Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I've been BROKE BROKE, but I guess I don't consider it flat broke. I don't know why. But I had same very bad times (by no fault of my own - like I didn't max out credit cards, etc.) in my life, where I lived paycheck to paycheck. I've had to pay bills late, and eat nothing but ramen or boxed mac and cheese. My parents would never help me out - they were always of the mindset that "you are an adult, take responsibility". Actually, I guess I can thank them for that, though I have to laugh at how my mother would say that yet she takes handouts all the time from my uncle (my parents are divorced).
But I see too many parents who enable their kids and it's kinda sad. I have a friend that is ALWAYS broke, flat broke. Now, she IS a SAHM with 3 kids, and I think it's wonderful she is able to do that (compared to the cost her working and paying daycare), and I know kids are expensive. But I'm quite shocked at how many times she cries broke (and her husband has a good job that made it possible for her to be a SAHM), her parents and in-laws bail them out by giving them THOUSANDS of dollars, then months later she is broke again and looking for more money. What makes me shake my head is, when given this money instead of putting any leftover in the bank, they spend it - cruises, Kindle Fires, Iphones, etc.
How they spend their money is not my business, but if I was her parents, I'd be mad. You give them money to pay bills, put food on the table, and they spend frivously. One day, reality is gonna hit her and it's not gonna be pretty.
But I agree that in many cases parents are just enabling their kids to be irresponsible. Like I said, looking back I'm glad that my parents never helped me. It taught me to stand on my own 2 feet.
I enjoy telling my son - who is a college senior - my story about my senior year in college when I was SO broke I ate mayonnaise sandwiches and made mac and cheese from the blue box with water instead of milk and no butter.
At least I had a place to live (a trailer up the mountain with holes in the floor) and something to eat. And a car.
He thinks I'm just making it up to show him how good he has it. But I'm not.
I wasnt broke per so, just right on the cusp of it. Thanks to amazing timing I avoided it. I was working in a horrible job (long story) a few years ago and was looking for a better one. So I had three interviews with what now is my current job and was 99% sure I got it. So I quit my old job, in the kind of way everyone wishes they could. I walked out at lunch and told my bosses to shove it up their glute holes. Well then things went silent with my prospective job for 3 months. I had no job and no income, and bills kept coming in. My savings was dwindling down, and I even considered going back to school for a different career. Then finally my new job called back up and sent me an offer...after 3 months. Turned out in the end they were waiting for the new year because pensions ended that year and they didnt want to give new hires the old pensions. Bastards...but I still have an amazing job.
Congrats bande1102 I am happy everything worked, somehow it was "fate" that you continue on!!
no, it wasn't FATE!
sounds like it was hard work more than anything else.
'fate' takes all that hard work and dedication away! It says that since it was his 'fate' to continue on and do well, he could have done so without having put any of the effort he did put in. It's naive and silly and stupid!
I was so broke and desperate when I was young, I walked into a recruiting station and joined the army. Three weeks later I was scared ****less having a drill sergeant yelling at me at me at 5 in the morning in my underwear. Shocked me out of a downward spiral and I never looked back.
I was so broke and desperate when I was young, I walked into a recruiting station and joined the army. Three weeks later I was scared ****less having a drill sergeant yelling at me at me at 5 in the morning in my underwear. Shocked me out of a downward spiral and I never looked back.
I sign up for four years. That was long enough. It was time to get back out in the world after that and I had learned some valuable lessons about being more responsible, etc.
40% of your income into a retirement program is very excessive.
My wife and I only have today, tomorrow isn't promised. More than likely, you are trusting in your material possessions. Make your life a lot easier. Reduce your investment percentage to less than 10%.
All it takes is a crisis in the market and your money is history. Money may not be worth the paper it is printed on, if things keep going the way that they have been these past few years.
This is how i feel about 401k and other modern investment vehicles for retirement...I inherently don't trust the financial system it's all predicated on. Lots of people lost 40-50% of everything they had in 2008, and the writing is on the wall; it will happen again. They didn't really fix anything last time so it's just a matter of time IMO.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
