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Well that's a first - I've never actually heard anyone tell someone buying a car with cash is an "absolutely boneheaded move". Because of some previous financial instability in our lives we wanted the security of knowing we owned the car outright. While it had less monetary value, it had a high psychological one.
The problem with just "giving money" to people is they just won't utilize it like they would if they ever earned it.
Yes SOME people have very bad luck. They are born to a parent that took drugs, or ate lead paint as a kid, or born paralyzed, or etc. etc. But are we really talking about that small slice of the population that genuinely got screwed, or are we talking about the 95%? I mean you can drill down into the nuisances as far as you want, and everyone sometime in their lives experiences "bad luck", it's how they deal with it that makes them who they are in the future. What's interesting to me is how in a given family, you have siblings that have very different outcomes in life even though they were raised together.
You can either shake your fist at how lousy your luck is or change it.
I chose to change my luck. When I was in high school (2000) I couldn't imagine earning $35,000 a year. The year after I graduated college I made $12,700 or something. Combined our income wasn't even $30,000. Ha. Little did I know what the real world was like. But I was a millionaire at 35.
I bought a house.
I paid cash for a car ($21k)
I paid off all our student loans (equivalent to about $60k in today's dollars)
Everyone always has an excuse for why they can't succeed. Not many have an excuse for why they did.
I sure would like to meet a humble millionaire who offered real advice instead of broad platitudes and basically disparaging anyone's who isn't a millionaire.
I'm doing fine, but I'm not very confident in the economy at all.
Wages may be keeping up with inflation NOW, but relative to many years ago they have not, and that is a problem. We have a ginormous gap between rich and poor, and college, one of the best ways to close that gap, has become economically unfeasible. I recently advised a much younger friend from a working class background to SKIP college after he gets his associate's in a couple of computer competencies and just focus on keeping his skills current because he's GOOD at what he does and there's no reason to go into debt or get that degree unless he finds a company to pay for it. I never thought I'd advise that. I'm a big fan of the trades too, but those are becoming more and more difficult to pay for the training as well.
We are the only developed nation where people regularly go bankrupt paying for healthcare. That's a huge problem. And honestly, that hits other spots in the economy. Healthcare back in the 1950s was not terribly advanced, so whether you could pay for it or not, you were mostly going to have the same result. Not so today. That means even with Obamacare and especially because of the uncertainty surrounding it, a lot of people who would embark on careers as entrepreneurs are not doing so because it endangers their and their families' financial stability, health and even their lives.
We have a growing opioid problem that's killing people, thrusting children into fostercare and causing all sorts of chaos.
And sooner or later we will be paying the piper when it comes to climate change.
Look, I've got an Ivy League degree, decent 401K savings and a six-figure job with top-tier healthcare, and I could transition to another career at the drop of a hat. I'm not worried for myself AT ALL. But tbh, I'm really glad I don't have children or their futures to worry about. I saw how my parents pulled themselves out of the working class into middle class comfort, and their accomplishments would be VERY hard to replicate today. I am not optimistic for future generations unless we make some major changes.
I sure would like to meet a humble millionaire who offered real advice instead of broad platitudes and basically disparaging anyone's who isn't a millionaire.
I could offer advice but most would not care or would say "that isn't possible for me" or some such reasoning. You just have to find your own way.
I sure would like to meet a humble millionaire who offered real advice instead of broad platitudes and basically disparaging anyone's who isn't a millionaire.
I'm very perplexed as to why I STILL hear all these people say the economy is still bad, just like they said not long after 2008 all the way to 2014.
Why?
-Unemployment is at a nearly 5 decade low.
-3% GDP growth +/-
-All time low African American and Hispanic unemployment rate.
-Consumer confidence at an all time high
-Stock market at an all time high
-Wager keeping up with inflation
-Biggest wage gains among low-income people.
And on and on, and on...............
So WHY do I keep hearing people say its a struggle in "this" economy?
In my particular industry, there is a worker SHORTAGE and companies are betting for qualified applicants. Just recently, I was given a job offer literally 2 minutes after finishing the interview. This is just one of many examples.
So what gives? Why do I keep hearing so many people give the impression the economy is still bad like it was 2008-2014?
Because available jobs are in the low paying service sector. Many jobs are part time, no benefits.
And the "stock market" has absolutely NOTHING to do with the standard of living, or the economy for the average person.
I'm very perplexed as to why I STILL hear all these people say the economy is still bad, just like they said not long after 2008 all the way to 2014.
Why?
So what gives? Why do I keep hearing so many people give the impression the economy is still bad like it was 2008-2014?
Because the economy sucks in large parts of the US where factories have shut down and will never come back. Ask coal miners in W VA how good their job prospects are. Not everyone has a college degree in high demand.
Low income elderly are struggling more than ever against higher health care costs. They are eating away at their standard of living. The better the economy does, the more expensive rents become for retired renters or workers stuck in declining careers.
The baby boom generation is retiring, or trying to. They are finding employers don't want to keep them on due to health care costs and higher salaries and benefits. Some are being forced into retirement without adequate savings. It's a slap in the face nightmare for them. A lot of retirees panicked and waited until they were deep in the red before pulling their savings out of the stock market in 2009. They were too scarred to go back in and have kept their savings in low interest bearing investments.
There is demand in trucking and in the oil patch for workers without a lot of training, but some of those jobs don't offer the income and benefits a union factory job might have. For some, relocation is an economic hardship. For others, they just don't want to move. Also parents will resist jobs that require them to be away from their children and spouse for long periods of time.
So a lot of people just aren't getting any benefit from a roaring stock market or an IT job market that can never seem to find enough experienced workers. They voted for Trump and will likely do so again after they finally gave up on the Dems, even if Trump hasn't been able to deliver what he promised. All he has to do is appear to be trying.
Last edited by mitchmiller9; 04-14-2019 at 08:56 PM..
I sure would like to meet a humble millionaire who offered real advice instead of broad platitudes and basically disparaging anyone's who isn't a millionaire.
They do and they have. But pretty much anything they do, they always get a variation of the same responses:
--That's impossible.
--You're lying.
--You inherited money / you're privileged
--You're bragging (when you get into the weeds of how you saved/invested, earned more, etc.)
It's an internet forum. People can only be so specific. It doesn't lend itself to one on one mentoring people, helping them with their exact situations. And there's another problem--As soon as you get specific, someone will say "but that's not my specific situation" and write off everything else that was said.
I can tell you personally, I've tried to help many people improve their financial lives. But the thing is, people say they want more prosperity in the same way they want to lose weight. But it's hard. Not just the actual steps you have to take, but all the self defeating thoughts in your head that you have to discard. You have to be committed to a different way of thinking and living life--permanently. And a lot of people don't want to do that, for lots of different reasons. It's often because it strains relationships with the people around them.
I sure would like to meet a humble millionaire who offered real advice instead of broad platitudes and basically disparaging anyone's who isn't a millionaire.
There are some among us here.
They aren't the ones who brag (at every opportunity) about how they did it, and rail (whether given an opening or not) about how anyone who hasn't made it is barely worth sending to an extermination camp.
But, as noted, it's the internet. What's that line? No one knows if you're a dog, but everyone can tell you're a jackass.
They aren't the ones who brag (at every opportunity) about how they did it, and rail (whether given an opening or not) about how anyone who hasn't made it is barely worth sending to an extermination camp.
But, as noted, it's the internet. What's that line? No one knows if you're a dog, but everyone can tell you're a jackass.
Either that or over time we see the same story repeated over and over again. I can tell when someone has a genuine interest in wanting to get ahead, and is serious, and the vast majority are not. I just don't wish to waste my time repeating myself on stuff that will fall on deaf ears.
It's not easy to get ahead. Unless you get lucky at birth and have the abilities to go to an Ivy League school, life WILL BE an uphill battle. That just makes it all the sweeter when things start to click.
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