think of the views man. I volunteer for host

[007]

Deflection 100%

*makes 183k/year, won't dump $5k to enforce his oversized ego on the world*

top kek

Dumping money into a debate is something a highschool student would do.  Maybe you should get 5k saved up and try to debate intellectuals yourself?  See how it goes. 

[007]

I wonder why my question about Religion was dodged? 

[deletedprofile.u]

Stiiiiill can't put his money where his mouth is.

[Spec]

Dumping money into a debate is something a highschool student would do.  Maybe you should get 5k saved up and try to debate intellectuals yourself?  See how it goes. 

What would be the necessary conditions for you to debate something with someone?

[007]

Stiiiiill can't put his money where his mouth is.

Bending over to someone that cries for money in a debate is pathetic.  People that cannot comprehend that having my own choice to not put money out and only have wit on the line, are lost souls that in fact, probably have no money themselves to have fun with these amounts.  This is already a fact though. 

Just for you, Alec, I'm going to wipe my ass with a brown bill when I get home.  Flush it down the toilet while thinking how that could have gone to one of you people on here to get some food or busfare to the library for some education. 

[Shadow]

[Spec]

Just for you, Alec, I'm going to wipe my ass with a brown bill when I get home.  Flush it down the toilet

Can you at least film it and post it here? You don't have to show you wiping yourself, just show the bill stained with your shit and then proceed to flush it.

[007]

Just for you, Alec, I'm going to wipe my ass with a brown bill when I get home.  Flush it down the toilet

Can you at least film it and post it here? You don't have to show you wiping yourself, just show the bill stained with your shit and then proceed to flush it.

I don't dismay you asking for evidence, just never thought you would ask to see my shit to help portray my case.  If this is interesting to you and others, then if enough people want it to happen, say I preach a specific quota. I would have no reason to not do it.   

[Rigger in Chief]

Its funny how every time we ask for evidence of anything related to you you deflect.

[Jimbo]

Man this entire topic just makes me cringe in the worst way, I've worked with plenty of BSers at my work and they're easy to sniff out.

[007]

Man this entire topic just makes me cringe in the worst way, I've worked with plenty of BSers at my work and they're easy to sniff out.

I cringe when moderators cringe at topics where they allow such cringy stuff to be allowed in the first place, I mean, what did you expect? 

I've educated enough low IQs today, I'll come back when the time is needed.  Have fun peasants! 

[Aztec Exemplar]

Send me some nudes (you've 24hrs). Failure to do so and I'll just assume you've a tiny Johnson.

[deletedprofile.u]

Stiiiiill can't put his money where his mouth is.

 going to wipe my ass with a brown bill

Exactly.

[Spec]

Man this entire topic just makes me cringe in the worst way, I've worked with plenty of BSers at my work and they're easy to sniff out.

I cringe when moderators cringe at topics where they allow such cringy stuff to be allowed in the first place, I mean, what did you expect? 

I've educated enough low IQs today, I'll come back when the time is needed.  Have fun peasants! 

Therefore, you approve tyrannical measures just because people "cringe at you"?

[Joshua Nash]

[Joshua Nash]

Just like Decipher wants physical proof of a God before he will believe it I want physical proof Decipher can put his money where his mouth is.

[deletedprofile.u]

Just got a letter from RBC saying my investment summary for 2016 now totals at $500.97.

I'd completely forgot about this thing, I opened it when I was like 18 nearly 7 years ago. I used to have an account with them (I'm primarily with a different bank) that would take $25 out monthly to "put away". I'm not sure if it's mutual funds or not, but was an interesting thing to come home to today.

My plan is to follow David Chilton's advice (author of "The Wealthy Bearder"), and put away 10% of each pay instantly into a savings I can't touch. The savings will be an investment in mutual funds, for the long term. With interest this should be a tasty sum of money by the time I retire later in life.

As for this $500, I'll be ripping it from RBC (hopefully at little or no penalty) and putting it with my usual bank to keep things organised.

......thought I'd bump this topic because I found it to be interesting to start out with until it got hijacked for a while there. Here's to the comeback of relevant and thoughtful discussion. 

[Joshua Nash]

Can you just roll it over to a retirement account to avoid fees/taxes?
Its always nice finding money you forgot about. I handle thousands of dollars every day and it doesn't faze me, but when I find a dollar in my wallet that I forgot about I feel like I won the powerball

[deletedprofile.u]

Can you just roll it over to a retirement account to avoid fees/taxes?
Its always nice finding money you forgot about. I handle thousands of dollars every day and it doesn't faze me, but when I find a dollar in my wallet that I forgot about I feel like I won the powerball

Yeah, my step mum conveniently works at my main bank, so she suggested I just put the money in an RRSP and use that for my 10% fund, rather than investing in mutual funds. It's all still TBD. I'll update what I do here.

[wheatrich]

I've been pumping my 401k up for years doing some math as to what it will be when I'm 60 years old. Should hit a million bucks with an 8-10% return on investment and compounding interest. Everything I own is paid off (Bachelors degree, 2 vehicles, trailer, Amber's 1 carat engagement ring) and I have just shy of $35,000 in savings - I am a mega saver on a $35-$40K salary but I live in a place where that's a solid wage; in California, I'd be dead broke.

It looks very difficult to me on your salary to get to a million that way but as always depends on what you put it in, I'm presuming you just put it in a blanket S&P fund.  (hopefully it's not some high fee bullshit, that is a huge difference in the long run)  The 8-10% spouted off is total bullshit though.

That said, you're in a pretty good spot jimbo; your job won't be automated b/c a robot won't be able to deliver heavy furniture and majority of people don't have even 500 to their names b/c they just blow their whole checks b/c they're morons.

RRSP is canadian, american rules are different and trump's probably gonna change some of them.

007 has a good point, if someone's paying him a lot of money per year, the rest of us not getting more have failed miserably.

[wheatrich]

183k/Yr  a Government job, but whatever. 

That explains everything.  If it's a fed job, I hope it's not one of the many gov't jobs trump wants to eliminate.  At least you know how to spout off total bullshit like corp CEO's.  People like me never get in charge tho since we'd never put up with that.  Catching the confirmation hearings, I'd get so pissed at them it'd be unreal.  Get paid millions but are worth nothing, must be nice.

Shadow nailed the obvious with the live within your means, it's pretty sad most people are so dumb they can't figure that out.  Most here are smart enough to do that or are still in college debt, which is just something you gotta dig your way out of over time.  It's a shame everyone tells you to go, but doesn't tell you the way to do it (major in something that'll get you a job, don't waste your $ on electives (that's what youtube is for, and that's free), europe's significantly cheaper even accounting for flights).

[Shadow]

My plan is to follow David Chilton's advice (author of "The Wealthy Bearder"), and put away 10% of each pay instantly into a savings I can't touch. The savings will be an investment in mutual funds, for the long term. With interest this should be a tasty sum of money by the time I retire later in life.

Good for you. My personal recommendation would be something like a Roth IRA (or whatever equivalent you have): it grows tax free unlike regular investments, meaning you don't get a huge chunk taken away when you withdraw later.

[Scrambler Fanny]

Oh, so you watched my stream for 3 hours last night?  Yeah, you're still just a jealous fanboy that feels like he's been scorned by his favourite Twitch streamer. 

You probably had a little shrine of me with pictures and sweater replicas and quotes from my Twitch stream. And you were probably so keen and had such a boner to build me a house so that you could sneak into my room when I was out and sniff my underwear.  You're embarrassing, and completely obsessed with me.  It'd be sort of endearing, if you were an attractive woman.

I'm calling the police before you get any creepier.

Lost it at "sweater replicas"

DEAD. 

I laughed out loud when I read that too! 🤣