Welcome to the IHoP

[Penguin4x4 1,761]

if I had to choose I'd take a Yaris/Accent/Focus three door hatch over a Smart car anyday

throw a quality set of coilovers and you've got yourself a go-kart

[The enD 467]

:D :D

[cheese20323 13]

hahahahaha^^^^. I LOL'd

[Aaron Clinton 2,372]

if I had to choose I'd take a Yaris/Accent/Focus three door hatch over a Smart car anyday

throw a quality set of coilovers and you've got yourself a go-kart

That above picture looks like a go cart to me. Plus it is made by Ze Germanz!

[Penguin4x4 1,761]

Plus it is made by Ze Germanz!

About the only reason I can come up with for spending 30 grand extra (Ultimate 112 stickers for ~48k USD) for a car with less interior room, comparable fuel mileage, negligibly better acceleration, and inferior crash safety.

[Tmax98 3]

if I had to choose I'd take a Yaris/Accent/Focus three door hatch over a Smart car anyday

throw a quality set of coilovers and you've got yourself a go-kart

That above picture looks like a go cart to me. Plus it is made by Ze Germanz!

my dad drives a toyota matrix for his commute car.

He calls it the go-cart lol. Needless to say, that thing has plenty of headroom and space.

[Tmax98 3]

small commuter Car top^

[KU40 173]

The SSA Dark skin, looks and functions much better now after the update!

And incredibly faster also!

[KU40 173]

100 mil for a freaking plane. I can live 5 lives with that money. People are dying from hunger everyday and they spend money not making life better but for planes and shit.

Gotta think about the future. If they can develop this into a commercial plane in 20 years, wouldn't that be worth it? Gotta start an idea off small somewhere. Can't jump into putting solar panels on a 747 and ripping off the engines. Technology always costs more when it's new. In 50 years they'll probably build five solar 747s with that 100 mil. In the beginning it's all about proof of concept.

[KU40 173]

I think when I'm a bit older travel will be my #1. Right now I want to build a fortune and buisness so I can earn without working.

Fuck that. What happens when you die the day you retire?

What happens if you travel too much and get to be 65 with no retirement fund?

Hope the Democrats are still in office, duh.

On a more serious note, I believe in investing in my future. I work for myself and have a savings account. Got any suggestions for investment? Cause buying a house is starting to seem like a joke.

If you're one of those contrarian-types though, now would be the best time to buy a house. Mortgage rates are the lowest in 50 years, plus home prices are better for the buyer now. On a $200,000 house 1 percentage point on the loan interest translates into a difference of about $120 per month, which translates into $86,400 over the life of a 30 year loan. I don't know about you, but that's a really good chunk of change and can make up for quite a bit of stagnant home price years in which the value of the home does not go up. Plus you have to ask yourself, if you're going to live in this house forever, who cares about resale value? All you're doing with a lower valued home is saving property tax each year. That sounds good to me. And how long do you expect this housing crisis to last? 30 years? I doubt it. Even 5 or 10 years?

As for where to invest, it depends on your timeline IMO. But you can always just go back to the old mix of stocks and bonds. China is expected to have explosive growth for the next couple of decades, they've already started. They had something like 8% growth last year while the US was still marred in recession. If you think the US will be stagnant for the next 5 years, don't be afraid to look at emerging markets and countries. But IMO, if you're an active investor, there will be plenty of opportunities to make money in the US market yet.

Just stay away from penny stocks. Don't get caught looking for the quick 10-bagger as it will ruin you. I just figured up last night that if I wasn't stuck with the three penny stocks that I have that are losing money for me, I would have earned 19% since I began investing last January, which rapes the market return of about 7% when adjusted for market value when I added money to my account a few times over the last 1.5 years. Instead, I'm stuck at an 8% loss and just hoping these pennies will go back up just so I can break even. My boss has recently advised me on the value of doing covered calls with dividend-paying stocks. You not only get dividend, but get money from writing call options. It may limit your upside to 10-20% if the stock gets called away, but don't be greedy. It also protects you for about 5% to the downside just because of the income you get from the dividend and writing the calls. Plus if the stock stays put, you can continually write calls every month if you want and just keep garnering the money from it. Just gotta have a long term approach and not worry about day-to-day or even month-to-month fluctuations.

As far as the house is concerned KU is dead on. While it is tough to get a loan in todays market, the rates and the drastic drop in pricing make it worthwhile to do it NOW. My son just bought himself a condo in Orange County CA. He has been looking for 5 years. The boy just knew what he wanted. He looked at a condo when he first started 5 years ago that was 1200Sq feet that went for $420,000. He bought the exact same condo 3 months ago (it sold to someone else in the interim) for $186,000. Not only did he save ~$235K, he also got a better interest rate by almost 2 points.

As far as investing, as someone who made a fortune in the 90s in the stock market and lost a fat wad in the early 2000s I can tell you one thing... don't ever take anyone else's advice. Everyone is so quick to tell you to do this and do that, but if it really were making them money, I am not sure they would be telling you much about it. Do the smart thing and get dialed in with a financial adviser. They can sit down with you and develop a plan that will work best for you with your specific goals in mind. But you really need to get on the stick with it. Retirement isn't far away for any of us... time flies.

As for me, when I am ready it will be golden. Sell my rental houses and my house, take all my money and buy a villa in Italy... 10 years to go and i am on the right track.

That is a super deal on the condo. Real estate in some places was just getting completely out of control. It was really the most absurd thing. As for the argument for buying a house, I even left out the other benefits that Matt2 talked about with the tax deductions and building equity and all. If I had the 20% down payment that I want before buying a house so that I don't have to get mortgage insurance as well as increase my chances of getting a loan in the first place, I'd be trying like heck to buy right now.

[Aaron Clinton 2,372]

The SSA Dark skin, looks and functions much better now after the update!

And incredibly faster also!

[Aaron Clinton 2,372]

[Aaron Clinton 2,372]

This is awesome:

[Aaron Clinton 2,372]

Gooooaaaalllll

[MKader17 332]

Found a pretty cool excel workout sheet. So now I'm officially recording my workouts, rides, and runs! Can't wait to see the results in a few months...

[Aaron Clinton 2,372]

For my Nintendo friends:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=joA-GJYh-MI

[Aaron Clinton 2,372]

Found a pretty cool excel workout sheet. So now I'm officially recording my workouts, rides, and runs! Can't wait to see the results in a few months...

Awesome, anything that can be a tool or a motivator to help you keep working is always great!

[j-roadtatts 1,129]

For my Nintendo friends:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=joA-GJYh-MI

Encore, Encore!!! I love the LEGOs in there too!!

[KU40 173]

As far as investing, as someone who made a fortune in the 90s in the stock market and lost a fat wad in the early 2000s I can tell you one thing... don't ever take anyone else's advice. Everyone is so quick to tell you to do this and do that, but if it really were making them money, I am not sure they would be telling you much about it. Do the smart thing and get dialed in with a financial adviser. They can sit down with you and develop a plan that will work best for you with your specific goals in mind. But you really need to get on the stick with it. Retirement isn't far away for any of us... time flies.

As for me, when I am ready it will be golden. Sell my rental houses and my house, take all my money and buy a villa in Italy... 10 years to go and i am on the right track.

I agree with most of this, but I have to ask, if you get a financial planner, aren't you taking somebody else's advice? Just playing devil's advocate here. I'm not saying don't get one, I sure as hell believe a majority of the people in this nation need one (or really, needed one several years ago). But with that said, I think you'd agree that there are several guidelines to investing in a general sense. But if somebody has a stock tip I'd be leery. A few months ago my brother told me that his wife had heard from her dad who was told by his broker that a stock was the next big thing and was ready to explode. And this guy had "never lost money on a stock he bought." First off I find that impossible to believe. Second of all, he probably bought the stock a month or two ago, so it was old news by then and the excitement was already priced in. Sure enough, I looked and the stock had quadrupled in the last 6 months and I was like no thanks. It hasn't turned out to be a typical pump and dump, though, as the price is just above where he bought it 6 months ago I think. But nothing to write home about and some really bad news just came out last week that makes me even more leery and glad I didn't get in. So I think the bottom line is just to not sip everybody else's koolaid. Make sure and do your own analysis, and remember that you'll get some wrong. Harvard grad economists can't agree on where the economy will go from here, and they can't both be right. Just be patient.

[KU40 173]

man I'm tired. I hope I sleep until noon.

[Godsmack 361]

Hearing everyone's advice about finances makes me wish I could be more stable for awhile. This moving every few years shit is for the birds. I really dont want a rental house in AZ while I reside back in NY. Or vice versa. Paying someone else to 'landlord' for me just doesnt make alot of sense. Especially if I buy a 200k house and have to get a 30yr morgage.

[nem 2,019]

Checking in before work. The parade was great, but super hot also. I was told the temp was 94. With my robe and mask it felt like home it did me some good though.

Hope to have a video link for you all to see.

[j-roadtatts 1,129]

Wow thats the smallest signed in list I think I have ever scene on the SSA. Only 34 members signed in.

[KU40 173]

Well you are on at 8 am mountain time- 7 central, 6 eastern. How many people do you think are awake that early on a saturday?

[j-roadtatts 1,129]

Well you are on at 8 am mountain time- 7 central, 6 eastern. How many people do you think are awake that early on a saturday?

I didn't think about it like that. I on the other hand only need 6 hours of sleep a night AND today is only my wednesday.