The Position of Fuck You

[johno]

...rapidly approaching...

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xdfeXqHFmPI[/youtube]

[seeahill]

Well, congrats Johno.

[Mickey O'neil]

That was a good movie and that is great advice. I've got a long way to go. Congrats, johno!

[Alfred_E._Neuman]

Any real self sufficient man is always in a position of fuck you.

[Kenny X]

Any real self sufficient man is always in a position of fuck you.

This is what I'm working on. Cultivating self-discipline is a big part of that. It's not just a persona that you can effect. It takes not only work, but sacrifice, too.

[Alfred_E._Neuman]

They key for us is making sure we live in such a way that we pay all the bills with one of our salaries and put the other salary away. That lets us have a good safety cushion in savings, put a little extra toward the house to pay it off early, and put back so we pay cash for our cars. Also makes it where we're a little insulated from the worst case scenario of one of us losing our job or becoming unable to work.

Beyond that, learning to do as much for yourself as you can so you don't have to hire a professional will save you a ton of cash.

[Kenny X]

They key for us is making sure we live in such a way that we pay all the bills with one of our salaries and put the other salary away. That lets us have a good safety cushion in savings, put a little extra toward the house to pay it off early, and put back so we pay cash for our cars. Also makes it where we're a little insulated from the worst case scenario of one of us losing our job or becoming unable to work.

Beyond that, learning to do as much for yourself as you can so you don't have to hire a professional will save you a ton of cash.

For me, I have had to learn to live with fewer extravagances. Which frankly, I am 100% fine with. You wouldn't believe the amount of money I can piss away, if I don't remain mindful. It really is ridiculous. But I'm learning, and I have a plan, now. And it's paying off in little ways, all the time. And I'm amazed at what I've learned to live with out. Live quite happily without, even.

And yes. I'm all about learning, hands-on, how to do new, useful things. Oil changes, brake changes, all that stuff and household stuff when the time comes, too.

[Mickey O'neil]

Kids are expensive as fuck. I've got three. Being laid off a few years ago really fucked us up and got us into a shitload of debt. Slowly digging our way out.

[Turdacious]

Live quite happily without, even.

This. Surprising how much fits in this category.

[bennyonesix]

I'm glad you and Kenny X are realizing that your "Free Market" is a giant fucking con at best.

[Mickey O'neil]

Live quite happily without, even.

This. Surprising how much fits in this category.

Yep.

[The Crawdaddy]

Seems way appropriate for this thread. I'm still practicing this shit, but some good advice here along with the chuckles.

http://markmanson.net/not-giving-a-fuck#.3kazuh:4FmN

[Sangoma]

Financial security is a myth. Nevertheless, way to go, Johno!

Not giving a fuck is truly the answer to most important things in life. Not to be confused with simply not giving a fuck.

[rjudo]

Both houses paid for, no debts at all. I owe nobody nuthin! Come up with taxes and utilities and thats it.

FUCK YOU

[DikTracy6000]

I like this thread better than that fuckin' depression thread. Fuck alla you.

[Turdacious]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4UXHx_qaLaI[/youtube]

[nafod]

This was the most read article on NYTimes last week

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/07/opini ... .html?_r=0

Why I Defaulted on My Student Loans

...Years later, I found myself confronted with a choice that too many people have had to and will have to face. I could give up what had become my vocation (in my case, being a writer) and take a job that I didn’t want in order to repay the huge debt I had accumulated in college and graduate school. Or I could take what I had been led to believe was both the morally and legally reprehensible step of defaulting on my student loans, which was the only way I could survive without wasting my life in a job that had nothing to do with my particular usefulness to society.

I chose life. That is to say, I defaulted on my student loans.

Forty years after I took out my first student loan, and 30 years after getting my last, the Department of Education is still pursuing the unpaid balance. My mother, who co-signed some of the loans, is dead. The banks that made them have all gone under. I doubt that anyone can even find the promissory notes. The accrued interest, combined with the collection agencies’ opulent fees, is now several times the principal.

The Department of Education makes it hard for you, and ugly. But it is possible to survive the life of default. You might want to follow these steps: Get as many credit cards as you can before your credit is ruined. Find a stable housing situation. Pay your rent on time so that you have a good record in that area when you do have to move. Live with or marry someone with good credit (preferably someone who shares your desperate nihilism).

When the fateful day comes, and your credit looks like a war zone, don’t be afraid. The reported consequences of having no credit are scare talk, to some extent. The reliably predatory nature of American life guarantees that there will always be somebody to help you, from credit card companies charging stratospheric interest rates to subprime loans for houses and cars. Our economic system ensures that so long as you are willing to sink deeper and deeper into debt, you will keep being enthusiastically invited to play the economic game.

[johno]

I chose life. That is to say, I defaulted on my student loans.

^
This guy is a White Collar version of the Baby Daddy who has never seen his kid, or paid a dime of support.

When I talk about the Position of Fuck You, I'm not talking about defaulting on debts or abdicating my responsibilities.

*****
None of this removes responsibility for those who profited in the last debacle, or those who are steering us toward the next one.

[nafod]

I chose life. That is to say, I defaulted on my student loans.

^
This guy is a White Collar version of the Baby Daddy who has never seen his kid, or paid a dime of support.

When I talk about the Position of Fuck You, I'm not talking about defaulting on debts or abdicating my responsibilities.

I certainly get that point.

I'm just thinking he didn't work to the point of being able to say "fuck you", he said it 30 years ago to THE SYSTEM and has been living the life it commits you to live since, not as a luxury but as a necessity. Bridge = burned.

I guess he could pay his loans off, but it seems to be a principle thang to him and his credit would still suck. Besides, I get his real beef, as I worked my way through college when I was a lad. That shit is absolutely, completely, utterly impossible now unless you are running a campus drug and prostitution ring. There's no real reason for education exploding like that, either. We're teaching the same calculus that was taught in 1917. Students nowadays can't even spend a "fuck you" year after graduating.

I've got a brother in law who walked away from a waaayyyyyy under water mortgage in Las Vegas, and now he gets to live that life. No going back. He proves its livable.

[Beer Jew]

Maybe he shouldn't have taken out the mortgage in the first place?

[Turdacious]

It's not a principle thing, he's an entitled dipshit with an Ivy League education.

Years later, I found myself confronted with a choice that too many people have had to and will have to face. I could give up what had become my vocation (in my case, being a writer) and take a job that I didn’t want in order to repay the huge debt I had accumulated in college and graduate school.

[Thud]

I don't know. I own my house and my 15 yo car outright (still money pits) and pay my credit cards off in full monthly, but I'm nowhere close to being able to say FU. Property taxes and utilities still run me $1,500/mo, plus food, gas, business expenses, health insurance, a kid, etc.

Who exactly are we supposed to be saying FU to: Clients...The Gubment...Banks? Jeeze, the only people I'm saying FU to are restaurants, malls, movie theaters, vacations, car makers, my kid's wish list, and sundry other places I can't really afford.

[nafod]

Maybe he shouldn't have taken out the mortgage in the first place?

Probably.

But now he is in the position of being told "fuck you" by anyone who would lend him money, and he's finding out that it has forced him to live in a way that allows him to say "No, fuck you".

Predatory lenders depend on people taking their credit ratings personally. Our DOE has become a predatory lender.

Greece is about to learn about this too.

[johno]

I agree with those who have broadened the thread to take us into Stoicism/Zen. But stoic or not, I feel different now that I'm in a different financial space. ...Actually, now that I realized that I'm in a different financial space.

[johno]

Boom

Pulled the trigger, am now retired. Or, as I prefer to put it, financially independent.