rkbabang

My largest and only TV is 32" too. I guess we're TV brothers :D Only on a value investing board would you find such people, every house I go in besides mine has a monster TV hanging on the wall in every living room. My kids were literately jumping for joy and high-fiving one another when we replaced one of our 2 tube TVs with that 32" HDTV two years ago. We still have the tube TV in the other living room though, I didn't want to get too crazy.

These are not the only two choices, though. Maybe it's worth the investment on a purely cash ROI, or maybe they care enough about using clean power that it's worth the cost for them. People do a lot of things that don't have good cash returns just because they like those things (do people expect a good ROI on big screen TVs and nice cars?), so it wouldn't be that out of the ordinary. It doesn't have to be about showing off, it can be an entirely internal motivation. You are of course correct. I tend to view everything through a dollars and cents filter, but many people don't. Which is why I have neither solar panels nor a large screen TV (my largest TV is 32", because it does the job and is cheap). I'm sure some people buy solar panels just to feel good themselves about being green.

It's all a matter or price. Solar will become popular first in places where there's the best ratio of current electrical costs to sun. But if in 10-20 years the cost per watt of solar panels is half/a quarter of what it is now, it might make total sense even in New Hampshire... It's a bit like Moore's Law. What made no sense to try to do on computers at a certain time is trivial now just because transistors are cheap. Yes, certainly if the prices for solar continue to drop over the next 10 years at the same rate they have in the last 10 it will become worth it. Like I said, I already see a lot of solar panels around. I wonder if these people already think it is worth the investment, or if they just want to show off how green they are to their neighbors?

I just looked at my electric bill. I pay $0.06383/kWh for "Delivery Charge" and $0.0849/kWh for "Supply Charge" for a total cost of $0.14873/kWh. I, like everyone in New Hampshire, have an old style meter that doesn't know the time of day and can't charge differently for it. I pay the same price 24/7 (just another way those in CA are getting screwed). My rates were even lower when I lived in Massachusetts. Low electricity prices and the fact that there isn't as much consistent sun shine throughout the year here, I don't see how solar makes much sense in the northeast. That said I am always surprised to see solar panels on a lot of roofs around here.

That is not my understanding, at least for your main home: http://www.irs.gov/taxtopics/tc701.html I stand corrected. I wasn't aware of that. I thought the only way to exclude it from taxes was to use it to buy another home.

Yes, completely different. I understand why mortgage isn't deductible (tax code) and why houses are expensive (bubble that hasn't burst yet), but why do banks not offer 30 year fixed loans? (EDIT) A quick google search answered my question. Like most questions about why something in a market doesn't make sense the answer is usually some government law or regulation. Why can't Canadians get 30 year mortgages (but Americans can)?

I realize that not everyone on this thread is in the US, but here not only are 30 year fix rate loans very cheap right now, but you get to pay all of the interest with pre-tax income. In my town for example there are rentals for a decent size home (~3500 sqft) for about $4000/month. You could buy the same home for about $600K, put 20% down and pay about $3800/month (loan of $480K = $2500/mo, property taxes = ~$14K/yr, and insurance = ~$1200/yr) and you get to deduct all of the interest reducing the real price you pay even further. In 20 years you are still paying $2500/mo for the loan + taxes/insurance, and in 30 years you are paying only taxes and insurance. What are you paying for rent in 20-30 years? You don't want to buy at the top of the market, but otherwise renters get screwed in the US. I know that the argument goes that you could grow that $120K down payment fast enough that you could still come out ahead, but if that $120K came from equity in a previous home you sold then it wouldn't be $120K, because you would own capital gains taxes on it if you did not roll it over into another home. Again the tax situation in the US has tremendous benefits to ownership and penalizes anyone who sells a home and starts renting. Rather than sell a home, rent and invest the equity, you'd be better off refinancing the home at 4% to take out your equity and invest that.

I'm reading this thread with fascination. I can't imagine trying to conserve water or even paying for it. I've got an artesian well on my property that gives me all the water I could ever need. And it tastes better than even bottled water, never mind the chlorine/fluoride contaminated water you would get from a municipal water system. I know the weather can be good in CA, but with the taxes, traffic, air pollution, water problems, earthquakes, house prices .... is the weather all that important? Why do you live there?

I got a chuckle out of that. I guess there will be no Sanjeev Holdings. :) Congrats! How about, more simply, Biglunch Holdings. Congrats Sanjeev. It's just not the same when you can't personally charge the company for use of your name.

Hey, I like almonds, get rid of the alfalfa instead. Maybe someone will crack fusion in the next decade and can build a bunch of desalination plants over there.

I got a chuckle out of that. I guess there will be no Sanjeev Holdings. :) Congrats!

If you assume an average of 2 kids per generation. The rich guy has 2 kids, 4 grand kids, 8 great grand kids, 16 great great grand kids, 32 great^4 grand kids, etc.... Then a fortune would have to be absolutely immense to enable more than a generation or 2 to live off of it without productively adding to it.** If they do not productively add to it, then it will be gone in a historically speaking short amount of time. If they do productively add to it, then that will be good for society. **The Rockefeller fortune was truly enormous, $336B in 2007 dollars according to Wikipedia, which is why they are a notable exception, but even that fortune will be gone in time.

The Market Basket strike is finally over, the employees got what they wanted the old CEO has found a way to finance the purchase of the company. Market Basket deal ends bitter feud "business specialists said the company’s employees accomplished a rare feat in halting operations until they got what they wanted. “To have an internal uprising of just about everyone, without a union, is very unusual in American industry,” said David Lewin, professor of management at the University of California, Los Angeles. “And it’s even more unusual for workers to say, ‘We want this guy to come back’ — and to have him actually come back.”" It is going to be difficult for them to get all of their stores stocked back up and running after shutting down for 6 weeks. After long lull, a rush to restock Market Basket stores

I think the reports of scarcity's death have been greatly exaggerated. Certainly many things we now pay for will be as free as air, but there will be markets for all kinds of things, services, entertainment, "human made" goods, vacations, sex, land, art, etc. I would not predict the end of economics any time soon. As far as land/water/population pressures go, when it gets to this point there will be millions (maybe billions) of humans living some place other than Earth. There are many possibilities here. The Moon, Mars, floating cities above Venus, Ceres, Ares, Pallas, other moons, automated swarms of robots mining the asteroid belt and building space station cities that can support tens of millions, etc. If you look beyond Earth there is no shortage of living space, metals, water, or even methane.

Yes, but you and others are missing the points that 1) the maintenance is already accounted for. 2) There is no amount of maintenance you can do on any vehicle or manufacturing equipment which will let you use those things forever. They will need to be replaced in a predictable time-frame regardless of what you spend on them. This isn't the case for buildings. With a reasonable amount of capex (including insurance against disasters) they can last and hold their value indefinitely.

Of course depreciation schedules for buildings are longer than for equipments... This doesn't mean they make sense. I live in an apartment of a condominuim built in the early '60s. And I have always seen its price go up. And it will continue going up for many years to come! ;) Gio My home was built 246 years ago in 1768. The barn was built in the 1850's. Both are in excellent condition. I don't know of any vehicles or manufacturing equipment that are still being used for their original purpose that can say the same.

I'm with Geo on this one. Even with proper care and maintenance most equipment doesn't hold its value and will eventually need to be replaced. Equipment either deteriorates in value to the point that it isn't worth fixing it when it breaks or it becomes obsolete and it is worth the investment to buy newer equipment. In other words it depreciates. None of this is true with a properly maintained building. It holds its value quite well if maintained properly and doesn't become obsolete by the newest iBuilding 2.0.

I'll look into it. No one has any idea how debilitating it is to deal with all day headaches. It makes you feel like you are incapable to do what you want, and be the best person you can be. I can't imagine. My wife gets headaches sometimes, not often luckily, that are so bad she stays in a dark quite room all day. I can't imagine dealing with something like that daily. Hope you find something that works. Ericopoly's suggestion sounds pretty good too. If inflammation is the problem, as well as some pot brownies, you might want to try vitamin C infusions (or at least take a few grams of vitamin C every 4 hours if you can't find anyone to give you the infusions) and maybe some anti-inflammatory spices/herbs, I take these: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0009F3RW4/

I have no idea if this is quackary or not, but I remember a discussion on the Bulletproof Executive podcast saying that Irlen filters can help with concussion symptoms. Here is the transcript: Transcript #98 – Transforming Lives with Light with Helen Irlen "We see a lot of people who just need their Irlen filters and they say “You know, I don’t have ADD or ADHD.” The most severe cases and I want to switch a little bit because you can inherit this problem, so you get to blame either your mom or dad, or you can acquire it through head injury or concussion. That has become a big topic today in terms of sports and concussions. We’ve been doing research now for the last 2 years on head injuries and concussions with the military population. They are the most severe in terms of experiencing repeated explosions and experiencing repeated concussions and TBIs and then living, literally every day of their lives with headaches and migraines. No longer can they read, nor longer can they do any kind of academic task that they used to do. With Irlen filters, it totally restores their capabilities and totally takes away their headaches and migraines so they’re not living on a whole list of heavy duty medications in terms of surviving. We deal with kids in sports, professional athletes in the NFL and the Hockey Leagues who have had concussions and it has really affected their ability and performance."

Yes, there are still so many PITA jobs that need to be automated. I'm still waiting for a good robotic lawn mower. Yes, I know they have them, but they are nothing but useless toys right now. I want something that can cut any lawn that a human on a lawn tractor with a full tank of gas could cut, without burying any guide wires around the property. That means slopes, large yards with many landscaping features, and powerful enough to cut high overgrown grass covered in leaves. I'd also love a robotic snow thrower. Something on tracks and powerful like the Honda snow throwers, but smart enough to do any driveway automatically. Speaking of fridges, I want something like a microwave for cold. You put a warm drink in it, hit a button and it is ice cold in a minute and a half. We'd need much smaller refrigerators if we could get all the non-perishable stuff out of them, like drinks.

It is amazing how many people think that getting more output for less human effort is a bad thing. If you want jobs, you could pay people to dig holes and then pay them to fill them back in. I think this horrible future will see unemployment skyrocket and these "poor" people will be living lives that even the rich today couldn't imagine. But of course, there will be much blathering about the wealth disparity between the masses and the insanely rich. Humans get wealthier and our lives get easier, but we never really change.

The other thing automation brings us is more leisure time with less work needed for us to meet our needs. As everything becomes automated, everything becomes cheaper and people don't need to earn as much to buy the things they need. People spend a lot less time working now than they did 100 years ago. Children don't work at all now, where they used to work almost as much as adults. Maybe 100 years from now a 3 day work week will be common and the only people who will work more than that will be the low income or just starting out younger people, or people who want to live a more lavish lifestyle. Think what it would mean for automation brought to the absolute extreme. It would be when you have a nano-replicator in your home and you only need to work maybe 1 day per week to have most of everything you want 'unemployment' won't be a huge issue for anyone who is the least bit technical or creative. The problem is that the completely unskilled and/or completely uncreative jobs are already disappearing and will continue to do so.

There isn't a finite amount of stuff to do. It isn't as if you can say, OK now we have these jobs filled that is it, there is nothing left. Human wants are infinite, thus there will always be more to do. That isn't to say that someone who works 25 years in a factory and loses his job to automation won't be in trouble. At a certain age learning new skills is difficult. And who wants to start over at the bottom in a new industry late in life? Those people will likely remain unemployed, but the next generation will simply learn different skills. This is capitalism's creative destruction and there are always people hurt in the shuffle. It isn't a new phenomenon. There is always change going on...I work in an industry that is likely to have 85% less workers in about 5 years due to software improvements/learning (document review). What is interesting is the people I work with. Most of them are in their very late 20's and early 30's. Most of them still live at home. Most of them are saddled with $100k+ in student loan debt. A significant percentage have $200k+. They all have graduate degrees and are all professionally licensed attorneys. I have a hard time figuring out a good outcome for these people...They make enough to live, and perhaps to pay interest on the loans...but not enough to make a dent vs. the balance due. If these people stay in the legal profession, they simply can't make enough to pay their loans. These people are going to be a "lost generation". The other problem is that it is very rare to get 2,000 hours of work in a year. A more realistic assumption would be around 1,500 hours. This is because we work on a project basis. When the project is over, there is no more need for workers, and you get "benched". There are frequently multiple projects going at the same time, but there are times when nothing is going on (right now). Of course, the better you are, the more work you get. However, only maybe the top 5% are employed 2,000 hours a year. Some of these people went to highly ranked schools too. I work with a Georgetown graduate, Duke, Vanderbilt, University of Michigan...and others. The document review industry employs a lot of people now, but automation & improvements will eliminate a lot of those jobs in a few years. This will add to labor displacement. There is also a problem with off-shoring legal work to India. The ABA has said as long as it is supervised by an a licensed American attorney and the locals are locally licensed, it is OK. Thus, the legal industry has lost a lot of jobs, and it will continue into the future. How many other industries are like this? Quite a lot, I'd imagine. The sad fact is, if you are young and want to be employed you probably should be studying some kind of science or engineering. Maybe medicine or finance would work too. I've told both of my kids this already. Taking out student loans for any other field isn't going to end well. The world is what it is, not what we want it to be. Spending all kinds of money and just hoping it works out isn't a good strategy. I have a degree in Computer Science and spent my first few years out of college programming various systems. Then I realized I loved finance and worked to steer my career into a non-programming direction. Then I had the light bulb moment, I had two skill sets that are unique and combining them would be much better than just one on it's own. So now I have a finance startup. There are things we're doing that a programmer couldn't do without a very deep understanding of specific topic areas. But the power of automation is mind numbing. I can pull back every single bank in the US and value them 5 different ways instantly. In the past the problem was getting data, now it's applying the data. This is where creativity comes into play. It's been fun to work on this stuff and get both sides of my brain working again. I'm no longer 'running' from programming, I've merely embraced it and applied my finance knowledge to it. That's where the power is. I have no idea what to suggest my kids do. Anything my dad suggested I didn't listen to. My friend knows a guy who started covering one song a day on YouTube with his guitar. Then he branched out into writing a song a day and making a video. The guy isn't on MTV or anything, but he has enough of a following that he is living off the ad revenue from YouTube for his full time job. These aren't things colleges are preparing kids for, it's entrepreneurism and creativity combined with whatever natural talents are possessed. Cool stuff. Very cool stuff, both your story and the youtube entrepreneur. My point wasn't that science, engineering, medicine and finance are the only things you can do. Far from it. For a creative person willing to take some risks, starting a business, etc, the sky is the limit. Like I said above there will always be plenty of stuff that needs doing. But what I was saying is that those fields are the only fields likely to be worth taking on large amounts of student debt for. Your youtube entrepreneur would not have benefited from taking large student loans to get a liberal arts degree.

There isn't a finite amount of stuff to do. It isn't as if you can say, OK now we have these jobs filled that is it, there is nothing left. Human wants are infinite, thus there will always be more to do. That isn't to say that someone who works 25 years in a factory and loses his job to automation won't be in trouble. At a certain age learning new skills is difficult. And who wants to start over at the bottom in a new industry late in life? Those people will likely remain unemployed, but the next generation will simply learn different skills. This is capitalism's creative destruction and there are always people hurt in the shuffle. It isn't a new phenomenon. There is always change going on...I work in an industry that is likely to have 85% less workers in about 5 years due to software improvements/learning (document review). What is interesting is the people I work with. Most of them are in their very late 20's and early 30's. Most of them still live at home. Most of them are saddled with $100k+ in student loan debt. A significant percentage have $200k+. They all have graduate degrees and are all professionally licensed attorneys. I have a hard time figuring out a good outcome for these people...They make enough to live, and perhaps to pay interest on the loans...but not enough to make a dent vs. the balance due. If these people stay in the legal profession, they simply can't make enough to pay their loans. These people are going to be a "lost generation". The other problem is that it is very rare to get 2,000 hours of work in a year. A more realistic assumption would be around 1,500 hours. This is because we work on a project basis. When the project is over, there is no more need for workers, and you get "benched". There are frequently multiple projects going at the same time, but there are times when nothing is going on (right now). Of course, the better you are, the more work you get. However, only maybe the top 5% are employed 2,000 hours a year. Some of these people went to highly ranked schools too. I work with a Georgetown graduate, Duke, Vanderbilt, University of Michigan...and others. The document review industry employs a lot of people now, but automation & improvements will eliminate a lot of those jobs in a few years. This will add to labor displacement. There is also a problem with off-shoring legal work to India. The ABA has said as long as it is supervised by an a licensed American attorney and the locals are locally licensed, it is OK. Thus, the legal industry has lost a lot of jobs, and it will continue into the future. How many other industries are like this? Quite a lot, I'd imagine. The sad fact is, if you are young and want to be employed you probably should be studying some kind of science or engineering. Maybe medicine or finance would work too. I've told both of my kids this already. Taking out student loans for any other field isn't going to end well. The world is what it is, not what we want it to be. Spending all kinds of money and just hoping it works out isn't a good strategy.

That is pretty cool. I've never met a Zoroastrian. I haven't read though the whole page, but here's the wikipedia entry: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zoroastrianism When I did my 200 page paper in the early 90's there was no wikipedia. :(