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I am not a contractor. I have never hired a contractor. [no, hmm, in the 1990s I hired a plumber once, for an apartment building I had, that plumber might have been a General Contractor.] I have never hired a contractor to perform the job of a contractor.
You don't know how lucky you have it owning something you can call your own. I will not know that unless people I love die. Sure I could buy a rental property far away but what's the point? Collecting dividend checks and reinvesting them is not very fulfilling, I make money from index funds but I can't look at it and say "I own that building there".
Yep, I pay taxes, that's why I'm so outraged about stupid boondoggles like the high speed rail
The EZ-form is the EZ way to go through life. It is the government's money anyway, so let them take whatever they want to take. Just focus on the part of your paycheck they leave you with.
Never take control of your income, because you might stop paying income taxes and become a free thinking individual. We can not have any of that nonsense. Use the EZ-form and let them take as they please.
You don't know how lucky you have it owning something you can call your own. I will not know that unless people I love die. Sure I could buy a rental property far away but what's the point? Collecting dividend checks and reinvesting them is not very fulfilling, I make money from index funds but I can't look at it and say "I own that building there".
Hold it right there Perma Bear, you took the easy way out by getting a government job and living at home with mom and dad. You are living a life of mediocrity and will forever. You will not excel with that lifestyle but there are others out there that are doing quite well. Don't blame California because you took the easy path.
I don't know why you are complaining now, just a few weeks ago, you were chest-beating that you were better than everybody. What happened? Dad tell you to find your own place? Mom tell you to clean your room? I think I may have missed a chapter.
It is interesting to read from others here in this thread.
The reason that the USA is such an amazing place is because people can still succeed here. We can achieve great things here in this very blessed land. This is the greatest nation on the planet. Most immigrants succeed here. They assimilate and become part of the American experience. That is the history of this nation since it started. We are a nation of immigrants.
The problem that many seem to have, many of those that have spent their life here, is they want everything handed to them. They want everything that mom and dad have and more. They are not willing to live in a garage or share a room with others. They are not willing to work two full time jobs or three part time jobs, or a full time job and a couple of part time jobs. They are not willing to work with their hands and create something.
Here is what this nation offers: The materials and potential to build a great life with the requirement that you put in the effort. You get the tools, you just have to employ them.
Look at today in history. This is the greatest time in the history to start your own business, and you can do it all online in the comfort of your home. There is more opportunity now than at any time in my lifetime. Technology makes life so much easier to start a business. I know of companies that you can become a part of today and it is all because of the technology that we have.
Sure I could buy a rental property far away but what's the point? Collecting dividend checks and reinvesting them is not very fulfilling, I make money from index funds but I can't look at it and say "I own that building there".
The point is income. As long as it's legal (and is consistent with my personal moral/ethical code), I could care less where my income comes from. I would be totally happy/fulfilled with income from investments and dividends or from rent collected from a building in a different city.
I see a a lot of (more than justified) complaining about how awful millennials have it compared to previous generations, but honestly let's put things in a greater historical perspective. 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s America was an anomaly in human history in terms of low cost of living and high wages.
Those under 35 would still be better off today than throughout most of human history - for 99% of humans in history, they had no choice but to do anything except live a live as a serf/slave/peasant/sharecropper/subsistence farmer. They had no antibiotics, no modern medical care, no steady supply of food and clean water, no education, and no hope of a better life.
Life is harder for young people now than it was decades ago, but it's still possible to have a great life.
My advice: Stop trying to live like boomers did. Unless you're a top 10% income earner, forget the keeping up with the Jonses lifestyle. Forget the expensive housing and car. Look into an alternative lifestyle where your expenses are low. Live with family (honestly, no shame in that, despite what boomers will tell you), rent out a small room for cheap, or even look into living in a trailer or tiny house. Move to Southeast Asia where cost of living is a quarter of what it is in the US, and you can often find a job more easily than in the US. Do this until you can save up enough money to start investing and making your money work for you. The easiest path to wealth and financial independence is investing money, and the easiest way obtain money is to save it while living very cheaply.
Check out Mr. Money Mustache — Early Retirement through Badassity for tips. Loads of people are becoming financially independent in their 30s and 40s without being top 10% income earners by simply being smart financially. Most millennials (and most people) are financial idiots and blow all their paychecks on things they don't need. So quit complaining that life sucks compared to that of boomers - yes it's true, but take that energy and do something about it. Become financially independent, then give your employer who makes you work long hours for low pay the finger.
Personally, I find that millennials may have it even BETTER than boomers for one simple reason: They aren't as seduced by materialism and the myth that consumption leads to happiness. There's more to life than work, consumption, and reproduction, and millennials get it.
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