It’s been a week or so since I got back from my road trip through a few states. I got to spend some time in a couple and just passed through another, but still, during death plague, travelling is a luxury, or at least it should be.
Anyway, a lot of my time was spent in TX. I was in a somewhat smaller town surrounded by other smaller towns, but I did take one day to drive to Dallas. My overall impressions of the state? I don’t really like it. It seemed more expensive, for one. Sales tax was higher and the cost of things in general seemed higher as well. Gas was cheaper, but not cheaper than other states I went through.
On dining. It’s nothing I can really fault them for, but there was less for me to eat in TX. I don’t eat Mexican, and well, TX has a lot of Mexican food for whatever reason. I lot of the brands I enjoy also weren’t there (at least in the smaller towns I was in). One other thing is that every restaurant was jam packed. Actually that was a theme my entire trip. I regularly found myself eating at my third or less favorite choice just because I couldn’t get in anywhere else.
On shopping. I had plenty of time to hit all the stores I wanted. I hit thrift stores, which were generally disappointing, pawn shops, which were universally, exceptionally depressing, and used CD stores, which were generally positive.
On driving. I was warned beforehand that TX drivers drive fast. This is true, but despite that, they are still courteous. I’ll save my ranting for the end, but I will say, Dallas rush-hour traffic is heaps better than normal FL traffic. For one, drivers choose a lane and stick with it. They allow you to have a safety buffer in front of your vehicle without having an irrational need to fill that space. TX drivers don’t ride in the passing lane (of course there are exceptions). When you only have 2-lane highways, maybe this is more normal. The one notable exception I recall is someone who rode the passing lane and varied his speed between 65 and 85. He wouldn’t pass me, nor would he fall behind me. He was building up a line of cars behind him. So in an open stretch, I chose to accelerate to over 100 to build a gap between me and him so that the cars he blocked could pass him on the right and get around him. As far as I know, he’s still driving in the left lane today.
Oddball observation: There are a lot of redheads in TX.
The next state I spent the most time in was LA, an hour away from where I was staying. My general impression: a poor, sad state. I hit some thrift shops, which had nothing of any value, some pawn shops, which also had nothing of value, and a record store. I saw a dead dog in the street and no one seemed to be concerned by it.
When I was coming through LA into TX, I didn’t get a very good vibe from the state. I mentioned this to my host who commented that her impression of LA people is that they were "crooked". I thought that was sort of a unique observation, not one you usually make on a group of people. Then I went to the used record store in LA and I learned. I’ve heard about stores like this before, but this was the first one I’d experienced.
When I got there, the building was sketchy as fuck. There were no windows – none. The signage was uninviting. When I went in, the place was like a maze of boxes and rooms. The first person I saw asked what I was looking for, then had to lead me through the maze to where the CDs were. I’m not adverse to mess, after all, I shop at thrift and pawn shops and flea markets. As I looked over every CD they had, there wasn’t anything of real interest, only mild interest. The couple I did pull out to inspect closer, I noticed there were no price tags on them. This gave me an uneasy feeling. Like I said, I’ve heard of this before. Against my expectations, I hoped they just had a flat price for CDs.
On my way from one section to another, a person I assume was the owner asked me if I was finding everything I was looking for. I asked what the prices were for CDs and he confirmed my worries. He said would look up the prices at checkout. Uh huh. I pretty much knew I wouldn’t be buying anything here. But I still looked at everything. In the end, the only thing in the entire shop that caught my eye was a gold Pink Floyd CD. Knowing the store’s pricing policy, I looked up the price online. It sells for an average of $75. I mentally set my max price for $50. I took it back to the owner and he saw it and said, "Oh that’s going to be an expensive one. If you’re interested, I can look up the price, but I can tell you it’s going to be at least $60." I replied, "Not if it’s going to be $60." And he left the CD on the table and dismissed me. So I left. Crooked? Maybe, but definitely not someone I want to do business with.
So anyway, after a couple weeks away, I return to FL. Immediately, as soon as I cross the state line, I mean, right then, traffic started acting differently. The highway opened up to three lanes and it became a free for all. Drivers switching lanes constantly, people weaving through traffic, driving 20 miles faster than the flow, just total insanity. Then, later on, the density just grew and grew. Three lanes fully packed with cars, which obviously left no room for passing, making those that wanted to speed and pass even more dangerous, swiping the small gaps between cars left and right to push themselves further ahead. It was absolutely infuriating.
In the time since, I’ve been very critical of the driving in FL. Although I haven’t been to CA yet to experience that driving environment, I can say FL has the worst driving of any state I’ve been in, and that does include MA, specifically, Boston. My experience in Boston was that yes, it’s hectic and rude, but it’s not at 80 mph. All that jostling happens in city environments at slower speeds. Driving in FL is like a real-life Grand Theft Auto game.
On a positive note, I did get a lot of CDs. It’s taking me days and days to give each a full listen. I did have a great find of over a dozen new SACDs in a thrift store. I bought them all for $1 each. SACDs will sell for $40+ easily. Because I am not of the LA mindset, I did sell off all the extra copies I had, but for $10 each including shipping. Maybe I made $50 profit total. But I kept a copy for myself, so my collection is $40 richer, too. And the buyers (who were as knowledgeable as I) were understandably appreciative of the good price. That gratitude is worth more than the money.
While I was gone, I had a sitter for the cats. Unfortunately, Spock never warmed up to her and hid every time she was in the house. Sky, on the other hand, developed a new language to talk to the sitter. Sky tried using all her new words on me when I got home and I had no idea what she wanted. Spock took a few days to get over his pain of abandonment. My first night back in bed, he crawled up on my chest, which is something he’s never done before. He’s back to his usual asshole self now.
Currently, I’m waiting and hoping for my turn for the COVID vaccine, so I can have more road trips like this on weekends. As fun as that was, I’m sort of dreading it as well, because there are a lot of people travelling. Right now, they shouldn’t be, but when we get safer, I’m afraid it’s just going to be madness on the roads and hotels. The hotel I booked was sold out both times I was there. Is it going to be like my dining options, having to go to my third best option for lodging?
No Problems, Only Opportunities
What Millennials Can Learn From Gen X’s Money Mistakes
You can consider me a sucker for any article on generational warfare, especially one that involves mine. So when an article immediately says I’m making mistakes with my money, I’m doubly interested.
I feel I’ve made this clear in other posts, but I really do feel sorry for generations after mine. While the generation preceding me couldn’t care much about anything other than itself, I am embarrassed at what has been left for the younger ones to clean up, fix, or just try to survive through. My whole generation is too small to have made any political impression or enact any meaningful change, but I’ve been waiting for the next major cohort to flex its muscle, and I expect we see things the same way.
Anyway…
This article says its a collection of advice from financial experts who want Gen Y to do things differently from Gen X – "Break the chains of financial norms that were enshrined as gospel in the last century." Here’s the truth that overshadows the entire article: The financial norms are not norms anymore because the entire economy and financial markets got fucked. But that’s not a problem. Don’t focus on that problem. Don’t bother trying to solve the problem (as if you could anyway).
The term "gaslight" is used way too frequently and usually inappropriately. I’m not going to use it here, but it feels some would. This article is more of the more traditional, "blowing smoke up your ass" flavor.
Point 1: Gen Y should focus on Roth accounts instead of traditional retirement accounts. I’m not going to argue particulars, this advice can go either way. I just want to point out that Roth IRA’s were created in 1997. It’s not like there was a lot of information on the benefits of a Roth at the time. And now, given time, experience, and income growth, I now contribute 100% to post-tax retirement accounts. Because Gen X makes all the financial mistakes.
Point 2: Gen Y should give up on whatever used to be the idea of financial success. Let me get that exact quote.
"…millennials need to reconsider the entire concept of wealth, success and financial freedom – particularly as it applies to standards that were set in a different time"
It shouldn’t take much cynicism to deduce that "a different time" means "a better time". What example of change was provided?
"Are we sure we want a 30-year mortgage on the largest house we can possibly secure financing for to go along with our student loan debt and auto loan? … Maybe a used RV and a WiFi hotspot are more appealing than a 2,000-square-foot ranch."
And now I want to really punch someone. I’ll give you this much. Buying the biggest house you can get financing for is a financial mistake, worthy of the title of the article. But to suggest that Gen Y should just literally give up on the concept of owning a house to live in a depreciating asset and have them consider that move financially savvy? That is an even bigger financial mistake. One that a future article will use comparing Gen Y and Gen Z.
And there’s a real trigger: "student loan debt". Something my generation didn’t have to worry about, at least not to enslavement levels of debt like today. Maybe a used RV is not so much "more appealing" as it is "the only option". I’m not saying lower your expectations, I’m just saying to refine them.
Point 3: Accept that shit sucks. Deal with it. I would really have to copy the whole text of the two paragraphs to do justice to what is being bullshitted. Remember, the problem the article is hiding is that the economy absolutely sucks. Gen Y started a revolution by creating "the gig economy". You know what the gig economy has done? It has resulted in workers being exploited and cheapened, with no redeeming benefits. And no benefits at all. For every success story on a gig worker, you have a thousand who are working themselves to the bone just to get by.
The Gen X life story? "Get a college degree. Land a job. Buy a house. Invest for retirement someday." Their take on these universal desires? "It’s a flawed model." IT’S A FUCKING FLAWED MODEL. I got my job with a Associates degree in an unrelated field. Gen Y (and Z now) have to have Bachelors degrees to get entry level jobs. They can’t get any job paying well enough to buy a house or to invest for retirement someday. WHOSE MODEL IS FUCKING FLAWED HERE?
So the explanation for being flawed is that it doesn’t align with Gen Y’s priorities: "experiences over possessions, and prioritizing purpose, innovation, and flexibility". And I’m going to say again, these priorities are due to the fact the world is garbage. They are compensation for having nothing else. When your world is so dead that you simply want to experience as much happiness as possible as soon as possible because you don’t expect things to be getting better in your lifetime, that’s a problem. When you demand flexibility because you know you can’t trust any institution for stability, that’s a problem. As far as purpose and innovation, Gen X had that as well, only it wasn’t something we had to demand, it was simply allowed. That’s a problem.
This romanticizing of renting for life and RVing and being mobile and nomadic, that’s a symptom of the times. It’s a necessity to survival. You really don’t think that if circumstances were the same now as they were 20 years ago that a whole generation would behave so differently? If anything the nomadic lifestyle would be taken up for pleasure. If the promise of technology had not been stolen by a few obscenely rich, powerful people, we’d all be living a utopian life.
For the boomers who were flower children until the end and look around with sadness at what they were unable to sustain, I will be a nerd who will die lamenting how the Internet was supposed to bring enlightenment and knowledge and was reduced to conspiracies and trolls. Gen Y, ponder well what legacy you wish to leave unfulfilled to the world.