Moving up in the world.

[Death_Merchant]

My GF and I are planning on getting married next year, and buying a new home. We're looking at homes in the suburbs with a pretty big price tag. This seems to be bothering friends and family a little bit. With my family, for some reason they think I'm a loser bum. I was a bit of a misunderstood fuck-up for a while, straightened my shit out, but the image hasn't left. I think it's fucking with their heads that I'm ending up better off than their kids that weren't fuck-ups. My mom seems mad at me, and really negative about our house plans. Friends of ours think we're delusional or something, and that the house is too big and expensive for us.

We think it's reasonable for what it is. We want 3-4 kids, and want to live in a nice neighborhood that is safer for the kids. I'm joining a union soon, so I'll be making really good money, and my GF is a teacher, so she does alright too. We kind of said fuck the starter homes, and want to buy what we want. We can easily afford the payments. What the fuck is everyone's problem? It's like I'm completely fucking up their realities or something.

Has anyone else ever found that people don't seem to be too happy about your success?

[Marijuanasaurus]

lol what success?

[HOLLISTER GUY]

Just a word to to the wise, house prices will dip this summer. It's going to be a good time to haggle out some deals. The original foreclosures were people who couldn't afford to make payments in the first place. Now it is going to be people who lost their jobs and depleted their savings. Good luck finding a good deal. I find it best just not to associate with people who frown upon one's successes.

Everybody has their own dreams and ideas of success. It sounds as though you're life is fulfilling. There's something missing in mine and I try every day to find it. I hope your marriage goes well.

[Nolte]

Originally Posted by Death_Merchant

Has anyone else ever found that people don't seem to be too happy about your success?

Yes.

But is this really a suprise?

Why should what you and your family are able to afford make anyone else happy?

[Death_Merchant]

Originally Posted by HOLLISTER GUY

Just a word to to the wise, house prices will dip this summer. It's going to be a good time to haggle out some deals. The original foreclosures were people who couldn't afford to make payments in the first place. Now it is going to be people who lost their jobs and depleted their savings. Good luck finding a good deal. I find it best just not to associate with people who frown upon one's successes.

Everybody has their own dreams and ideas of success. It sounds as though you're life is fulfilling. There's something missing in mine and I try every day to find it. I hope your marriage goes well.

I don't live in the States. We don't have the same problems here in Canada that the US is having; especially in my province. Things are going back to normal here.

[Idiot]

Originally Posted by Death_Merchant

My GF and I are planning on getting married next year, and buying a new home. We're looking at homes in the suburbs with a pretty big price tag. This seems to be bothering friends and family a little bit. With my family, for some reason they think I'm a loser bum. I was a bit of a misunderstood fuck-up for a while, straightened my shit out, but the image hasn't left. I think it's fucking with their heads that I'm ending up better off than their kids that weren't fuck-ups. My mom seems mad at me, and really negative about our house plans. Friends of ours think we're delusional or something, and that the house is too big and expensive for us.

We think it's reasonable for what it is. We want 3-4 kids, and want to live in a nice neighborhood that is safer for the kids. I'm joining a union soon, so I'll be making really good money, and my GF is a teacher, so she does alright too. We kind of said fuck the starter homes, and want to buy what we want. We can easily afford the payments. What the fuck is everyone's problem? It's like I'm completely fucking up their realities or something.

Has anyone else ever found that people don't seem to be too happy about your success?

Fuck those people man. Go do what you want. Plan it out, and then do it. I hope it works for you man. Good luck

[hitnrun]

Death_Merchant, what province are you in? (If you don't mind me asking that is)

[Euda]

A lot of people will buy a starter home, rather than opting for an unnecessarily large house. The reality is that you don't need a large house right now. How long do you plan on staying in this house? How long before you plan on having your first child? How long before the next?

Just because you can afford something doesn't make it the best idea.

[The Backdoor Man]

Originally Posted by hitnrun

Death_Merchant, what province are you in? (If you don't mind me asking that is)

this was gonna be my question

[neurotransmitting]

Based on posts ive read, youre a smart guy, but buying a house with a mortgage is not smart. It only makes your banker rich off of interest payments, plus its a big commitment, and significantly narrows your ability to adapt to any future changes. A person's house is their biggest liability, NOT their biggest asset, no matter what banker or real estate agent might tell you otherwise. Look at the numbers, it drains your cash flow and keeps you in debt. You cant be free if youre in debt. Let the unthinking masses fall into this housing trap and fuck themselves over, if you learn enough about finance and real estate, you can actually profit from their incompetence.

[unstableasatable]

have two kids, move and start your family. be kind to nature and be happy. thankyour family always for what they have provided. love and be loved. respect nature and respect yourself.

[toraton]

Originally Posted by neurotransmitting

Based on posts ive read, youre a smart guy, but buying a house with a mortgage is not smart. It only makes your banker rich off of interest payments, plus its a big commitment, and significantly narrows your ability to adapt to any future changes. A person's house is their biggest liability, NOT their biggest asset, no matter what banker or real estate agent might tell you otherwise. Look at the numbers, it drains your cash flow and keeps you in debt. You cant be free if youre in debt. Let the unthinking masses fall into this housing trap and fuck themselves over, if you learn enough about finance and real estate, you can actually benefit from their incompetence.

Do you suggest throwing away money on rent instead? At least you can be paying principle with part of a mortgage payment while rent payments are lost entirely.

[water bottle]

Originally Posted by The Backdoor Man

this was gonna be my question

Thirded... not sure why I'm interested, but there you have it...

[NSFW]

out of curiosity what union are you joining?

[neurotransmitting]

Originally Posted by toraton

Do you suggest throwing away money on rent instead? At least you can be paying principle with part of a mortgage payment while rent payments are lost entirely.

Whats the difference between "throwing away" money on rent and "throwing away" money on principle? A mortgage is also a big commitment, rent isnt. And you dont have to take out a huge loan thats gonna charge you interest for however long it takes you to pay off the principal.

Buying a house isnt bad, as long as you pay all at once in money you actually have, so you can avoid paying interest.

[pygar]

If it's any consolation the meanness is not at a conscious level. It's a mixture of jealously and "old habits die hard".

Jealousy isn't something that happens on a conscious level either.

[Euda]

The thing to do, if you can swing it, is buy two starter homes. One for yourself and your wife, possibly a first child. One to rent out. When you need more space, then you sell one house, or simply buy a new one and keep both starter homes as rental units.

Of course, a person doesn't always have to make good decisions. Sometimes it's good to just go with what you've got your heart set on.

[Death_Merchant]

Originally Posted by hitnrun

Death_Merchant, what province are you in? (If you don't mind me asking that is)

I live in Alberta. We got hit a little bit by the recession, but my work revolves around the oilfield. How much work is available is dependent on the price of oil. Although, even when oil prices are down, refineries, upgraders, and pipelines, still have to be maintained.

I'm joining the boilermaker's union. Basically my job will be to build and maintain pressure equipment in refineries. There are several refineries here in Edmonton. This spring, there will be 4 major shutdowns all at once. A shutdown is when they turn off a section of a plant for maintenance. Every day costs millions in lost revenues, so you work 12 hour days until everything is running again.

I'm actually a welder by trade, but I'll be working with boilermaker's, which is also a trade. The money is good, but getting an apprenticeship and working your way towards your ticket isn't as easy as a lot of people think. I think like 20% of people who sign up as apprentices actually get their tickets. Out of those people, only about a third of them are good enough to weld on pressure equipment. Once employed, you're tested a lot. You test when you get the job, and then usually a percentage of your welds are tested after that. Sometimes it's 100% x-ray, which means zero fuck ups.

The pay is good though. Most welders make about the same amount as your average doctor, often more.

In a busy year, a "B" pressure welder can make over 200k. That's a lot of hours though. The least you make is usually around 100k.

[pygar]

WoW. Thats a lot of money for a tradesman to make.

[SirPsychoSexy]

Congratulations, Death_Merchant. It's always nice to hear somebody's good news.

You talked about your friends and family becoming very negative with you since you started turning your life around. Believe it or not, this is normal. As most people know, your habits are very resistant to change. Well, the people around you are even MORE resistant to it. They are so used to the old you that when you start to change yourself, they automatically think it isn't genuine and fight back. It's a common story among people who become successful fairly quickly. You would think people would be supportive of your newfound success, but that's not the case. The better your life gets, the more people want to take shots at you.

I'd say fuck all of them and do what you're going to do. It's not their business to try and crush your dreams and ambitions. Even if things don't work out, you put yourself out there and did your best. That's doing a lot more than your unsupportive friends and family.

Best of luck and keep Zoklet updated!

[stunned cunt]

Alberta is probably gonna start feeling the effects of recession soon though, I mean it does much better financially then any other province in Canada, yet still in the northwest territories, where I live, job layoffs are coming up in the diamond mines and other trade sectors which basically depend on Alberta's economy.
Going out on a whim here but I'm thinking maybe your friends and family have a problem with your girlfriend. Either way, its pretty dickish of them to be THAT unsupportive, so fuck em', and show them you have what it takes. Obviously you have the resources to do as you please.

[water bottle]

Originally Posted by Slartibartfast

WoW. Thats a lot of money for a tradesman to make.

Yeah, tradesmen make great money these days. The problem I've noticed among my tradesmen friends, however, is that they often have very little concept of financial management and somehow end up having about the same amount of disposable income as an unemployed uni student like myself.

[Death_Merchant]

Originally Posted by water bottle

Yeah, tradesmen make great money these days. The problem I've noticed among my tradesmen friends, however, is that they often have very little concept of financial management and somehow end up having about the same amount of disposable income as an unemployed uni student like myself.

Very true. Financial management is the reason why most tradesmen don't get ahead. People aren't brought up in households where that much money is made, and don't know what to do with it. As a result, they blow it on partying, drugs, gambling, and stupid shit. This is an overall problem though. Most people have terrible money management skills. People who think more money will solve their money problems, are usually people with poor management skills. A smart person could live well on welfare if done right. You won't live a high lifestyle, but you could have everything you need, and even pick bottles for extra cash. People find themselves in trouble no matter how much they make, and when things get slow, they're fucked.

I think a major problem is that on the average, tradesmen aren't the smartest of people. It makes sense though, cause smart people are dissuaded by family, friends, and teachers to not go into the trades. There is a mentality that trades are for people who don't have the marks for university. For me, the reason I went into the trades was because I looked at my country, and said, "we are a mining country". That's Canada's golden ticket. Going into other fields means you're only getting spin-off money from tradesmen and shareholders spending their cash. Shareholders are the richest people in the world. No matter how much you make, you always make dividends on top of your wages if you own shares. You always have more as a shareholder. For me, welding made sense. With welding, it pays as much as you are willing to work hard for. Ambition is rewarded, where in most jobs the rewards are small or nothing for your efforts. My goal is to be a shareholder. Welding is simply a stepping stone in my financial plan. I'm going to work my ass off while I'm young and can handle the hours and strain. In the next 10 years I'll have generated enough capital to have a very large portfolio.

I actually encourage smart people with good hand skills to get into the trades. You don't have to do it forever, but the financial short-term boost will set you up for life. If you started when you're 18, you could be set at 30 with a good financial strategy. Then you could go to University and get into a career that is more fulfilling with less pay, knowing you don't even need the money. For me, I'm moving into welding inspection. I'll still make 6 figures as an inspector, run my own business, and not have to work my ass off. My job will then be to fill out paperwork and make sure things are being build properly.

[A$AP Weed Smoker]

Liar

[Death_Merchant]

Originally Posted by Stunned Cunt

Alberta is probably gonna start feeling the effects of recession soon though, I mean it does much better financially then any other province in Canada, yet still in the northwest territories, where I live, job layoffs are coming up in the diamond mines and other trade sectors which basically depend on Alberta's economy.
Going out on a whim here but I'm thinking maybe your friends and family have a problem with your girlfriend. Either way, its pretty dickish of them to be THAT unsupportive, so fuck em', and show them you have what it takes. Obviously you have the resources to do as you please.

The diamond demand is declining because natural gas prices are down at the moment. This is due to new technology that has allowed for extraction of natural gas deposits from shale in the US. This pretty much halted the exploration of natural gas here in Alberta and Saskatchewan. The drilling heads used to drill wells are diamond tipped. Since we're not drilling to many wells for natural gas, the demand for the diamonds is way down, resulting in the reduced production of diamonds in the NWT.

The current work coming online is based around oil sands development. There are several steps in producing synthetic crude from oil sands deposits. The first step is mining and extracting the bitumen from the sand. Then it can be piped south to be upgraded into a more usable product. The thing we're trying to change here in Alberta, is reducing the amount of bitumen that is exported to the US for upgrading and refining. We want to have all steps of production right here in Canada, which means we're going to be building steady for 25 or more years, just to make that possible. This will increase tax and royalty revenues for Alberta.

To do this, we're going to be building new upgrading facilities just north east of Edmonton. I believe there will be 4 or more upgraders built there, as well as refineries in the area are going to be expanded. Also, the current oil sand mining companies are expanding too. New mines will also be starting, and will be developed into Saskatchewan as well. All of this new production will be piped to and upgraded in Alberta.

Although natural gas is down, oil prices are high enough to carry out other projects. The oil sands won't be reducing anytime soon either. Synthetic crude is a very usable form of oil, and has a higher market price than heavy crude, and sweet crude. Oil from the middle east is sweet crude. It's very light and thin, so it can't be refined into as many products as heavy crude and synthetic. Light crudes aren't good for much more than diesel fuel and jet fuel.

There is also a carbon capture program in the works here in Alberta. Basically, CO2 will be captured and compressed at refinery sites. Then the CO2 will be piped to old oil wells and pumped under ground. This will save the oil companies billions in future carbon taxes. As a benefit, it will enrich the oil wells and make the last bit of oil in them higher quality, and possible to be extracted; maximizing the return on the wells. To move all of this CO2, a massive stainless steel piping network must be constructed to make this possible. This will result in the creation of a lot of jobs for pipe fitters and welders in the coming years as well.

[stunned cunt]

Originally Posted by Death_Merchant

The diamond demand is declining because natural gas prices are down at the moment. This is due to new technology that has allowed for extraction of natural gas deposits from shale in the US. This pretty much halted the exploration of natural gas here in Alberta and Saskatchewan. The drilling heads used to drill wells are diamond tipped. Since we're not drilling to many wells for natural gas, the demand for the diamonds is way down, resulting in the reduced production of diamonds in the NWT.

The current work coming online is based around oil sands development. There are several steps in producing synthetic crude from oil sands deposits. The first step is mining and extracting the bitumen from the sand. Then it can be piped south to be upgraded into a more usable product. The thing we're trying to change here in Alberta, is reducing the amount of bitumen that is exported to the US for upgrading and refining. We want to have all steps of production right here in Canada, which means we're going to be building steady for 25 or more years, just to make that possible. This will increase tax and royalty revenues for Alberta.

To do this, we're going to be building new upgrading facilities just north east of Edmonton. I believe there will be 4 or more upgraders built there, as well as refineries in the area are going to be expanded. Also, the current oil sand mining companies are expanding too. New mines will also be starting, and will be developed into Saskatchewan as well. All of this new production will be piped to and upgraded in Alberta.

Although natural gas is down, oil prices are high enough to carry out other projects. The oil sands won't be reducing anytime soon either. Synthetic crude is a very usable form of oil, and has a higher market price than heavy crude, and sweet crude. Oil from the middle east is sweet crude. It's very light and thin, so it can't be refined into as many products as heavy crude and synthetic. Light crudes aren't good for much more than diesel fuel and jet fuel.

There is also a carbon capture program in the works here in Alberta. Basically, CO2 will be captured and compressed at refinery sites. Then the CO2 will be piped to old oil wells and pumped under ground. This will save the oil companies billions in future carbon taxes. As a benefit, it will enrich the oil wells and make the last bit of oil in them higher quality, and possible to be extracted; maximizing the return on the wells. To move all of this CO2, a massive stainless steel piping network must be constructed to make this possible. This will result in the creation of a lot of jobs for pipe fitters and welders in the coming years as well.

Fuck, I should learn a trade like nao.

[neurotransmitting]

Originally Posted by Death_Merchant

Very true. Financial management is the reason why most tradesmen don't get ahead. People aren't brought up in households where that much money is made, and don't know what to do with it. As a result, they blow it on partying, drugs, gambling, and stupid shit. This is an overall problem though. Most people have terrible money management skills. People who think more money will solve their money problems, are usually people with poor management skills. A smart person could live well on welfare if done right. You won't live a high lifestyle, but you could have everything you need, and even pick bottles for extra cash. People find themselves in trouble no matter how much they make, and when things get slow, they're fucked.

I think a major problem is that on the average, tradesmen aren't the smartest of people. It makes sense though, cause smart people are dissuaded by family, friends, and teachers to not go into the trades. There is a mentality that trades are for people who don't have the marks for university. For me, the reason I went into the trades was because I looked at my country, and said, "we are a mining country". That's Canada's golden ticket. Going into other fields means you're only getting spin-off money from tradesmen and shareholders spending their cash. Shareholders are the richest people in the world. No matter how much you make, you always make dividends on top of your wages if you own shares. You always have more as a shareholder. For me, welding made sense. With welding, it pays as much as you are willing to work hard for. Ambition is rewarded, where in most jobs the rewards are small or nothing for your efforts. My goal is to be a shareholder. Welding is simply a stepping stone in my financial plan. I'm going to work my ass off while I'm young and can handle the hours and strain. In the next 10 years I'll have generated enough capital to have a very large portfolio.

I actually encourage smart people with good hand skills to get into the trades. You don't have to do it forever, but the financial short-term boost will set you up for life. If you started when you're 18, you could be set at 30 with a good financial strategy. Then you could go to University and get into a career that is more fulfilling with less pay, knowing you don't even need the money. For me, I'm moving into welding inspection. I'll still make 6 figures as an inspector, run my own business, and not have to work my ass off. My job will then be to fill out paperwork and make sure things are being build properly.

Why did i feel the need to give advice, you obviously have financial strategy.

[Trix Are For Kids]

Originally Posted by neurotransmitting

Buying a house with a mortgage is not smart.

Listen to this man. Buying anything with money you don't have isn't smart. If your wife is an inexperienced teacher, she will probably get laid off. Things aren't turning around man, the economy is still very much fucked. A huge interest payment could REALLY screw you over. I've seen it happen to many people who thought they had the money. I think you ought to save as much as you can now, wait a bit, then put a down payment of as much as possible on that house. Also, if you have an "agent", tell them to fuck off. Nobody else should be making money off of your investment. If you do it right I see no problem.

Your parents are probably just worried because they themselves racked up a massive debt buying a house.

[Death_Merchant]

Originally Posted by Trix Are For Kids

Listen to this man. Buying anything with money you don't have isn't smart. If your wife is an inexperienced teacher, she will probably get laid off. Things aren't turning around man, the economy is still very much fucked. A huge interest payment could REALLY screw you over. I've seen it happen to many people who thought they had the money. I think you ought to save as much as you can now, wait a bit, then put a down payment of as much as possible on that house. Also, if you have an "agent", tell them to fuck off. Nobody else should be making money off of your investment. If you do it right I see no problem.

Your parents are probably just worried because they themselves racked up a massive debt buying a house.

I am saving for a huge down payment, probably around 100k. Actually, my Dad's a millionaire small business owner. His house is paid for, and his business operates on cash. He took loans to get where he is, and he's debt free.

[Uca]

Just did the exact same thing. We can afford the big house that isn't a starter, so why wouldn't we? My parents freaked, so I wrote this big condescending email detailing all of our financial shit so that she'd stop worrying. Or at least so that she'd stop having "worrying" as her reason for not being happy for me. So now instead she resents in silence and fakes happy. So... back to business as usual for my family.