Lately I’ve been spending a lot of time reading the Wall Street Journal, financial and investment books, YouTube videos on financial topics. Mostly because I have guilt about buying a Ford SuperDuty truck, even if I’m not getting a real-fancy trim. But the advertisers are on me, and they want me to know what I really need is to spend my money on a financial advisor.
Reminds me a lot of the fun house room that Better Help is, the mental health online counseling service who creepy tactics follow you around the Internet, and then speak to you in creepy voices late at night when you can’t get to sleep and you turn on a podcast to give your mind something to think about as sit their lying in bed. I did the licensed mental health counselor thing for five sessions, it’s was fine way to spend $125 bucks and mostly get balled out for my use of the word redneck or having an accusatory voice raised when you talk about eventually building that off-grid cabin, like you plan to be some kind of hermit. If anything I got out of those sessions is you shouldn’t being calling yourself mentally ill, unless of course you want to be mentally ill. Seeking professional help is a way to spend money, while not actually fixing your own problems.
There was a time when I was looking at buying a house and a homestead and considering the benefits of developing a relationship with a financial advisor to better understand the tax ramifications of selling off my investments. I had hoped that maybe a subject matter expert on investing could do two things for me:
Provide insight into the tax code and investing stragety beyond what I already knew
Allow me to see my own biases from an independent perspective
Those were the same things I was looking for with my licensed mental health professional, which he did to a certain degree, but also I realized the relationship was less beneficial as I hoped – he couldn’t just change me by telling me some magic words or giving me some drug. The world doesn’t work that way. Most of the things a financial advisor would tell me are likely things I already know or could find out from reading a book or internet research.
I am not saying an advisor of any sort is a bad thing, indeed both of those bullet points can be valuable for many people. Many people can benefit from mental health counseling and financial advise. But many others do not benefit from such services, especially when mental health counselors and financial advisors have a reason to push and obfuscate their services so people don’t realize they don’t need them as much as they are sold that they do need them.
Mental health counselors and financial advisors dewel on complexity. It’s in their advantage to make their products and explanations are complicated and hard to understand as possible for the layman. Even when a simple mental health issue or financial portfolio can be managed with simple products and concepts, it is really not in their benefit to sell simplicity. It is certainly not in their advantage to sell self-help, because that would mean you wouldn’t be buying their services.
Maybe at some point in the future I will give further thought to both mental health counseling or financial advising – as those bullet points are valid. But I do think advisors often make things overly complicated for marginal benefits, and too often are focused on improving their business then helping the individuals that are coming to them for help.
I can see the desire to own equal weighted funds, especially as they get you more small caps when thee magnificent seven are dominating the market and over weighting index funds, but I think a lower fee small cap index fund is a better way to correct for such imbalance with less turnover than a true equal weighted fund. That said, a lot of small caps are that way because they have slow growth, are in dying industries and have limited prospects for growth. But I do have some investments in small cap funds just like I do some investments in energy sector stocks as a hedge against energy inflation pulling down the market as a whole. But they are not a large part of my portfolio as they're risky and kind of side bets.
Apparently the dire emergency snowstorm pulled off earlier then they expected, despite all the homeland extreme security warnings without the word ICE, lest it confuse people that the federal government is invading their communities while I continue to explore options for the Ford F-350 trucks. I am actually not minding not owning a vehicle currently.
After all the warnings of the Dire Emergency Homeland Extreme Snowstorm, ☃️ we ended up getting like two inches of very light fluffy snow in Delmar and already the roads are mostly clear. It stopped snowing like six hours ago. Yes, if you have had more then 5 beers in the past hour, please stay off the roads, they’re dangerous when you’re that intoxicated. But other then that, I’m just shrugging. I guess I’m just spoiled living in the city without a car. I’m glad at least I didn’t need to run to laundromat at 6 AM this morning, though if I hadn’t done my wash over the weekend I’ll probably just waited until tomorrow.
I am not minding not having to clean the snow off my truck, 🌨️ or for that matter driving into the office. Neighbor took my parking spot last night, 🅿️ which was fine, it’s not like I’m going to be parking there until spring time. He moved his truck this morning after shoveling out his spot. Lot of snow of snow, but it’s light and fluffy, although far less snow then the warnings of the Dire Emergency 🚨 on the news media yesterday. I bet there is some big snow banks in the city, but the thing about living in the city, they never get much snow. Buses are few minutes late, but not that bad. 🚍 If my office wasn’t closed today, I wouldn’t have hesitated to catch the bus in after watching the Real Time Bus Info on my phone.
Working from home today, as the office is closed down. 🏢 I actually did not bring my laptop home, so if I need VPN access I’ll just end up riding my bike or catching a bus to the office, 🚌 honestly the snow has wound down, and I could go to the office, though the buses may be backed up in the city and running late with all the abandoned and poorly parked cars in the city before the snow emergency starts. Honestly, the biggest annoyance for me is the delayed buses after the snow. I’m hoping they declare the snow emergency quickly so traffic moves quickly again on city streets. 🚲 I am probably going to bike in tomorrow via Corning’s Hill, so avoid the delays of Delaware Avenue if there are still cars abandoned on the road. It will be cold, and I’m not sure if the paths through Corning Preserve will be plowed but if necessary I can ride city streets in.
I mean I know people in out laying areas got a lot more snow, ☃️ but in the city, it’s usually more alarmist then otherwise unless of course you park on the street. But the snow appears to be done, and if not for delayed buses or the bike path being blocked, there is very little impact on my life – working from home seems to almost be a bonus as I don’t have to shower or put on clean clothes – and I save on the evening bus fare. 🚍 Of course, I do want the snow to be gone so I can start using the Rail Trail over Corning’s Hill, especially come later in February when daylight will permit riding in both directions. 🚲
I am sure I’d feel differently about the snow 🧑🏻🌾 if I had livestock to feed 🐐, water throughs to break the ice on, a driveway to plow, a path to clear back to the barns, compost pile and burning barrel. At least no fire risk! Solar panels to clean off, generators to start, woodstove to restock, water lines to worry about freezing. 🤷♂️ I do like those timber-frame houses and that barnyard smell a bit too much. Or having to drive on icy, slippery roads to work. But I live in he city and are working remote today. Someday when I have the homestead, I’ll be able to curl up next to woodstove after getting done with chores, I really want to avoid living away from city while I still have to work there. 🚍 People mock riding the bus or your mountain bike as a unit director, and living in a very dumpy apartment, but it sure is convenient after a snow storm. And the hell of it is the city never gets that much snow, and in the more spread out suburban areas, the snow is easily pushed out of way, 🚘 traffic flows restored quickly with few issues. I get, it’s different when you live some place like Westerlo, but if I lived in a place like that, I’d not want to have to go to city on days like this or be dependent on things like the power grid which often fails in bad weather. 🔌
People are shocked 🤯 I rode my mountain bike to Walmart 4½ miles in yesterday’s bitterly cold weather, but I really enjoyed the apples 🍏 I got among other things. Made a really good apple bread in my cast iron skillet in the oven yesterday for dinner. And while my fingers were cold and numb at first riding out to Walmart, 🧤 by the way back they weren’t as bothered by the cold and indeed I took the longer route back home. Honestly, it’s just nice not having to clean off my truck or deal with snow at all, though maybe later I’ll dig out the bus stop assuming CDTA doesn’t have it cleaned up by tomorrow. Eggs this morning with onions and shredded broccoli, 🥦🥚 it had been a while since I did that. I think I overdone the pinto beans thing, though I did have onions and beans for lunch yesterday. Tonight I’ll probably break out some of the leftovers I’ve been taking home from mom and dad’s house, they’ve been accumulating again in the freezer.
I keep studying inventory at local dealerships 🔎 🛻, noting the specific models available and listed prices, not that those are real prices as there is always a bit of flexibility and doesn’t include dealer fees or taxes. Not that I’m planning to buy tomorrow, but it’s good to know what configurations are available. I was all about getting the 6.8L over the 7.3L but I’m now leaning towards the bigger engine, as it supposedly tougher and more reliable and 10L140 is a heavier duty tranny, though that does seem to be weak spot on the Fords. Also started to consider Dodge Ram HDs, I’ve heard good things about them, and while I would not necessarily consider any Chrysler products which are infamous for their defects especially their Jeeps, they’re supposedly quite good. Fuel economy doesn’t seem much different between the Ford 6.8L and the 7.3L but the later has a better reputation, though like any engine, there are people who have issues. Definately want to get the FX4 package, just for the skid plates. They aren’t perfect but they do offer protection especially against snow. And having the locker in the rear will help with traction. All HD trucks have front straight axles, which avoid so many of problems I’ve had with independent front suspension with the rough roads I drive, straight axles don’t have control arms or ball joints to break. And naturally asipriated engines require much less repairs. I know, it’s just mental masturbation over buying a big truck that I don’t really need. But I make good money and live in city where I ride my bike or bus it to work, like any greenie who burns his trash would. Sigh!
I get so annoyed when I am riding the bus to work after a big snow storm and traffic is severely delayed by cars parked and abandoned in the middle of the street due to the enormous snow banks curbside along Delaware Avenue.
But it’s kind of nice after this snow storm to know I won’t have to dig out my truck or do any shoveling, as the landlord will plow the driveway and CDTA will plow out the bus stop. I don’t have to think about icy roads or the cold, I can just stumble out to the bus stop on Tuesday, keeping an eye on the real-time bus info, and just get to work with no real issues, except maybe where the bus lets you on or off in snow.
