Perhaps the BEST B1G Forum anywhere, here at College Football Fan Site, CFB51!!!

I "may" move more than normal monies from my IRA to taxable accounts this year, and next.  I'll need to look at the possible tax plans if the tax cuts end or get changed differently.

Like most things, a reasonable "compromise" could be met with this sort of stuff, but it doesn't play well with the base(s).

To a certain extent, sure.  But some of them just have completely unrealistic expectations, that seem to come from social media sources, and/or their insistence on living within their own echo-chambers.

I have one nephew, he's now 30. He can't bother himself to wake up in the morning to get to a job, so he's usually out of work.  He likes to have long, philosophical discussions about how "creatives" are tremendously under-appreciated in society, there's no place for them to earn a living.  He's always been on the artsy side, was in theater and choir in high school, but he doesn't currently do anything "creative" so I have no idea what he really means or what his expectations are.  He's not an artist or a writer or an actor or a singer, has never tried to be any of those things.

He waves me off when I point out that our current society has all kinds of paying outlets for "creatives."  Graphic design, for example, is absolutely booming compared to where it was 20 or even 10 years ago.  And then of course there are the standard jobs for artsy folks, those I mentioned above, like actors/writers/artists. 

But what I really think he honestly believes, is that he should be compensated for thinking.  For philosophizing.  That society should place such high value on his thoughts that he is paid for thinking them and talking about them.

But even THEN, there ARE potential outlets where he might be traded something of value-- cash, lodging, food, whatever-- if he actually bothered to try and spread his "creative visions" through some consumable medium. It's possible, if he wrote a book about his ideas, that it might be published. It's possible, that if he started a Youtube channel or a podcast about his ideas, that he might get monetized.  There are now more opportunities than EVER BEFORE IN HISTORY, for people to be compensated for non-traditional work.  More opportunities than ever before, for the widespread distribution and potential monetization of "content" that is of value only to a select few, because it's easier to reach people now, than ever before.

And yet, he does none of those things.  He seems to think that just his existence and enthusiasm for talking about his philosophies, should be enough for society to be willing to support him.

I know he's unhappy with our current society, as are his many similar friends I've encountered.  I have no doubt they're among the ones expressing their unhappiness with current American society.

And it's all complete bullshit.

The difference is that a lot of these "kids" are being enabled by their parents.  He can't bother to wake himself up in the morning because he doesn't need a job.  Mommy and Daddy probably pay all his bills, and he probably lives at home.  Thus, his warped view of reality continues to get worse.  

Few of us "like" getting up early in the morning and going to work.  While I bet we almost all enjoy a job or career, do you just jump out of bed everyday, and race to work?  It's all part of being an adult, and my kids all know that their days at home in the nest are numbered. My oldest is out there busting his ass in our business, from 6-7 AM to 7-8 PM some nights.  And on top of that he's a full time college student.  

One of the things that I have learned in life is that there is a difference in intelligence and wisdom.  Anybody can be smart, but not everybody can be wise.  Sounds like to me he is just lazy, or unmotivated, or both.  

The difference is that a lot of these "kids" are being enabled by their parents.  He can't bother to wake himself up in the morning because he doesn't need a job.  Mommy and Daddy probably pay all his bills, and he probably lives at home.  Thus, his warped view of reality continues to get worse. 

I know one of the trends in this younger generation is that they don't seem to place a lot of emphasis on getting a driver's license. My son is a good example. He's already past 16 1/2 and didn't get his permit until 5 months after his birthday, and now has to wait through 6 months of driver training before he can take his test. He could have gotten his permit at 15 1/2 and then taken the test before this school year. But he didn't. And he doesn't seem to care that he'll go an entire school that he COULD have been licensed and wasn't. 

It's the exact opposite of me. At the time Illinois offered driver training at school, but since I had a summer birthday I couldn't take the school-offered training until the fall. So I begged and pleaded with my parents to put me into a public non-school driver training program, and then on the day of my 16th birthday, went to take my test. I was absolutely going to get that license as SOON as humanly possible. 

Honestly, I know the difference between us. I've made his life too comfortable. When I was that age, I had to bum rides off an upperclassman to get to/from school or take the bus. My parent's weren't driving me. When I was that age, and I wanted to get somewhere, I had a bicycle. There were some things my parents would drive me to (esp. in the winter) but sometimes they couldn't, and I had to get there myself. Him? He gets chauffeured around anywhere he needs to go. 

I made the point to him yesterday. He volunteered at the local senior tour golf tournament over the weekend. It's 30 minutes from my house and required dropoff and pickup each day. Yesterday when I had to pick him up, shortly before I arrived he texted me and said they were keeping him an hour late (turns out it was only ~30 minutes). I highlighted to him that HIS inability to get his drivers license situation basically took away 4 1/2 hours of MY weekend that wasn't necessary. And that he needs to get off his ass and prioritize driver training (practice time) so that he's going to be ready when the 6 month clock expires and he can take the test. 

Next school year, he's going to be expected not only to get himself around, but to drive his brother and sister to/from school. Hopefully he'll learn how "fun" it is to be someone's chauffeur. 

My oldest son was slow to get his license. His birthday was in May, I started warning him he would feel pretty stupid not having a license when summer started. You have to have your permit I think 6 months before getting your license. He ended up getting it about July. He told me later I was right, he felt pretty stupid missing half the summer with no license. 

Youngest son was all over it, got his as soon he could. 

I recall we got our learner's permit at 15 and then could get the DL at 16, and most took the test on their birthday as noted.  I dimly recall taking a DE course that summer, it was of course mostly silly, but one kid I was with had never driven before, and another had only drive a clutch, so he kept stepping on the nonexistent clutch.

We had a huge Olds 88 and I recall it didn't move right away, you pressed on the gas and nothing happened and then it would lurch ahead.  I didn't get to drive it much because the teacher had to spend more time with the newbie.

We had to watch some movie that was pretty scary for 30 minutes.

My oldest son was slow to get his license. His birthday was in May, I started warning him he would feel pretty stupid not having a license when summer started. You have to have your permit I think 6 months before getting your license. He ended up getting it about July. He told me later I was right, he felt pretty stupid missing half the summer with no license.

Youngest son was all over it, got his as soon he could.

Yeah, not only do you have to have your learner's permit for a full 6 mos before you can get your actual license, but these days with everything being by appointment, in the urban areas, those appointments can book up 6 months ahead of time.  So if you're not anticipating those dates and planning accordingly, you can end up not being able to get an appointment on or close to the kid's birthday.

A friend and his daughter had to drive about 60 miles to a rural DMV because they didn't make their appointments in time at the nearby ones.

A friend and his daughter had to drive about 60 miles to a rural DMV because they didn't make their appointments in time at the nearby ones.

could have possibly saved them some time and trouble