Originally Posted by topslop1

I think my 'psychological' hold up on that approach is that I 'feel' that you're not guaranteed anything with a return on your investment, and while you may do alright with an index fund, market crashes and all the wonky b.s. that the gov and manipulative banks are doing to the markets I semi 'don't trust' a steady incline. On the other hand I feel as though 'no matter what' there will be that glooming X dollar owed figure above that is guaranteed interest against me.

I'd so much as say that my own reasoning is heavily flawed here, and I'm going to have to break out of the 'feels zone' and into the logic zone of doing what you're saying.. in my heart of hearts I think your game plan is wiser.

Originally Posted by indyfabz

Which bathroom?

Originally Posted by indyfabz

We have been "kicking butt at it" for quite a while. The obesity epidemic, on the other hand, is relatively recent on the timeline. I am 51. There was no scarcity of environmental resources when I was born in 1965. There was also no obesity epidemic. What there wasn't nearly as much of back then were processed foods.

Originally Posted by rpenmanparker

You cannot imagine how much money was "not made" by all the folks who refused to reenter the stock market after the decline of 2007-9. Just stubborn refusal to accept facts at face value. The one thing that can be counted on is that well diversified equity investments will be worth more later than they are now, a lot more.The funny thing is that you don't even have to be good at timing the market. For a youngster just starting out, you can do incredibly well just letting your investments ride through the good and the bad, probably better than trying to time the market. Time for investments to grow is one of the most precious gifts that youth gives to us. When it is gone, it is gone, and it never comes back. Growing money fast is awfully harder than growing it slowly.

Originally Posted by rpenmanparker

Like Velveeta?

Originally Posted by rjones28

You don't need to retire to have a fun part-time job.

#justsaying

Originally Posted by rjones28

You don't need to retire to have a fun part-time job.

#justsaying

Originally Posted by Dan333SP

You're a generation behind now, they ditched the V8s in 2014 in favor of 1.6L turbo V6s with hybrid systems. They don't even call them engines any more, they are "power units" composed of parts like the MGU-H and MGU-K. They have crazy amounts of torque, but they sound worse than a Civic with a trashcan tailpipe. It's such a shame because the impression of speed from the old engines dating back to the V12s in the mid 90s is what got me hooked.

I get the feeling that if I didn't know anything about these cars and saw one live today, I'd say "meh" and go back to watching MotoGP.

Originally Posted by Heathpack

Yes. Sort of. I understand it too. It was just kind of crazy to me that people were arguing that the problem is that we're surrounded by an excess of calories and a sedentary culture. As if that meant that they personally had to eat cupcakes ad libitum just because they were there and that they could not make room in their life for exercise. Some of the arguments were a little more complex than that- for example, the argument was made that exercise is good but that, generally speaking, your metabolism slows as you age (true) and you become more efficient as you exercise & therefore burn slightly less calories (true), so you could never win that game (not true, you can exercise more intensely as you get more fit). The idea that small changes in the right direction (burn more calories plus consume less calories) applied over time could make a pretty big difference was lost on people. It turns out that not only do people want what they want but they also want what they want right NOW.

I get that its not easy for some people- I'm one of them (although it has gotten way easier for me with the number of calories I manage to burn in my workouts). The way I look at it is: we are all born with inherent advantages and disadvantages in life. When the zombie apocalypse comes, I will get by on way less calories and poor @datlas will wither away. My day will come.

But until then, I just have to figure out how to succeed given the constraints under which I operate.

PS The other striking thing that people really concerned themselves with during this conversation is how unfair it all was- skinny people eating pizza while they themselves had a salad for lunch. Why bother trying if life deals you an unfair hand like that? It was again just crazy thinking to me. Why not just decide that you are the lucky one? And who the f cares anyway if its fair or not? Whatever life gives you, just figure it out. Don't wish it was different and then just give up.

Originally Posted by topslop1

I think my 'psychological' hold up on that approach is that I 'feel' that you're not guaranteed anything with a return on your investment, and while you may do alright with an index fund, market crashes and all the wonky b.s. that the gov and manipulative banks are doing to the markets I semi 'don't trust' a steady incline. On the other hand I feel as though 'no matter what' there will be that glooming X dollar owed figure above that is guaranteed interest against me.

I'd so much as say that my own reasoning is heavily flawed here, and I'm going to have to break out of the 'feels zone' and into the logic zone of doing what you're saying.. in my heart of hearts I think your game plan is wiser.

Originally Posted by datlas

So I just saw a patient who is a 50-something woman who has gained 50 pounds over the past 5 years.

She told me her friend went to a natural pharmacy and is taking a "natural" hormone supplement and is losing weight. She wanted me to offer her the same thing. She got very disappointed when I said this is too controversial and if she wants to start taking exogenous hormones she needs to see a gynecologist. She questioned how could this be dangerous or controversial when it's "natural," I did my best to explain to her but clearly she was not satisfied.

Sigh. I did my best.

Originally Posted by rpenmanparker

Time for investments to grow is one of the most precious gifts that youth gives to us. When it is gone, it is gone, and it never comes back. Growing money fast is awfully harder than growing it slowly.

Originally Posted by Heathpack

PS The other striking thing that people really concerned themselves with during this conversation is how unfair it all was- skinny people eating pizza while they themselves had a salad for lunch. Why bother trying if life deals you an unfair hand like that? It was again just crazy thinking to me. Why not just decide that you are the lucky one? And who the f cares anyway if its fair or not? Whatever life gives you, just figure it out. Don't wish it was different and then just give up.

Originally Posted by datlas

So I just saw a patient who is a 50-something woman who has gained 50 pounds over the past 5 years.

She told me her friend went to a natural pharmacy and is taking a "natural" hormone supplement and is losing weight. She wanted me to offer her the same thing. She got very disappointed when I said this is too controversial and if she wants to start taking exogenous hormones she needs to see a gynecologist. She questioned how could this be dangerous or controversial when it's "natural," I did my best to explain to her but clearly she was not satisfied.

Sigh. I did my best.

Originally Posted by indyfabz

We have a good number of young/younger people at my place of employ. We also have a darn good 401(k) plan. (Last year, before I became eligible to make catch-up contributions, my effective employer match was 25%. I think it's down to 20% now.) During a company meeting a few years ago, the heard of HR and benefits, after seeing the contribution numbers, felt compelled to explain to the younger folks how the earlier you start contributing the more time you will have for that money to grow over the long term. He also felt compelled to explain that if you are not at least contributing the amount up to which the company matches dollar for dollar, you are leaving a good mount of money on the table.

Personally, I started a bit late, but that was because I had about $23K in student loan debt at a whopping 9%. I wanted to pay that off first.

Originally Posted by topslop1

Damn, I am behind...

Originally Posted by Dan333SP

It's not a race. It's just money.


You can always just do what I did and just marry someone that is far better at managing/planning that kind of stuff, and continue about your merry way while living within a budget.

Originally Posted by Trsnrtr

I ride with a retired chiropractor. If you want to hear "natural" supplement nonsense, come ride with us.

Originally Posted by Trsnrtr

She's retired but still has a considerable supplement business.

Originally Posted by datlas

Honestly, I am very skeptical of anyone who makes money from a supplement they recommend. Too much of a conflict of interest.

Originally Posted by topslop1

Are you freaking kidding me?

Originally Posted by indyfabz

I forget what the actual formula is. Something like 100% match for the first 6% of your salary and then a smaller percentage match up to a certain amount after that. When I was contributing the max of $16.5K/year I would get over $4K/year in match. Came out to just under 25%. Being 50+ y.o., the max for me is now $24.5K, so the percentage match has dropped.

Now I am really going to freak you out: We also have a defined benefit plan, commonly referred to as a "pension plan." I can retire at 60 and get a full benefit. I can leave at 55, but it will be reduced for early retirement. The difference between the two amounts is not insignificant, which makes it tough to leave at 55. Health care is other big problem.

Originally Posted by Heathpack

It was a crazy conversation- most people chiming in that they just were not going to make the "sacrifices" it would take to lose weight or maintain that loss. All they could see was giving stuff up (big bowls of pasta) and doing things that were hard (exercise). OMG, I was trying to talk about delicious (raspberries!) and fun (cycling!) but in the end really it boiled down to Americans want what they want. The cost or consequences of what they want is just not part of the equation, this concept simply did not compute at all. The people I was conversing with are not kids, these are middle-aged people. But they just struck me as not really being mature adults.