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[theinevitable]

[KeithHernandez]

I got the date bear (given to best student at dare) in 6 th grade!  Why they have to make it sound so fun??

[wombat]

I got straight As through like 10th grade and a scholarship to College....just- it doesn't always turn out you know?

Like my bumper sticker says: I was an honor student. I don't know what happened.

Still, probably better to start out with the straight A record... if it's so easy to go nowhere anyway, having to start by climbing out of a hole can only be worse.

[Carlos del Vaca]

1. see pug thing on Twitter
2. think "I should send that to wombat"
3. realize it's in my feed because she retweeted it
4. repeat as necessary

[wombat]

Always best to make sure though!

[theinevitable]

Tomorrow I'm teaching a college class! Well, presenting in one. My socialist comrade who is a public health professor asked me to come talk to her students. I'm going to tell them about what urban planners do and how it is related to public health, and then show them how to use my agency's cool website for finding public data about neighborhoods. They are going to use demographic data to make their arguments in their final projects for the class.

She said it's mostly about exposing them to a possible career path so I am trying to create a clear presentation of what urban planners are and how I became one.

(it's weird how when you look back at events of the past several years it's so easy to create a story out of them. I worked for a professor in undergrad and learned about gentrification and the history of St Louis, which got me excited about urban planning. Then I went to grad school for urban planning, and worked for a professor there doing data work. I also did a data internship. Now I work in the demographic research division for the department of city planning. Who knew my life was so logical!)

[theinevitable]

I am trying to set up my retirement savings (401k etc) and it makes me wish I were dead.

My dad has tried to give me advice but we are running into our perennial problem. He is giving me advice as if I am him. He is a person who knows a lot about financial markets and so it makes sense to him to do all of these complicated things. I just want to put my money in (SOMETHING) and have it get bigger. I do not know how to read financial statements or compare plans or funds. I'd prefer not to invest in something that is giving my money to people making guns or blowing up whales or whatever.

It should also be criminal how confusing enrolling in this stuff is. My job offers 4 different types of plans and all of the explanations seem to assume you already know what you want and just don't know what it is called. They also don't match contributions to ANYTHING, I thought unionized civil service employees in New York were supposed to be spoiled overpaid brats!!

I also think that at some point in my service I am forced to enroll in the pension plan. I've heard from coworkers that it "sucks" but they have not explained why.

The good news is that I can probably just make the wrong choices and ruin my life and have to work until I drop dead.

(I am just venting here, I'll call my dad and make him answer questions and I'll write down everything he says)

[theinevitable]

Even better: I clicked "enroll in 401k" on the NYC employee website, filled out all the forms, and it asked me to confirm all the information and it's all wrong. I have gone through the form three times and each time it mixes things up-- it says that I am enrolling in the "457" plan (which is as far as I can tell identical to a 401k, except if you're over a certain age there is a higher contribution limit).

[Carlos del Vaca]

I'm not sure if you were asking for advice per se, but two things about the 401K:
Obvs you should at a minimum contribute whatever amount your employer will match in whole or in part, because that's free money yo.
Secondly, sounds like you might want something like the "coffeehouse portfolio," in which you allocate your contributions to these funds (or those that are similar) and you're done. It's well diversified and you really don't need to spend time checking up on them or shifting things around. I've used this strategy since forever.
http://www.marketwatch.com/lazyportfolio/portfolio/coffeehouse

[wombat]

Inev, that thing you said on Twitter was brilliant, about how why are there even choices when everyone needs the same thing

People are not unique. We get older and need medical care and money for after we stop working. Why are there 20 different options

Seriously. We all want not to live in a cardboard box when we are old. Why can't we just figure out one way that works for everyone for old people not to die in poverty?

[theinevitable]

OK. I called my dad and asked him questions until I understood what to do.

My job does not match 401ks at all. I'm mad.

On the flip side, I went on an incredibly good date. I am gushing about it. Trying to remember all the times this happened before and how it didn't work out. But, damn.

[theinevitable]

Seriously. We all want not to live in a cardboard box when we are old. Why can't we just figure out one way that works for everyone for old people not to die in poverty?

This is one of the big critiques socialists have of the democratic party (at least, the one I think about the most, as a public policy type). That they are in love with the idea of competition and therefore "options." So everything has to be a "market" with a million different plans and programs and price points and then you pick the wrong health insurance and get charged out the butt for no coverage. In my urban planning studies this drove me INSANE-- for any one thing we would like to happen, there are three different programs with different funding formulas and you have to apply for the grant and follow their obscure metrics to get the grant, and then the limitations on the money keep you from doing what you really want to do with the money.

(Whether this is the best we can do at any given time based on the strength of the Republicans in congress, who's in the White House, etc, is a separate thing-- even when the Dems are in power this is the kind of program they propose)

But for now, setting a % to go to my 401k, and another % to go to my investment account which is invested in more conservative things than what my dad would like.

Yes, the socialist is investing his money in stocks and bonds. Oh well.

[AugustWest]

Yes, the socialist is investing his money in stocks and bonds. Oh well.

If the world is going to be run for the benefit of owners, do what you can to become an owner, at least on a small scale.

[theinevitable]

2nd date Friday.

I do not understand how it did not occur to me before that I should be taking women on dates to places I find when I'm doing fieldwork. We're going to an Indian restaurant in a cute neighborhood she's never been to.

(on our first date we went on an architectural tour, it was nerdy and good as hell)

[theinevitable]

I guess there was no way to know that when I bought this ticket to the Courtney Barnett show several months ago i should have gotten two. I was nervous at the time that if I got two i'd just be bummed out when I went to the concert alone. But now I have someone who wants to go with me and tickets are hundreds of dollars.

...

on the flip side the girl responded "oh, that's too bad, but I'm sure there will be plenty of concerts we want to go to this winter.

Important concepts in that sentence:

WE (us, the two of us)

WILL (ie, at a future time, going forward)

GO TO (implied "together," IE we will do activities together in the coming months in her preferred plans

 ^_^