151–160 of 231 posts
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Well the median is an average so... And honestly both averages should be presented together, paints a terrifying picture
Median is the middle value of all values in a sequence. Average is the sum of all numbers in a sequence, divided by the count of values. Take [0,2,100]: average is 34, but median is 2.
Sorry for being pedantic, but the correct term is "could not care less". Otherwise you are suggesting that they do care.
I've had this conversation a good few times and I quite like "could care less" - to me it implies more choice on the part of the speaker. I COULD care less. I have that capacity. I actively choose not to. Although this is definitely not how people usually use it.
The entire spirit of the phrase is to denote how little someone cares about something. So if you say they could care less, that implies they care a tiny amount about it and CHOOSE to care that much. I don't see how that could ever replace the original phrase and still make sense.
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I'd be interested to see your (or anyone from that article's) monthly spending/expenses and income. Do you have crazy medical bills or student loans that you can't avoid? Do you budget your money out and track every transaction? It sucks to be in that situation, but there are always things you can do to improve it.
I've edited the comment. The part "I'm one of them" is from the article title.
I know some may criticize this, but I cut up my credit card soon after moving into my first apartment. My wife and I use debit cards exclusively, but I know it's only a matter of time before our card numbers get skimmed online or through a hacked terminal. Does anyone know of any measures we could take to minimize the effects when that does happen?
And there you go… you have a credit card with all the benefits associated with that; but you're completely safe and don't run the risk of going into debt. If you're spending too fast, or if things go wrong, you can immediately close the credit card and pay it off in full with the amount in the savings account.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Median is the middle value of all values in a sequence. Average is the sum of all numbers in a sequence, divided by the count of values. Take [0,2,100]: average is 34, but median is 2.
nostrebored is just pointing out that the median and arithmetic mean are both averages.
Sorry for being pedantic, but the correct term is "could not care less". Otherwise you are suggesting that they do care.
I've had this conversation a good few times and I quite like "could care less" - to me it implies more choice on the part of the speaker. I COULD care less. I have that capacity. I actively choose not to. Although this is definitely not how people usually use it.
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There's a few services that will act as intermediaries for you like https://www.plastiq.com/ which charges 2.5%. I learned about these services on Slickdeals in a discussion on how to quickly rack up credit card reward points. A Google search turns up this list http://www.doctorofcredit.com/complete-list-of-options-for-p... (I'm not affiliated with the author).
Ya, I've seen these. It seems like the fee would likely be more than the value of the reward making it a losing proposition? Just wondering if the OP found a better way.
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Because we know that wealth is distributed unequally, and that a scrupulous individual earning $35k gross might have a cash flow under $1k.
The debt is also distributed unequally. Mostly so that those who have more wealth, have also more debt (though not 1:1 of course).
Honest question. There aren't debit cards in the united states? They are simple plastic cards like credit carda but the bank is withdrawing your money directly from your account. There is not debt involved.
Yes, we have them. If you're good with money, debit cards are a waste for the most part. You can get credit cards that pay you at least 1-1.5% for every purchase. They're basically paying you to spend your money. If you're bad with money, steer clear of credit and stick to debit though.
Interest on a credit card can be bad but years ago I had a bank pull some really shady stuff to hit me with hundreds in overdraft fees on a handful of minor purchases.
Essentially, I was living just about hand-to-mouth as a young underemployed guy and when payday rolled around, I'd go to deposit my paycheck and then over the next couple of days, I'd check my balance online to see when it cleared. Once the funds showed up as available, I'd head out and put gas in the car, buy groceries, pay rent, maybe grab a 6-pack (again, naive, irresponsible guy) and whatever other little things I'd been holding off on buying until I got paid.
Well, fast forward a week or so and it's almost Christmas. The boss gives everyone a $100 Christmas bonus and I'm thrilled because I never have enough money to go around. I go to the bank, hand the teller the check, and when I get the receipt? Maybe $10 or so balance.
Turns out that when I deposited that paycheck several days ago and waited for it to clear before making several small purchases, the bank messed with the dates and times, essentially pulling the credit, running the debits, incurring many $35 overdraft fees, then applying the deposit after the fact.
The kicker was that the website now showed this new timeline and I didn't have anything printed out to show for it. Not only did they drain my bank account but they took my Christmas bonus to pay the bogus charges.
No amount of speaking with staff did any good. They told me I needed to be better at balancing my checkbook. It was right around then that I learned the real way it's really expensive to be broke. If you don't have credit or some sort of savings to act as a buffer, banks will find all sorts of ways to penalize you and take advantage of you.
Eventually got my shit together. Went back to college to finish my degree, paid with a loan, now all good with a modest salary, only $12k or so of college debt, no car payment, and enough of an emergency fund that I could pay rent and live frugally for a year without employment if I had to.
Sorry for the long rant. Haven't told that story in years and hadn't thought about it in as long. But once I started thinking about it, it all came back to me.
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You're thinking of the mean.
Both median and mean are averages.
The average of a list of numbers is the value that minimizes the sum of squared difference to each value, sum([squared(mean - x) for x in list])
They're both summary statistics in that they're single numbers used to describe a dataset, but a median is not a "kind of average." The mean is the mean and nothing else.