Blog

Short blog posts, journal entries, and random thoughts. Topics include a mix of personal and the world at large.

Not again!

I am incredibly peeved the insurance on my BMW M2 is going up once again. What is going on? I thought inflation has stabilized? A $180 increase for the next six month period, for a car I seldomly drive, and has had zero accidents on record. Worst of all, Progressive - the insurance company underwriting the policy - is the cheapest of all the major companies.

Contributing to the problem, a double-edge sword, is the M2 has kept its value really well. The lack of severe depreciation means in the event of an accident, the replacement cost remains high. Of course, it’s nice to have a low-depreciating car, in the event I do sell it in the future.

And sell it I just might if the insurance cost either keeps increasing, or doesn’t go down. I can afford to insure a high-performance sports car, but I kind of don’t want to anymore. Gone is the era of car enthusiasm where I would expend as much money as my (meager) income can afford to keep a car around. I’m in my having a lot of money saved in the bank as a cushion era. As the kids say these days.

The thing about hobbies is the opportunity to continually dump money into them is kind of endless. The photographer who can’t stop buying new cameras and lenses, or the car guy who can’t stop swapping cars every few years (that was me). Now that I am a year deep into weightlifting, I’ve been eyeing upgrades to the gear I am currently using. A better barbell would sure be nice to have.

Goods news about lifting gear is that most can literally last a lifetime. I mean, weights are weights. Plates and dumbbells don’t lose kilograms the more years you own them. A solid barbell can be passed onto your progeny. So can a power rack.

It’s simple, really: buy quality, keep forever.

Nice new fence you got there. It would be a shame if something happened to it.

Fairness, or jealousy?

Now that we essentially have an effective diet pill - Ozempic and its ilk, there appears to be some disgruntlement from those who lost weight the “right” way. The diet and exercise weight losers are saying the Ozempic users are merely taking a shortcut. And by taking a shortcut, they are a lesser people because they did not put in the long and consistent work necessary.

Those who summited Mount Everest would rightly jeer at a person who took an elevator up there instead. Those who work and saved diligently to pay off student loans would rightly condemn those got theirs loans forgiven by the government. That’s just how the world works: fairness is not a guarantee.

But I don’t think it’s about fairness. It’s simply jealousy. Those who diet their fat off are jealous of the possibility that Ozempic now offers, a possibility that they can no longer take (because they’re now skinny). The envious ones would have no qualms about taking the drug if they were to start all over.

Those who paid off their students loans are just mad the offer of forgiveness no longer applies to them. The government is giving out money, and they are not eligible.

Good news for them: federal student loans aren’t in danger of being forgiven anytime soon. Not with this administration, not with this Supreme Court. And honestly, why should all taxpayers subsidize a small group of people who chose to go to university? A group who are more likely to come from the middle class. Armed with a degree, a group with higher lifetime earnings on average.

The high school dropout earning minimum wage at a fast food restaurant should not be forced to have his tax money pay for that.

True cost of buying

If the economy is in the dumps, you know how they can spur spending? Give a tax holiday. Perhaps I’m the only one who thinks about this component? The sales tax is highly salient for me when it comes to big ticket purchases.

Remember in the early days of Amazon they did not charge sales tax? Those were the lucrative times. You can buy a television by the thousands of dollars and save hundreds on tax. Now I think we’re suppose to report that come tax time, but honestly, who the heck did that? Besides, doesn’t sales tax go to the state and city?

Never mind! As an employee of a state (at least until Elon Musk’s DOGE gets around to state public workers), I’m a big fan of the sales tax.

Look at buying a new car. The (let’s just say) $30,000 sticker price is not inclusive of the addition thousands in taxes the buyer must pay. Obviously it’s obscured by the mechanism of spreading it over multiple years in payments. (That’s how they get you!) I tend to look at it holistically: do I want to pay additional thousands to not even for the car itself?

What scares me from a mortgage (not that I can afford a house around here) is the amortization table. The amount of interests alone over a 30 year term is freaking outrageous. It seems more prudent to me to keep renting until I am able to pay a majority portion of a house in cash. Keep that money in investments in the meantime and let those interests come to me, instead of the bank.

The true cost of buying something significant is super important to consider.

Lightweight, baby

At the beginning of a weightlifting hobby, weights tend to feel lighter as you progress upwards. A 25-pound kettlebell used to feel heavy, but now, it can be tossed and pressed in whatever manner with ease. My misunderstanding was that this phenomenon would continue on. That a 35-pounder will feel light in the hand once I’ve use it a sufficient amount of times.

Apparently there’s a limit. I would say that anything under 30 pounds is properly lightweight, Ronnie Coleman style. However, weights heavier than 30 remains heavy in feel no matter how many times I’ve picked up a set of 40 pound dumbbells. The only different from before is that I can move the weights. Sure I can do many reps with one plate on the barbell, but 135 pounds on my back will always feel burdensome.

Of course it’s entirely possible and probably that I am just weak.

I’ve written before how the deadlift translates really well to strength for real-life stuff. Bending over to pick stuff up from the floor is a fundamental movement. (We bend over the sink to wash our faces.) I don’t know if squatting has a functional equivalent in everyday life. The only thing that comes to mind is in the event of a disaster, I have to fireman’s carry an immobilized person with me to safety.

But man do I love barbell squats. Of the big three barbell movements - squat, deadlift, and bench, squatting is the most satisfying for me. It’s also the most taxing. Heavy squats with reps higher than 10 will quickly deplete my cardio stores. I cannot wait for this Accutane treatment to be over with (one more month) so I can return to running outside. I’ve got to increase my cardio so that when I barbell squat, my lungs do not give up before my quadriceps do.

A credit card person

After four years, my Yamaha CP88 keyboard is finally paid off. Why did it take so long? Well, Guitar Center allowed me to open a store card to spread the high initial cost over four years with zero interest. Of course I am going to take that arbitrage opportunity. That lump sum has instead been growing in my investment account.

You offer me free money, I am going to take it every time.

I recently had to buy new tires for the M2. For the occasion I opened a new credit card with Capital One. The company is offering a signing bonus: $200 cash back on a $500 spend within the first three months of account opening. There’s also zero interest for 15 months. That’s just easy money. I paid for the tires on the card, got the $200 as a statement credit, and will pay the amount in full sometime early 2026.

Buy now, pay later - splitting payments over four equally small ones - services like Klarna and Afterpay are showing up more and more on online checkouts. I’ve not use those services before, but if I ever need to split a large payment and take the zero interest arbitrage, it’s an easy decision. Heck, even my bank - Chase - offers a program to split large credit purchases over time, with introductory zero interest offers.

Of course, in order for me to “profit” from these credit opportunities, there has to be a loser on the other side of the trade. And it isn’t Guitar Center, Capital One, or Klarna. The loser is their other customers, the ones who are not paying the balance before interest (and back interest) starts accruing. It’s the credit debtors subsidizing the profiteers.

After paying off the new tires, I will never use that Capital One card again. Therefore, they will never recoup that initial $200 in startup bonus. Not from me directly, anyways.

Right to privilege jail, right away.

Non participation trophy

This YouTube video showed up on my feed. It explains two corporations now dominate the American ski resort market, and it’s made the ski experience terrible. High prices, long lines, and poor working conditions.

I’ve a suggestion: don’t participate.

There’s obviously zero incentive for the companies to change operations when there are still lines. If the high prices aren’t enough of a deterrence, then surely a poor experience should? Perhaps sunk-cost fallacy is in play here. A skier isn’t likely to turn back at the sight of the long line, after paying hundreds for a pass, plus the cost of getting to the mountains.

Nothing is going to change if consumers don’t move with their feet and vote with their wallet. McDonald’s didn’t (re)introduce a value menu until enough customers stopped customer-ing. (That’s me!)

Anytime I read about corporations doing this horrible thing or that, I simply go back to: don’t participate. None of us are entitled to anything, other than what’s listed in the United States Constitution. Credit card companies being evil with their interest rates? Don’t get a credit card. So what if Vail has ruined the ski experience? Don’t go! You’re not entitled to a ski weekend.

It’s fine if skiing becomes an exclusive province of the rich. Some things in life just aren’t meant for the lower classes. I would love to buy another Porsche 911. But because I cannot afford one (fuck you, inflation), it’s not for me. I also can’t afford to stay at a Grand Hyatt when I travel. So I don’t.

I know. Right to privilege jail. Right away.

Money cushion

Word on the street is a five dozen carton of eggs at Costco is now a whopping $22 dollars. (Thanks, President Trump!) Those of us reliant on a high protein supply are in shambles. At the two eggs per day rate that I eat (which is kind of low, relatively), I might have to declare bankruptcy.

Elon Musk is taking a figurative chainsaw to the federal payroll. The city of San Francisco is in a massive budget hole. San Francisco State University (my employer) has declared a financial emergency. Seemingly every day another private sector company is shedding jobs. It’s not a great time, is it? We can’t be certain of our job security. And if we are unlucky to be fired, the job hunting market will surely be ultra competitive.

What helps soothe the stress in these uncertain times is to have a cash reserve. (I know, right to privilege jail. Right away!) Those of us with a proper emergency fund, one that can last us an entire year without employment, are sitting comfortable. Of course it would still suck to be out of a job, but not having to worry about covering rent for at least awhile takes away the dread. I will be fine either which way.

The dream is to stop working, right? Short of a lucky windfall, the best way to achieve that is to slowly stockpile the money. Keep it in a savings account for emergencies. Throw the rest into the market (not investment advice, do your own research) so that it can compound. I have a much better relationship with my job when I am not actively looking forward to the next paycheck to cover some debt hole I dug myself into.

Peace of mind in a capitalist system is to have capital. We work so hard in exchange for money. Mustn’t spend it all on TikTok shop!