Author Topic: Overheard at Work  (Read 13253392 times)

I Love Cake

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #200 on: April 03, 2013, 05:05:25 PM »
My husband's boss likes to show off by telling my husband about the things he spends money on. He recently went on a 1 day trip to Miami (we live in Manitoba, Canada) to see a sports event, and apparently the hotel's cheapest drink on the menu is a rum & coke that costs $40.
They work in autobody and my husband had been drooling over a particular car they had in the shop and told his boss that he loved that car. The very next week his boss took my husband on a ride out to a dealership (on company pay) so that his boss could pick up the brand spankin' new car he just bought, and it just happened to be the one my husband had made comments on.
My husband has only worked in this particular autobody shop for 6 months and he's already had to fix the bumper on his boss' son's vehicle 3 times, and of course his boss doesn't pay for the repairs...
His boss made my husband wash his boat... in the dead of winter on company pay...
His boss made my husband look up a phone number to a christian bible camp in colorado that he plans to send his kids to, but he actually didn't need to phone number he just needed an excuse to tell my husband about this rediculously expensive camp.

I could literally go on with stories about this man for days

wow, he sounds like a real gem!

and $40 for a rum and coke??!! ack!! and he brags about it? Tell him I'll sell him a PopTart (with frosting AND sprinkles) for $38-I'll even toast it for him

NumberJohnny5

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #201 on: April 03, 2013, 06:33:32 PM »
...They said that they were walking around town and found a beautiful tapestry for their apartment, but they had to wait a day until their paychecks came through (Friday) to buy it, so they were going to go back tomorrow.

I was more surprised than anything else. Maybe it's a liquidity problem, but if I was one tapestry away from having no money at all, I can't imagine buying a tapestry or even the 7 dollar drinks they were having.

Do have to be careful with assumptions. More than once I've said that we have to wait until Friday to buy more groceries, when we have more grocery money. I wouldn't be surprised if my son told everyone he knows (the things they pick up on and decide to tell the whole world...). It's not that we don't have the money, but rather that's the day our weekly EEBA budget starts. We can have plenty of money in the bank, but if EEBA says we have -$1 for groceries, then we're broke when it comes to grocery money. Though my wife could still pick up something if she desired, cause she hasn't spent all her misc money yet :)

Plus...if they were really living that close to falling off the cliff...why buy the tapestry at all? Surely this trip completely tapped them out, and the rest of their paycheck was already committed to other bills? Or...if they were really that reckless, why not throw it on the ol' charge card (unless we're assuming they were maxed out, and needed the paycheck to pay down the card, thus giving the ability to charge a tapestry)?

Just sayin', it's very easy to judge everyone else and assume they are much worse off than you. In this scenario, I can see it going both ways...so I wouldn't think much of it. Now, if they'd said they had to pawn off their PS3 for the third time this year so they could go buy some illicit drugs...not much room for interpretation on that one; feel free to chide them for not properly budgeting for those recurring costs :)

gooki

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #202 on: April 08, 2013, 01:41:59 AM »
So my co-workers iPhone 4s broke the other day and the discussion came up about how he got one in the first place... Turns out his friends bought it for him when he got his first real job, then they asked for him to pay them back. WTF.

SwordGuy

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #203 on: April 08, 2013, 09:48:56 AM »
So my co-workers iPhone 4s broke the other day and the discussion came up about how he got one in the first place... Turns out his friends bought it for him when he got his first real job, then they asked for him to pay them back. WTF.

Well, that's certainly an inexpensive way to give great presents to other people.  :)

GorgeousGeorge

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #204 on: April 08, 2013, 12:53:38 PM »
So my co-workers iPhone 4s broke the other day and the discussion came up about how he got one in the first place... Turns out his friends bought it for him when he got his first real job, then they asked for him to pay them back. WTF.

Well, that's certainly an inexpensive way to give great presents to other people.  :)

This reminds me of a friend who has awful parents. One year my friend asked for a laptop for Christmas (granted, this is an expensive gift, but her parents are wealthy and do tend to splash money around). Her parents bought her a laptop--in fact, a fancier one than the model she requested. They then told her she would have to pay them the difference between the one she wanted and the one they gave her.

Jamesqf

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #205 on: April 08, 2013, 01:10:25 PM »
Turns out his friends bought it for him when he got his first real job, then they asked for him to pay them back. WTF.

If his iPhone wasn't broken, you could point him to an on-line dictionary so he could look up the meaning of the word "friend".

KatieSSS

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #206 on: April 12, 2013, 09:49:14 AM »
From someone's facebook status:
things i should have spent my tax return on: student loans
things i actually spent my tax return on: exotic spices, copious amounts of big league chew, unnecessary Groupons, and a potential purchase of a star wars bed sheet set from target

Knowing what you should spend your tax return on and then not spending it on that? Anti-mustachian.

I Love Cake

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #207 on: April 12, 2013, 09:56:51 AM »
From someone's facebook status:
things i should have spent my tax return on: student loans
things i actually spent my tax return on: exotic spices, copious amounts of big league chew, unnecessary Groupons, and a potential purchase of a star wars bed sheet set from target

Knowing what you should spend your tax return on and then not spending it on that? Anti-mustachian.

hhahaha but who can resist 'copious amounts of big league chew'? Now I want to blow the bank on some!

ace1224

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #208 on: April 12, 2013, 09:58:30 AM »
From someone's facebook status:
things i should have spent my tax return on: student loans
things i actually spent my tax return on: exotic spices, copious amounts of big league chew, unnecessary Groupons, and a potential purchase of a star wars bed sheet set from target

Knowing what you should spend your tax return on and then not spending it on that? Anti-mustachian.

hhahaha but who can resist 'copious amounts of big league chew'? Now I want to blow the bank on some!
i know! me too

tuyop

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #209 on: April 12, 2013, 10:02:11 AM »
From someone's facebook status:
things i should have spent my tax return on: student loans
things i actually spent my tax return on: exotic spices, copious amounts of big league chew, unnecessary Groupons, and a potential purchase of a star wars bed sheet set from target

Knowing what you should spend your tax return on and then not spending it on that? Anti-mustachian.

hhahaha but who can resist 'copious amounts of big league chew'? Now I want to blow the bank on some!

You can have  your student loans. I'm going on a vacation... To flavour country! *chucks in a double horseshoe*

maryofdoom

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #210 on: April 12, 2013, 12:23:20 PM »
I had a meeting today that included two women from the event-planning group. Somehow, the subject of me being on Jeopardy! came up.

Lady #1: How did you get on Jeopardy! in the first place?
Me: Oh, you take a test online, and then you go to an audition in person, so they can make sure you're personable and good on camera. Also they ask you what you'd do with the money, and you say something crazy, not something boring, even if you are actually going to do boring stuff with it.
Lady #2: I'd go shopping!
Lady #1: Yeah! I'd totally buy a Birkin bag!
Me: *shakes head*

EDITED TO ADD: I lost on Jeopardy!, but had I won, I would have used the money to PAY OFF MY HOUSE.
« Last Edit: April 12, 2013, 12:26:27 PM by maryofdoom »

tuyop

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #211 on: April 12, 2013, 12:35:13 PM »
I had a meeting today that included two women from the event-planning group. Somehow, the subject of me being on Jeopardy! came up.

Lady #1: How did you get on Jeopardy! in the first place?
Me: Oh, you take a test online, and then you go to an audition in person, so they can make sure you're personable and good on camera. Also they ask you what you'd do with the money, and you say something crazy, not something boring, even if you are actually going to do boring stuff with it.
Lady #2: I'd go shopping!
Lady #1: Yeah! I'd totally buy a Birkin bag!
Me: *shakes head*

EDITED TO ADD: I lost on Jeopardy!, but had I won, I would have used the money to PAY OFF MY HOUSE.

What did you tell them you would do?

maryofdoom

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #212 on: April 12, 2013, 12:49:54 PM »
I told them I'd take my husband on a train trip across Canada, because I've always wanted to do that, and also buy him a nice set of bagpipes.

What I really did: put it in my IRA.

Krank

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #213 on: April 19, 2013, 02:50:43 PM »
My wife and I booked a trip to hawaii for our honeymoon. Her mom owns a self sustaining house out there so besides food and the flight its a fairly mustachian vacation. Well DW told her boss about the vacation and around when we would go. She is fairly new to the job and didn't want to rock the boat to much. Her boss told her that any time in july would be fine. Two days later she told her boss the dates we were going to take off and her boss came back saying "Well just so you know from hear on out you can only take off vacation days that you earn... Its not fair for you to take a vacation longer even if you can afford to not get paid for part of it, because there are people here who can't afford that... Its not fair to them"…… WTF because they don't plan their life right we can't take off more time…. we are still working on being more mustachian, but we love to travel and budget accordingly. Also as a side game I try so spend half of the money that we budgeted for the trip.

Krank

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #214 on: April 19, 2013, 03:22:45 PM »
 We are going for 16 days and we have $1000 saved just for the vacation. Im thinking that $500 is doable. We will be going from the airport to Costco then to the house. I have not decided weather to buy two used bikes on craigslist and then sell them when we leave. We will see.

Self-employed-swami

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #215 on: April 19, 2013, 04:24:11 PM »
A colleague going on 3.5 weeks vacation to Europe with his wife in a few months time told me he has budgeted $30K for the trip. That's $1200 per day!

My husband and I did 24 days in Europe last year, for about $4600, including flights.  We stayed in Hostels, but didn't deprive ourselves of food, drink, or experiences.  $1200/day is CRAZY!

Reepekg

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #216 on: April 20, 2013, 08:38:40 AM »
A colleague going on 3.5 weeks vacation to Europe with his wife in a few months time told me he has budgeted $30K for the trip. That's $1200 per day!

My husband and I did 24 days in Europe last year, for about $4600, including flights.  We stayed in Hostels, but didn't deprive ourselves of food, drink, or experiences.  $1200/day is CRAZY!

Pre-MMM I did 40 days in Europe for $5500. This included eating out for every meal and extravagances like bungee jumping over a Swiss lake and front row at a Wimbledon semifinal. Sounds like instead of a Eurorail pass, they'll be travelling around by solid gold limo?

MooreBonds

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #217 on: April 20, 2013, 10:26:12 AM »

A colleague going on 3.5 weeks vacation to Europe with his wife in a few months time told me he has budgeted $30K for the trip. That's $1200 per day!

While I would rather spend 40 weeks with a spouse on a trip for $30k instead of just 2.5 weeks  (unless I had insane buku bucks and no other way to spend it), when you stop and add things up, it isn't too terribly hard to spend that much - especially considering they're traveling in peak season!

Somewhat higher-end hotel - $200/person/day, plus tax (consider that even a modest LaQuinta Inn in Chicago can easily run $160/night plus 14% tax)

3 course meal with wine at nice restaurant - $100/person/day ? (maybe more)
Breakfast at hotel, lunch/snack in town - $50/person/day
Flying over from the US, peak season, plus 2 flights while in Europe - maybe $2,500/person with taxes?

The above comes to over $500/day per person, and that's without any museums/activities, gifts, tour guides, or transportation other than flights. Just one piece of jewelry as a momento could easily run a few thousand.

Sure, most on this forum would find ways to trim that down...but considering that the average person (even those without the means to spend that much) simply impulsively buy what they want rather than minimizing their spending, it's not impossible to spend that much when traveling in peak season.

Krank

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #218 on: April 22, 2013, 12:48:59 PM »
Yesterday I over heard two customers talking, guy one was just complaining about his 500 mile/week commute over and over, while guy two was telling him how he needs to find a way to finance the destruction and rebuild of his garage so he can store all his excess stuff... and if he cant find a way to do that then he will start having to get rid of shit, which seemed to me like he would have rather died then lower himself to get rid of stuff.

Nudelkopf

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #219 on: April 23, 2013, 01:32:07 AM »
Not overheard, by on my *way* to work this morning, I was on the bus. Stopped at the lights, a BMW pulled up next to my window with TWO kids sipping Starbucks, who obviously go to the most expensive private schools (~$20,000AUD/year). Holy crap batman! I so do not ever want to teach a 15 year old boy who's been drinking coffee that morning!

marty998

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #220 on: April 23, 2013, 02:25:19 AM »
Not overheard, by on my *way* to work this morning, I was on the bus. Stopped at the lights, a BMW pulled up next to my window with TWO kids sipping Starbucks, who obviously go to the most expensive private schools (~$20,000AUD/year). Holy crap batman! I so do not ever want to teach a 15 year old boy who's been drinking coffee that morning!

Very common in certain parts of Sydney, though the fees are pushing $35k a year down here. I don't know what it is with kids drinking coffee...at the same time as you are drinking Red Bull, Mother and V too.

When I was that age the problem was finding ways to rid myself of excess energy.

Maybe I'm just too freakin old now.

A coworker in his 40's told me today that he was retiring next year. Yay. Another colleague (who is in his 60's) asked him why. He just replied that he's had enough and doesn't need to work anymore.

At least someone gets it.

Nudelkopf

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #221 on: April 23, 2013, 02:51:31 AM »
Very common in certain parts of Sydney, though the fees are pushing $35k a year down here.
Whaaa? Holy crap!

A coworker in his 40's told me today that he was retiring next year. Yay. Another colleague (who is in his 60's) asked him why. He just replied that he's had enough and doesn't need to work anymore.
At least someone gets it.
yay!

Reepekg

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #222 on: April 23, 2013, 09:06:55 AM »
Logged into the 401(k) system to have my eyes assaulted with the following ad:

Quote
Reepekg, your currently projected yearly retirement income of $97,100 may not be enough to live on! Click here to find out how our retirement planning services can help secure your future.

gdborton

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #223 on: April 23, 2013, 09:27:09 AM »
Quote
Reepekg, your currently projected yearly retirement income of $97,100 may not be enough to live on!

OH NOES! Your individual retirement income is just under twice the median income of US households, how will you fuel your submarine?

That ad is probably just a javascript/flash substitution and would probably say that no matter what income you are projected to have.

Reepekg

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #224 on: April 23, 2013, 09:30:14 AM »
how will you fuel your submarine?

This is an excellent question. I will fuel it like a true Mustachian: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wUKbqtjIoOs

Jamesqf

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #225 on: April 23, 2013, 11:28:18 AM »
...how will you fuel your submarine?

It's nuclear :-)

mpbaker22

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #226 on: April 23, 2013, 01:08:50 PM »
Quote
Reepekg, your currently projected yearly retirement income of $97,100 may not be enough to live on!

OH NOES! Your individual retirement income is just under twice the median income of US households, how will you fuel your submarine?

That ad is probably just a javascript/flash substitution and would probably say that no matter what income you are projected to have.

My calculator at work was similar until I changed my retirement age to 50 and put desired income at $25,000/year (wouldn't let me go any lower on either ...).  And it bases retirement income entirely off 401K income.  I'm not sure who needs $25K + SS+ any pension in retirement.

No Name Guy

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #227 on: April 23, 2013, 02:28:48 PM »
Have to laugh at those auto generated 401k things from work.  I got one the other day, paraphrased as:  "You haven't increased the percentage your saving in quite a while.  How about considering doing so.  Oh, and pay us to help manage your 401k while your at it with our Adviser Services".

Fail....I'm maxed out on the 401k.  Now, if you folks would talk to the clowns in DC, perhaps I COULD then increase the percentage.

the fixer

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #228 on: April 23, 2013, 02:34:10 PM »
Filling out my 401(k) plan's retirement calculator is fun! (such a Mustachian thing to say, I know)

Quote
Results

Your savings appear to be on track to meet your needs in retirement.
  • Assuming you’ll need 80% of your final annual salary for each year in a 20-year retirement, you may have to save $2,900,586 by the time you retire.
  • Over 37 years, your projected savings could be worth $8,169,214 at retirement.
You can make adjustments to your savings plan and recalculate your results by filling in the field below the chart.
A few nice financial planning WTFs embedded in there. The biggest one, to me, is why they just assume I'm going to work for 37 years (age 66) even though they show a graph of me meeting my retirement needs at 54. Why not just tell me my target retirement age instead of assuming I'm going to be greedy and amass $8 million?

mpbaker22

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #229 on: April 23, 2013, 04:24:00 PM »
Filling out my 401(k) plan's retirement calculator is fun! (such a Mustachian thing to say, I know)

Quote
Results

Your savings appear to be on track to meet your needs in retirement.
  • Assuming you’ll need 80% of your final annual salary for each year in a 20-year retirement, you may have to save $2,900,586 by the time you retire.
  • Over 37 years, your projected savings could be worth $8,169,214 at retirement.
You can make adjustments to your savings plan and recalculate your results by filling in the field below the chart.
A few nice financial planning WTFs embedded in there. The biggest one, to me, is why they just assume I'm going to work for 37 years (age 66) even though they show a graph of me meeting my retirement needs at 54. Why not just tell me my target retirement age instead of assuming I'm going to be greedy and amass $8 million?

That's quite a salary you have ;)

I really like those projected savings worth calculators.  What does that mean, "could be?"  If you had astounding returns, it could be worth $1B or if you have awful returns it could be $1K ...

chicagomeg

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #230 on: April 23, 2013, 06:25:48 PM »
Filling out my 401(k) plan's retirement calculator is fun! (such a Mustachian thing to say, I know)

Quote
Results

Your savings appear to be on track to meet your needs in retirement.
  • Assuming you’ll need 80% of your final annual salary for each year in a 20-year retirement, you may have to save $2,900,586 by the time you retire.
  • Over 37 years, your projected savings could be worth $8,169,214 at retirement.
You can make adjustments to your savings plan and recalculate your results by filling in the field below the chart.
A few nice financial planning WTFs embedded in there. The biggest one, to me, is why they just assume I'm going to work for 37 years (age 66) even though they show a graph of me meeting my retirement needs at 54. Why not just tell me my target retirement age instead of assuming I'm going to be greedy and amass $8 million?

That's quite a salary you have ;)

I really like those projected savings worth calculators.  What does that mean, "could be?"  If you had astounding returns, it could be worth $1B or if you have awful returns it could be $1K ...

Not to mention that their numbers aren't inflation adjusted so you have no comparison of how much $8,000,000 will get you.

mpbaker22

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #231 on: April 24, 2013, 08:31:54 AM »
Filling out my 401(k) plan's retirement calculator is fun! (such a Mustachian thing to say, I know)

Quote
Results

Your savings appear to be on track to meet your needs in retirement.
  • Assuming you’ll need 80% of your final annual salary for each year in a 20-year retirement, you may have to save $2,900,586 by the time you retire.
  • Over 37 years, your projected savings could be worth $8,169,214 at retirement.
You can make adjustments to your savings plan and recalculate your results by filling in the field below the chart.
A few nice financial planning WTFs embedded in there. The biggest one, to me, is why they just assume I'm going to work for 37 years (age 66) even though they show a graph of me meeting my retirement needs at 54. Why not just tell me my target retirement age instead of assuming I'm going to be greedy and amass $8 million?

That's quite a salary you have ;)

I really like those projected savings worth calculators.  What does that mean, "could be?"  If you had astounding returns, it could be worth $1B or if you have awful returns it could be $1K ...

Not to mention that their numbers aren't inflation adjusted so you have no comparison of how much $8,000,000 will get you.

So I made what might be a bad assumption ... my 401K calculator always puts things in today's dollars.  That makes it extra comical when it assumes I need 80% of my projected salary before retirement (I don't know how this is calculated, but it's about twice what I make now, in today's dollars).

the fixer

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #232 on: April 24, 2013, 09:01:11 AM »
I used the quick analysis of the American Funds retirement planning calculator (https://pr.retire.americanfunds.com/tools/index.htm) I didn't really give it a fair chance because I used the "quick analysis" but still...

From looking at the numbers I'm guessing it's showing current dollars for everything. My salary at age 66 ends up being over 200k. Inflation is "accounted for" by being built in to the annual salary increases and capital appreciation. Since they just assume I'll need 80% of that last year's salary to live on every year, the value of a dollar doesn't matter in the calculation.

RedMustache

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #233 on: April 24, 2013, 06:16:47 PM »
Boss: "We might be getting a boat!!!!!"
Me: "Cool!"
Boss: "It's exactly what we were looking for and it's only a thousand dollars! And they will let us finance it, too!"

momo

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #234 on: April 24, 2013, 06:47:17 PM »
Not overheard, but seen on Facebook: An acquaintance bought a purse for $900 and rather than feeling shame and guilt they posted a picture of it as if they had accomplished something!
Hilarious! A coworker of mine was guilt tripped into buying a $1,000 Gucci laptop bag by his female boss. He definitely regrets buying it and gets constantly made fun of by co-workers (men and women alike). I just look at him and smile.

He also told me once that he thought that eating out and getting carryout every night for dinner "really isn't any more expensive than cooking".

Well, I'd actually have to agree with him. 

I mean, when you consider how much they spend on those ready-made-meals from the deli, with the $3 cake slices  for dessert from the bakery, and the $12 container of fruit salad from the produce dept (or buying a few steaks or the $24/lb diver sea scallops), it's damn near a bargain to order Chinese! ;)
In SF if you know good Chinese restaurants you can get a three course meal for $20. So yes sometimes it is more affordable to eat out. Now is it healthier than making your own meals that remains to be determined.
« Last Edit: April 24, 2013, 06:49:48 PM by StashtasticMomo »

JamesAt15

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #235 on: April 24, 2013, 07:12:06 PM »
Boss: "We might be getting a boat!!!!!"
Me: "Cool!"
Boss: "It's exactly what we were looking for and it's only a thousand dollars! And they will let us finance it, too!"

Bwahahaha!

Ahem...  oh no, sorry boss... I just... suddenly remembered something very funny.

dragoncar

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #236 on: April 24, 2013, 08:06:51 PM »

In SF if you know good Chinese restaurants you can get a three course meal for $20. So yes sometimes it is more affordable to eat out. Now is it healthier than making your own meals that remains to be determined.

Do tell - one side effect I not eatin out a lot is that you don't have any idea what the good cheap options are.

The only thing I do is subsist on eggs and frozen broccoli for a week then go hog wild at the $9 Indian buffet.



*for some reason, I love Indian food but hate the smell of kitchens where the smell has adhere to the walls.  If you factor in the work of regularly steam cleaning the walls of my studio, it's definitely cheaper to buffet it.  Plus the selection you can't get when cooking for one.
« Last Edit: April 24, 2013, 08:10:03 PM by dragoncar »

Jamesqf

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #237 on: April 24, 2013, 09:12:08 PM »
In SF if you know good Chinese restaurants you can get a three course meal for $20. So yes sometimes it is more affordable to eat out.

How do you figure "more affordable"?  I could probably cook an equivalent meal for under $5.

Undecided

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #238 on: April 25, 2013, 11:56:05 AM »
Logged into the 401(k) system to have my eyes assaulted with the following ad:

Quote
Reepekg, your currently projected yearly retirement income of $97,100 may not be enough to live on! Click here to find out how our retirement planning services can help secure your future.

Out of curiosity, I looked at the web site for my plan (which I don't usually do; it's 97% invested in two Vanguard funds, and I get a quarterly statement, so what do I need to see?) to see if it had a similar message. It did, and I learned that my "projected retirement income: $17,660/month" is only half of the "income replacement" recommended by "experts". (Of course, I'll never get that level of income from my 401(k), because I won't continue to work and contribute as I do now for another 25 years.) Really not much use as a planning tool.

Use it up, wear it out...

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #239 on: April 25, 2013, 12:46:01 PM »
Out of curiosity, I looked at the web site for my plan (which I don't usually do; it's 97% invested in two Vanguard funds, and I get a quarterly statement, so what do I need to see?) to see if it had a similar message. It did, and I learned that my "projected retirement income: $17,660/month" is only half of the "income replacement" recommended by "experts". (Of course, I'll never get that level of income from my 401(k), because I won't continue to work and contribute as I do now for another 25 years.) Really not much use as a planning tool.

It's not a planning tool, it's an advertisement.

momo

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #240 on: April 25, 2013, 05:06:15 PM »
In SF if you know good Chinese restaurants you can get a three course meal for $20. So yes sometimes it is more affordable to eat out.

How do you figure "more affordable"?  I could probably cook an equivalent meal for under $5.

Mmmm it is possible, though I doubt it. When I say a whole three course meal I am referring to a whole fish (baked, steamed, or fried), a full order of seasonal veggies with or without sauteed beef/chicken/pork, half order of a cooked chicken (steamed, fried, marinated ala soy sauce chicken), and full pot of rice and complimentary slow cooked soup. In my experience buying the fish (flounder, catfish, rock cod) separately at market is going to cost you more than $5.00.

Again, I am not devaluing the importance of cooking at home where you have better control over the contents used to prepare and cook your meals. I am however, stressing there are affordable and healthy alternatives when one weighs the time and effort involved. Affordability to me also includes the intangible costs involved beyond just the market value for the base ingredients (in this example fish, seasonal veggies, beef/chicken/pork), such as the travel time required to go to and from market, cleaning/preparation time, the cooking time and effort involved for each dish. And of course there is the clean up time and effort too.

Just to clarify, I certainly do not advocate dining out daily, but once in awhile (ie once a month), yes it can be a good resource if you can find affordable alternatives that meet your unique dietary preferences and restrictions. Just my ten cents. Your mileage may vary. Cheers!
« Last Edit: April 25, 2013, 05:38:41 PM by StashtasticMomo »

EMP

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #241 on: April 25, 2013, 09:01:43 PM »
I imagine Jamesqf does his own fishing. The rest is pretty easy to keep cheap. It's all the prep that would do me in.

momo

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #242 on: April 26, 2013, 12:58:49 PM »
I imagine Jamesqf does his own fishing. The rest is pretty easy to keep cheap. It's all the prep that would do me in.
Sure if you do not live in a major city like San Francisco. But another thing easily overlooked is the total time and effort involved. To me my time is valuable and sometimes it is far better to leverage others than to use up mine. Just my ten cents.

153

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #243 on: April 26, 2013, 03:13:44 PM »
Yesterday, I went to the HR presentation about the "changes" to our pension plan. Namely, they ended the traditional defined benefit pension plan and started offering a defined contribution plan.

4 things stood out:

-they started auto-enrolling new hires in the 403(b). (Good) At 2%. (Bad). This has led to a doubling in our participation rate in a year. (Ugly).

-during the very basic presentation (ie: you should save money for retirement), the HR rep asked if anyone knew how much money people will need in their retirement. I was tempted to be a smart ass, but I opted to keep my mouth shut. The first 4 answers were between 20-40% of your salary. These are worker-bee types, not mustachian-types. I've read that Americans are woefully undereducated and underfunded for retirement, but to hear it with my own ears was stunning. I'm pretty sure my mouth dropped.

-the presentation included screenshots of the retirement plan website. Now, this may have been finagled to make people feel more comfortable, since if HR is aware of the average balance, they might not want to totally freak out the masses. However, the example defined benefit was on the lines of 25k. Based on my accrual amounts and conversations with colleagues- that would be in line with someone who worked there for 12-15 years at a $60-$80k salary, or more for a lower income! This same example person had a whopping $2200 in their 403b.

-the reason I attended the presentation was to find out how the plan was structured, for my planning purposes- since all the communication to date has been "hooray, changes are coming! details later" When I asked "is the defined contribution structured as a 401(a) or a money purchase plan?" - the entire room looked at me like I had asked if the mothership would be along shortly and if teleporting was painful.

dragoncar

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #244 on: April 26, 2013, 03:39:36 PM »

-during the very basic presentation (ie: you should save money for retirement), the HR rep asked if anyone knew how much money people will need in their retirement. I was tempted to be a smart ass, but I opted to keep my mouth shut. The first 4 answers were between 20-40% of your salary. These are worker-bee types, not mustachian-types. I've read that Americans are woefully undereducated and underfunded for retirement, but to hear it with my own ears was stunning. I'm pretty sure my mouth dropped.



Not sure what your point is, but isn't this what most of us are shooting for?  Or do you mean total saved, not income?  I really don't think employers should be giving retirement advice at all.

chicagomeg

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #245 on: April 26, 2013, 03:46:43 PM »
-during the very basic presentation (ie: you should save money for retirement), the HR rep asked if anyone knew how much money people will need in their retirement. I was tempted to be a smart ass, but I opted to keep my mouth shut. The first 4 answers were between 20-40% of your salary. These are worker-bee types, not mustachian-types. I've read that Americans are woefully undereducated and underfunded for retirement, but to hear it with my own ears was stunning. I'm pretty sure my mouth dropped.



20% annually is probably fine for most people if they plan to retire at 65 or so. The problem is that people don't do that, even when they know they should...

153

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #246 on: April 26, 2013, 04:32:23 PM »

-during the very basic presentation (ie: you should save money for retirement), the HR rep asked if anyone knew how much money people will need in their retirement. I was tempted to be a smart ass, but I opted to keep my mouth shut. The first 4 answers were between 20-40% of your salary. These are worker-bee types, not mustachian-types. I've read that Americans are woefully undereducated and underfunded for retirement, but to hear it with my own ears was stunning. I'm pretty sure my mouth dropped.



Not sure what your point is, but isn't this what most of us are shooting for?  Or do you mean total saved, not income?  I really don't think employers should be giving retirement advice at all.
-during the very basic presentation (ie: you should save money for retirement), the HR rep asked if anyone knew how much money people will need in their retirement. I was tempted to be a smart ass, but I opted to keep my mouth shut. The first 4 answers were between 20-40% of your salary. These are worker-bee types, not mustachian-types. I've read that Americans are woefully undereducated and underfunded for retirement, but to hear it with my own ears was stunning. I'm pretty sure my mouth dropped.



20% annually is probably fine for most people if they plan to retire at 65 or so. The problem is that people don't do that, even when they know they should...

The question was about a salary replacement figure, not a savings rate.

chicagomeg

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #247 on: April 26, 2013, 05:54:22 PM »
Ohhhhh.... Are they insane?!!??!?!

dragoncar

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #248 on: April 26, 2013, 06:47:36 PM »
Yeah 20% is my salary replacement figure.  Under 50% is pretty typical around here.

You must work with a bunch of closet mustachians!

gdborton

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #249 on: April 29, 2013, 11:29:01 AM »
Quote
Yeah 20% is my salary replacement figure.  Under 50% is pretty typical around here.

You must work with a bunch of closet mustachians!

Some light needs to be shed here... I read that as 20-40% of salary saved in retirement... so for 100k you'd have 40k to retire on, netting you $1,600 a year at 4% SWR.