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I'll start...maybe I am one of the poorest people in CD, who knows
Age 48, female, married 27 yrs. We have one 25 yr old son. Live in Northern California
100-125K land value (3 springs on it) PAID FOR
20K another piece of land- PAID FOR
Job- $12 hr- Two 18.5 hr Shifts twice per wk (Work Wed, Thurs & Friday) BUT I choose to work alot of extra 18-24 hr shifts for overtime
$200-$300 per mo selling online
401k New 401k Offered by my company w/4% match
-35% contributed this year
-50% Next yr
-91% (Max allowed) Next 4 years.
$400 mo. renting an RV out on our property w/water & power via solar panels & batteries
10K Showed per year- Husband is a Painting Contractor yet close to being disabled due to health issues.
Could go on disability but instead working much less until retiring at age 62. We can get by fine.
$160K Inheritance within the next year. My inlaws passed away recently
$11K Vehicle -paid for
$5K Van paid for
10K bicycles
Health insurance- Covered 100% no cost thru work for myself. Nothing for husband.
$5 a month DENTAL for both of us
$22 Disability insurance for both of us
100K life insurance for both of us
Social Security COMBINED will be $1350 per month. That's it but it means no medicare costs.
House easily paid for by retirement
No utilities except maintaining solar panels & batteries. 3 Springs on the property provide water.
No medical costs
I hear if you are low income then internet can be just $10 a month but we plan on paying the usual $50 per month for high speed
We will try to flip cheap land. Buying land one every few years and re-selling it.
Not sure if I will sell on EBAY & Amazon. My clients LOVE shopping at thrift stores so I am paid to shop for my inventory, I list it around 10pm while on shift after she is in bed and i am in our private bedroom provided. I take photos, list etc...listen to sermons then shower in the private bathroom. Then listen to sermons again and fall asleep.
Husband likes to buy a car from the auto-recyclers in Sacramento then re-sell it after we've driven in a few yrs.
We usually make a little off of that sale and it allows us to drive the car for free.
Last edited by NancyDrew1; 01-29-2017 at 11:43 PM..
I'm not poor as I make slightly more than the average household income in california. (single income)
i have a IRA
I own my own home.
I'm doing quite well for myself! I'm not super rich but I do quite well, especially comparing to my friends and my peers.
Thank you. Can I ask what area you live in in California? I watched the 49ers play at Sierra College while I attended there way back
Then worked for Montana and Rice when they owned Powerburst. Only met them once
LOL, no you ain't the poorest person. I live on SSI in CA, of about $900/month. Own my own vehicle worth about $2000. And that's about it.
I rely on Medi-Cal and I'm blessed to now have Section 8 HUD housing, so my rent is only about 30% of my income, and my health care is so far, 100% covered.
Is my housing gloriously ideal? No. But, I'm safe and warm. It could definitely be worse.
We were told growing up in this small city as kids, 'this area usually ends up ruining people'. I can confirm, this is a **** of a career mistake to spend any time here past college...Got so bad, the local colleges are better off avoided and just move on after college unless you have the connections for the 3 remaining airplane plants.
I watched many better-off and slightly older coworkers during my 20s as they purchased a second home elsewhere so 'they would have somewhere else to go once this place screwed them'. And they worked their weekends on their bug-outs or investments instead of hanging around to get involved in a church situation that is called 'devil worship' kind of abusers by some and just dirty business networks at churches here.
I have witnessed a low paid parent of a friend do VERY well financially here by owning very little after buying in badly policed neighborhood and deck out the house in splendor, then get ruined by it. He worked at a 'charity' basically for last 30 years and managed very well on the income, even despite employment problems his wife suffered eventually and she had trouble working around here. They didn't have much furniture in their home, just table, couch, bed, dresser, desk and a couple book cases. EVentually they didn't keep pets as it was just too hard at the apartment. They gave up owning property as they bought a twin-home with BAD structural problems so no way to fix it with constant change of neighbors...they did manage to sell it. ; ) They did not eat at home after having refrigerator problems at one home and just ate out one time daily with entertainment book and specials, fed family of 3 okay. School lunches or oatmeal handled rest. Drove two older vehicles. They didn't own a ton of clothing or much showy stuff in their place but they are millionaires due to very aggressive investing.
Not everyone has access to good paying jobs, most in the country work 60+ hour weeks for almost minimum wages plus running a farm too. What you can access if blessed is safe housing, healthy food, basic clothing and family so never alone or bored. Better not flashy and just blend in, keep quiet and no one knows what 'poor' is.
Do you agree? Do you have any savings/401K, Roth, IRA etc..and/ or do you own a home?
Are you on your way to a secure retirement or a retirement that will at least, meet your basic needs?
Just curious
As my 9th grade English teacher once asked me: "who are they" ?
of course many here have 401Ks, own homes, have money or are comfortable.I can't imagine anyone thinking because people may be frugal or looking for ways to cut costs that would indicate they are poor? BTW, it is hard to say if one will have a retirement or has one that will meet all our needs. It is hard to predict the future.
We are retired with about $2200 a month coming from SS after they deduct for medi care. I have a small retirement and hubby does pet sitting for people when they travel. He averages about $500 a month. Being he will be 80 next week I don't know how many years he will keep this up. Yes, we have some investments but so far, except for an occassional vacation or a home repair we do not touch it. Do we consider ourselves poor? Not at all, we have all we need, our family is near and are a great emotional support and we have our friends. We do not have a lot of money though.
I'll start...maybe I am one of the poorest people in CD, who knows
Age 48, female, married 27 yrs. We have one 25 yr old son. Live in Northern California
100-125K land value (3 springs on it) PAID FOR
20K another piece of land- PAID FOR
Job- $12 hr- Two 18.5 hr Shifts twice per wk (Work Wed, Thurs & Friday) BUT I choose to work alot of extra 18-24 hr shifts for overtime
$200-$300 per mo selling online
401k New 401k Offered by my company w/4% match
-35% contributed this year
-50% Next yr
-91% (Max allowed) Next 4 years.
$400 mo. renting an RV out on our property w/water & power via solar panels & batteries
10K Showed per year- Husband is a Painting Contractor yet close to being disabled due to health issues.
Could go on disability but instead working much less until retiring at age 62. We can get by fine.
$160K Inheritance within the next year. My inlaws passed away recently
$11K Vehicle -paid for
$5K Van paid for
10K bicycles
Health insurance- Covered 100% no cost thru work for myself. Nothing for husband.
$5 a month DENTAL for both of us
$22 Disability insurance for both of us
100K life insurance for both of us
Social Security COMBINED will be $1350 per month. That's it but it means no medicare costs.
House easily paid for by retirement
No utilities except maintaining solar panels & batteries. 3 Springs on the property provide water.
No medical costs
I hear if you are low income then internet can be just $10 a month but we plan on paying the usual $50 per month for high speed
We will try to flip cheap land. Buying land one every few years and re-selling it.
Not sure if I will sell on EBAY & Amazon. My clients LOVE shopping at thrift stores so I am paid to shop for my inventory, I list it around 10pm while on shift after she is in bed and i am in our private bedroom provided. I take photos, list etc...listen to sermons then shower in the private bathroom. Then listen to sermons again and fall asleep.
Husband likes to buy a car from the auto-recyclers in Sacramento then re-sell it after we've driven in a few yrs.
We usually make a little off of that sale and it allows us to drive the car for free.
Have to ask you: why do you say you will have no medical costs when you start collecting SS?
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