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Joined 2 years ago
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Cake day: June 2nd, 2023

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  • In short, since this is somewhat near term, you probably want as little risk as possible, so stocks are not recommended.

    Said longer, a high interest savings account or bond fund at 2-3% is probably your safest bet, but you also need to consider the opportunity cost— tariffs WILL increase the price of a new vehicle this time next year, so are you planning to buy new? Does it make any sense to buy now and refinance later? Tariffs could be as high as 25%, depending on which way the wind blows (country of origin, assuming new, etc).

    Opportunity cost aside, what’s your spending target, how much do you have saved already, and how much does optimizing on interest rate actually help?

    From $0, saving $300/mo for 3 years at 0% interest is $10,800.

    At 3% interest, the same total after 3 years is $11,127, which nets you $327. That’s not nothing, but even an insanely optimistic 10% is ~$1100, but you would be just as likely to lose money.

    Your needs and risk profile are yours alone, we’d need a lot more information to say more than “low risk and buy used”.







  • On day one, do one push up. Day two, two. Sounds a bit ridiculous, but it gradually builds difficulty.

    Crucially, it is not all in one sitting. On day 10, if needed, do five when you wake up, and five before bed.

    Break it up into something achievable. And if you miss a day, don’t sweat it. Again, the idea is to start to build, or rebuild strength and flexibility, the exercises themselves barely matter; you could do planks instead, for example.


  • So to correct one thing:

    Poor posture is a symptom of poor core strength, particularly, your rhomboids and lower back. If your muscles are both stronger and more flexible, they will literally pull your bones into the correct alignment, without any conscious thought towards sitting straighter.

    Start by taking a short walk once a day (free). A 100 day pushup challenge (free) or starting Yoga classes (can be free on YouTube, but in-person has several benefits, including having someone correcting your form, and some social structures to help provide extra motivation) would be a great next step. Longer term, maybe light weights and rows alongside using a treadmill or stationary bike.

    If you choose to look into weight training, “Starting strength” is a decent program by Mark Rippetoe that I would recommend.



  • Even as a power user… You can’t.

    And, in the 21st century, nothing on your computer is safe and private, least of all, browser extensions.

    Even if an extension is safe today, with a tiny handful of notable exceptions, it will be”monetized”, or bought and sold to someone that will use it to install adware on your system, train their AI model, or steal your personal information.

    There is no feasible defense to this for a layperson, other than absolute transparency in FOSS, and even that is under attack via flaws in the software supply chain.

    The best a layperson can hope for is that major vendors care more about exclusivity and locking others out of their ecosystem, such that they are the only ones who have full control of your data (Apple, Google, Microsoft).



  • The best description I have seen for single store franchisees is, you’ve paid a lot to give yourself a job. They are not lucrative, and in fact, are capital intensive, and often predatory.

    There is a very high up front cost, and you generally do not own the real estate. This means you are locked into 30 year leases, often with complicated terms that are solely beneficial to the land owner.

    Next, with regards to liquidity, if you don’t own the real estate, you often can’t get multiple business loans with a single franchise, so you must secure the loan with your personal assets, which means you will go personally bankrupt if you hit a rough patch.

    Then, after dealing with the complicated business to business transactions and legal work, you still have to deal with the corporate bullshit, taxes, and supervisory duties, particularly if you do not already have a strong business partner to do this for you.

    Pretty much, unless you are independently wealthy, own the real estate in a high traffic location, or already have multiple other franchises, it’s a losing venture that will kill your soul and eat every dollar you have.