It’s great as essentially a StackOverflow that I can talk to in real time. But as with SO, I’ve still got to figure out what pieces are legit and where they go.

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Tobacco Industry: “Am I a joke to you?”

Oh God, I was hoping I had just misheard him…

Basic, modern human needs such as housing, healthcare, education, nutrition, utilities (electricity, internet, water & sewage), and transportation should never be a means of profit. As with everything, there is a cost to maintaining these systems and to profit off of them inherently means diverting resources away from these systems that serve our society into the pocket of an individual.

Is that one second from the right missing a seat?

An index that either tracks the top 500 companies or the total market. Look up a 3-fund portfolio if you want to go a little deeper.

Alternatively, max out an IRA if you haven’t already this year and are in a position where you won’t need that money until retirement.

Edit: I realized I’m assuming a lot about your situation. So instead, here’s a general list of priorities that applies to more or less any situation. You should only proceed with a step if all the steps above it are achieved. Also keep in mind, I’m not a financial advisor just a random stranger on the internet sharing my personal financial strategy.

1. Pay your future-self first. Establish regular contributions to your retirement account and HSA if you have one, totalling between 3-5% of your compensation or whatever your company’s matching policy is (That’s not free money, it’s part of your compensation package. Not claiming it is like waving a portion of your income).

2. Pay off all debt since interest is essentially paying a percentage-based monthly fee for owing money and we’re not privileged enough for our assets to cover that expense.

3. Build and maintain a liquid (cash) holding as an emergency fund. This isn’t for investing or expensive new toys, it’s insurance that will cover your expenses for 6-12 months. Put it in a high-yield savings account or money market since it will be a significant sum and inflation will otherwise reduce its value over time.

4. Max out your retirement accounts to the contribution limit, your 401(k), IRA, and HSA if you have one. These accounts have tax advantages that essentially mean you can put more money towards retirement than you could in an individual trading account. This doesn’t have to be one lump sum, you can divide it up into monthly contributions so long as you’re on track for maxing your contribution limits by the end of the year.

5. Open an individual trading account with a broker (Vanguard, Fidelity, etc.) and invest in index funds (3-fund portfolios are reliable and low-cost). If you anticipate a significant expense over the next 10 years, i.e. a down payment for a house you can budget between this and the funds going towards Step 4 but keep in mind the tax advantages of retirement accounts means you’re likely missing out on some retirement gains.

People have lost their lives and homes, and will continue to do so at increasing rates, precisely because of this “now is not the time for politics” sentiment when it comes to climate change. The longer we kick the can down the road, the more people are going to be killed or displaced because of it.

The “pro life” party sure seems to get something out of killing people

Obligatory fuck Nintendo!

At this point I feel more threatened by cops than I do by whatever they’re supposed to be “protecting us” from.

Why? This kind of humor isn’t new and it’s never about “finding a baby to hand off to somebody”. The implication is always suggestively sexual. Don’t delude yourself into giving him the benefit of the doubt here. This was clearly meant to be a dog whistle to his manosphere followers.

For me it’s more about not subjecting a person to my own residual trauma and a society that’s accelerating towards self-annihilation

“Give us what we want or we’ll shit in the pool and ruin it for everybody.”

Some people just want to watch the world scratch its head in bewilderment.

Who knew that so many Lemmy users were experts in the science of dietary nutrition?

These corporate media companies are all the same and are a blight upon our society.

Seems like a reasonable conclusion to me. Thank you for communicating as well as for your time and effort spent handling this in a careful and mature way.

I’ll always upvote a Red Dwarf reference o7

By some freak statistical improbability, a significant portion of the Lemmy community revealed that they’re all qualified to debate the science of the nutritional needs of animals.