How do people NOT have any money? (paying, house, live)

[freemkt]

Originally Posted by LowonLuck

I have never made more than $30k a year. Most of my 20's I topped out at $15-$20k. I have told you several times how I have acquired what I have. You do not listen. The first trick is to believe in yourself, spend wisely, take a risk and move towards your goals. That requires a little ambition or at least the sense to get out of your own way.

How does one spend wisely when rent consumes half their income?

[Taluffen]

Originally Posted by k374

I was running some reports, I am a numbers guy and have every single expense dating back to 2006 recorded in Quicken But it's astonishing how much I have spent... here are some gems:

Average monthly over the last 65 months:

Eating out - $602
Groceries - $156
Vacations - $658
Rent - $1176
Motorcycles - $354
Fuel - $130
Entertainment - $56
Autos (including fuel, service etc.) - $347

Total average monthly expenditure - $3,918
Total average monthly net income - $6,672
Average savings rate: 41%

I still managed to save 41% of my income monthly which I think is OK, but could've done better. I think my expenditures are crazy, $750/mo. on Food? WTF? That is insane. I just eat out too much and spend a lot on alcohol (2-3 beers/day add up)

So, my case in point - I think I spend quite a bit but I still have a good buffer and no debt... I know people don't spend as much eating out, never take any vacations and have no hobbies, are DUAL income and yet are living paycheck to paycheck. What are they doing with their money?

My husband and I make roughly the same amount but our savings is smaller (no kids). Mostly because our mortgage is double the rent of the OP. We pay for our utilities which seems to be missing and reoccurring expenditures like Cable/Internet, Cell Phone. I have student loans but I pay more into them to pay them off early. We have a car (only 1 with payment) which I think would cost roughly the same as the motorcycle and car combined, including gas/maintenance. Plus we also have money being put into 401k and retirement plans so that probably reduces the savings account, unless the OP is included those as part of savings.

[LowonLuck]

Originally Posted by freemkt

How does one spend wisely when rent consumes half their income?

My mortgage payment is half my income. My electric bill in the winter is probably more than your rent. I have a budget and I stick with it. I am pretty frugal in lots of areas and over the years, I have accumulated savings because I do not spend more than I make. I also do not have debt.

[jaminhealth]

I see the current generation is NOT frugal on their addiction of High Cost Technology. None of this was ever a part of my 40 yr work history.

Living in warm climate CUTS utilities greatly. I'm talking so cal...no a/c and hardly any heat. Guess I'm fortunate..I know I'm fortunate. I've never bought into the gadgets....

Wonder why people still want to come to 40M population like CA.

No winter hardships for sure. A little shaking now and then but we handle it all.

[flashes1]

Originally Posted by freemkt

Ooooookayyyyyy, I just GOTTA ask, what do you DO that earns you enough to have a 7 figure net worth?

I work with a bunch of people who make within a few cents per hour of minimum wage, several of whom have college degrees.

Why do people work for minimum wage? It can't be a lack of basic intelligence (I had a 2.2 GPA in BOTH high school and very mediocre college, and got a 780 on my SAT----hah-hah--seriously!). It's got to be do to something else???????


Because of my cruddy grades, I got an equally cruddy job as an Asst. Store Manager for a large grocery store chain----the stores were located in the ghettos----this was a very humbling and life changing experience. I literally mopped up homeless guys' puke. But I did my job----hustled my butt off and never worked harder in my life. I was around nothing but homeless people and welfare people 10-12 hours per day----5 days a week. People in perfectly good health with gobs and gobs of food stamps.


After getting ****e canned from that job----after being promoted to Store Manager within 14 months making ~75k in 1994--someone below me stole $1K and I got assigned the blame---I got a job as a Staff Auditor ----and was promoted twice in 9 years. Again, I busted my job---did whatever my managers asked of me---- I even canceled a vacation 3 days before it was to begin because a manager needed a favor---that got me a promotion.


Parlayed that job to an Auditing position at a financial services company ----kicked butt there---made friends with coworkers-----one of them left and recommended me for a higher job where I currently work----again, I've NEVER turned down a work assignment---I get ****e done----and go out of my way to make my boss's job easier.


I'm not rocket scientist---sometimes I sit here and wonder how the hellll it happended-----but it's a matter of a GREAT attitude and do whatever it takes.


I also married someone who makes slightly more money than I do----and is the hardest working person I've ever known.


The more I think about it---it's all about how you were raised----I come from farmers----who knew nothing but hard work from sun-up to sun-down------never accepted hand-outs.

[flashes1]

Originally Posted by PesachSeder

And when the revolution comes, they will have very little sympathy for you.

So be it. Let the strong survive. If I can't survive, then that's on me. No sympathy.

[metalmancpa]

I'm a CPA. I'll crunch numbers for you. I can come with a slew of reason why not all people who make money have money. Life throws curve balls - medical, house & car repairs, etc etc.

I'm happy that you save $'s. Don't pass judgement on others who haven't.

[flashes1]

Originally Posted by metalmancpa

I'm a CPA. I'll crunch numbers for you. I can come with a slew of reason why not all people who make money have money. Life throws curve balls - medical, house & car repairs, etc etc.

I'm happy that you save $'s. Don't pass judgement on others who haven't.

And I bet the vast majority of those things are self inflicted. People who don't make good decisions, keep their minds and bodies in good shape, exhibit poor judgment, have poor work ethic and attitude, etc. etc.


This is America. There's a whole sea of money just waiting to be plucked out there---but you got to play the game the right way to get it.

[BornintheSprings]

Originally Posted by k374

I was running some reports, I am a numbers guy and have every single expense dating back to 2006 recorded in Quicken But it's astonishing how much I have spent... here are some gems:

Average monthly over the last 65 months:

Eating out - $602
Groceries - $156
Vacations - $658
Rent - $1176
Motorcycles - $354
Fuel - $130
Entertainment - $56
Autos (including fuel, service etc.) - $347

Total average monthly expenditure - $3,918
Total average monthly net income - $6,672
Average savings rate: 41%

I still managed to save 41% of my income monthly which I think is OK, but could've done better. I think my expenditures are crazy, $750/mo. on Food? WTF? That is insane. I just eat out too much and spend a lot on alcohol (2-3 beers/day add up)

So, my case in point - I think I spend quite a bit but I still have a good buffer and no debt... I know people don't spend as much eating out, never take any vacations and have no hobbies, are DUAL income and yet are living paycheck to paycheck. What are they doing with their money?

Most people are saddled with student or medical debt. Many people live in expensive locations since that is where the jobs are. Its wonderful you are lucky most are not so lucky.

[MinivanDriver]

Originally Posted by flashes1

And I bet the vast majority of those things are self inflicted. People who don't make good decisions, keep their minds and bodies in good shape, exhibit poor judgment, have poor work ethic and attitude, etc. etc.


This is America. There's a whole sea of money just waiting to be plucked out there---but you got to play the game the right way to get it.

Jesus Tapdancing Christ. What a bunch of arrogant nonsense from some whelp who knows nothing.

What if someone has a chronic disease that exceeds maximum healthcare coverage? My sister-in-law and her husband, a CFO for an international manufacturer, has a son who, at age three, was diagnosed with a virulent form of cancer. They wound up exceeding their healthcare coverage by quite a bit and went about a hundred thousand dollars in the hole after running through their savings, their stock portfolio and putting a second mortgage on the house. My sister-in-law had to quit her job to shuttle their son to treatment.

Now imagine if the husband in that relationship didn't have an amazing job with almost unlimited benefits? They would have been wiped out. They would have had to file for bankruptcy. In fact, in the time my nephew (Who survived and has been cancer free for six years) was treated, they got to know a lot of families who had to do just that. Good families, hard-working families who did all the right things, had insurance, had savings, and still wound up taking it in the teeth.

My former employee was the same. She had a terrible, two-year struggle with cancer. One year into her treatment, she and her husband learned that he, too, had terminal cancer. She died back in September. He is hanging on by his fingernails for the sake of their two teenaged sons. They went through not one, but two separate health insurance policies. The poor kids will wind up with nothing.

This isn't some freak statistical rarity, by the way. It happens all the time. So next time you prate on about "poverty is always the fault of the poor" or some other half-witted nonsense dredged up from binge listening to talk radio, do yourself a favor and leave your cosseted world to wander up and down the halls of the infusion unit of a cancer center. Then stroll into the waiting room filled with family members who are desperately scraping together their last shekels to keep a child, a spouse, or a parent alive and tell them how their impending bankruptcy is all their fault. I'll video the results.

I don't wish ill on anyone, but I would love to see you go through some difficulty in your life just to watch that smug, simpering attitude of yours disappear.