FB: Chapter 2 – Financial Considerations

“The college?” Rodrick asked as I pulled up into the administration parking lot.

“Can you keep a secret? I mean a big secret,” I asked.

“Are you pregnant? If you are, mom and dad will find out,” he said. I glared at him and then hit him on the shoulder as the car put itself into the parking lot. Rodrick just grinned at me.

“No, you idiot. I am not pregnant. But this is serious. If Mom and Dad find out, well there will be a lot of shouting,” I said.

“My lips are sealed, promise,” he said.

“I am not going to college. Instead, I am going to use everything I have to invest into Exponential and play the game,” I explained. My brother gave me a look like I was crazy. If I didn’t know what I did, I would probably give myself the same look.

“That new VR game that is coming out?” he asked.

“It is going to be huge. I can’t explain why, but it is going to take over the world in a way that will render everything else pointless. I am going all in on it,” I replied. There was silence as my brother frowned.

“Alright, but once I go pro, I will let my broke ass crazy sister live in my pool house,” he said.

“I think it will be the other way around. Now I need to go and cancel my enrollment and get my tuition back. I need to play up a family emergency, and how I need the funds. Just look sad and don’t say anything,” I told him.

“It really is a funeral, your funeral,” Rodrick said. I ignored him as we got out of my car and made my way into the administration building. I was quickly directed to the Office of Enrollment. I explained to the secretary that I needed to cancel my enrollment due to a family emergency.

I was then directed to an office with an older female woman. “How can I help you today?”

“I need to cancel my enrollment and get back my tuition due to a family emergency. I was hoping I could do that without any penalties since classes haven’t started yet,” I said sadly while I used a tissue to wipe my eyes. My brother was sitting in the other chair, and he just kept looking down.

“I see. Are you sure you can’t arrange something else. Once your enrollment is cancelled and the tuition returned, we won’t be able to accept you back,” the old office worker kindly explained.

“I need to look after my younger brother, and there are bills. A lot of bills. It…it has been difficult lately. Even if I could attend, it would be hard to focus properly, and I would want to do my best. I am sorry,” I said and bowed my head.

“Life happens dear. Don’t worry, I will help you out no problem.” It took another ten minutes and signing two documents to cancel my enrollment. My tuition and housing deposit would be returned to my bank account right away.

I checked my bank account on my phone once we left the administration building. “You really did it, huh,” my brother said.

“Yes. I need to invest everything and then some into Exponential stock. It is going to spike to around 120 dollars and then fall to around 60 dollars. It is currently hovering around 22,” I replied confidently. He just gave me a look and didn’t ask anything else, while I was mentally planning out my next steps. I then dropped my brother off for his football practice as I continued to drive around to secure my future. Well my car was driving me and I had other things to focus on at the moment.

I looked at my bank account. It had $200,000 from my college fund and my college tuition I had managed to recover. That was not enough. I had worked backwards from what I projected I needed to figure out the minimum amount I needed to invest.

The first and most critical expense was a platinum level capsule at $500,000. With the manufacturing delays after launch, capsules would be shipped by level. The first level was ultra platinum for people who paid $10,000,000. There weren’t that many at that level and it was really for the ultra-rich who hated waiting and wanted to be the absolute first.

The next level after that was platinum, then gold, silver, and then bronze or basic, each costing $100,000 less than the previous tier. This included installation and delivery as well. Gold level people didn’t start getting capsules until three months after launch and even then people jumped ahead by purchasing platinum. Silver started getting their capsules a full year afterwards. Bronze, commonly known as the basic level, had capsules released a year and a half from the time of launch once production had ramped up enough. Even then there was still a waiting list due to the insane demand.

You had to pay up to that tier ahead of time to be counted as part of that tier. No loan programs offered by the company directly. The main reason was that a capsule was customized and wore out over time. It was like purchasing a car, just less mobile. Sure, other people could use them, but it was a hassle to get parameters reset.

Anyways, I needed half a million for a platinum level purchase to start Exponential on launch day. After that I would need a house of my own to keep the capsule in. I didn’t want to deal with the drama of my family when I needed to be focused. If I stayed at home, there would be drama. I loved my parents, but dropping out of college to play a game would be a heated conversation, multiple heated conversations.

That meant I needed at least $300,000 to buy someplace cheap and decent. I knew just the spot in upstate New York. The houses were cheap, and the area I had in mind was next to a future QAI node. It was absolutely critical to be as close to a node as possible to prevent latency or connection issues in the future.

Nodes wouldn’t be built in cities due to the cost of building a massive complex to house a QAI node. Each node had two massive fusion reactors built along with it to guarantee power supply. While the extra power was also sent out to the grid, having a power interruption could massively impact how the quantum computer functioned, causing a desync, which would be disastrous for some complicated technical reason. Hence the large amount of land and infrastructure required to run Exponential and ensure there were no power interruptions.

It was never exactly clear how it would be disastrous, but great efforts were taken to ensure that each QAI node was built as a bunker and supplied by constant energy. The fusion reactors were owned by an energy company, which had partnered with Exponential. In time that energy company would eventually be swallowed by the soon to be mega-corporation that shared its name with the game.

Any building would need to be renovated to ensure zero vibrations for my pod and to ensure a stable power supply with backup batteries. That meant even more money. It was going to be expensive since it would have to be a rush job, but high quality. I budgeted $200,000 for this.

Then there was paying for the subscription service to Exponential, a five year package cost $60,000. A heavy duty fiber optic cable would also need to be installed, which would cost about $60,000 as well. Taxes, food service, and other miscellaneous expenses for five years would cost $125,000. Then purchasing 20,000 copper coins at the start of the game would cost around $200,000. The exchange rate at the start was brutal for moving in real money. This changed over time in the other direction, but I needed to act as quickly as possible. Despite going back in time, time was now my most valuable resource.

All those costs added up to $1,445,000. With capital gains tax set at 20%, I needed to invest over $350,000 dollars to get enough money for everything I needed. But I would need to pay back the loans I was taking out. That meant at least $400,000 was needed as the initial investment.

I spent the day going from loan shark to loan shark, putting my car up as collateral at each one. They were called pay day lenders, but in reality they were loan sharks under a different name. My car was worth about $60,000 used. I had purchased a high-end car from my waitressing job outright. So, it was simple enough to get a $50,000 loan from four places with a repayment of $75,000 five weeks from now.

The interest rate was barbaric, but these loan offices were the no questions asked, break your legs type of offices. In two of them, it was suggested I would have to repay with my body if I didn’t come up with the money in time. I just nodded and got the stacks of cash after signing the documents.

It had been a bit nerve racking, but I was glad that the experience was over. None of them asked what I needed the money for either. Just telling me to have the repayment, with my car as collateral. If I couldn’t pay, there would be trouble. It was a funny thought thinking what would happen if they all realized I had taken out loans from all of them at the same time.

They might even know but didn’t care. I had signed the contracts, and they would own my soul if I couldn’t pay them back. My best guess was that they would go after my parents. I didn’t plan to let that happen and would be repaying them all with no problems.

The next stop was my bank. I entered and asked to speak to a manager to make a sizable deposit and the forms needed to do so. I got a form 8300 and it was just me filling out my personal information and the deposit amount. Nothing too serious. Sure, there would be a paper trail, but the money was legitimate.

After handing over the money and confirming my account now sat at $400,000 I let out a sigh of relief. There would be no hold on my funds. That had been something I had been worried about, but since I showed up in person with the cash, there was no issue.

I drove to the high school where my brother was wrapping up his football practice after six hours. I had been worried about the loan sharks and everything else, but it was amazingly easy to get money if one was willing to take big risks. Now, if I couldn’t pay it back there would be huge trouble, but I wasn’t worried about that with the knowledge I had. The loan sharks were semi-legal. I technically wasn’t being charged interest, but a service fee.

Since I had the money in my account, it was easy to purchase Exponential stock through the app on my phone. A shame the app didn’t allow me to use leverage, but that required a financial and background check I didn’t have time for at the moment. All I could do now was wait until the alpha test was over and the information was released. Just had to cash out before the manufacturing issues came to light. That narrow window of time would net me massive returns.

“Sis, picking me up?” my brother asked.

“I finished my errands for the day. Practice go well?” I asked him as he tossed his smelly football gear into my back seat and then sat in the passenger seat.

“Fine. Just got to keep training you know. You can manage all my money when I go pro,” he replied. I smiled a bit bitterly at that while he gave me a cheeky grin. He was never going to go pro.

“Thanks. Just a heads up, I will be telling our parents when I move out in three weeks,” I told Rodrick. He paused from texting on his phone and glanced over at me. I remained focused on the road despite the car driving itself.

“Wow. You go girl. So not keeping it a secret? Dad is going to flip. Want me to say anything?” he asked me. I had decided the truth was the best option. Secrets ruined families. Once I got my returns back from the stock, I would have more than enough money to chart my own future.

“No. Better just to stay out of it all. But I have no problem if you want to listen in,” I replied.

“Good luck, you are going to need it.” I almost chuckled at his choice of words in regards to wishing me luck. That would be one of the focuses of my build in the future.

“Well, I will be moving out in three weeks regardless.”

“I still can’t wrap my head around what you are planning. Well, I have saved up a bit from helping out as a counselor at that summer camp. I want you to invest it as well,” he said.

“Really?” I asked. He nodded as he pulled out his phone.

“You are confident. And while I don’t believe in a VR game, I believe in you,” he said. My heart almost broke at that statement.

“You don’t have to do it, but I will give you back your full returns, whatever you send my way,” I said. Rodrick was busy on his phone and my phone pinged with the funds transfer. I then purchased another 5,000 dollars worth of Exponential shares.

“Get a nice party fund going,” Rodrick said with a grin at me. I gave him a nod back. We pulled in at the driveway at home. I showed him the transaction on my phone, and he grinned at me. I promised not to say anything about him investing as well and he just shrugged. That was his way of supporting me. My heart almost broke at that and I vowed to not let him down.

We went inside. Mom was back making dinner. I went up to my room and began packing. Dinner was called an hour later, and I went down. I ate quietly.

“How did the job search go?” my father asked.

“Well enough, I should have it worked out in the next three weeks.” He paused and gave me a look but then went back to eating.