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birb_cromble  2d ago (text post)   600 thread views

Weekly Finance Thread (without clever alliteration)

A weekly thread to discuss financial matters - from personal all the way up to global.

Ground Rules

  • Remember that we're all just Internet randos. Don't bet your life savings on a hot tip from this thread.
  • Keep culture war in the culture war thread. Yes, global events may impact our personal finances, but that does not mean we have to incessantly harp on culture war aspects here. If you are going to discuss it, please stick to the practical impacts of it on an individual level.
  • Be kind. Remember that everyone here comes from different circumstances. We all have different resources available and different risk tolerances.
  • Don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good. Better is better. Celebrate people when they take a step up and work to move their finances in the right direction. Don't flame out because they haven't followed what you consider the optimal path. Everybody has to start somewhere.
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Any business owners around here? No, minority shareholding doesn't count.

I've been wondering if doing it for the product vs doing it for the money is a useful distinction. From what I've noticed, doing it for the product leads to a wider array of outcomes, but doing it for the money has a better modal/median outcome.

I run a consultancy as a sole proprietorship. It's not anywhere close to my primary source of income, but it gets me a nice pop of cash every now and then.

What do you mean doing it for the product, exactly? Like someone starting a pizza place because they love the idea of making pizza?

What type of consultancy? It's something I've been off and on considering as a bit of a side gig for a while now.

I do software modernization for small companies running stuff that's 30-40 years old.

If you have any activity on the west coast of the US, would you mind establishing business with local credit unions? Their modernization is beyond horrible. I was just talking with a friend last night who lost his credit card, so he called up the bank to issue a new one and cancel any activity on his current one and they literally told him, “We can’t put a hold or freeze on your credit card because our system is down, call us back in a couple of hours.”

Jesus Christ.

I have done some work with credit unions, and I never want to do it again. I think I legitimately spent 10x more time fighting with auditors than I did actually fixing their problems.

"Can your system fully attest X?"

"Not formally"

"Then we can't certify it."

"Can the existing system?"

"No."

"Then why is it allowed?"

"It was granted an exemption."

"Can I do that?"

"No."

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