bloodninja420

I hope to hell he's a doctor in a high paying specialty. That's a chunk of change for schooling.

Do I need to "check my privilege" before commenting on this topic? Despite our white skin, most of my immediate ancestors didnt exactly have life served up to them on a silver platter. But I guess their struggle can't be compared to the immense problems faced by a gay born into the wealthiest and most tolerant society in human history... This kid said it very well earlier in the year. http://theprincetontory.com/main/checking-my-privilege-character-as-the-basis-of-privilege/

/Co-sign.

I don't understand what you're getting at, shittygsxr. Are you talking about the tradeoff Redkow faces by making extra principal payments on his student loan versus investing that same amount of money in 401k stocks? If so, you need to compare the investments over the same time horizon. It comes down to a choice of whether he prefers a 7% risk-free rate of return or an expected market-rate of return of 10%. Personally I'd take the 7% all day long. There is no volatility involved. There is significant volatility associated with your 10% averge market return. Historically the standard deviation has been about 20%. Run the simulations for this and you'll see the median return is well less than the average return. Which obviously it has to be...there are no free lunches out there.

I've started noticing this since moving north of Columbus. At first I thought this ground/grooved pavement was some kind of prep for resurfacing. But it appears to be permanent. Is this some kind of anti-icing technique? Its a bummer that one of the few places in my back yard where I could take a curve at speed are ruined. What kind of traction can you really get on this stuff, 25% of a normal surface?

If your loan rates are at 7%, I think you would be hard-pressed to find a better investment in the markets than you would get by paying the loan off. The reason is that you're getting a risk free 7% rate of return by paying down certain liability. The closest thing to a risk free return in the markets is the 30-year t-bond, which yields about 3%. When you start talking about tax effects of a 401k and deductability of your loan interest...that could tip the calculus in favor stocks. But a 7% risk free return is awfully hard to beat.

That's a pretty capable looking package. It seems to me the major downside to that bike was the MSRP, which you've obviously negated.

SOLD. Lock it up.

One promising trade was a 10 year old lawn tractor. And no, he wasn't talking about a Harley.

Craigslist people...wow. I'm about done dealing with these unwashed cretins. Price drop to $2000 if someone can come get this Saturday AM.

2011 Honda CBR250r. 10,600 miles appx. Black color scheme. 2nd owner. Service always kept up to date. Oil changed this spring. Also put new Bridgestone tires on this spring. Appx 1,000 miles on tires. If you pay full asking price I will also throw in an extra chain and front and rear sprocket (all Honda OEM.) Bone Stock. Not a thing wrong with it-- only selling for garage space. Cash only. In Dublin Area. $2400 OR price. Listed at $2700 on CL. Cant get past files size limitations here, so view on Craigslist: http://columbus.craigslist.org/mcy/4572566736.html

^^LOL. I guess I dont understand the thought-process behind buying one of the most tractable and best-handling 2-wheeled machines to ever roll off a production line, then turn around and start neutering features integral to said scalpel-like handling.

I went to a couple before I sold my baby. Very chill crowd that skews older, as opposed to some, ahem, other auto enthusiast groups. Occasionally some pretty cool exotics come out. E.g. DoctaM3 in his Aventador.

^Completely agree regarding the distorting effects of government-subsidized loans. The delinquency rate of student loans is apparently higher than credit cards, and we know what kind of interest rate credit cards are charging... A private market for student loans would look more like payday lending than a mortgage. That would put some pressure on the tuition bubble for sure.

The messed up thing about college, though, is that probably very little of the wage premium is due to any skills people acquire/hone in college. Completing a BA is a signal that a person has some minimum level of intelligence, persistence, and conformity. Those are the traits employers want, and employers f'ing love that this country has devised a system to screen workers on those traits at zero cost to themselves. The millions of people employed by colleges also obviously love the system. And we've already establish that college is a good deal for graduates. Individually almost everyone wins under the college system, but as a society it's a pretty wasteful way of doing things. Arent' there ways to signal intelligency/persistance/conformity without largely wasting 4 years of life and $100,000+?

College is one of my favorite social science issues to pontificate on. There seems to be a lot of popular backlash against college these days, but the wage premium of a BA over high school degree is huge, and larger than it's ever been. From: http://www.census.gov/hhes/socdemo/education/data/cps/historical/tabA-3.xls In 2011 the mean Bachelor's degree holder earned $59,000. The mean high school grad earned $32,000. How much would you be willing to pay today for a 40-year annuity that paid out the $27,000 difference in earnings every year? At a 5% discount rage thats worth like $450,000. Subtract out maybe $100,000 in forgone wages from spending 4 years at college and college is still worth about $350,000. If you can really achieve that wage premium from college (which will be somewhat dependant on your chosen major, and actually finishing) taking on even a large chunk of debt is a smart play.

Most of my waving is directed at neighborhood moms.

On the plus side, Op, 10 years go by very quickly. Wait a minute... maybe that's not a plus...

I just leave a couple suit jackets and dress shoes permanently at work. Shirt and tie under my leather jacket in the morning. I've learned to wear mostly white shirts in the summer because they don't show sweat as easily.Have been wearing riding pants, but realize I should...

Except when they're on the road between one bar to the next. I'll grant you this riding accounts for a very limited amount of time!

Isle of Columbus baby

Interested. Been wanting to do my first track day on a motorbike, and free pass would be the perfect excuse to sell to my wife.

Morgan, Carnegie and Rockefeller generated an immense amount of consumer surplus. The personal wealth they were able to capture was a very very small percentage of their economic output. The gains from their enterprises almost entirely accrued to consumer at the time. Look at the historic prices of steel and oil during the lifetimes of Carnegie and Rockefeller. Those commodities plummeted, driven down by the so-called robber barrens. Why did they work relentless to cut costs? Because they were afraid of competition. The exact thing that isn't allowed to exist when the US government nationalises an industry.

F racking and horizontal drilling have delivered the goods that a succession of the last 10 blowhards in the white house could not.

What has the private sector and their money grubbing ilk ever done for humanity? Central Planning by benevolent bureaucrats is obviously the driving force behind the West's prosperity over the last 200 years. Protect us from the Profiteers and their ill-gotten gains!