The Off Topic Topic

[Grey Fox]

R8s are a really nice car.

[Josquius]

Was the 50s one a winner?
I hope they haven't just chose a random crap one from then.

[jimmy olsen]

Supposedly

http://www.gymnasticsnation.com/olympic-vaults-1956-vs-2012/

[Syt]

http://laughingsquid.com/social-pool-an-isolated-pool-in-the-southern-california-desert-that-is-open-to-the-public/

The outdoor installation "Social Pool" is a small, public pool by Austrian artist Alfredo Barsuglia that is located in an isolated stretch of the Mojave Desert in Southern California. The installation features an eleven by five foot pool, a solar-powered filtration system, and a lockable cover that can only be accessed with a key located at the MAK Center for Art and Architecture in Los Angeles. Upon receipt of the key, prospective pool-goers are given the GPS coordinates of the installation. The pool is several hours drive from Los Angeles and a long distance from the nearest road. "Social Pool" is open May 1st to September 30th, and there are no reservations.

Pool closed:



Pool open:

[garbon]

A pool in the Desert during summer?

[Josquius]

Well that's not a waste of money

[Ideologue]

Made five bucks on the scratch off today.  Still holding out for that $200k payday.

What I would do, what I would do... I don't even know.

"Student loans?" you say?  Remind me never let you manage anyone's money, possibly even your own.

[jimmy olsen]

Are you serious?

That's obviously what you should do with the money first.

[Eddie Teach]

Are you serious?

That's obviously what you should do with the money first.

He probably figures he could still get away with not paying all of it.

[Ideologue]

Of course I'm serious, I wouldn't mention it if I weren't.  It would be throwing away $120,000, considering the favorable terms by which the government has seen fit to let me soft default.  And funnily enough they don't seem to have considered the moral hazard of student debtor-lottery winners (stranger, though, that they did not consider the possibility of student debtor-heirs)--to the best of my knowledge they never decided to put in any language wherein a windfall triggers a call on the debt or anything like that.

It's like this.  Since going on PAYE, if my income remains steady, I will pay about $30,000 of my debt over 20 years, at which point it will be discharged (and I will owe taxes, amounting to maybe another $40,000, which would ordinarily be written down thanks to the insolvency provision of the IRC).

If I won $200k--I believe it's taxes paid--my PAYE rate would increase for the following year to the maximum rate, due to my one year's worth of $300k or so in AGI.  This means about $18,000 in payments would be due and the following year I would return to about $150 a month.  (I could possibly use an alternative documentation of income even in Year One, but it might be worth the $17k to avoid the publicity and public shaming of my own person, and the PR damage that could accrue to the program, which I think is tremendously worthy.  Still, it might be worth considering.)

This would leave me $182k to do with as I saw fit.  I would sink it into assets the IRS couldn't touch, namely a home (which would also save me rent) and a nice used Camry.  I'd also pay off my consumer debt.  I'd then have about $20k left for a rainy day/retirement fund, which I believe would also be shielded from the IRS (if not, blow it slowly in a lawful way).  Except I might take about $5k, buy all the expensive Disney and Criterion films I want that are on blu-ray and/or a take hooker jaunt to Nye County, Nevada, and indulge myself with a $3000 sleepover with a 95 pound Japanese woman, which as you know is something I've always wanted to do and would be a fitting apex to my heretofore meaningless existence.  Then I would get married and have children, effectively killing the past and coming back to life.

The only benefit to paying it all off would be to my credit.  And if I already own a home outright, BFD.

Financial planning, thy name is Ideologue.

[Ideologue]

P.S.: If it's not taxes paid, no sex worker, and the ordinary number of blu-rays.  Still a home (possibly with a mortgage ) and Camry.

[Syt]

[MadImmortalMan]

Scandinavia rules. 

[Eddie Teach]

Darn, I was hoping to listen to some Nigerian metal.

[MadImmortalMan]

A couple of those Greek bands are pretty good actually.