I’ve participated on this a few times. Every time a new version comes out, I order it. I ask for the DVD (extra) so I’ll have a copy of the software. Your eligibility is confirmed by your work email address and whether your company has a contract that offers this. If they can send the order/link to your work email, you’re good to go.
Well, over the past couple of weeks I’ve been shedding my Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash and Ethereum coins. It was quite a ride. Maybe it will recover, but I can’t risk riding it all the way down. I read the forums on Reddit for Bitcoin, and there’s a whole bunch of “HODL,” “HODL,” “HODL.” For those unfamiliar with the term, it basically means “Hold on for dear life.” It may be an investment technique, and has worked well for long term stock investors, and may work here, but what if it doesn’t? It will be too late when I find out Bitcoin is back down to some really low amount. As far as percent profits, I do have the most in Ethereum. I bought it all at about $10 and watched it shoot up to over $1,000. That got me nervous. Anyway, I may jump back in, but not now. I’m not a market timer.
Last week I decided to open a Robinhood brokerage account. Currently everything must be done through their smartphone app. They offer free stock trades, but will restrict your account if you do too many day trades.
I transferred a “huge” total of $25 into the account. I won’t be using it much. A couple days later an offer appeared in my app that I earned one share of stock for opening the account. They claim there’s a 1 in 100 chance the stock will be something like Apple or Microsoft. With my rotten luck, I got one share of Sprint, that’s worth about $5.
@zennuts said in Advice on career:
Some of the most successful people in IT got no degree. However, one trait they do have is the ability to work well with others and they never stop learning new skills.
Most starts in PC repair/support but I would caution against joining a small outfit or go out on your own. Home and small business customers are very difficult to deal with. I would rather seek a basic desktop support position in a larger company. Move to a larger city with more opportunity if you have to.
Agree. I’ve seen where I work a person lacking a four-year college degree advance to the top because he had a knack for IT. He took loads of community college courses, along with self-teaching and learning on the job.
If I was hiring, I would hire the person who is easy to get along with over the person who knows everything about IT, but has an attitude. People skills are a must, even if a lot of IT work is working alone.
Agree with the above comments. My suggestion is to stay employed, hopefully in the IT field as you complete a degree, if possible. My feeling is dropping out of the workforce as you pursue your education leaves you at risk of a possible poor economy in a couple years. It’s hard to predict what the economy and jobs will be like down the road. If you were younger, then a traditional full-time school schedule might be better.
As far as IT, see if you can intern and/or get tours and advice from some local IT companies. Maybe there’s a Microsoft, Google or Facebook office nearby. Expand your programming experience beyond JavaScript. My suggestion is know Visual Studio well, using stuff like aspx.net, C#, MVC, etc. Know a relational database (SQL and SQL server) and how to build apps that connect with it. Although I don’t like the product, know advanced features of SharePoint and its administrator functions.
Good luck.
It looks fixed. No more constant spinning donuts. 
When using my android phone browser on PWF, I usually only see a spinning donut on the lower right of the screen after accessing a forum. No topics show, just a blank screen. On my desktop and laptop, things are OK. Just saying. You’ll probably need to call in all your thousands of programmers from around the globe and have them work 24/7 overtime until it’s fixed.
Bitcoin Cash forked off Bitcoin in August. Two different cryptocurrencies. If you owned Bitcoin on 8/1/17 you received an equal amount of Bitcoin Cash. If you use an exchange like Coinbase, you should see it in your account (as of last week). There are some differences between the two, but you got to research that yourself (far to long to post).
As I’m typing this, Bitcoin Cash is about $2,400, Bitcoin is about $14,000.
Earlier this year I started treatment for a dental implant. I had to have a lower tooth pulled for an uncommon condition called internal resorbtion. After what my puny Aetna benefit pays, my out of pocket for this is about $3,000. I don’t contribute anywhere near that to a HSA. I just charged it to my airlines miles card. I might as well get some points from this. Just put your co-pay on the best points or cash back card you have and move on. Pay in full ASAP to avoid finance charges. You won’t be making money from dental work.
I’m glad you figured it out, but here’s my reasoning:
Let’s say one is not working at 67. They can collect $1,000 a month in SS now, or collect $1,250 a month if they wait until 70 (I’m just rough estimating for the sake of making an example). If they start now, they’ll collect $36,000 for those three years that they can save and/or pay expenses. If they wait until 70 to collect $1,250 a month, if my math is right, it will take 144 months for them to break even (collect the $36,000 of benefits they delayed). That’s 12 years. The 70 year old would have to wait until they’re 82 to break even. This is why I wouldn’t delay collecting if I was in the same position.
Are you still working? If not, I don’t know why you don’t start collecting your SS now. The higher benefit is an actuary adjustment. Chances are it won’t mean more money over the long term. If you don’t need the money now, put those three years of payments in a savings account. It can add up.