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lkmax (OP), unlike some posters who want to lecture you, I concur with your observation. As noted above, there are many people out there leveraged to the full and a job loss or medical emergency would hurt them greatly financially. I would not want to be in their shoes.
Early in my adult life I was under-employed for a while and we lived paycheck to paycheck. It was no fun. I embarked on a longterm plan to get out of debt, stay out of debt, and build up a nest egg, and it worked. To do that, we drive old cars (2003, 2007) paid for in cash. We have only bought houses for cash (twice). I have no credit rating. Haven't borrowed money in over 30 years (thus, no credit score) and feel really good about that.
Unfortunately, we live in a world full of people who refuse to take responsibility for their own actions and their irresponsibility will hurt all of us in the long run. But I will try to escape their consequences for as long as I can.
The median household income where I live (Northern Virginia) is over $100,000. Half of all area households of course have an even higher income than that. The average sales price for an area townhouse this past March was $379K. For an SFH, the average was $745K.
In general, people here are not being supported by sugar daddies, are not living off of fabulous inheritances, and do not have connections to any imagined underground economy. Yet they are in large numbers not having problems keeping up with any of this. They instead simply live out the details of their everyday lives. Some live in fancier homes than others, some drive newer, shinier cars, some eat out more often at our upscale restaurants. Some people are young with solid income potential ahead of them, some are old and well past their peak earning years but are still here anyway. Is there some magical secret to any of this? I doubt it. It seems to me that people learn the lay of the land and adapt to it. That's the same thing I observed when I lived in Florida, New Jersey, and Michigan. Same book, different page. There's nothing actually surprising or extraordinary about any of it.
most of the time as pub said it is just priorities or individual situations . outsiders notice flashy cars and material things but those folks who buy them could be spending much less in other areas
just look at free cash flow for the same income with company provided healthcare vs paying it on your own . our medical insurance and ltc insurance run 16k a year alone .
that can be 5 digits difference right there difference in spendable income . perhaps they have a juicy pension and don't need to sock away as much so they can spend it .
that is why i say , we need to keep our nose out of how we think others are doing , it likely is not worth our time . .
Last edited by mathjak107; 06-03-2017 at 07:44 AM..
and/or they just spend their money in different ways.
I have a relative who usually has a fairly new, fairly expensive car (pays cash) and lives in a pretty nice house (paid off the mortgage in five years). Occasionally, they go on nice vacations.
However, in other ways they can be extremely, extremely frugal. They NEVER, EVER, EVER go to restaurants or bars, except for when they are on vacations (and even then they often just buy food/wine at grocery stores and have picnic lunches or eat sandwiches in their hotel room). They have a huge garden and cook most things from scratch. They check the grocery store ads and plan their weekly meals by what is on sale, use coupons, and often stock up & freeze meats that are at a super good price or buy a case of something that is a huge bargain. I would not be surprised if it turns out that they spend only 10% on their food budget as most couples, with their income, spend on their food budget (including meals out).
He once almost had a stroke when he saw that I had purchased chicken breasts to make as a family meal instead of purchasing the whole chicken (on sale that week for pittance) and cutting it up myself and using every part (including the neck & heart/liver for soup).
So, outward appearances show a couple living "high on the hog" with nice cars, nice house, great vacations but in many, many ways they pinch pennies so hard that Lincoln screams in pain.
Last edited by germaine2626; 06-03-2017 at 08:30 AM..
I feel if people spent more time trying to improve their situation rather than worrying about others they'd be better off.... Personally I have no need for a lot of flashy toys but there are others who live for that stuff.
you and me both . most americans are financially ignorant especially when it come to retirement planning .
many would be far better served trying to learn more and spending their time reading articles or visiting productive forums that teach them how to be better at it then reading and paying attention to all the crap they bombard us with about how no body has any money or trying to guess what others have or don't have . .
I have family members who bought houses many years ago, and then the prices spiked in subsequent years. So their house payments are tiny or the house is paid off. They live in a very high cost area but are spending far less on housing than those who bought in recently.
Unless you know the whole backstory, you can't really guess how their numbers crunch. Some here automatically seem to assume they are some sort of leech or drug dealer, but one relative of mine was legitimately making $300 house payments as Silicon Valley rose up and made the houses around his spike in value into the millions. In my own case, I could rent out my house for almost three times what my house payment is, so that gives an idea of what has happened to home values around me. It happens. It isn't always a nefarious crime or irresponsibility.
I don't disclose my finances to people. Sure some who know us have some understanding but nobody has a actual number. Granted I don't live extravagantly but if I did people would assume I'm borrowing my life away. Not the case.
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