The TSLA Market / Economy

PSA: Guy at my poker table told me to buy BBIG and thank him later. So I will lol

The Company recently launched recording Artist Tory Lanez album “When It’s Dark” on the E-NFT.com platform. “When It’s Dark” is the first album to go platinum on the blockchain with over 1,000,000 units sold.

YOU HAD ME AT E-NFT.COM

Lol I hadn’t even googled it yet. Spaceship emojis!!

This is reasonable logic and I wouldn’t fault someone for doing it, but I think in general you are better off eliminating all debt unless the debt supports an asset with an increasing value (real estate, or even other investments). I personally wouldn’t have that much confidence on student debt relief, there’s basically 0% chance it ever happens with Rs in power (WHATEVER HAPPENED TO PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY!) and right now the Ds have the Presidency and both houses and can’t get anything done.

While Musk is a fool and the robot thing is obviously ridiculous, The Verge has been 100% anti-tesla for years. There was a stretch where they posted some anti-tesla opinion piece every single day for months on end kind of like WaPo on Bernie in 2016. They definitely came across as prsonally biased for some reason or short TSLA imo.

This is what we are doing. The loans are like 3%. Why would I pay it off sooner when I can literally put that money anywhere else and make more.

Not suggesting this is true for you or anything, but I have known a ton of folks that have said similar but don’t actually take their loan payments and invest them, and instead just spend it or leave it in their checking account.

But that said, it def seems like a free roll now and people should do what tilted is doing imo.

Where outside of high risk investments (or at least very volatile, if you do not consider stocks to be high risk) can you easily make 3 percent these days?

I’m shoveling every extra cent into 401k/IRA/HSA and then some in a fund for a down payment eventually. All of those seem like better ways to use my money than paying off $40k in student loans at 3.5% (both of us). I’m sure there will be a day of reckoning in the market eventually but I’m not close to retirement so it doesn’t really matter to me individually. Plus I’m freerolling for an AOC 2028 presidential run.

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Moving from renting to owning a home can be massively +EV assuming you don’t move like 4 years out. Rent having no tax breaks and building no equity sucks.

The mortgage interest deduction benefits me but is completely indefensible.

You need a ton of mortgage interest (or have other deductions I think) to make itemizing better than the standard deduction now, correct? Even before the recent tax changes, we only deducted interest occasionally versus just taking the standard deduction. Since the changes, we’ve always been better off with the standard deduction. I assume most first time home buyers also just take the standard deduction, with perhaps only very high earners catching some additional tax break above the standard deduction. (Not 100 percent sure though.)

I think it’s fine then if it’s mostly long term investments for you. I’ve kept a home mortgage at 3.15 percent for several years now after I could have easily paid it off, even without getting any tax break on the mortgage interest. Mostly because I would rather have the liquidity rather than the money locked away in home equity.

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Yeah, I obviously didn’t pay much mortgage interest last year after buying in late November, but I am curious how it’s going to work out this year. If even well to do people with a matching house are still taking the standard deduction, it highlights the absurdity of the deduction even more.

Have you looked into refinancing at all? I don’t know much, but 3.5% seems highish, and if you are paying the minimum on 40k, it’s at least worth a look if you can come out ahead after the transaction cost.

I haven’t even thought about it. I’ll look into it though and see. Appreciate the tip!

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Yeah, there’s a good chance that the answer is no to a refinancing, but it’s way better to check and know that.

I’ve been watching refi stuff super closely and I’m left so unsure about continuing on with REPAYE even though it’s at a higher rate. Decision keeps getting put off though which is nice.

Does refinancing make the loans ineligible for forgiveness if the government ever actually does do something about the student debt crisis? I always get ads to refinance my federal loans but they would then no longer be federal loans so I’m hesitant to do so.

I really need to some some research on loan forgives for public service for my wife. She has the majority of the loans and she will end up teaching in a low income school for 10 years. I hear all these horror stories about getting it approved though.