Are Comic books dead or dying? 5 5

[BlackTerror98]

Just now, oakman29 said:

Come live in California,  if you want to talk expensive. 😩

New York is insane as well. They are introducing a 'luxury tax' to those living in high end areas. The stress of money is bad. Sometimes I don't sleep because if I wanna live in New York with my family and Girlfriend and what am doing now will be impossible. I can't even Afford to move out of my house to an apartment. Heck I can't even afford gas since it's close to $5 dollars a gallon. It cost me $50 bucks just to fill up 

[oakman29]

1 minute ago, Matthew Kyle Brasile said:

New York is insane as well. They are introducing a 'luxury tax' to those living in high end areas. The stress of money is bad. Sometimes I don't sleep because if I wanna live in New York with my family and Girlfriend and what am doing now will be impossible. I can't even Afford to move out of my house to an apartment. Heck I can't even afford gas since it's close to $5 dollars a gallon. It cost me $50 bucks just to fill up 

I wish I had my mom's basement still.🤔

[BlackTerror98]

2 minutes ago, Plantman said:

Your life choices seem incredible: huge gains in the stock market, beautiful girlfriend who buys you expensive books, and a nice comic collection, among other things.

I do find it hard to believe that you could earn north of $100,000 before finishing high school, yet you do not have the funds to attend a state school.

It's not that I don't have to funds to afford state school. It's that once I finish college I want to have some money in the bank, I make $18 dollar an hour (where I live that's nothing). Landscaping where I live cost $450 a week and that's twice a week. My dad hired someone to open our pool. It cost my dad $200 for the guy to open it and shock it for the first time. $200 bucks for what? Removing a cover and putting chemicals in that took him an hour to do? Where I live in terms of money I am deemed poor. You need atleast $150k a year to live day by day for a 7 person family and not including money to go out and have fun with. The prices go up but the wages stay the same. I never had close to $100k in cash. I wish. I say I made safely around $80k+ but for 13 years of work that's nothing and sacrificing summers and days off to work really at the end of the day doesn't equivalent to here. I got my car in 2018, and got my phone plan when I was 18 so 2016. 

[BlackTerror98]

7 minutes ago, oakman29 said:

I wish I had my mom's basement still.🤔

You could've rented that thing out and made bank. In the grand scheme of things what I made in 13 years is sadly pathetic when compared to what some of my friends have in terms of parents. One of my friends from high school drives a 2019 Ford Mustang GT350. While I am working and then school repeating day in and day out and making $18 an hour isn't even enough to do anything really extreme. (which isn't enough to even live by myself.) that's why am so sensitive when people question why I have what I have. When compared to what others have am poor in the eyes of my friends and their families but in terms of people around the country am well off. I won't lie it does make me insanely jealous that I know people who go to Europe and travel the world, have brand new expensive cars and don't care about blowing away $1k a night in the city. I am jealous I'll be lying if I said I wasn't when they don't even work or take any thing seriously. While am here working non stop. 

[vheflin]

7 minutes ago, Matthew Kyle Brasile said:

It's not that I don't have to funds to afford state school. It's that once I finish college I want to have some money in the bank, I make $18 dollar an hour (where I live that's nothing). Landscaping where I live cost $450 a week and that's twice a week. My dad hired someone to open our pool. It cost my dad $200 for the guy to open it and shock it for the first time. $200 bucks for what? Removing a cover and putting chemicals in that took him an hour to do? Where I live in terms of money I am deemed poor. You need atleast $150k a year to live day by day for a 7 person family and not including money to go out and have fun with. The prices go up but the wages stay the same. I never had close to $100k in cash. I wish. I say I made safely around $80k+ but for 13 years of work that's nothing and sacrificing summers and days off to work really at the end of the day doesn't equivalent to here. I got my car in 2018, and got my phone plan when I was 18 so 2016. 

$450 a week to cut grass? on one property?

[oakman29]

9 minutes ago, Matthew Kyle Brasile said:

It's not that I don't have to funds to afford state school. It's that once I finish college I want to have some money in the bank, I make $18 dollar an hour (where I live that's nothing). Landscaping where I live cost $450 a week and that's twice a week. My dad hired someone to open our pool. It cost my dad $200 for the guy to open it and shock it for the first time. $200 bucks for what? Removing a cover and putting chemicals in that took him an hour to do? Where I live in terms of money I am deemed poor. You need atleast $150k a year to live day by day for a 7 person family and not including money to go out and have fun with. The prices go up but the wages stay the same. I never had close to $100k in cash. I wish. I say I made safely around $80k+ but for 13 years of work that's nothing and sacrificing summers and days off to work really at the end of the day doesn't equivalent to here. I got my car in 2018, and got my phone plan when I was 18 so 2016. 

If my Gardener was getting $450 a week they better be lining my lawn with gold bars

[BlackTerror98]

1 minute ago, vheflin said:

$450 a week to cut grass? on one property?

Yes. They charge you for gas (it's expensive) they also charge you for bags becasue you have bag up the leaves and grass and put it in a specific location in front of your house so it's not mixed with the trash. They charge you for everything. That's why I charged $40 for cutting the grass and the cost of a bag was 50¢. Gas would be around 3 dollars per yard so I charged $40 😂 it's a fair price!  I stopped doing it once I got my job job now I get payed $18 an hour. Reality is $16.50 due to the amount taxes taken out.

[vheflin]

2 minutes ago, oakman29 said:

If my Gardener was getting $450 a week they better be lining my lawn with gold bars

must have meant $45/week for two cuts that makes sense

[BlackTerror98]

3 minutes ago, oakman29 said:

If my Gardener was getting $450 a week they better be lining my lawn with gold bars

Sadly they charge you for everything. For bags, for gas (since it's expensive) they charge you for every possible thing they could think of. It's all about $$$. 

 

Also I got an Epiphone Sg with P90 in dad's pelham blue BUT the cases that people suggest does not fit due to the new headstock being an inch longer. Would that forum help?

[oakman29]

1 minute ago, Matthew Kyle Brasile said:

Sadly they charge you for everything. For bags, for gas (since it's expensive) they charge you for every possible thing they could think of. It's all about $$$. 

 

Also I got an Epiphone Sg with P90 in dad's pelham blue BUT the cases that people suggest does not fit due to the new headstock being an inch longer. Would that forum help?

Hell yeah! We need some fun in that forum too!

[BlackTerror98]

2 minutes ago, vheflin said:

must have meant $45/week for two cuts that makes sense

No it's $450 a week for grass cut, leaves picked up, weed killing, trimming of hedges etc, fertilizer, faxing the dead grass, basically everything yard maintenance

[oakman29]

2 minutes ago, Matthew Kyle Brasile said:

Sadly they charge you for everything. For bags, for gas (since it's expensive) they charge you for every possible thing they could think of. It's all about $$$. 

 

Also I got an Epiphone Sg with P90 in dad's pelham blue BUT the cases that people suggest does not fit due to the new headstock being an inch longer. Would that forum help?

I love the new SG's and Pelham blue is awesome.

[BlackTerror98]

4 minutes ago, vheflin said:

must have meant $45/week for two cuts that makes sense

Plus gas is expensive and bags have to be specific and put in specific locations. Everything has rules here

[BlackTerror98]

1 minute ago, oakman29 said:

I love the new SG's and Pelham blue is awesome.

I wanted to get the new Gibson Deluxe in pelham blue but the reviews were ehh due to it having trust rod issues and the new pots that die out. So I went with the Epiphone!

[oakman29]

2 minutes ago, Matthew Kyle Brasile said:

I wanted to get the new Gibson Deluxe in pelham blue but the reviews were ehh due to it having trust rod issues and the new pots that die out. So I went with the Epiphone!

Cant trust a truss rod I always say.🤔

[oakman29]

5 minutes ago, Matthew Kyle Brasile said:

Plus gas is expensive and bags have to be specific and put in specific locations. Everything has rules here

I would pay an extra 400 dollars for a good bag or two.🤔

[vheflin]

18 minutes ago, Matthew Kyle Brasile said:

You could've rented that thing out and made bank. In the grand scheme of things what I made in 13 years is sadly pathetic when compared to what some of my friends have in terms of parents. One of my friends from high school drives a 2019 Ford Mustang GT350. While I am working and then school repeating day in and day out and making $18 an hour isn't even enough to do anything really extreme. (which isn't enough to even live by myself.) that's why am so sensitive when people question why I have what I have. When compared to what others have am poor in the eyes of my friends and their families but in terms of people around the country am well off. I won't lie it does make me insanely jealous that I know people who go to Europe and travel the world, have brand new expensive cars and don't care about blowing away $1k a night in the city. I am jealous I'll be lying if I said I wasn't when they don't even work or take any thing seriously. While am here working non stop. 

I don't have kids so I'm pontificating

but there is no way in a hot place I would get my kid a GT350

no  way

[Plantman]

My own experience, working somewhat infrequently at an LCS these past six months, has been vastly different than Matthew's, for what it's worth. Most customers simply do not express views on the long-term sustainability of the back issue market.

I recall no customer ever giving me unsolicited advice about investing in cryptocurrency, precious metals, or the TSX.

There are four or five customers who want me to sell some of my comics...to them. And I've parted with some of my modern books, because the money is too good to keep them.

There is one doomsayer, with whom I am friends, who stopped buying new comics. He has given me plenty of advice over the years, the majority of which has turned out to be terrible. He insisted, in 2017, that buying a CGC 6.5 Universal copy of X-Men #1 for approximately $9,000 USD was too risky. For him, the direct market is always six months away from ruin. It has been for the past five years.

[BlackTerror98]

1 minute ago, Plantman said:

My own experience, working somewhat infrequently at an LCS these past six months, has been vastly different than Matthew's, for what it's worth. Most customers simply do not express views on the long-term sustainability of the back issue market.

I recall no customer ever giving me unsolicited advice about investing in cryptocurrency, precious metals, or the TSX.

There are four or five customers who want me to sell some of my comics...to them. And I've parted with some of my modern books, because the money is too good to keep them.

There is one doomsayer, with whom I am friends, who stopped buying new comics. He has given me plenty of advice over the years, the majority of which has turned out to be terrible. He insisted, in 2017, that buying a CGC 6.5 Universal copy of X-Men #1 for approximately $9,000 USD was too risky. For him, the direct market is always six months away from ruin. It has been for the past five years.

Thank you I appreciate you taking the time to respond and leaving a comment! 

[BlackTerror98]

5 minutes ago, vheflin said:

I don't have kids so I'm pontificating

but there is no way in a hot place I would get my kid a GT350

no  way

I agree. The car insurance alone must be insane but I have to be real with you. It does make me jealous and envious. I have a 4 cylinder engine and I still pay out the nose for it.