Overheard at Work

[Latwell]

...people still come in with their dunkin donuts, starbucks or wawa coffee cups.

wawa? is this a brand I'm not familiar with, or is this an infantile complainypants person? :)

It's a gas station/minimart chain in PA, saw a lot of them when I was working on-site at a plant there a lot a few years back.

Entire east coast has them now. They're a step above Sheetz. At least they have boarshead meat if you get a sandwich.

There are frequent arguments in my area about the best convienence store: quick check vs wawa.

My previous apartment was practically in quick check's parking lot. A lady that worked there told me it was wierd that she never sees me go in there. I told her I avoid convienence stores like the plague. She couldn't understand why. Idk how she doesn't notice the insane marked up prices.

[lithy]

We are expecting our first child in November.  Boss knows that I pay just for prepaid minutes and text (through PlatinumTel), he suggested that when the baby comes I'll need to get a family plan with data for me and my wife. 

I managed to just shrug it off at the time, but later as I thought about it, I don't know what that even means.  Does the baby need a data plan?

[HairyUpperLip]

We are expecting our first child in August.  Boss knows that I pay just for prepaid minutes and text (through PlatinumTel), he suggested that when the baby comes I'll need to get a family plan with data for me and my wife. 

I managed to just shrug it off at the time, but later as I thought about it, I don't know what that even means.  Does the baby need a data plan?

my daughter is about to be one and she keeps going over on her 4gb data plan....


jk... babies don't need data plans. I'm not sure what your boss meant? congrats on the baby

[puetzk]

 
I managed to just shrug it off at the time, but later as I thought about it, I don't know what that even means.  Does the baby need a data plan?

I would assume he meant for all the pictures/texts you'll be getting of baby being adorable. Since you'll be too busy earning money to pay the phone bill and boarding school to see the kid yourself...

[SweetRedWine]

In the spring a co-worker told everyone in the department about her shopping trip to a local outlet clothing store.  She bought something like 20 articles of summer clothing for under $200.  I don't remember the exact details, just that she was happy about the good deals.  Just this past Friday she announced that she had just finished paying off that shopping trip, so now she could shop for fall clothes.

She is a household of one earning above the average US household wage.   It hurt a little to hear that it took her about 4 months to pay off that amount.  And it hurt that she seemed prepared to turn in into a never ending cycle. 

[franklin w. dixon]

Is this the longest internet thread ever?

Has someone tried to press print to see if it stretches to the moon and back?

i visit another thread on another forum which is over 750 pages and i'm sure there are longer. but this is pretty good!

The forum where I post the most is primarily one giant chat thread that gets closed and remade every 100,000 posts (2500 pages). The threads were numbered until the 40th or so but that was years ago. The most prolific poster has 108,000 posts.

[franklin w. dixon]

Overheard my cube neighbor on the phone, sounding excited as he talked about buying a larger house, "And then you get to buy things to fill it!"

Ugh -know that one.  The house we just bought is by all accounts, not very big - only 1400 feet.  Still way too big for us though - we've got two entire rooms we're trying to figure out what to do with.  Of course our attitude is more "crap.  we might have to buy some stuff to fill it".

This kind of hits home.  Me and my SO were looking to purchase a house this spring.  We were looking for about 8-900 sq ft - we have two kids and thought this would be a great size.  I grew up in a 826 and my wife in a 679 sq ft for famillys of five.  Anyways, when I talked to anyone about this, the question was allways, why so small.  You should save buy bigger.  Or you only need 5% down, so why no spluge and get a bigger house when they found out we hade most of 20% saved...

I was thinking, because we do not need extra crap, and I dont want to be house broke.

I see all the time about living in a smaller house on here. i live in a 900sq ft house now with only one bathroom. for me i think the ideal size is around 1400-1500 and two bathrooms. it is me, my wife, my son, two large dogs, and another child on the way. i would like a little more space, but not looking for anything huge. maybe even 1200 sq ft, just set up better, i think an open floor plan is where we need to be. we only put 5% down (this way before finding this site), however, we made sure to purchase a home that we could afford on one income. and still can.

I got 1150 square feet with 2.5 baths and its pretty sweet bc everybody can poop at the same time which happens well IT HAPPENS SOMETIMES OK. NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS

[franklin w. dixon]

This one is really awful.  I work with a woman who, until about a month ago, lived about 1,000 miles away from our office and worked at another site.  She is doing a two-year rotation at our site.  It's very prestigious to do this at our company, so she is clearly on the move up.  I know this woman because we're on the same global team, so I see her at meetings around the world a couple times a year.  The woman is extremely smart and nice.  She's just a lovely, lovely person -- generous, warm, gets stuff done, etc..

We were at an all-day meeting today, and some of the women were talking about this CW's Prada shoes.  The woman is originally from France, and they were talking about the fact that she always has $400 shoes on, very admiringly.

So later, I chat with her, and ask how the transition is going.  She tells me that they weren't able to get their daughter into the prestigious private school in my neck of the woods, so her husband and daughter are staying back for the two years.  In other words, the woman has moved away from her 10yo daughter for two years, in order to advance her career.  Her eyes filled with tears as she told me.  I asked if she was commuting back each weekend, and she said she couldn't afford it because flights are too expensive.  I just don't understand this, and I wouldn't if it were a man, either.  What is the purpose of life, if not to be physically present during your children's childhood?

This woman is at my job level, and has been for at least five years.  So she's been making nearly $200K for quite a while now.  I just don't understand it.  And how do people not make the connection between the shoes and the other luxe things and the need to move away from your young child?  There's a relationship there!  Wouldn't it be better to send the kid to public school, rather than have her miss her mother for two years?  I just don't understand.

It's sad that she thinks that her daughter going to a prestigious school is more important than having her mother around.  I really feel for that little girl.  People have some whacked out priorities.

I once sat at a work dinner with a group of 8 people who were all debating at what age they could ship their kids to boarding school.  I made a comment that if/when I have kids, I would never do that because I actually would want to spend time with them and they all looked at me like I was a loon.

My wife's mom desperately wants us to ship off our daughter (9 months) to her so she can take care of the baby and free things up for us and is completely puzzled that we have any hesitation...

[Shropskr]

I was at the beach free swim lessons for the kids. SAHM so it is at work.  Ha.   I was talking with another parent about what we were doing next week.

Other parent "we're going to disney land"
Me "have fun.  We've never been. I've still got my kids convince Great Wolf Lodge,local indoor water park, is better than Disney land."
Other parent"ohh we go there every other month.  I let my kids bring friends, and sometimes my adult children come too"
Me "wow isn't that expensive."
Other parent "yeah but it's fun.  Besides we always get the meal plan and that helps"

We went back to talking about swimming.

[robotclown]

People at work getting really concerned that next payday falls on a holiday.  So instead of getting paid on the first, we'll get paid on the 29th.  Why is this a problem?  Because then it's 17 whole days until next payday!  Apparently this is throwing everyone's finances into chaos.

[Zikoris]

People at work getting really concerned that next payday falls on a holiday.  So instead of getting paid on the first, we'll get paid on the 29th.  Why is this a problem?  Because then it's 17 whole days until next payday!  Apparently this is throwing everyone's finances into chaos.

Oh god, this reminds me of a co-worker from two jobs ago - she was complaining about being paid on the 15th and last day of the month rather than every two weeks. I didn't understand, since to me it's pretty irrelevant, but overall I think fixed dates are more convenient for budgeting purposes (no big income swings with 3 paycheck months, etc). "But sometimes payday is on a Monday and we have to make it through two weekends instead of one!" This was apparently a crisis and meant no grocery shopping.

Same co-worker used one of the big banks that charges high fees (highest fees in Canada, actually). I suggested moving to a free bank to save money, and got another gem: apparently the direct deposit went through a day earlier with this bank, from time to time. Keep in mind, this only happened a few times a year, and the bank charges $30+/month in basic fees.

She ended up declaring bankruptcy over something like $15,000 debt, since she could not figure out how to cut her spending enough to pay it off.

[Nords]

People at work getting really concerned that next payday falls on a holiday.  So instead of getting paid on the first, we'll get paid on the 29th.  Why is this a problem?  Because then it's 17 whole days until next payday!  Apparently this is throwing everyone's finances into chaos.

This is a common theme at Military.com's financial blog "Paycheck Chronicles".  Kate actually lays out the next year's payday calendar and warns the readers months in advance of the occasional stretches of 17-19 days between deposits.

Her readers have commented that on payday they'll see grocery shoppers standing next to the checkouts with their carts fully loaded.  The shoppers are not actually in the checkout line because they don't have enough money in their checking account to pay for their groceries, and their credit cards are already maxed out.  So they'll sit on the sidelines with their smartphones displaying their banking app, hitting refresh until the deposit arrives and the balance updates.  Then they can feed their families!

[randymarsh]

So they'll sit on the sidelines with their smartphones displaying their banking app, hitting refresh until the deposit arrives and the balance updates.  Then they can feed their families!

Irony detected.

[Christof]

So they'll sit on the sidelines with their smartphones displaying their banking app, hitting refresh until the deposit arrives and the balance updates.  Then they can feed their families!

Seriously?

[Timmmy]

People at work getting really concerned that next payday falls on a holiday.  So instead of getting paid on the first, we'll get paid on the 29th.  Why is this a problem?  Because then it's 17 whole days until next payday!  Apparently this is throwing everyone's finances into chaos.

This is a common theme at Military.com's financial blog "Paycheck Chronicles".  Kate actually lays out the next year's payday calendar and warns the readers months in advance of the occasional stretches of 17-19 days between deposits.

Her readers have commented that on payday they'll see grocery shoppers standing next to the checkouts with their carts fully loaded.  The shoppers are not actually in the checkout line because they don't have enough money in their checking account to pay for their groceries, and their credit cards are already maxed out.  So they'll sit on the sidelines with their smartphones displaying their banking app, hitting refresh until the deposit arrives and the balance updates.  Then they can feed their families!

This is sad on so many levels.

[AllChoptUp]

People at work getting really concerned that next payday falls on a holiday.  So instead of getting paid on the first, we'll get paid on the 29th.  Why is this a problem?  Because then it's 17 whole days until next payday!  Apparently this is throwing everyone's finances into chaos.

This is a common theme at Military.com's financial blog "Paycheck Chronicles".  Kate actually lays out the next year's payday calendar and warns the readers months in advance of the occasional stretches of 17-19 days between deposits.

Her readers have commented that on payday they'll see grocery shoppers standing next to the checkouts with their carts fully loaded.  The shoppers are not actually in the checkout line because they don't have enough money in their checking account to pay for their groceries, and their credit cards are already maxed out.  So they'll sit on the sidelines with their smartphones displaying their banking app, hitting refresh until the deposit arrives and the balance updates.  Then they can feed their families!

This is sad on so many levels.

It *is* sad.  The local military spouse's facebook page had an extensive thread recently on how to apply/qualify for WIC. 

[RFAAOATB]

It *is* sad.  The local military spouse's facebook page had an extensive thread recently on how to apply/qualify for WIC.

Boo freaking Hoo.  I was insatiably jealous of Soldiers getting BAH and Separation pay just for being married.  You knock a girl up and get a shotgun wedding?  Here's a giant pay raise to go with it.

[eyePod]

I was at the beach free swim lessons for the kids. SAHM so it is at work.  Ha.   I was talking with another parent about what we were doing next week.

Other parent "we're going to disney land"
Me "have fun.  We've never been. I've still got my kids convince Great Wolf Lodge,local indoor water park, is better than Disney land."
Other parent"ohh we go there every other month.  I let my kids bring friends, and sometimes my adult children come too"
Me "wow isn't that expensive."
Other parent "yeah but it's fun.  Besides we always get the meal plan and that helps"

We went back to talking about swimming.

Well, if you stay at the all star resorts, the meal plan is better. More food than you could eat in a day (and that's the basic one). But there's no way that the entire trip isn't a luxury. And once a month?!?! I hope you guys live in florida, but from your great wolf lodge note, I don't think you do...

[CaliToCayman]

I managed to just shrug it off at the time, but later as I thought about it, I don't know what that even means.  Does the baby need a data plan?

I think babies now come pre-loaded with twitter and snapchat... so the short answer is yes, they do need a plan.

[Jack]

I was at the beach free swim lessons for the kids. SAHM so it is at work.  Ha.   I was talking with another parent about what we were doing next week.

Other parent "we're going to disney land"
Me "have fun.  We've never been. I've still got my kids convince Great Wolf Lodge,local indoor water park, is better than Disney land."
Other parent"ohh we go there every other month.  I let my kids bring friends, and sometimes my adult children come too"
Me "wow isn't that expensive."
Other parent "yeah but it's fun.  Besides we always get the meal plan and that helps"

We went back to talking about swimming.

Well, if you stay at the all star resorts, the meal plan is better. More food than you could eat in a day (and that's the basic one). But there's no way that the entire trip isn't a luxury. And once a month?!?! I hope you guys live in florida, but from your great wolf lodge note, I don't think you do...

Disney Land is not the same thing as Disney World. The former is a single park that's much more of a 'day trip' (kind of like Six Flags), I believe. Still anti-mustachian, but not quite as much as going to Disney World every month would be!!!

[Timmmy]

I was at the beach free swim lessons for the kids. SAHM so it is at work.  Ha.   I was talking with another parent about what we were doing next week.

Other parent "we're going to disney land"
Me "have fun.  We've never been. I've still got my kids convince Great Wolf Lodge,local indoor water park, is better than Disney land."
Other parent"ohh we go there every other month.  I let my kids bring friends, and sometimes my adult children come too"
Me "wow isn't that expensive."
Other parent "yeah but it's fun.  Besides we always get the meal plan and that helps"

We went back to talking about swimming.

Well, if you stay at the all star resorts, the meal plan is better. More food than you could eat in a day (and that's the basic one). But there's no way that the entire trip isn't a luxury. And once a month?!?! I hope you guys live in florida, but from your great wolf lodge note, I don't think you do...

Pretty sure they were talking about monthly trips to great wolf lodge, not Disney.

[Gin1984]

I was at the beach free swim lessons for the kids. SAHM so it is at work.  Ha.   I was talking with another parent about what we were doing next week.

Other parent "we're going to disney land"
Me "have fun.  We've never been. I've still got my kids convince Great Wolf Lodge,local indoor water park, is better than Disney land."
Other parent"ohh we go there every other month.  I let my kids bring friends, and sometimes my adult children come too"
Me "wow isn't that expensive."
Other parent "yeah but it's fun.  Besides we always get the meal plan and that helps"

We went back to talking about swimming.

Well, if you stay at the all star resorts, the meal plan is better. More food than you could eat in a day (and that's the basic one). But there's no way that the entire trip isn't a luxury. And once a month?!?! I hope you guys live in florida, but from your great wolf lodge note, I don't think you do...

Disney Land is not the same thing as Disney World. The former is a single park that's much more of a 'day trip' (kind of like Six Flags), I believe. Still anti-mustachian, but not quite as much as going to Disney World every month would be!!!

Not anymore.   More clumped up than disneyworld but it is no long just "one park".

[Goldie]

I'm new to these parts but wanted to post something I heard at work two years ago that has stuck with me. Two women, both with multiple kids. One recently got remarried and was looking to buy a house. The other is a twice-divorced single mom. The newly remarried mom was complaining that "these banks just expect you to have money lying around for a down payment!"  They spoke some more and I tuned out, then heard the single mom say "No one in this day and age should hold it against someone for having credit card debt; we all do!"

It's been two years and they're both still in apartments. And the recently remarried one has gotten divorced.  I can't feel bad for them because they go to out happy hour weekly and give me the side-eye for not getting manicures like them.  I never told them that I worked and saved every nickel and that's how I put 20% down on a beautiful house and they're clueless. They just care that they're driving nicer cars and have prettier fingernails than me!

[GuitarStv]

Overheard my cube neighbor on the phone, sounding excited as he talked about buying a larger house, "And then you get to buy things to fill it!"

Ugh -know that one.  The house we just bought is by all accounts, not very big - only 1400 feet.  Still way too big for us though - we've got two entire rooms we're trying to figure out what to do with.  Of course our attitude is more "crap.  we might have to buy some stuff to fill it".

This kind of hits home.  Me and my SO were looking to purchase a house this spring.  We were looking for about 8-900 sq ft - we have two kids and thought this would be a great size.  I grew up in a 826 and my wife in a 679 sq ft for famillys of five.  Anyways, when I talked to anyone about this, the question was allways, why so small.  You should save buy bigger.  Or you only need 5% down, so why no spluge and get a bigger house when they found out we hade most of 20% saved...

I was thinking, because we do not need extra crap, and I dont want to be house broke.

I see all the time about living in a smaller house on here. i live in a 900sq ft house now with only one bathroom. for me i think the ideal size is around 1400-1500 and two bathrooms. it is me, my wife, my son, two large dogs, and another child on the way. i would like a little more space, but not looking for anything huge. maybe even 1200 sq ft, just set up better, i think an open floor plan is where we need to be. we only put 5% down (this way before finding this site), however, we made sure to purchase a home that we could afford on one income. and still can.

I got 1150 square feet with 2.5 baths and its pretty sweet bc everybody can poop at the same time which happens well IT HAPPENS SOMETIMES OK. NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS

. . . taco Tuesdays?

[jordanread]

Overheard my cube neighbor on the phone, sounding excited as he talked about buying a larger house, "And then you get to buy things to fill it!"

Ugh -know that one.  The house we just bought is by all accounts, not very big - only 1400 feet.  Still way too big for us though - we've got two entire rooms we're trying to figure out what to do with.  Of course our attitude is more "crap.  we might have to buy some stuff to fill it".

This kind of hits home.  Me and my SO were looking to purchase a house this spring.  We were looking for about 8-900 sq ft - we have two kids and thought this would be a great size.  I grew up in a 826 and my wife in a 679 sq ft for famillys of five.  Anyways, when I talked to anyone about this, the question was allways, why so small.  You should save buy bigger.  Or you only need 5% down, so why no spluge and get a bigger house when they found out we hade most of 20% saved...

I was thinking, because we do not need extra crap, and I dont want to be house broke.

I see all the time about living in a smaller house on here. i live in a 900sq ft house now with only one bathroom. for me i think the ideal size is around 1400-1500 and two bathrooms. it is me, my wife, my son, two large dogs, and another child on the way. i would like a little more space, but not looking for anything huge. maybe even 1200 sq ft, just set up better, i think an open floor plan is where we need to be. we only put 5% down (this way before finding this site), however, we made sure to purchase a home that we could afford on one income. and still can.

I got 1150 square feet with 2.5 baths and its pretty sweet bc everybody can poop at the same time which happens well IT HAPPENS SOMETIMES OK. NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS

. . . taco Tuesdays?

Mundane Mondays? I've had to pee outside twice this week.

[NoraLenderbee]

The newly remarried mom was complaining that "these banks just expect you to have money lying around for a down payment!"  They spoke some more and I tuned out, then heard the single mom say "No one in this day and age should hold it against someone for having credit card debt; we all do!"

I love it when someone talks about "who has money lying around." As if people with savings just have piles of cash on the floor, where we stumble over them and exclaim, "Oh! I could make a down payment with this!" It makes me want to drape some dollar bills on the couch, on the bed, in the recliner, on a cushion, etc., so I can have money actually lying around (instead of working its butt off earning interest and dividends).

It's been two years and they're both still in apartments. And the recently remarried one has gotten divorced.  I can't feel bad for them because they go to out happy hour weekly and give me the side-eye for not getting manicures like them.  I never told them that I worked and saved every nickel and that's how I put 20% down on a beautiful house and they're clueless. They just care that they're driving nicer cars and have prettier fingernails than me!

Good for you!

[4alpacas]

The newly remarried mom was complaining that "these banks just expect you to have money lying around for a down payment!"  They spoke some more and I tuned out, then heard the single mom say "No one in this day and age should hold it against someone for having credit card debt; we all do!"

I love it when someone talks about "who has money lying around." As if people with savings just have piles of cash on the floor, where we stumble over them and exclaim, "Oh! I could make a down payment with this!" It makes me want to drape some dollar bills on the couch, on the bed, in the recliner, on a cushion, etc., so I can have money actually lying around (instead of working its butt off earning interest and dividends).

I've never mentally pictured "money lying around."  Now I will think of

[Alabaster]

The newly remarried mom was complaining that "these banks just expect you to have money lying around for a down payment!"  They spoke some more and I tuned out, then heard the single mom say "No one in this day and age should hold it against someone for having credit card debt; we all do!"

I love it when someone talks about "who has money lying around." As if people with savings just have piles of cash on the floor, where we stumble over them and exclaim, "Oh! I could make a down payment with this!" It makes me want to drape some dollar bills on the couch, on the bed, in the recliner, on a cushion, etc., so I can have money actually lying around (instead of working its butt off earning interest and dividends).

That is hilarious. I actually /do/ have small amounts of cash stashed around my house in places where I'll forget about it. I'll come across it randomly and be like "oh yeah, I left some money here encase I need it. Well, I don't need it now, I guess I'll just leave it there". Its a pretty awesome feeling tbh.

[killingxspree]

coworker recently mentioned she bought a treadmill. I have one and asked her about its features... and she described it being super fancy and expensive... then she dropped this bomb on me.'I was worried about how we were going to afford it so I asked hubby if we could afford and he said its fine we'll get the payment plan.'  and then she gushed about how awesome her partner was for letting her get it... so the payment plan is 12$ a week. I asked for how long and she said she didn't know. what I found most disturbing is she didn't have the money for a treadmill lying around and she is always complaining about their lack of money. I wonder where it's all going?
edit -didn't see the discussion around lying around. lol I meant in her bank account. You know as some form of savings.

[87tweetybirds]

A good(positive) overheard at work. I work in a patient care setting, and before a meeting one day we were discussing that much of our news is heard while popping in and out of rooms. My CW said "I was able to make some good money in the stock market from something overheard. They were talking about stock prices falling and that the government wouldn't let the banks fail, so I bought some stock for about $5/share, and when I sold it I sold it for about $25/share." I thought yay! How fantastic that you saw it as an opportunity.

[Nudelkopf]

That is hilarious. I actually /do/ have small amounts of cash stashed around my house in places where I'll forget about it. I'll come across it randomly and be like "oh yeah, I left some money here encase I need it. Well, I don't need it now, I guess I'll just leave it there". Its a pretty awesome feeling tbh.

When I was a kid, I picked up a book out of Mum's bookshelf & found she'd been using a $100 note a bookmark. Whoops! Apparently she'd taken cash out for Christmas a few years earlier, and had been bummed when she hadn't found it - she thought she'd lost it somehow. (We weren't a rich family that casually uses money as bookmarks.)

[agent_clone]

That is hilarious. I actually /do/ have small amounts of cash stashed around my house in places where I'll forget about it. I'll come across it randomly and be like "oh yeah, I left some money here encase I need it. Well, I don't need it now, I guess I'll just leave it there". Its a pretty awesome feeling tbh.

When I was a kid, I picked up a book out of Mum's bookshelf & found she'd been using a $100 note a bookmark. Whoops! Apparently she'd taken cash out for Christmas a few years earlier, and had been bummed when she hadn't found it - she thought she'd lost it somehow. (We weren't a rich family that casually uses money as bookmarks.)

Apparently there are more $100 notes in circulation in Australia than there are $20 notes, a lot more.  Despite the fact that most people either haven't seen one or wouldn't recognise one...

[larmando]

Eh, that's a good one. :) I also got a free credit card (they're a bit harder to find in europe), which I pay in full of course

Hope you picked one that is offering some benefits, eg. the Payback Amex, Deutsche Bahn Mastercard or Cortal Consors Visa.

At the moment I have a lufthansa one (free bc I fly a lot for work) and a barclaycard, also free, with almost a month between the bill and the payment, and with the "free cash withdrawal" perk, which I never saw before in a cc.

I can do without, of course, but it's also nice that I don't need to think how much cash I'll need in a month, I can just save everything upfront when I receive my salary (minus what I have in outstanding bills, which will get debited later during the month, and minus a small buffer), and then any cash I withdraw I just have to account for in the next salary cycle. I'll have a look at the ones you suggest, wife has an amazon one which also has cashback via amazon.

[Moonwaves]

Eh, that's a good one. :) I also got a free credit card (they're a bit harder to find in europe), which I pay in full of course

Hope you picked one that is offering some benefits, eg. the Payback Amex, Deutsche Bahn Mastercard or Cortal Consors Visa.

At the moment I have a lufthansa one (free bc I fly a lot for work) and a barclaycard, also free, with almost a month between the bill and the payment, and with the "free cash withdrawal" perk, which I never saw before in a cc.

I can do without, of course, but it's also nice that I don't need to think how much cash I'll need in a month, I can just save everything upfront when I receive my salary (minus what I have in outstanding bills, which will get debited later during the month, and minus a small buffer), and then any cash I withdraw I just have to account for in the next salary cycle. I'll have a look at the ones you suggest, wife has an amazon one which also has cashback via amazon.

I have a BahnCard Mastercard - if you have a BahnCard and use the train at all it's well worth it. I had a mega year a couple of years ago when I signed up - between the bonus sign-up points and booking flights to Australia on it I had enough points to get a return 1st class ticket to Bad Reichenhall as well as a return 2nd class to my Geneva (can get the bus from there to my sister in France). Also, you can maintain a positive balance on the card if you like and it earns interest - it's not much, something like ECB less 0.5% but that's still more than my current account offers.

[Astromarine]

my manager, after hearing me and a colleague talk how we have the minimum mandatory health insurance plan with the highest deductible, and just make sure we have some money set aside for medical stuff specifically. CW said he keeps about 3000, to which my manager replied:

"that'd never work with me, which is why I have better insurance. If I had 3k for medical emergencies in the bank, very quickly I'd have a new camera instead."

[MillenialMustache]

A few weeks after a coworker was hired, she explained to me that she had to have enough life insurance to cover her student loans, because her husband (a pharmacist) was not willing to pay them when she died. Her loans are $70,000. Ok....

Today, she told me that they have $30,000 saved for their five-year-old daughter to go to college.

What kind of logic is that?!?

[MillenialMustache]

A few weeks after a coworker was hired, she explained to me that she had to have enough life insurance to cover her student loans, because her husband (a pharmacist) was not willing to pay them when she died. Her loans are $70,000. Ok....

Today, she told me that they have $30,000 saved for their five-year-old daughter to go to college.

What kind of logic is that?!?

To be fair, term life can be really cheap. $13 to ensure my wife for our current debts, once the term is up (or once we're out of debt) we'll stop paying it.

BUT, most student loans are discharged on death, and can't be transfered to a spouse. So there's that.

And it looks like I missed your point, lol. They should pay off the student loans now, duh!

Haha, right. I guess I wasn't clear on that. I wasn't too concerned about the life insurance, but when I found out they could pay off half of it but were instead saving it for their five-year-old daughter, that seemed a bit odd to me. Why not just pay her debts?

[eyePod]

A few weeks after a coworker was hired, she explained to me that she had to have enough life insurance to cover her student loans, because her husband (a pharmacist) was not willing to pay them when she died. Her loans are $70,000. Ok....

Today, she told me that they have $30,000 saved for their five-year-old daughter to go to college.

What kind of logic is that?!?

To be fair, term life can be really cheap. $13 to ensure my wife for our current debts, once the term is up (or once we're out of debt) we'll stop paying it.

BUT, most student loans are discharged on death, and can't be transfered to a spouse. So there's that.

And it looks like I missed your point, lol. They should pay off the student loans now, duh!

Haha, right. I guess I wasn't clear on that. I wasn't too concerned about the life insurance, but when I found out they could pay off half of it but were instead saving it for their five-year-old daughter, that seemed a bit odd to me. Why not just pay her debts?

But how will their kid get anywhere in life so they can make a lot of money and end up taking care of the parents because the kid feels guilty that their parents stayed in debt to get the kid through college?

[larmando]

Eh, that's a good one. :) I also got a free credit card (they're a bit harder to find in europe), which I pay in full of course

Hope you picked one that is offering some benefits, eg. the Payback Amex, Deutsche Bahn Mastercard or Cortal Consors Visa.

At the moment I have a lufthansa one (free bc I fly a lot for work) and a barclaycard, also free, with almost a month between the bill and the payment, and with the "free cash withdrawal" perk, which I never saw before in a cc.

I can do without, of course, but it's also nice that I don't need to think how much cash I'll need in a month, I can just save everything upfront when I receive my salary (minus what I have in outstanding bills, which will get debited later during the month, and minus a small buffer), and then any cash I withdraw I just have to account for in the next salary cycle. I'll have a look at the ones you suggest, wife has an amazon one which also has cashback via amazon.

I have a BahnCard Mastercard - if you have a BahnCard and use the train at all it's well worth it. I had a mega year a couple of years ago when I signed up - between the bonus sign-up points and booking flights to Australia on it I had enough points to get a return 1st class ticket to Bad Reichenhall as well as a return 2nd class to my Geneva (can get the bus from there to my sister in France). Also, you can maintain a positive balance on the card if you like and it earns interest - it's not much, something like ECB less 0.5% but that's still more than my current account offers.

Don't use the train much (a bit, but not much, I end up flying a lot, and have a partner bahncard 25 when we do use the train, which usually pays itself in one/two trips). Also I pay up the cards but normally don't maintain a positive balance on them (given the interest...): qq, isn't ECB-0.5 negative these days? (IIRC ECB is at 0.25 and -0.15...)

Edited to add: I was too optimistic, it's -0.10 (for deposits) and 0.15 (for lending). Either way -0.5 will bring it to way negative, no?

[golden1]

So we had a 401K meeting at work this morning.  They were making a few changes to the available funds, including adding plans with lower expense ratios, including some Vanguard funds (yay!).  This one guy raises his hand and asked if that meant that they were trying to get us to buy bad funds because "obviously, the funds with low fees aren't as good as the ones with higher fees".  He said that even though the prospectus sitting right in front of him showed that all the funds and their expense ratios clearly showed that the expense ratios of the funds available for selection were not at all correlated to performance. 

Ugh.

[eyePod]

So we had a 401K meeting at work this morning.  They were making a few changes to the available funds, including adding plans with lower expense ratios, including some Vanguard funds (yay!).  This one guy raises his hand and asked if that meant that they were trying to get us to buy bad funds because "obviously, the funds with low fees aren't as good as the ones with higher fees".  He said that even though the prospectus sitting right in front of him showed that all the funds and their expense ratios clearly showed that the expense ratios of the funds available for selection were not at all correlated to performance. 

Ugh.

And that guy is why index funds work!

[Ynari]

A couple of weeks ago, I was travelling to a meeting in a coworker's car.  We talk about biking because I bike to work every day from half an hour away.

He says:  "Yeah, I used to bike to work some.  I live just by X stop on the train (very close to work), so it's almost faster to bike than drive.  But ever since my girlfriend moved in, I keep the bike in the basement and it's too much work to get it out."

He lives a mile and a half from work.  It'd be a casual 30 minute walk, or 10 minutes by bike or transit.  About 10 minutes drive in traffic, and then he has to pay for the godawful city parking at $12-14 a day?

Seriously, I'd do anything but drive.

[Jack]

He lives a mile and a half from work.  It'd be a casual 30 minute walk, or 10 minutes by bike or transit.  About 10 minutes drive in traffic, and then he has to pay for the godawful city parking at $12-14 a day?

You should point out to him that if he rode a bike he'd be "making" (i.e., saving) $30+/hour.

[frugalnacho]

My boss just bought a 2014 GMC yukon to transport his 1 kid (and apparently friends and team mates) around town.  He already owns an impala and 2 trail blazers for just him and his wife. 

I know he has money, but I still can't understand the wastefulness.  4 cars for 2 people? 

I have talked to him about FIRE but he doesn't seem to care.  I talked the math with him, but I think he is already FI, and also he hates his wife and home life, so owning a company gives him an excuse to get out of the house 5 days a week and he can sit around and get drunk every day without his wife.  And he has enough money to commute 45 minutes each way, and own 4 cars, and a boat, and jet skis, and several rental houses, and a thriving business, and spend money like it's going out of style.   He was frugal when he didn't have much money, so I think he is inflating his life style now to keep up with the money, and the money keeps increasing because there is a shortage of people who do what he does so he can charge a decent amount of money, and combined with the fact that he actually likes to get away from his house and family, he has no reason to sell the business.  So he just spends money like crazy.  I need to start buttering him up for my annual raise.

[firelight]

Frugalnacho, what does your boss do?

[sheepstache]

also he hates his wife and home life,

That's what I thought might be going on with that lady from France upthread who was going to go 2 years without seeing her daughter so she could buy shoes or something.  Some people just like an excuse not to spend time with family.

[gimp]

That is hilarious. I actually /do/ have small amounts of cash stashed around my house in places where I'll forget about it. I'll come across it randomly and be like "oh yeah, I left some money here encase I need it. Well, I don't need it now, I guess I'll just leave it there". Its a pretty awesome feeling tbh.

I do this with my car. Emergency stash of bills and coins. It's a great idea.

[Moonwaves]

Don't use the train much (a bit, but not much, I end up flying a lot, and have a partner bahncard 25 when we do use the train, which usually pays itself in one/two trips). Also I pay up the cards but normally don't maintain a positive balance on them (given the interest...): qq, isn't ECB-0.5 negative these days? (IIRC ECB is at 0.25 and -0.15...)

Edited to add: I was too optimistic, it's -0.10 (for deposits) and 0.15 (for lending). Either way -0.5 will bring it to way negative, no?

As I was writing that I was thinking the same thing. I don't manage to maintain much of a positive balance for long enough to really notice yet but now I'm curious about it. Think I'll phone them to see what they say. Oh, and I just checked a statement and it's ECB -0.3% for balances up to 5,000, ECB over 5,000 and ECB +0.3% for over 20,000 (ha! If I had 20,000, I'd definitely be doing something better with it than leaving it on a credit card!)

[fartface]

At a meeting yesterday with seven middle-aged women (myself included) and one young dude. One of these BIOTCHES starts blasting him about an old scooter his grandpa gave him. He's been driving it to work with a milk crate attached to the back. I'm thinking this guy is alright (he also bikes everywhere).

Another snide Biotch says, "Scooters are for teenagers and old people." Table erupts with laughter.

Guy shrugs sheepishly - playing the good sport.  These women are just laying into the poor dude razzing him terribly.

Finally, I couldn't take it anymore and say, "Well, I guess he's got the last laugh considering he's got no car payment and probably saves $300 a month on gasoline."

That shut the table up pretty quickly. BIOTCHES.

P.S. Last spring we changed 403b providers at work and there were initially problems with the new company posting contributions in a timely manner.  Same group of us were around the table when I asked in general if anyone else was having the problem I was having w/contributions posting to their accounts. Everybody looked at me blankly because NONE OF THEM contribute to the 403b and therefore had no idea what I was talking about EXCEPT Scooter Dude. He also contributes and knew about the technical glitch. Ha!

[frugalnacho]

Frugalnacho, what does your boss do?

Environmental consulting.  Mostly air.  The regulations have out paced qualified individuals, so there is more work to be done than qualified people to do it.