OT - Grumpy Old Man Thread

[FearlessF]

emotional support

[Brutus Buckeye]

I've got a coworker that I was always trying to place his accent... It was British, to be sure, but then it wasn't... It was odd.

We were out at a customer dinner one night and he said during his childhood he lived in Britain, Ohio, Texas, and then California.

It immediately made sense. His accent was that of a Limey Newscaster Cowboy Surfer

I think that's it. As a kid I loved in Virginia, Vermont, Missouri, Utah and Ohio. All by age 10. 
So Virginia and possibly Missouri would explain the "southern," Vermont the "NY/Canadian," and Utah the "Montana."

[MikeDeTiger]

I previously mentioned the credit card fraud on a card linked to our Amazon account.  The bank stated they were doing an investigation (though they immediately refunded the fraudulent purchase) and emailed me that they had a statement about their findings available on their website.  Which it wasn't, when I logged in.  Weird. 

In the meantime, Amazon emailed us to say they were doing an investigation, and also have locked us out of our account, with no date for when it will be accessible again.  Can't get into the Amazon or Prime Video app on our phones or computers.  Can't see when current orders will get here, can't make any new orders, can't watch anything.  The Firestick let us log in, thankfully, not sure why, though I bet we can't rent/buy any movies from Prime (but we haven't tried).  

I don't get locking us out of the account when we're not contesting any more fraud.  We changed the password when it happened.  And I don't get not giving us a timeframe for when we can access the account again.  

I might have to remember how I bought stuff in the old days.  In the meantime, I'm about to start pro-rating this time off of our annual subscription....see how they like some angry emails about that.  I'm about to turn into a Derran (male Karen).  

[betarhoalphadelta]

With the dead Flex, that means that I need to put the soft top back on the Jeep to potentially deal with weather/etc, and for driving kids around. So I had to pull the thing down from the rafters in the garage, hose down several years worth of accumulated dust, reinstall the heavy top, and then remember how to put the damn windows back in. 

But given that I don't know how long it will take me to select and find a replacement for the Flex, it was a necessity. 

[847badgerfan]

You don't do a ton of miles, so maybe leasing is the way to go?

[betarhoalphadelta]

You don't do a ton of miles, so maybe leasing is the way to go?

I generally am anti-lease. The way I understand leasing is:

• You "buy" a car--or the rights to a car--for 3 years. 
• Your payments over the term will exceed the total purchase price of the car minus the residual. The residual is going to be slightly LOWER than the expected depreciation to remove risk from the dealer.  
• If you've done anything the dealer doesn't like (go over miles, any damage they consider enough to charge you for), you're forced to shell out more money or buy it at the cost of the residual. If the latter, you're [most likely] financing it so now you're paying more than the residual over the course of the finance term. 
• If you are able to just turn it back in, the dealer now sells it at a profit because the market price is above the residual. Even better if they can CPO it and charge another slight premium. 

I figure I'd be smarter to buy new, and if I want something different in 3 years, then just sell it private party for likely more than the residual. I'd be eating the depreciation, but assuming the value of the car is higher than the residual (plus whatever additional I paid over the difference), it's still a better deal.

But as you point out, I think it's even smarter than either to buy used (poss. CPO), and let some other poor schlub cover the depreciation for me. 

IMHO the only people who should lease are those who can make it work tax-wise. I.e. they own a small business and the business leases the vehicle, while they drive it daily. The business calls it an expense, so it's paid for out of pre-tax income. Whereas if they paid themselves the money directly and bought or leased a vehicle, they're paying for it with after-tax money--with it being essentially at whatever their marginal (highest) bracket is b/c it's foregone income vs earned income if the business does it. 

That's not me. 

[847badgerfan]

I've considered the 5-year very low miles leases. I probably drive 3000 miles per year, so 20,000 would probably cover me.

But I think I'd still rather go CPO.

[betarhoalphadelta]

Yeah, ultimately with CPO you'll probably spend a lot more than you would with the lease, but you'll end up with an absurdly low-mile asset at the end of the 5 years, worth enough to sell quite handsomely...

[FearlessF]

I previously mentioned the credit card fraud on a card linked to our Amazon account.  The bank stated they were doing an investigation (though they immediately refunded the fraudulent purchase) and emailed me that they had a statement about their findings available on their website.  Which it wasn't, when I logged in.  Weird.

In the meantime, Amazon emailed us to say they were doing an investigation, and also have locked us out of our account, with no date for when it will be accessible again.  Can't get into the Amazon or Prime Video app on our phones or computers.  Can't see when current orders will get here, can't make any new orders, can't watch anything.  The Firestick let us log in, thankfully, not sure why, though I bet we can't rent/buy any movies from Prime (but we haven't tried). 

I don't get locking us out of the account when we're not contesting any more fraud.  We changed the password when it happened.  And I don't get not giving us a timeframe for when we can access the account again. 

I might have to remember how I bought stuff in the old days.  In the meantime, I'm about to start pro-rating this time off of our annual subscription....see how they like some angry emails about that.  I'm about to turn into a Derran (male Karen). 

can't ya simply close the account and open a new account?

[Riffraft]

I generally am anti-lease. The way I understand leasing is:

• You "buy" a car--or the rights to a car--for 3 years.
• Your payments over the term will exceed the total purchase price of the car minus the residual. The residual is going to be slightly LOWER than the expected depreciation to remove risk from the dealer. 
• If you've done anything the dealer doesn't like (go over miles, any damage they consider enough to charge you for), you're forced to shell out more money or buy it at the cost of the residual. If the latter, you're [most likely] financing it so now you're paying more than the residual over the course of the finance term.
• If you are able to just turn it back in, the dealer now sells it at a profit because the market price is above the residual. Even better if they can CPO it and charge another slight premium.

I figure I'd be smarter to buy new, and if I want something different in 3 years, then just sell it private party for likely more than the residual. I'd be eating the depreciation, but assuming the value of the car is higher than the residual (plus whatever additional I paid over the difference), it's still a better deal.

But as you point out, I think it's even smarter than either to buy used (poss. CPO), and let some other poor schlub cover the depreciation for me.

IMHO the only people who should lease are those who can make it work tax-wise. I.e. they own a small business and the business leases the vehicle, while they drive it daily. The business calls it an expense, so it's paid for out of pre-tax income. Whereas if they paid themselves the money directly and bought or leased a vehicle, they're paying for it with after-tax money--with it being essentially at whatever their marginal (highest) bracket is b/c it's foregone income vs earned income if the business does it.

That's not me.

I always lease.  If you lease from them again they generally do not care if you are over mileage and small minor issues.  Never have to pay for a repair and maintenance. Only cost is lease and gas.  Easy to budget.

When the marketing went out of control during covid. I sold the csr abd lease to a third party at a profit and took out another lease.

[MikeDeTiger]

can't ya simply close the account and open a new account?

Closing the Amazon account would be a more nuclear option than what's warranted.  We'd lose my wife's various wishlists, purchasing history (which comes in handier than you'd think, due to re-purchases of continually consumed items, for example, vitamins she makes me take....I don't have to remember the brand or particulars...Amazon remembers all that for me).  My stepson and his gf also use the account, and they'd have to re-add their credit cards.  And all our digital movie purchases and playlists and preferences would get blown up.  And we'd probably have to re-log into every app within the Firestick, which is a bit of a hassle.  

Anyway, they re-opened access to the account, which I guess should go in the Happy thread.  Amazon "concluded their investigation" and determined, yes, it was fraud, and suggested we contact the credit card company.

Um....thanks, Amazon.  We knew that.  And presumably, it was the credit card company who contacted Amazon about fraud, because we sure didn't, so they already know about it.  Safeguarding the credit card account was move #1.  Silly Amazon.  

[Gigem]

OK Youse Grumpy Old Men.  Now that I'm 50, I need to probably see a Dr. and get some stuff checked out.  

What all do you old bastages recommend?  Physical, bloodwork, prostrate?  What else?  I did have a colonoscopy done about 3 or so years ago (friend of mine died from cancer he told me to get checked before he passed).  

Another friend, almost my age ('75er) went and had routine bloodwork done, discovered his PSA through the roof, bad prostrate cancer.  Spread to his bones. He's doing the treatment thing at MDA (long way from KS), and essentially they eliminated the PC, but it will be in his bones forever, and he has to do treatments forever.  

Another really good friend from HS days had routine bloodwork done, found out his something or other levels were off the chart, found out he had tumor blockage in his liver bile duct.  Best I can remember.  Very early, they caught it and removed it.  Doing chemo now, but seems like he should be OK.  We're about a week apart in age, both Dec '75.  

[FearlessF]

see a good Doc that you trust - take all the tests that he/she recommends

don't put it off another year or two - good luck!

[betarhoalphadelta]

Annual physical, with bloodwork. Including whatever your doctor wants. 

Due to reasons, I ended up not seeing a doctor between before COVID and last year. Thankfully there was nothing bad in my labs. But having gone 5ish years without labs, I'll admit feeling pretty worried what was going to show up...