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and all of those articles fail to "begin" before adult age...
being successful at life isn't all that complicated
1) stay groomed
2) don't do drugs/get arrested
3) pay your bills
4) don't buy crap you can't afford
Quoted for the MFing truth. Success is what you make of it but it really is that simple. If you do those 4 things, you literally will have a fulfilling life if you simply enjoy and appreciate what you have instead of complaining about what you don't have.
And many of today's homeless are the young men/women who came home from the middle east and fought the old men's wars for the old men's $$$$. A lot of these men/women went to war for a paycheck and now back can't find one or are so sick messed up from the wars they are unable to function in society. Ever think of all this mess. There is a whole big picture that many don't look at, just they are lazy or or ...not every one is living high off the hog in the U.S.
The thing about an issue like homelessness is everyone picks the piece that resonates with them and tries to make it seem like it's all or most of the story, when it isn't.
I don't agree with these wars either. But there's a lot more going on with homelessness than just that.
I swore to myself a couple of years ago to never respond to anymore of his whining posts but for others who may not know his history...for years, this poster has come up with one excuse or another not to be able to do ONE thing people have suggested.
Has he faced some difficulties? Sure, but not one single one that others have not overcome.
Around 29,000 excuses....and counting. It's part of his identity. I guess that's tough to give up.
Plus, a city like SF or NYC is always going to be very expensive because space is very much as a premium. There is really nowhere to build more housing.
I disagree with the bolded. Granted, it's more difficult. But NIIMBYism and red tape are primarily what keep new housing from being built in both NYC and SF. The red tape makes anything that does get built more expensive.
It states savings goals -
- By age 30: Have the equivalent of your annual salary saved
- By age 35: Have twice your annual salary saved.
- By age 40: Have three times your annual salary saved.
- By age 45: Have four times your annual salary saved.
- By age 50: Have five times your annual salary saved.
- By age 55: Have six times your annual salary saved.
- By age 60: Have seven times your annual salary saved.
- By age 65: Have eight times your annual salary saved.
How do you think America is stacking up to these goals? Per this thread I am in much better financial shape than average and some even said I was showing off, per this CNBC article I am way under the required goals...I think there is quite a disconnect here between the reality on the ground and what financial pundits are professing as "normal".
What happens when Life gets in the way and changes everything like being laid off?
What happens when Life gets in the way and changes everything like being laid off?
You save more than the standard 10% to 15% that is recommended. In short, most people need to shun the standard middle class lifestyle (for a period of time, anyway) if they want to do well financially. Or at the very least, they have to be at least somewhat out of step with their peer group. If most people are broke (and they are--at every income level), then you have to be the one willing to be the oddball if you want to be financially comfortable / rich.
You save more than the standard 10% to 15% that is recommended. In short, most people need to shun the standard middle class lifestyle (for a period of time, anyway) if they want to do well financially. Or at the very least, they have to be at least somewhat out of step with their peer group. If most people are broke (and they are--at every income level), then you have to be the one willing to be the oddball if you want to be financially comfortable / rich.
Yep. At 30% I still felt relatively "normal". I could go to the yoga studio and buy some clothes. We could spend $500 a month and not know on what... or even care... Now we're averaging 65% (most months at 80%, but then the few months of travel or taxes really knock it down) and while I probably don't look excessively distinguishable from my peers, cognitively I'm very conscious of it pretty much every moment I'm outside of the house. The way I see it: my best appearance is on par with everyone else's worst. It's a very weird thing to see the dollar cost difference between my appearance and theirs. There are moments where I hate it, when everyone around me is so stylish and trendy and put together so nicely. And everyone looks pretty darn happy and uppity and then I start to get lost in the belief that they are all able to afford the lifestyle and savings. They've got it so well together on the outside that surely it's as put together on the inside too. But then I read the headlines. And sometimes I get glimpses of people's actual lives here.. like a client who just dug $10k out from her IRA to spend on goodies for her new home... her second (the first she had to short sale). It doesn't really matter. These are just moments and the overwhelming majority of the time I'm totally going about my day without the consciousness bothering me. Most of the time, I'm feeling really good about what I'm doing and why.
But then you have people like me, who do not have high salaries (1/2 the national median wage), live in expensive state, always been a single mom...and I am currently the lowest paid person, driving the most expensive car at my work, living in a pretty nice house in a stellar area. 7 months ago I owned 2 houses, with a total value of $750k. I am probably the only person sitting at work today that has the equivalent of my annual salary sitting in my bank account.
I have to ask since the national US median wage is 30k are you telling us you only earn 15k per year ?
Also, you managed to buy or get a loan for houses that total 750k in value on that salary ? Are you a student of Carlton Sheets ? I thought all his programs were BS.
Yep. At 30% I still felt relatively "normal". I could go to the yoga studio and buy some clothes. We could spend $500 a month and not know on what... or even care... Now we're averaging 65% (most months at 80%, but then the few months of travel or taxes really knock it down) and while I probably don't look excessively distinguishable from my peers, cognitively I'm very conscious of it pretty much every moment I'm outside of the house. The way I see it: my best appearance is on par with everyone else's worst. It's a very weird thing to see the dollar cost difference between my appearance and theirs. There are moments where I hate it, when everyone around me is so stylish and trendy and put together so nicely. And everyone looks pretty darn happy and uppity and then I start to get lost in the belief that they are all able to afford the lifestyle and savings. They've got it so well together on the outside that surely it's as put together on the inside too. But then I read the headlines. And sometimes I get glimpses of people's actual lives here.. like a client who just dug $10k out from her IRA to spend on goodies for her new home... her second (the first she had to short sale). It doesn't really matter. These are just moments and the overwhelming majority of the time I'm totally going about my day without the consciousness bothering me. Most of the time, I'm feeling really good about what I'm doing and why.
I think the bolded is the bottom line. To get rich or financially comfortable, you have to be deeply motivated. Being motivated by money piling up or by more stuff or by looking cool to your neighbors isn't a deep motivation and won't work. Deep motivation comes from things like a motivation to want to give to charity, a motivation to be financially independent so you don't need a job, etc.
You and your DH obviously have some type of deep motivation or you wouldn't be saving 65% of income.
Money is a shallow motivator — too shallow to drive you deep enough to achieve success.
The problem is financial wealth is an external goal with benefits limited to the world outside of you. Money buys things, but money doesn’t buy happiness. It can build you a prettier prison, but it can’t get you out of prison.
The inherent limits of external goals (fancy houses, cars, and big bank accounts) similarly limits how motivated you will be when pursuing them.
To succeed in building wealth, you want to be driven by internal goals deeper than just the external trappings of wealth.
You want a cause that will bring transformation to your life and drive you deep enough to overcome all the obstacles that stand between you and financial freedom.
Housing, insurance, education and taxes have all gone up faster than wages for a good 15 years now. This has created generational and geographical poverty. At the same times Americans have become fatter and consumer more than ever while producing less.
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