Boomers cant afford they houses. boo hoo

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ArgentCy

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I know a guy (40m), who told me totally straight faced that he's doing a "rent to own" on a $950k house, but it's a great deal, because it should be a $1.2M house. He, his wife, and two kids have been living in one of our other friends 2 million dollar houses/ranches because his business was tanking (had to sell his house) and the other two (who are actually loaded) moved out of town. So rather than sell their mansion, they let them live there at reduced rent for the last couple of years. The dumb guy said, "they just always really loved this other home when they'd drive by it." ...no ****, it's a million dollar house.

He's done some dumb stuff in the past financially, but this one actually made me sad for him. He's been a high income earner in the past and if he get's his business turned around (I don't think it is yet), he could probably swing it, but the chances he's bankrupt in 2 years just went from 5% to 50%.

It's not about how much you make but your habits and what you do with what you make.
 

ArgentCy

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It is usually within individual interest to pursue the degree, yes. It is also often within a individual interest to dump toxic waste in the river, you might say, too.

Both are a huge market failure from a societal/collective standpoint. Just because something benefits the few does not mean it is ultimately good for the many.

People running a rat race against each other for increasingly ornate, time-consuming, and expensive credentials (when they and the taxpayer have to pay dearly in terms of time and money) when the degrees are ultimately just sorting people into cruddy entry-level jobs is a pretty inefficient system. "Good jobs" are zero-sum. Much education after Grade ~6 just determines the distribution of those jobs between the haves and have-nots.

If the education is not being used in these jobs then it is a giant waste of time and money.
 

BillBrasky4Cy

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It's not about how much you make but your habits and what you do with what you make.

9zdV.gif
 

Sigmapolis

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Depends on the degree. My 2 kids both have ISU degrees (humble brag). One in EE and the other in Psych. Guess which one is making bank, and which one is feeling hopeless?

This even depends.

Does an EE degree install more useful skills in a student for when they become a worker? Or does a student taking on the challenge of an engineering degree in school symbolize they have more ambition, drive, discipline, and intelligence (especially related to quantitative reasoning) than somebody who takes on a lowly history degree like yours truly?

I suppose engineering majors might be more likely to "use" their degrees once working, but I have known plenty of engineering majors at all stages of their career who end up in unrelated management, sales, and consulting jobs (all the while making good money and having good careers, usually, because their engineering degree got them a good first job that they could parlay into connections and move up the ladder from there).

In the same breath, technically arts majors can end up "using" their degree in far more direct ways, like if somebody ends up a professional musician or academician.

I tend to think even with professional majors/degrees that the bulk of the value is still in the signal the degree confers, not with the course of study itself. My wife is a doctor -- one of those things you would think you need special schooling for -- and she has told me maybe 1% of her biology undergraduate and maybe 10% of her medical schooling matters in her day-to-day job. She learned how to be a doctor "on the job" as a resident/glorified apprentice.

She told me her Spanish degree and being able to speak it... lots of undeserved populations out there that can use a physician who speaks Spanish, in this country and in others... was the most valuable thing she learned in college. Her career prospects and chance of getting into medical school were way better with her STEM degree, however, despite her finding the content of her arts degree actually installed more of a usable skill into her brain.
 

Sigmapolis

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The real value of a degree is determined years from when you receive it. Meaning

1. You are less likely to have a manual labor job with a college degree so when your older your body won't have been abused by the work you performed.

2. Although there are many jobs that pay as well or better in the short run than one with a college degree, in the long run the degree will prove to be more valuable.

These are still benefits related to the degree "unlocking" better jobs for you -- that is, signaling or sorting or other similar terms -- not with your course of study.

The main benefit of the degree is you get a better job and others do not.

There are some exceptions, but this is generally the case.
 
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VeloClone

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She told me her Spanish degree and being able to speak it... lots of undeserved populations out there that can use a physician who speaks Spanish, in this country and in others... was the most valuable thing she learned in college. Her career prospects and chance of getting into medical school were way better with her STEM degree, however, despite her finding the content of her arts degree actually installed more of a usable skill into her brain.
I think you mean "under-served". The loss of one letter colors this statement quite differently. Probably another example of how technology (auto-correct) is making our lives better.
 

Sigmapolis

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I think you mean "under-served". The loss of one letter colors this statement quite differently. Probably another example of how technology (auto-correct) is making our lives better.

Haha. Nice catch. :)

Yes, her trips to UNDER-SERVED populations on Indian reservations, throughout the poorest parts of Appalachia, the poor, mountainous regions of Mexico and Central America, the Caribbean, and even some parts of Africa are for helping those in need.

For some reason "underserved" (no dash) shows up as a incorrect spelling and suggests "undeserved" as the first solution. Google is trolling me.
 
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cowgirl836

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At least with the Psych degree they’ll better understand the hopelessness


I honestly think as AI advances, the psych/sociology degrees will become more valuable. Much of the "how to build" will be taken over and we'll need stronger understanding of the why's. Take the 2016 election. I'm not going cavey here so stay with me - but look how much time and effort was put into swaying people's opinions and actions via Fake News and targeted advertisements. With great reward to be had. To me, that makes the people who can tell you how to motivate, persuade, and understand the actions of a group of people pretty valuable.
 

Sigmapolis

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I honestly think as AI advances, the psych/sociology degrees will become more valuable. Much of the "how to build" will be taken over and we'll need stronger understanding of the why's. Take the 2016 election. I'm not going cavey here so stay with me - but look how much time and effort was put into swaying people's opinions and actions via Fake News and targeted advertisements. With great reward to be had. To me, that makes the people who can tell you how to motivate, persuade, and understand the actions of a group of people pretty valuable.

The scale of such efforts (compared to more traditional campaign ads and day-to-day "earned media" on television and the radio) was rather pitiful, if you compare it with any sort of context. The evidence such efforts convinced much of anybody compared to what they were likely to believe and do anyways is quite lacking, as well; the assertion lacks a control.

Back to the point about the labor market, I would imagine hardcore data/tech folks are going to do better than psychology majors when it comes to targeted ads as you outline. That is already the situation with the FAANG companies that make money off traffic.
 

NWICY

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The scale of such efforts (compared to more traditional campaign ads and day-to-day "earned media" on television and the radio) was rather pitiful, if you compare it with any sort of context. The evidence such efforts convinced much of anybody compared to what they were likely to believe and do anyways is quite lacking, as well; the assertion lacks a control.

Back to the point about the labor market, I would imagine hardcore data/tech folks are going to do better than psychology majors when it comes to targeted ads as you outline. That is already the situation with the FAANG companies that make money off traffic.

I'll show my lack of knowledge and not google what is a FAANG company?
 

SpokaneCY

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Augustus and Tiberius were cautious, prudent men who built up substantial gold reserves "in case of a rainy day" over the course of 2-3 generations.

Caligula spent it all on wine and orgies in a few years.

Doing the right thing takes time and discipline. Doing the fun thing does not.

Yet they are all dead and Caligula had better stories to tell...
 
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