COVID-19 (Coronavirus)

[ColePens]

- ZERO tolerance for political sides talk. I do not care who is right or left. It does not matter. It is not for this thread or this website. You will be removed.

- RESPECT one another. It's a simple concept. This is a tough time. Just respect one another.

- ZERO tolerance for any mindset that someone dying is okay. That's not going to happen here. You will be removed.


Seriously... just be nice to one another. It's simple.


This is not a debate thread. For example - if you go into a Bryan Rust Appreciation thread and say Rust sucks, you will be removed. The sole purpose of this thread is to keep us up to date with what is going on (without bias) and to stay positive for one another. This is not a debate thread. This is not a political thread. This is not a discussion of everything else in the world thread (race problems, guns, etc). This is a thread to keep us together during this amazingly tough time.

I have posted over 100 warnings from March to today. I can't sit here and moderate this like a chat room. We need to respect the rules and unfortunately the very strict guidelines of discussion.

Click to read more...

 

[CascadiaPenguin]

@Empoleon8771 asked this in the last thread: "I'm curious for people's expectations, do people think that things will be back to normal by the middle of next year?"

I don't think anyone knows how 2021 is going to flesh out, but here is what the editor of The Lancet said today in a Times interview:

"A vaccine is not going to take this virus out of our society. A vaccine is never 100 percent effective, 100 percent safe and available to 100 percent of people. We’re not going to get a vaccine to 7 billion people on the planet, and 7 billion people on the planet aren’t going to want to take it. I’m pretty sure we’re going to have a vaccine next year, but that isn’t going to mean we’re going to be able to go back to our fully normal lives."

 

[Mario_is_BACK!!]

Last thread had discussion of house sales being up. I did a for fun look on Zillow last night and was dismayed to see a lot of “pre-foreclosure” listings in my area.

 

[Al Smith]

Last thread had discussion of house sales being up. I did a for fun look on Zillow last night and was dismayed to see a lot of “pre-foreclosure” listings in my area.

I live in an enclave out in the middle of nowhere in the upstate. After having no activity for nearly three months, since the middle of June - specifically right after the riots started or maybe after the economy "reopened" - we've seen an avalanche of pending sales, with a few that have closed. It will be interesting to see the backgrounds/profiles of people who are moving in.

 

[Randy Butternubs]

I'm thinking I should re-finance my house.

 

[2wayPlay]

I was shocked by Kirks number of 30% willing to take that potion Immediately . Thought it would be less.

 

[Jaded-Fan]

 

[Factorial]

I don't want to get a call from the contact tracing people.

 

[Factorial]

A boondoggle?

 

[Mario_is_BACK!!]

I'm thinking I should re-finance my house.

I really want to but my discretionary cash is gone. I need all I can and can’t drop money for closing. I know I could roll it in but there’s also the probation period where your credit has to stay static and I don’t want to be in a position where I may need it.

 

[Jaded-Fan]

 

[2wayPlay]

I really want to but my discretionary cash is gone. I need all I can and can’t drop money for closing. I know I could roll it in but there’s also the probation period where your credit has to stay static and I don’t want to be in a position where I may need it.

I work in finance and people think it’s just as easy as getting this lower rate. To your point MIB it’s not that easy and the paperwork alone needed to go through a closing again sucks!

 

[Randy Butternubs]

I really want to but my discretionary cash is gone. I need all I can and can’t drop money for closing. I know I could roll it in but there’s also the probation period where your credit has to stay static and I don’t want to be in a position where I may need it.

Right now I could save around $100/month but then I'd have to put down something like $4k. Yeah I think I'll wait.

 

[Mario_is_BACK!!]

Right now I could save around $100/month but then I'd have to put down something like $4k. Yeah I think I'll wait.

Thats the thing. If you tell me we’ll save $300 a month then I’m in 100%. But I don’t feel like going through the process, having my credit dinged by a credit check, have to set aside money I really may need, and not touch credit if I need it, just to find out I’m saving $100 a month. It’s just not enough.

 

[Jaded-Fan]

Albert Einstein once said that compound interest is the eighth wonder of the world. Those who understand it, earn it. Those who do not pay it.

Here is a little exercise. One hundred dollars a month does not sound like much. Nothing really, right? Why worry?

Well let's take your 30 year mortgage. And take $100 a month for 30 years.

Investment and Retirement Calculator

Start with zero dollars, 100 a month, 30 years, a very reasonable after inflation 9.5% including dividends. That is $203,302 after 30 years. In today's money, after accounting for inflation. Of which you only contributed $36,000 and $167,303 was your money working for you.

The opposite is true though so it is even worse. You end up PAYING interest to the bank instead so that they earn that. Not an index fund return, but still what, 4%?

That would be paying a total of $69,404 of which only $36,000 went to principle. So an extra $33,404.

So your actual cost is $200,707.

For $100 a month.

It makes a difference.

 

[Mario_is_BACK!!]

I'm well aware of what it extrapolates out to. Maybe in a few months if some of my discretionary income returns I'll do it. Right now it just doesn't make sense with everything else I need to worry about nor is the process something I or my wife have the luxury of doing.

 

[Jaded-Fan]

 

[Jaded-Fan]

I'm well aware of what it extrapolates out to. Maybe in a few months if some of my discretionary income returns I'll do it. Right now it just doesn't make sense with everything else I need to worry about nor is the process something I or my wife have the luxury of doing.

I am not downplaying what you are struggling with. I posted it not only for you, but in general. People so often think that it is only $100. How big a deal could it be? If I get through to one person that it is a big deal, much bigger than they ever imagined, then the post would be worth it ten times over.

Most of the time I hear it about people's financial advisers. Oh, they only cost me a small bit a year. It turns out including all the hidden fees it is 2 or 3 percent. No biggie right? Except that over 70 percent don't beat the market, and almost none do after their fees. And that 2 or 3 percent less because of compounding lost ends up costing you a third to forty percent of what you would have earned. It is a big deal. People's future happiness depends on it. People need to learn about total stock market index funds.

 

[Andy99]

OMG...horrible!

 

[ZeroPucksGiven]

I'm thinking I should re-finance my house.

Yea I was blown away by the interest rates I saw recently.

We bought our house Feb 2019 and it was like at 4%. We were lucky enough to buy some points and it was down to 3.75

4 months later we get an email from the bank and asked if we considered refinancing. Ran the numbers and we got it down to 3.25%

3 weeks ago I inquired and we could probably get ~2.75 and knock off 150 per month.

Well just a few days ago my fiance had to resign from her job of 13 years. We had talked a couple years ago that this environment and the leadership team were toxic and incompetent respectively. I recommended she leave.

She just could not continue any longer with some changes they were trying to implement. So right now we're holding off until she finds a new job.

 

[mrzeigler]

I work in finance and people think it’s just as easy as getting this lower rate. To your point MIB it’s not that easy and the paperwork alone needed to go through a closing again sucks!

Yeah, it's tedious as ****, but oh so worth it.

I refinanced a couple of years ago, taking my 30-year down to 15. I ended up shaving about seven years off of the payments and actually lowered my monthly mortgage payment by about $10. The ~$4K in closing costs will end up saving me somewhere in the range of $50K-60K, IIRC.

It also served as a reminder to shop around for home & auto insurance and I ended up finding a regional company I'd previously never heard of but which has saved me money there, as well.

 

[Jacob]

Animals testing positive is peculiar. I read some of the cases of dogs testing positive weren’t that they actually contracted the virus but more-so were carriers due to living in a home with positive humans shedding tons of the virus onto everything in the home including pets.

Either way pets already socially distance since they stay at home, and if it was a serious threat to their health there’d be either more confirmed cases or a serious spike in mysterious pet deaths.

But assuming they can get it... if you were to hypothetically test positive should you stay away from your pets? Keep them in another part of the house until you get over it?

 

[Randy Butternubs]

Yeah, I get the compound interest side of "only saving $100 a month". But right now, I'm not comfortable shelling out $4k to do that. Who knows, maybe I'll luck into a new job with a signing bonus or a will get a promotion at my current job.

Ha!

 

[Factorial]

Former GOP presidential candidate Herman Cain dies after battle with coronavirus



Wear a mask.

One of his people tweeted this from his account yesterday:

 

[Factorial]

Max Minute: CBS News Poll Says 70% Of Americans Would Wait To Get COVID-19 Vaccine, Or Wouldn't Get One At All

(put another way, only 30% would take the vaccine before even waiting to see if it works for the first group of recipients)​

If it goes through trials and gets approved, those 30% wouldn't be the first group of recipients.