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Oh, brother, you can never supply enough "proof" for the naysayers. I did this on CD before...then I got accused of bragging...or lying.......or I have some special situation that doesn't apply to others (as if anyone's situation could be identical to another's).
But here goes:
--Rent: $985 (studio apt...that is a steal for this area, I admit, but still expensive compared to most of America)
--Electric & Gas: $35
--Internet: $53
--Cell Phone: $25
--Health Insurance: $86
--Car & Renter's Insurance: $65
--Dining Out: $120
--Pool Membership: $30
--Groceries: (A guess because I don't have a strict budget for this): $400
--Travel: $50
--Gas: $15 (I walk to work)
--Haircuts: $18
-Cable TV: $0
Monthly Expenses: $1882.
I'll round up so that stuff like car and computer repairs, miscellaneous entertainment, etc. are included and in case I underestimated stuff like gas and travel (although I did round up some of the expenses I listed above...i.e. I usually wait at least 6 weeks to get my $18 hair cut, the electric bill/gas is usually more like $25, etc. I also didn't include things like credit card cash back bonuses.)....So let's say $2100 a month = $25,200 per year.
After taxes and pension contributions, I didn't really put anything in regular savings accounts, but didn't take anything out, either. Last year I put $14,756 in my workplace retirement plan, and that doesn't include additional money, maybe $1000 put into IRAs, plus a few hundred in taxable investment accounts.
So conservatively, the workplace retirement plan savings alone are 29% of my gross. In actuality, I probably saved about 1/3 or just under 1/3 of my gross.
Honestly, I do not know what people spend their money on. I feel like I blow a fair amount on stupid stuff that I don't really need, especially regarding food and dining out.
Those seem like impossible amounts for insurance premiums. You must be getting a heck of a deal through work, or something. The low cost of your car ($15 gas and no maintenance) is also an impossibility for most people in our autocentric nation.
That being said, I feel like it's pretty clear a young single professional with no kids can live cheaply and save up lots of money. The broader problem is that relatively few people are in the position to be single professionals with no kids. I guess one could say "people shouldn't have kids", but there are a lot of problems with that like "do we really think only millionaires should be allowed to have kids?". And we as a country don't need or want 150 million professionals.
"Master-slave pyramid" LOL! You are just full of ... gems like that today.
Only slaves care about their "value" in the eyes of the people holding their meal/survival tickets while adjusting themselves accordingly, dont you think? You are onto something though. The master-slave pyramid is roughly 10,000 years old, people who objected/revolted the scheme were systematically killed off/exterminated all these 10,000 years, compliant ones survived. So it is no wonder that folks dont call a spade a spade and view the arrangement as natural, empowering and the only possible, all due systematic artifical selection for "compliance" gene.
Those seem like impossible amounts for insurance premiums. You must be getting a heck of a deal through work, or something. The low cost of your car ($15 gas and no maintenance) is also an impossibility for most people in our autocentric nation.
That being said, I feel like it's pretty clear a young single professional with no kids can live cheaply and save up lots of money. The broader problem is that relatively few people are in the position to be single professionals with no kids. I guess one could say "people shouldn't have kids", but there are a lot of problems with that like "do we really think only millionaires should be allowed to have kids?". And we as a country don't need or want 150 million professionals.
So people that give honest work should have to live cheaply and struggle while being paid 20% or less of what they should or could be paid so that they can afford to acquire things that are priced 20x the price they should be priced by the very same people they work for? Hmmm. I suspect a lot of Americans have waken up to the realization that most all social ills stem from 'legalized' robbery (i.e. inequity) not from Capitalism or Socialism or Blacks or Whites but from thievery and fraud being perpetrated under any other title or heading than thievery or fraud.
Last edited by CaptainCommander; 05-27-2016 at 08:49 AM..
I know several people who achieved academically and failed dismally once they graduated and left the academic environment.
Don't we all. I'm related to one of them.
I'm first generation college in my family. My parents were not rich by any metric you want to use. What they were was hard working and cognizant of what a college education could do for people not having had the opportunity themselves. My brother and I were raised knowing our parents expected us to attend college. And that they expected us to work hard to get there and even once we were in college. And they sacrificed and saved so they could pay for our college educations.
One of us (me) listened, went to college, graduated, got a job, worked hard, got a better job, worked harder and is doing quite well. One of us (my brother who is, btw, brilliant) got into an Ivy League school and proceeded to waste my parents money for 5 1/2 years until they pulled the plug. So there he is at 60, working at a part time job, living in a crappy rental, complaining that life has been unfair to him and completely clueless as to his direct responsibility for where he is today.
Even sadder, he long ago blew through money my Dad left him which he could have used to finish school or invest for retirement and has almost succeeded in blowing through the money my Dad left my Mom. He borrows constantly and always has a reason she needs to write him yet another check. Within a couple months, I'm going to have to start supporting her with the money my Dad left me that I was hoping to use for my own retirement. So yeah, I'm pretty aware there are those who fail dismally and the cost their families sometimes pay for that failure.
It literally makes me sick to my stomach to think about my brother and what my parents sacrificed to give him a chance in life and how he repaid them. When my Mom is gone, I will never see or speak to him again especially since I know if he contacted me he'd just be looking for a handout.
Only slaves care about their "value" in the eyes of the people holding their meal/survival tickets while adjusting themselves accordingly, dont you think?
Nope. There's been, and currently is, real slavery in the world. What you're talking about is not slavery.
Understanding that our economy and the exchange of goods and services (including how people are compensated) is roughly based on things like scarcity and relative utility, i.e. value, is not slavery.
If you want someone else to give you their money, you have to provide some value. If you want them to give you more, you have to do something that has more value. That is not slavery.
Not big into unverified self-report accountings. I believe there's also been work showing that the "rich" have a very different definition of what "middle class" actually is and no doubt what it means to be poor as well! Also unclear how this sample was chosen - are they representative in any way of all people in this category? No? Well, it's just a social interest story then.
As humans we are programmed to want to take credit for all our successes and to blame others or bad luck for our failings. We also blame others personally for their own failings and credit THEIR successes to luck! It helps many people build quite a rosy picture of themselves while discrediting others' hardships.
Not big into unverified self-report accountings. I believe there's also been work showing that the "rich" have a very different definition of what "middle class" actually is and no doubt what it means to be poor as well! Also unclear how this sample was chosen - are they representative in any way of all people in this category? No? Well, it's just a social interest story then.
As humans we are programmed to want to take credit for all our successes and to blame others or bad luck for our failings. We also blame others personally for their own failings and credit THEIR successes to luck! It helps many people build quite a rosy picture of themselves while discrediting others' hardships.
Being programmed to blame others without ever assessing oneself is IMHO bad programming, it instills a mindset that places 'power' or 'value' somewhere else other than between your ears. Sometimes it can be others at fault, thieves, frauds, liars, envious relatives or friends setting you up for failure, etc. But being able to do honest self-assessments can be priceless.
Quote:
Originally Posted by UNC4Me
Don't we all. I'm related to one of them.
I'm first generation college in my family. My parents were not rich by any metric you want to use. What they were was hard working and cognizant of what a college education could do for people not having had the opportunity themselves. My brother and I were raised knowing our parents expected us to attend college. And that they expected us to work hard to get there and even once we were in college. And they sacrificed and saved so they could pay for our college educations.
One of us (me) listened, went to college, graduated, got a job, worked hard, got a better job, worked harder and is doing quite well. One of us (my brother who is, btw, brilliant) got into an Ivy League school and proceeded to waste my parents money for 5 1/2 years until they pulled the plug. So there he is at 60, working at a part time job, living in a crappy rental, complaining that life has been unfair to him and completely clueless as to his direct responsibility for where he is today.
Even sadder, he long ago blew through money my Dad left him which he could have used to finish school or invest for retirement and has almost succeeded in blowing through the money my Dad left my Mom. He borrows constantly and always has a reason she needs to write him yet another check. Within a couple months, I'm going to have to start supporting her with the money my Dad left me that I was hoping to use for my own retirement. So yeah, I'm pretty aware there are those who fail dismally and the cost their families sometimes pay for that failure.
It literally makes me sick to my stomach to think about my brother and what my parents sacrificed to give him a chance in life and how he repaid them. When my Mom is gone, I will never see or speak to him again especially since I know if he contacted me he'd just be looking for a handout.
College degree salesmen are like car salesmen. If you buy one of these "...you're gonna get all the girls" or "... you're gonna be successful". Both tend to be priced at five figures (or more) and both tend to require you to take out a loan and both have plenty of hidden additional expenses for their lifetime. College is not for everyone. Vocational training or training in solid, practical skills can be far more valuable than college degrees. College in the 50s to 70s vs now, completely different. Colleges are so dumbed down for the most part its ridiculous. If someone is eager on a career in medicine or law or a profession that REQUIRES a degree its one thing. But to see college for what it was maybe in the 50s nowadays is tantamount to blindness.
In many high-paying fields, professional certifications have more weight than college degrees these days. That is more than likely going to become more the case throughout many fields as many start seeing college as a waste of time and money. Universities are all too often decades behind the times and staffed by peopled with perspectives that lack a balanced grip on what it means to be pragmatic or practical vs what it means to fill a classroom and make a lot of money for the university. What about serving society? *thunderous laughter roars from the board of trustees and the deans office*
An automobile like a college degree does not tend to do anything that you do not make it do. And not to jerk my own chain so to speak, someone could pay me $5,000 and spend a couple months under my direction I could safely guarantee that within a or less year they would be taking in $50K or more per year as a contractor. They would have to pay their own taxes and I could hook them up with great liability and health insurance. However, universities staffed with teams of professors with Most-Impressive and Glorious Ph.D. who are each paid in excess of $100K, who have free university housing and who have millions of dollars worth of equipment on hand (that most people cannot even see or touch) cannot even come close to making that kind of guarantee or promise and will not but yet might demand in excess of $50K from you over course of 4 or so years. While, unlike the university, I would have an interest in each and every one of my proteges prospering and having successful careers--Most-Impressive University, in contrast, does not necessarily have that vested interest except that maybe that at least one or two faces out of 100,000+ make some notable press so they can add it to their brochures to attract more vict--I mean students. In any case you are free to believe what you want to believe.
P.S. There are universities and university department that are excellent those with great research programs and those that actually provide excellent educational opportunities. Those specific universities might be worthwhile.
Last edited by CaptainCommander; 05-27-2016 at 10:19 AM..
Being programmed to blame others without ever assessing oneself is IMHO bad programming, it instills a mindset that places 'power' or 'value' somewhere else other than between your ears. Sometimes it can be others at fault, thieves, frauds, liars, envious relatives or friends setting you up for failure, etc. But being able to do honest self-assessments can be priceless.
College degree salesmen are like car salesmen. If you buy one of these "...you're gonna get all the girls" or "... you're gonna be successful". Both tend to be priced at five figures and both tend to require you to take out a loan and both have plenty of hidden additional expenses for their lifetime. College is not for everyone. Vocational training or training in solid, practical skills can be far more valuable than college degrees. College in the 50s to 70s vs now, completely different. Colleges are so dumbed down for the most part its ridiculous. If someone is eager on a career in medicine or law or a profession that REQUIRES a degree its one thing. But to see college for what it was maybe in the 50s nowadays is tantamount to blindness.
In many high-paying fields, professional certifications have more weight than college degrees these days. That is more than likely going to become more the case throughout many fields as many start seeing college as a waste of time and money. Universities are all too often decades behind the times and staffed by peopled with perspectives that lack a balanced grip on what it means to be pragmatic or practical vs what it means to fill a classroom and make a lot of money for the university. What about serving society? *thunderous laughter roars from the board of trustees and the deans office*
An automobile like a college degree does not tend to do anything that you do not make it do. And not to jerk my own chain so to speak, someone could pay me $5,000 and spend a couple months under my direction I could safely guarantee that within a or less year they would be taking in $50K or more per year as a contractor. They would have to pay their own taxes and I could hook them up with great liability and health insurance. However, universities staffed with teams of professors with Most-Impressive and Glorious Ph.D. who are each paid in excess of $100K, who have free university housing and who have millions of dollars worth of equipment on hand (that most people cannot even see or touch) cannot even come close to making that kind of guarantee or promise and will not but yet will demand in excess of $50K from you over course of 4 or so years. While, unlike the university, I would have a vested interest in each and every one of my proteges prospering and having successful careers--Most-Impressive University, in contrast, does not necessarily have that vested interest except that maybe that one or two faces out of 100,000+ make some notable press so they can add it to their brochures to attract more vict--I mean students. In any case you are free to believe what you want to believe.
P.S. There are universities and university department that are excellent those with great research programs and those that actually provide excellent educational opportunities. Those specific universities might be worthwhile.
In the case of my brother, the failure belongs to him and him alone. He squandered the opportunity to graduate from an Ivy League. He's so ridiculous that he constantly complains that if he had a college degree he could get the job he really wants. He, of course, fails to recognize that him getting a degree was the point of my parents shelling out for 5 1/2 years of school! He screwed around, couldn't be bothered to go to class and never graduated. It was all there for him to take advantage of and he FAILED. No the school, not my parents, not society, HIM.
College is not for everyone. Very true. But, given that he made straight As in HS, a 1600 on the SAT, was fully engaged in applying to schools, was admitted to more than one Ivy, chose which to attend, chose his own major and class schedule, it's hard to see where the school failed him instead of the other way around.
And trust me, if he gave you 5K (of my mother's money of course) to mentor him, at the end of a couple of months he'd still have nothing and you'd have a lot more gray hair. Some people cannot be saved from themselves.
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