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Originally Posted by !@#$%!
FUCKIT, i have a bourbon hangover, which isn't nice at all.
i am renter but im not in debt. i prefer to rent because i don't know where i'll be living next year and buying a place ties you up.
having said that, i have access through my wife to some family land and we have a cabin there, which we are slowly building as a getaway place. we actually lived in it for like a year. living in the sticks was a bitch, but we survived. camping is nice, but if your camping trip goes on forever you'll discover some hard facts, such as: nature is fucking boring and horrible, people are more interesting than trees, and cows shit a lot. i'm a city person and i like it that way.
if you wanna be smart with your money read up on personal finance before coming up with a cockamamie land scheme (i love those 2 words paired, "cockamamie" and "scheme." cliché, i know).
if you don't wanna get tangled up in worksheets and money-tracking software and shit like that i suggest reading elizabeth warren's "all your worth" which is a very simple method for increasing your net worth while having fun.
i've studied a lot of personal finance books in the past 2 or 3 years and hers is by far the best system for the general public, unless you're looking into "early retirement extreme" such as this: http://earlyretirementextreme.com/ <- that is a good place to start if you wanna live off the land etc. the reason is cuz he sets you up to quit work in 5 years. but it requires a certain ascetic temperament to do it, which i totally lack.
anyway the first thing you need to do is amass a good emergency fund, 6 or 12 months of living expenses in your bank account, so that if you run out of a job or something you don't end up eating cat food. even with inflation being higher than the savings interest rate, which means your money is shrinking every day, it's best to have savings than not to have them.
to read more about the use and building of emergency funds and living on cash you can read dave ramsey's "total money makeover," which is a very annoying book full of religious propaganda but actually has some great ideas about the horrible suckiness of debt, how to live on cash, and other good shit. so read *with a fat fucking fistful of salt* but read it anyway.
anyway after you have your 1-year emergency fund or whatever the easiest thing to do is open a roth IRA and start putting money in it and if you have more than $5K/yr to invest you can look at another investment vehicle, depending on your job, etc.
"investing" in land speculation is not an easy thing. first of all land isn't liquid, which means it's not easy to cash out in an emergency, like if you get in a motorcycle accident and need your spine replaced. or a less tragic scenario: you wanna start your turf-management business and need capital but it takes 2 years to sell your land and collect your money. second, unless you have knowledge and expertise of real estate trends you might buy some piece of shit toxic dump right under a powerplant chimney. and then who will you sell to? so don't get into a business you don't know. if on the other hand you have expertise raising hogs by all means go at it and turn profit into bacon. but don't be a dolt and get in a business you know nothing about, that's how fuckers end up with nothing. it's better to invest in a business you know, like your own profession.
anyway, you still need a place to stash extra money and grow your net worth. prolly the easiest investment to manage would be an index fund. it's what warren buffett recommends. http://finance.fortune.cnn.com/2012/...edge-fund-bet/ you can maybe look at low-cost vanguard index funds for that.
but anyway start by building up your savings, else all is blah blah blah.
best wishes. now i need some fucking sleep. |
Sorry for the delayed response, Ive been studying for finals and working. Not that its relevant, but I made decent money, and although I doubt I got the A I needed on my chemistry final in order to get a C in the class, I do feel like the final was the easiest test we took all semester.
Now, with respect to your response:
I know enough about economics to know that I really dont know much. I will surely read into the resources you have provided me, and I greatly appreciate the thought and effort you put forth. I look forward to being able to ask you more about these things once ive done my own research. Thanks again.
With that said, my philosophy on investing is pretty simple. Can I touch/see/trade my investment physically? Musical instruments, vehicles, land, precious stones/metals, food, even comic book collections. Being that our money is based upon speculation doesnt sit well with me. The value of artwork fluctuates based upon interpretation and speculation and opinion, money should not (though I would be in complete favor of an art-based currency...pay for you groceries with doodles or jingles, your mortgage with a masterpiece, etc). In short adult life, ive seen nothing but economic turmoil across all levels of income, from the unemployed to multi-million, even billion dollar business owners. I'm not here to debate the politics, only assert my view that the way the US government, from Congress to the Federal Reserve, has handled our economy in the last decade, isnt just shameful, its an abolishment of our Constitution and idea of "free market." All to protect the power of the ultra rich to continue making money and centralizing power. I don't care about what their agenda or goal is, I just know that I dont want to contribute to it, as I know I will not benefit from any of it. The working man, the common class, its a stepping stone in an endless fight for money grabbing and power trip of the elite. I dont want to contribute to corruption. Even if its a bank, making fractions of cents off a month of my interests gained from my savings accounts, I am morally and ethically appalled by what I have seen in the last 10 years.
When I look at the state of things, I see Rome falling.
I'm trying to decide whether to live a low-profile, off-the-grid life in my homeland, or try to find somewhere else where I stand a fighting chance of living a life of peace and freedom.
Hope that makes sense. Im sleep deprived, scatter-brained and overly-caffeinated. And as you may have surmised, I have a lot of strong feelings and impressions, many of which are negative, of the "American Dream"/establishment. And much of these finance books, I feel are merely an illusion. Or a pyramid scheme. They work for some people, but many get in over their heads.
If I had sold everything I own, and emptied my savings, and at the end of the day had enough to buy 5 acres of land somewhere, out right, in cash, I feel like I still have something. I could still find a job, and start rebuilding my finances. I could still hunt and fish and farm. I can still build a fire. It would be rough livin for awhile, but I guess what im saying is, in the event of losing everything, the last thing you want to lose is your land. And your gun