messenger bags, any one got a favorite?

Water Cooler
#61

Greenman’s post reminds me of a joke:

There was a retiring moyle (a Jewish doctor who performs circumcisions at a bris). His wife wanted to get him a retirement present. So she went to a tanner, and said “Here’s a bag with all the schmucks (leftover foreskins) that my Moylechik cut while over the years he was working. Can you make something with them?”

The guy looks carefully and says “Give me a week, I’ll make something. It’ll be $5000”.

She comes back in a week, and the guy says: “Here you go!” And he pulls out a wallet, made of schmucks.

She’s not impressed. “$5000, for a wallet? What kind of scam is this???”

“Wait! Wait!” He says. “It’s special!”

“How??” Demands the wife.

“Look, you rub it, and - BAM - it turns into a suitcase!”

#62

OMG, build a bridge and get over it!

I thought only girls like to nag. i mean, i already said i would take that analogy back and i didn’t think it was the smartest comparison and i admitted to it.

And you came back with that comment? how old are you???

ps* also consider this conversation has a sunk cost.

#63

I actually agree with you, and subconsciously i do feel sometimes i spend too much money and i should put more money to retirement.

Then i always think to myself, how much is enough for retirement?

There is really no actual number to aim is there? I can only say what i put toward my retirement is better than most and worse than some, and i can live with that.

And i do like to live at the moment, and not live in regrets. I don’t want to be old and not having to experience anything. that’s worse than being broke.

#64

Well said.

#65

I don’t need to get over anything, read my previous posts.

And your sentence structure and pacing indicates that you are with all certainty, of a lower mental age.

Ps. are you actually in Japan and genuinely curious, why are you up in the middle of the night over there posting on AF?

#66

This is the thing. Most people have no idea so they choose to be ignorant. Really, they are setting themselves up for less than ideal outcomes.

Lets assume you earn $100k at 30. If you put away $20,000 a year, with returns of 8% and inflation at 2% for 30 years, you’d have the real earning power of ~$85k a year in retirement. That assumes a 4% drawdown rate.

So about 20% of your pre-tax would be a place to start, but 25% gets closer to full replacement. Obviously state pensions, taxes, whatever else could move this up or down.

So the budget for someone earning $100k that wants a good retirement is about $20k a year in savings, minimum. If someone’s not putting that away, they’re borrowing from their future, IMO. Again, adjusted for whatever state schmes you may have access to (if you want to count on them being there).

#67

1/5 of your income sounds reasonable, i think i am saving around this alraedy, phew~

:slight_smile:

#68

I would agree 100% with you if it was guaranteed 100% you would live 25 years after retirement. There’s a fine balance in between and a lot can happen until then. Life often finds ways to throw you curveballs.

I tend to oversave. Not sure if I’ll enjoy my additional savings in my 70s compared to my early 30s. Too early to tell.

#69

You know, Nana, we finally agree on something!

If my wife bought a $650 scarf and a $800 “messenger bag”, it would not be a pretty scene at the Greenman household.

Am I the only one here that puts his laptop in a $30 bag from Office Depot? Am I the only one who wears $50 slacks, a $60 shirt, and a $100 pair of shoes to work? I “splurged” on my watch, and bought a $150 Seiko. In fact, the most expensive piece of clothing I have EVER bought was my Marine Corps dress blues, and they cost about $300 in 2000.

I suppose I COULD buy a $800 messenger bag, and “take delight in showing it off”, or whatever other stupid shit Nana said. Or I could buy a $30 bag from Office Depot (which is probably more functional), and spend $770 on hookers and blow. Or I could invest it. Or pay down my house or student loans. Or go with my kids on a mini-vacation.

I just don’t understand the point of buying “look at me” items. Or paying $800 for a man-purse, when a $30 will do the exact same thing. Sure, the $800 will look better, but will it look 26.7x better?

Sorry to get on a rant, but I do get tired of the “get paid and get laid” attitude, that appearance is all that matters, and the only reason to get up in the morning is to “fuck bitches, get swole, and get money”. I’d love to meet some of the people on this forum in person, just to see if your bark is really as big as your bite. I’m willing to bet that for most of you, the answer is “No”.

I’m willing to bet that most people on here are a lot like me–plain, struggle to pay bills some days, and somewhat out of shape. Overworked and underpaid. I’ll never know, because anybody like that will be sure to avoid any AF “get-together”. But if I could stare through the computer, I’m sure what I would see is not what people put on AF.

That’s it. I’m off my soap box. At least for the time being.

#70

You forgot top 2 mba!

#71

wtf $60 shirt, mine are all like 25-40. you rich mofo. $100 shoes, mine are like 50-80.

my lady wanted me to buy $200 shoes for a wedding, i slapped that idea right out of her head

u rich ba$tard

#72

i thought about that right after I hit the “submit” button.

#73

Why do you care? They are not spending your money. These people make the economy run and create jobs.

#74

I suspect there are many poseurs here, but it’s also true that finance attracts (and often selects for) obsessive personalities. I have met many people in finance who are to greater or lesser extents obsessed with achieving perfection, or at least more perfection than their peers. It’s the hyper-competitive spirit that is now extra rewarded in the age of the internet. It starts to turn into “there can only be one.”

So I think there are plenty of people who genuinely are on the “get paid, get laid, get swole” treadmill and seem to be happy with it. And increasingly they will hang around with each other in gated communities or the urban equivalents. And they will conclude that anyone who isn’t part of that coterie is suboptimal and doesn’t really deserve to survive. The only thing that may redeem a shred of what other people consider their humanity is their children, who they will likely love even if they aren’t as perfect as they hoped they would be.

It’s not reality, but it is *their* reality.

#75

Greenie, I am by no means a baller but I do like nice things (as long as they make sense in the scope of my long term goals)

Do you live in a high cost city? I find that has an effect on how you are perceived if you are dressed poorly. It certainly affects the level of service you get at high or low end stores, or your interaction with local citizenry.

And I take your views on spending with a grain of salt, you are a bean counter afterall :wink:

#76

Sometimes I feel puzzled when being given items which are much more expensive than my current item’s level. It’s like you normally go with $80-$250 casual dresses and you find them not very “compatible” with a pair of $1200 Louboutin shoes. It’s you who see the lack of harmony, not someone out there. And because the high-end shoes are already here, you decide to spend on a dress which looks like at the same level. Laugh if you want but it always takes me a while to figure out what do to… I don’t think I want to sell my birthday gifts on Ebay.

#77

^ Just to join the party, it really depends on priorities, most of which are completely unintelligible to others. My computer bag is a Targus laptop bag that I failed to return to my former employer when I quit; cost = 0. My suits are all $1000+ retail - not that I pay near retail, but just to compare to the other stuff in this thread. I have no problem dropping $100-200 on a pair of dress shoes, $50-75 on a dress shirt, or $100 on a pair of jeans. Because I know that I will get my moneys worth out of it and I’ll look better than the morons in my office that think they look good in cat puke green shirts carefully paired with pleated dockers. Fcking kill me if I ever dress like that. I often have women complement me on how I dress and how I dress is a part of my self-confidence.

#78

I’m probably the mismatched person I know, I own items and things that are both inexpensive and expensive. Admittedly more of the former than the later. But I don’t believe in the concept of harmony in relation to clothing. I don’t believe in wearing certain brands, when I’m at this stage in my career, then toss my wardrobe and accessories when I get to the next stage, then do it again and again. If something works for me, then so be it. I’m the one working and paying for it.

#79

This might be more true in NYC or SF or something, but where I live, everybody generally tends to wear more or less the same thing. Most people wouldn’t know a Mont Blanc pen if you stabbed them in the eye with one. Nobody cares about Zenith watches or Zelda suits. The real status symbol is the F-150 Platinum with a “cow catcher” on the front.

And I’m a bean counter, but I count beans for 9-figure folks (as noted in another thread). And I interact with a lot of them on a pretty regular basis, so it’s not exactly an “accounts payable clerk” position, sitting in a cubicle of a bullpen in a forgotten building.

#80

never meant to imply the latter Greenie, as my emoticon was meant to display.

Krazy Kanuck’s post is close to how i feel on this topic.