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This. I love how every poster on here is such a responsible saver. Never buys any luxuries such as going out to dinner, going to a movie, getting a tv, a computer, cable. They all are self made millionaires who have never been late EVER or had an overdraft EVER, never missed a payment EVER. They alone are the smug ones & everyone else is irresponsible, the loafers, the losers who blow their money on crap......you know what I call those posters? Liars, every one of them.
So your excuse for fiscal irresponsibility is that everyone is doing it? As a matter of fact, when I was young and stupid I was broke all the time and late on bills, but by the time I was 30 I had figured life out. Since then, in the last 38 years, I have never had an overdraft, or missed a payment on a bill. I have brown bagged every lunch for 38 years, if I wanted a cup of coffee during the day I made it at home and filled a thermos, and budgeted for dinner and a movie perhaps once a month. That means that if it wasn't in the budget I would go six months without. During the 1980-1982 recession my total entertainment budget was a $12 magazine subscription and a library card.
Dave Ramsey was still in diapers when I figured out a credit card was a paid up ticket to poverty. Money is a tool, and if you spend it you are just throwing your tools in the mud and walking away.
Location: Moose Jaw, in between the Moose's butt and nose.
5,152 posts, read 8,524,412 times
Reputation: 2038
Quote:
Originally Posted by SoloforLife
Part of the problem is that the average American has to have all the latest gadgets and are buying left and right. So that makes sense that they would have to sell something. On my street alone, there are only two families that park in the garage of their single family homes. Everybody else park in their driveway or beside the curb. Reason: too much materialism got the garages stuff to the gills.
Told like an, I have mine, screw everyone else, state of mind.
It is rising rents that are the major issue and salaries that are low balled or stagnant. While there are some folks who buy too much of the stuff you are talking about, that is not the case in most cases.
Yup. In over four DECADES (43 years) the minimum wage has gone up only $5.30/hr. That's a little over $1 an hour every ten years!!
Now, that would be fine if the apartment I rented in 1972 for $80/month now rented for around $300/month. However, that is not the case. They now rent for $800/month.
If you have a low wage job and you are supporting a family there is very little disposable income to be irresponsible with. I raised my kids alone with no child support but worked every day. I remember like yesterday the times when I had to decide between paying the utility bill or buying groceries, and there was no "reckless spending" going on in my house, my kids wore thrift shop clothes and the only entertainment we had was an old hand me down TV set. So please spare me with the elitist crap about 'irresponsible' and 'reckless'.
You "remember like yesterday" means you eventually got your life together. Kids are a temporary expense. By the time they are teenagers they can hold a part time job and help with expenses. Everybody is poor when they are young, but with planning and discipline you don't have to stay that way.
"Financial security has been elusive for millions of Americans since the Great Recession ended. A new report (pdf) from the Federal Reserve demonstrates one way that this insecurity can manifest itself for people.
As part of its October 2014 survey, the agency asked 50,000 people if they could handle an unexpected “financial disruption†costing them $400. Just over half (53%) said they could “fairly easily handle such an expense†by using money in their bank accounts (checking or savings) or by leaning on a credit card.
But for 47% of respondents, $400 was a tougher problem to handle. Within this group, 14% said they simply couldn’t cover it. Another 10% would have to sell something, 13% would have to borrow money from a friend or relative and 2% would have to resort to a high-interest payday loan.
This finding was buried within the Fed report that otherwise offered a rosier outlook on the state of Americans’ financial status."
The point is that Americans aren't able to save like they used to. Especially young Americans. If your not starting out with a savings, and already stretched thin + debt, its hart to pay your bills sometimes let alone get ahead.
Us boomers were poor when we were in our 20s too. Those of us who never learned to manage our money still are.
I really wonder if that can be true at all? I mean $400? I can understand if it is $4000. Maybe it is just me.
What I was thinking too. I could cover $400 with what is in my cookie jar, without needing to dip into a bank account or use a CC (unless I get rewards points for it)
So your excuse for fiscal irresponsibility is that everyone is doing it? As a matter of fact, when I was young and stupid I was broke all the time and late on bills, but by the time I was 30 I had figured life out. Since then, in the last 38 years, I have never had an overdraft, or missed a payment on a bill. I have brown bagged every lunch for 38 years, if I wanted a cup of coffee during the day I made it at home and filled a thermos, and budgeted for dinner and a movie perhaps once a month. That means that if it wasn't in the budget I would go six months without. During the 1980-1982 recession my total entertainment budget was a $12 magazine subscription and a library card.
Dave Ramsey was still in diapers when I figured out a credit card was a paid up ticket to poverty. Money is a tool, and if you spend it you are just throwing your tools in the mud and walking away.
So basically you went through what everybody else went through but now that you make more money, and are older, its not your issue.
So basically you went through what everybody else went through but now that you make more money, and are older, its not your issue.
It's not an issue period.
It's life. You start out at the bottom of the ladder, not the top.
Way too many people think they can start out at the top.
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47% of Americans Couldn't Afford a $400 Unexpected Expense
