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Old 06-23-2010, 10:05 AM
 
2,919 posts, read 5,786,893 times
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Money makeover: Getting a strong dose of financial reality - latimes.com

This story should be a wake up call to all......
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Old 06-23-2010, 10:57 AM
 
Location: Boise, ID
8,046 posts, read 28,389,501 times
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I'd really love to say that this isn't indicative of enough of the population to be worth reading. After all, most of us don't live in million dollar houses and have $200 a month maids, etc. However, if you ignore the fine details and just look at the story, many Americans do spend more than they make every year, and could use this eye opener. But most of them also won't acknowledge they are in trouble unless something big happens to open their eyes (like a divorce or foreclosure)

Honestly though, the article is another one of those that annoy me. To have a headline that says (to paraphrase) ...After a bunch of hard life changes, so and so is shaken to find they can't afford to buy a house in sunny California... is just silly. Why is she surprised to hear this? She makes less each year than she spends, so of course she can't afford to buy another house in California. It says she doesn't spend extravagantly, but then goes on to list the extravagant spending she does.

So yes, it sucks that so many people are in this position, but these articles might as well all say "After losing his job, defaulting on 17 loans, having his house foreclosed on, and filing bankruptcy, Joe can't understand why no one will loan him money." It is sad, but it isn't surprising or confusing.

She could move somewhere less expensive and afford to pay cash for a house there, if she could find a job to pay her other bills. In fact, with the cash she is getting for her house, she could pay off all her current bills, buy a modest house, and live for a couple of years (since her spending will then be much less). She mentions that briefly as a "radical" alternative.
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Old 06-23-2010, 04:19 PM
 
15,633 posts, read 26,148,919 times
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Actually the article states the woman says she doesn't spend extravagantly, and then shows how she does. Which is good.

I've noticed when people freewheelingly spend they lose sight of wants and needs -- their wants become needs. So to her the maid IS a necessity.

I've stopped trying to make sense of people's spending. I know when people see that I'm making yet another quilt, they think how many blankets does she need? They don't get the craft and the joy making a quilt gives me.

Just like when my friends complain about not having money and then spending what they claim they don't have on mani/pedi's with fake fingernails. On their fingers and ON THEIR TOES!!??

We all have something we spend our money on and justify to ourselves.
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Old 06-23-2010, 05:47 PM
 
Location: southwestern PA
22,332 posts, read 47,289,110 times
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"Mills said they stretched to buy the five-bedroom Tudor-style home in Glendale for $325,000 in 1997"

So they should not have even bought the house over a decade ago... plus she added MAID service she can't afford???


I do not feel sorry for her at all.
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Old 06-23-2010, 07:25 PM
 
9,846 posts, read 22,608,076 times
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A lot of boomers are going to be getting the shock of their life soon. So many of that generation think the spending is going to go on and on and they can party hard with long retirements.
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Old 06-23-2010, 08:34 PM
 
48,505 posts, read 96,582,961 times
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Well iof its a eye opwner then inmost cases the person has been blind most of their lifes.I really suspoect that more actually know but its easier to live with by conning yourself that everyone is like that. That is not nearly true.Just looking at one thing shows how much things have changed for some. Use to be it was said that a married woman is one divorce away from poverty. Now days that isn't true and we all know that women outnumber men to start with.I also thinl that the numbers of boomers retiring early is some indication of the fact that some are better off that ever to be able to. There has always been thsoe that are in trouble and a 10% rate on anyhting really is a crisis on that thing.
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Old 06-23-2010, 09:14 PM
 
8,263 posts, read 12,164,491 times
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It sounds really evil but I love reading these type of articles, it's like not being able to resist slowing down to stare at a traffic accident.
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Old 06-24-2010, 01:06 AM
 
Location: Southern California
3,113 posts, read 8,356,920 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by slackjaw View Post
I love reading these type of articles,
The LA Times has run the column about once a month for years - I no longer subscribe, but it used to be one of my favorite parts of the paper!

You can see the archives here... site:latimes.com MONEY MAKEOVER - Google Search
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Old 06-24-2010, 07:10 AM
 
Location: Raleigh, NC
6,802 posts, read 9,004,509 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by slackjaw View Post
It sounds really evil but I love reading these type of articles, it's like not being able to resist slowing down to stare at a traffic accident.
I see what you mean. I thought this was an article about someone making $100K who had too much debt. My jaw dropped when they said she only makes $40K!! With just the 4 of them before the divorce, and two teenage kids, there is absolutely no way that they needed a $200 maid service. It wouldn't hurt the kids to help with some of the cleaning.
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Old 06-24-2010, 11:40 PM
'M'
 
Location: Glendale Country Club
1,954 posts, read 3,181,953 times
Reputation: 2813
Quote:
Originally Posted by zitsky View Post
I see what you mean. I thought this was an article about someone making $100K who had too much debt. My jaw dropped when they said she only makes $40K!! With just the 4 of them before the divorce, and two teenage kids, there is absolutely no way that they needed a $200 maid service. It wouldn't hurt the kids to help with some of the cleaning.
WestCoastBabe...Great thread! It has always seemed to me that LA is truly LA-LA-Land. There are people there making gargantuan amounts of money next to those who are barely scraping by. Somehow, all of that unrealistic extravagance pollutes the air and water in LA....actually, it seems to be present everywhere to some degree. It's difficult to edit all of that out of what we read and hear every day in the media. Lately, I've chosen to limit my media exposure - even HGTV can get me going to places I shouldn't be....by the way, do you think HGTV has that subliminal suggestion stuff going on? The thought keeps going though my head...wouldn't I be much happier helping build things for Habitat for Humanity - or some other worthwhile volunteer project - than to spend my days shopping until I drop?
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