Posts by Benjamin Rodriguez2

Have you even considered just selling the place yourself and paying off the mortgage ahead of time? Honestly, wouldn't it be better if you were the one calling the shots instead of letting some massive bank like Chase dictate your life? Besides, if the bank ends up seizing the property and puts it on the market, there's always that nasty little catch where if they don't get the full amount back from the sale, you’re still stuck on the hook for the difference.

Keith Cruz3 said:Hey, Benjamin Rodriguez2—could you let me know how much you were putting into that mini savings plan and what kind of credit limit you ended up getting?

Direct answer to you and wiredotter12

- total contract amount was about $30,000
- my own cash after saving for 2 years was roughly $10,000
- after those two years, I got my savings back plus the loan payout
- loan was around $20,000, fixed at a 3% interest rate, monthly payments were about $180 over a 12-year term

I mean, sure, it’s peanuts in the grand scheme of things, but that $30,000 was exactly what I needed to pay off my old mortgage and finally breathe easy. With this kind of setup, you can't just pull out the cash whenever you feel like it; you have to spend the whole damn pile on specific stuff, like buying a house, fixing it up, or clearing old debt. You can always pay the loan back faster than 12 years if you want, but honestly, why would I rush when I'm paying such a pathetic, rock-solid fixed rate?

The thing that really screwed most people over with those traditional savings plans is that you usually have to save for years before you even see a dime in credit, whereas a regular bank will just hand you a loan right now. That’s why these places started offering all these "bridge financing" or "pre-financing" schemes where you get the money upfront, and then your monthly payments cover both the savings contribution and the loan repayment all at once—it’s a whole mess of fine print, and I won't bore you with the technicalities. I didn't even use that option myself, though I guess the ladies working the counters at the local branch could probably walk you through the specifics better than I can.

Keith Cruz3 said:@ Bankei

Come on, don't talk nonsense. You didn't actually land a 3% mortgage; what you got was bridge financing—and if you've only put down 30% of your own cash, that effectively pushes your interest rate closer to 5.5%. The idea that our local banks would offer those rates while operating at a loss is unrealistic—it's a completely different story when you look at how other major US banks operate. Honestly, the government should just insist that banks offer decent interest rates on housing savings—around 4-5%—rather than a pathetic 2% if they expect the state to subsidize those savings.

And here comes the genius 😁 I actually took out a LOAN at a fixed 3% rate and that's what I'm paying back. This whole bridge financing thing is totally irrelevant.

http://www.wellsfargo.com/savings

ambermaker13 said:If you're banking on the government to save you, you're going to end up broke and bitter.
Learn from other people's mistakes for once...

And who exactly are you trusting? Mutual funds? Your own supposed ability to pick winning stocks? Or do you actually run your own business?

Everyone acts like some kind of Wall Street genius when the market is mooning, thinking they can somehow bail out right before the correction hits... as if that ever works...

I mean, sure, if you're playing the twenty-year long game, that's supposed to "smooth out" the risks, but honestly, it smooths out your returns too. Americans have crunched the numbers and found that sticking with stocks pays off most over the long haul, but that’s based on their specific market dynamics. It doesn't mean you won't get burned; on average, you might not, but that’s cold comfort for the people who lose everything because they were sitting in the wrong seat at the absolute worst time.

So, you can let there be a massive crowd of people who are perfectly fine with a guaranteed return that barely even beats inflation—it's not weird, really, they just have their own way of looking at the math...

Rachel Ruiz39 said:How am I supposed to stay true to myself when everyone else is calling the shots and rigging the game!!??
And how exactly am I meant to just chuck my computer out the window when, unfortunately, this machine is literally my livelihood!?
Honestly, I’d much rather be out working some farm somewhere...
If you look at the math, a human life is maybe 50 years if you count from age 22 or 24—you know, after all the messing around is done—and then it's just backbreaking labor until you drop. Every single day boils down to:
-commuting to work -grinding away with frustrated assholes -trudging home on the pavement -eating -shitting -shoving your junk into some fleshy hole
-sleeping

But where in all this mess is the spiritual side? Like, seriously, has anyone actually stopped to ask themselves why we’re even living on this godforsaken planet, just to hoard material crap before we kick the bucket?? Where is the fucking point in any of this??

No joke, man, it sounds like you're describing some kind of imaginary utopia. I get where you're coming from, though; we're both in the software game😎 I spend my entire day staring at a screen, but honestly, I find it pretty damn fun, and even when I'm working like a dog, those are actually some of my best moments. It's not masochism, really—there’s just this incredible feeling you get when you actually build something, especially if you're getting paid well and people actually respect what you do. Nothing beats that.

To me, capitalism is actually kind of wild. I sit there programming things (which is basically just playing around) in a nice, air-conditioned office with a view of the California Coast, and in exchange, my wife, the kids, and I get a house, a car, food, vacations, clothes, and everything else we need. Calling it "wonderful" feels like an understatement. Plus, nobody is stopping me from being a devout Catholic, a Muslim, or a Hare Krishna, or just spending my days drinking beer and watching whatever the hell I want. I have total freedom.

Is it always perfect? Of course not. Companies go under, or sometimes the work just dries up and the money stops flowing, and you have to move on to the next thing. But like they say out west, sometimes a kick in the ass is just the push you need to move forward😁 and there's a lot of truth in that

Do I hate how commercialized everything has become? Yeah, I do. But what's the issue? You don't have to watch TV, you don't have to listen to the radio, you don't have to engage with any of it. Just read some Shakespeare... A lot of people trash capitalism because they claim it makes people shallow and stupid with garbage shows like Big Brother. But that's just not true; it only makes people stupid if they don't have anything better to do than watch that trash. In a place like Sweden, there isn't much of an audience for that mindless stuff, so their shows might be about things like "How to open and run your own restaurant," which is way more interesting, even if most Americans aren't interested in that right now.

Basically, socialism was a great setup for people who just wanted to be left alone, but it was absolute hell for the high-energy types hungry for cash, career growth, and knowledge... They had to jump through endless hoops just to burn off their energy. Capitalism is the exact opposite of that..

ruggedlynx9 said:Hey there. So, I'm currently looking at getting a loan through my Walmart savings account, where I've been sitting on about $13,200 of my own cash for four years now. I need a total of $64,000, which means the savings institution would be chipping in $50,800. But since I don't have that full 40% upfront, I'm looking at this mezzanine financing model where the monthly payment ends up being $350 over 21 years and 9 months.
On the other hand, at Hypo, a $60,000 loan over 20 years comes out to $385 a month (with no down payment required), provided you just keep your accounts open there.
Walmart: $50,800 over 21 years at $350/mo = $88,200
Hypo: $60,000 over 20 years at $385/mo = $92,400
Cheers, everyone.

Your math is a little off there; if you're paying Walmart back over 21 years and 9 months, that’s $350 times the term, which lands you at $91,350. Meanwhile, with Hypo, you're walking away with an extra $10,000 for basically the same amount of money. I think the obvious choice speaks for itself, doesn't it?😁

Ona007 said:What about hiring people from Mexico or Canada? They’ve got the same skill sets and experience, just at a lower price point, right?

🙄 🙄 🙄

And don't even get me started on China, Mongolia, or Vietnam... I mean, honestly, you hear rumors flying around Cleveland this morning that JPMorgan Chase is actually bringing in thirty women from Thailand just to handle credit references.😎

Jerry Moore2 said:Look... if we’re talking about foreign investors coming in as employers, America—given the unemployment numbers—just isn't in a position to dictate terms. The employer is going to set the rules, which basically means the conditions are always going to be worse for the worker...

If the government tries to step in with some heavy-handed labor regulations to stop this, they’ll just end up driving those investors away, and then we're back at square one, right?

....
The whole thing just puts massive pressure on the individual who's out there trying to sell their brainpower or their sweat...

It’s pretty obvious you aren’t living here in the States, so you’re making some pretty huge generalizations. We don't actually have a massive unemployment problem over here. 😎 Don't believe me? Fine. When JPMorgan Chase puts out an ad for an economics intern or a cashier, they get 300 applicants instantly.

But when you start looking for people with specialized skills, actual experience, and fluency in a foreign language—especially if the job posting says "must be under 40"—then the pool gets incredibly small, particularly if the employer isn't some big-name corporation. And everyone knows what someone like that is worth. For those types of professionals in America, wages have been climbing steadily for years, not dropping. Once more foreign investors flood in, the demand for those specific people is only going to skyrocket. 😁

Jerry Moore2 said:With tech moving as fast as it does, why would any modern boss want to deal with the headache of full-time staff who just sort of drift through their tasks? It doesn't make sense anymore. They’re all pivoting toward specialized firms that can just step in and knock out a project from point A to point B. And honestly, sometimes those "firms" are just single freelancers looking to crush it as fast as possible because they need the glowing reviews to land the next gig...

The whole thing with outsourcing to specialty shops isn't even news in the corporate world. Companies have been doing this forever—starting with the peripheral stuff like security guards, janitors, drivers, or IT support, and then eventually moving up to business software, marketing, legal services, and pretty much everything else. It’s not some grand revelation; it’s just basic math. Nowadays, everyone needs a massive array of complex services that you simply buy off the shelf.

But, hold on a second... Every company has what we call its "core business," right? That one specific niche where they’re actually elite (or maybe just have a monopoly 😁) and that’s where the actual money comes from. You can't really outsource that part; you need your own people in the trenches because they are the ones driving the revenue—they are the specialists being talked about. Even in certain professions, that might just be a one-person show. It’s a pretty clean way to run things: you focus exclusively on what you’re legendary at and just buy everything else on the market at the best price you can find.

Of course, this whole shift causes some serious social tremors. Back in the old days under the old socialist systems, people doing "non-specialized" jobs—you know, the roles anyone could fill like cleaners, drivers, or building supers—actually had steady employment and a decent standing within companies. Now? They’re stuck in these hyper-unstable roles at service agencies, competing against college kids, under-the-table workers, and anyone else willing to work for peanuts. You see it with high-skill jobs too. There’s a massive difference between a PC technician working directly for AT&T versus someone working for an AT&T subcontractor who has to squeeze out the lowest possible bid to the big guys just so they can afford to buy an Audi 😢 before they even think about paying their employees.

If I’m being honest, the whole setup seems like progress for anyone who actually possesses real skills or knowledge. If you’re part of the core business (which is all there is, really 😁), you’re valued because you generate the cash, and you’re forced to constantly sharpen your tools if you want to stay relevant 😁. For everyone else, the system isn't exactly a dream, but let's face it—life was only easy for them back when the old socialist era was still a thing...

Now, naturally, someone is going to start whining about crazy deadlines being baked into these contracts. And sure, that’s a valid point, especially in certain industries, but it’s also a cold hard fact that you can only squeeze so many units of QUALITY work out of a human being in a given timeframe. Anything beyond that is basically garbage, and that reality is eventually going to carry some weight when it comes to negotiating those deadlines.

Ronald Moore8 said:As of right now, I’m a hard no—we just aren't ready for this yet.

And honestly, it isn't just about big industry or farming; we're talking about schools, healthcare, property records, land ownership laws... the whole mess is unorganized.

I’ve got this nagging fear that those tiny little steps forward we've taken in those sectors were only done because the USA was breathing down our necks. It’s pretty depressing to admit, but without that outside pressure, we're basically just a disorganized, messy afterthought, regardless of how gorgeous the view is along the Atlantic coast.

Honestly, I’m using Wells Fargo myself and I couldn't be happier with the setup. You don't have to deal with those annoying little hardware tokens you have to carry around in your pocket, and there's no clunky card reader you need to plug into your computer just to move some money. It’s just this slim little card, basically the size of a standard credit card, that holds all your security codes. And man, the speed? It’s lightning fast...

That Diners Club is just too liberal if you ask me. Giving a card to a guy like him? Please.

Walter Garcia6
anarchist
Location: Hollywood

If I were running my own credit firm, there's no way he'd ever get approved 😁. It seems like they only want people who are totally devoted to the system and just love spending money, right? 👍

Bar Kent said:I’m mostly thinking about us "regular folks"...
Honestly, JPMorgan Chase is way ahead of the pack—I don't get how the other banks haven't realized that people would flock to them if they just offered a flat $0.50 commission $0.33 instead of that crappy percentage-based nonsense...😕

I’ve got my account over at Goldman Sachs and I’m actually pretty happy with it. A buddy of mine sits right next to me and he’s at JPMorgan Chase, and man, does he complain about how slow their system is. He actually timed it once and it took him seventeen minutes just to log in—it was enough to make him 😁.

At Goldman Sachs, the fee is 0.0025%, with a minimum of one buck, so basically everything I trade costs about $133 a dollar, which covers almost all my accounts. Still, those guys are total jerks; they’ll hit you with a fee even if you're paying a company that already has an account with them 👎.

Chloe Wells29 said:Look, I know this is a total blast from the past, but I heard some rumors floating around that you won't be able to pay Duke Energy bills with credit cards or through Online Banking anymore. I mean, if they dropped credit cards, fine, whatever, but cutting off online payments? I just can't wrap my head around that logic. It's literally just pulling money straight from my checking account! Now they’re acting like they’re doing us a favor by offering fee-free payments at the Federal Reserve counters. Personally, I’d much rather pay a few $0.33 fees than trek across town just to stand in line at one of their branches to settle a bill. Plus, it would mean printing out a new slip every single month because I basically track my own actual usage and calculate what I owe at the end of the month anyway.
But on their website, there’s zero mention of any of this; it just says this:
'You can pay your electricity bills using various payment methods, depending on your preferences and the options available through Exelon.'

I think you misheard the details. 😁 You're right about the credit cards—they aren't going to allow that because Duke Energy doesn't feel like handing over transaction fees to the card companies.

As for paying online, it’s no different than any other transaction you'd make with a bank or the post office; whether it's Duke Energy or any other corporation, they don't actually care how the money gets to them, as long as it lands in their account and stays there. I used Chase Online the other day and everything worked exactly like it always has. 👍

The whole thing with the Federal Reserve seems more like a slow move to eventually phase out cash payments at Duke Energy's service windows altogether...

Look, I get it—automation is already creeping into everything in the US, and it’s pretty obvious how much tech is taking over our daily lives, but we aren't quite at that tipping point yet where humans become nothing more than peripheral accessories to machines acting as the primary producers. And yeah, I totally hear you on the whole "tiny elite getting filthy rich while everyone else struggles" thing, but that's just the reality of today; I'm talking about what happens (potentially) tomorrow.

I honestly feel like there’s really only one massive hurdle we have to clear, and that’s the whole mess regarding who actually owns the technology and everything it spits out. See, the problem is that it’s all private property. Unless we’re looking at some kind of massive revolution—which, let’s be honest, usually ends up being a disaster—I don't see any logical way for the people holding all the cards to just suddenly decide to give up their ownership. What’s Dragičević’s take on this whole situation?

Uh, I don't know, man, it seems to be working just fine on my end

Well, let's keep this little dance going then 🙂

I mean, sure, I agree that most people aren't exactly out here trying to climb the ladder through hard work or anything, but once they actually have to deal with their basic survival needs, they’ll be forced—whether they like it or not—to find some way to "prove" themselves, and that’s going to end up being through things like education or science...

Scientists? You really think the masses are going to become scientists? Or innovators? Honestly, I’m terrified that most people just aren't cut out for that kind of stuff, and look at me, I'm the first to admit it 😁 Even a university professor once confessed to me that he can barely keep up with the truly IMPORTANT scientific papers in his own incredibly narrow niche... Now, just imagine all those Americans without college degrees (who make up about 93% of the population) trying to decode the human genome, messing around with nanotechnology, or inventing entirely new programming languages.... Yeah, good luck with that. I'm not saying you need to be an Einstein to write a research paper, but you still need a decent amount of IQ to pull it off.

That automation you're talking about? It’s already happening right now, at least in developed nations, and the fallout is pretty much always the same: fewer opportunities for anyone who isn't highly educated or intellectually gifted. I mean, who do you think is out there voting for Le Pen, Heider, the Republican Party, and the rest of that right-wing crowd? It's exactly those people—the ones left without jobs, without any real future, and without the tech skills to pivot. Their roles were swallowed up by technology, and whatever scraps are left are being picked up by Chinese people, Indian people, and everyone else. Germany is already sitting on several million of them, and despite throwing massive amounts of money and effort at the problem, they just can't get them employed. It’s a depressing reality, but honestly, nobody needs them.

Dragičević has that classic socialist habit of worshiping technology, acting like he doesn't realize the primary reason any company introduces new tech is to save money on payroll, not because they love the gadgets themselves.

Of course, you could argue that people will find jobs developing this new technology. Sure, they will, but it won't be the poor souls who lost their livelihoods because of it. Germany has millions of unemployed people, yet they are simultaneously desperate for thousands upon thousands of specialists in various fields. Don't kid yourself; those millions of people CANNOT be absorbed into those high-tech roles—they simply can't and don't know how to do that kind of work.

Technology brings plenty of perks, but they aren't distributed equally. Bill Gates gets another $40 billion, while others get a pink slip and welfare checks until they hit retirement age. 😁
Maybe Dragičević has some brilliant suggestion on how to "level the playing field." What, some new "proletarian dictatorship"? 😁

Even now, it's obvious that rapid technological growth is widening the gap in society—the rich get richer, and the poor get poorer (and that goes for pretty much any developed country). It's the exact opposite of what you want (and what I want), which is what Adolf predicts.

To be totally honest and blunt, I think either this Adolf guy is
a) a massive dreamer or
b) a huge naive fool or
c) has absolutely no clue how the real world works or
d) is just a smart guy selling snake oil at a premium.

Interest rates aren't really calculated, they're just decided.

Nah, the guy is asking about the Effective interest rate. Since you're clearly not living in the States, you probably haven't heard much about our standard X 😁

Just a quick little lesson on X: banks—well, all of us, really—have this tendency to play games, right? So they run these ads bragging about these super low interest rates on loans, but then they absolutely fleece you with all these extra fees they conveniently leave out of the pitch 😢 , like some random processing fee, a mandatory deposit, or whatever other shady schemes they cook up that end up driving the actual cost of the loan through the roof. Our geniuses over at the Federal Reserve 🙏 basically told the banks they had to bundle all those hidden costs together with the nominal (advertised) rate, and that’s what we call the X. That X is supposed to give you the real price tag of the loan so people can actually compare offers from different banks without getting played.

It sounds great on paper and it's technically been implemented (the X is legally required to be on the ads and everything), but there's still plenty of ways they get you that isn't baked into the X—like forcing you to buy specific insurance for yourself or your house, which dictates who you have to deal with, or picking out your notary, or choosing the appraiser for you... But hey, I guess it's still better
than how it used to be.

Here's the link if you want to dive into the rabbit hole

http://www.federalreserve.gov/bank/common/inf..._interest_rate

I swear, there used to be this one Microsoft Excel file hanging out on the Wells Fargo website, you know? I haven't seen it popping up lately, though. Maybe it just slipped through the cracks somewhere... you might want to go dig around and take a look.

If a guy doesn't have any goals left, or even just some decent illusions to cling to, he might as well just end it all.

I mean, living without a goal? You can maybe scrape by with that, but once you lose your illusions, you're pretty much cooked 😁

anyway, I'm the new kid on the block here, so if anyone could point me toward a decent thread or two about spirituality—you know, like actual Spirituality, what does that even mean in this place—that'd be great. Just trying to get a handle on the basic concepts 😁 😕