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its funny how in this thread nobody is in this situation described by the OP.
everybody is a model citizen and would never run into problems like this according to the majority of the posters in this thread.
I don't claim to be rich, and I have a mortgage that I only put 5% down on (I've been lucky to live in a community that is not upside-down), so I'm not some financial guru who gets dividends out the wazoo, but I do have a separate savings account with close to $20K that serves as my emergency fund.
I also have one of those "extra" savings accounts linked to my checking, and that money gets spent on fun stuff like trips, eating out, etc. In addition, I have two checking accounts - one for paying bills and one for online shopping and miscellaneous spending.
I'd bet that a lot of people would be horrified by my budget or lack thereof, but I can come up with $2000 today. It's all about priorities and smart(ish) spending.
This is sad. There was a point in my life where this would have been true as well, when I was in my early 20's and just getting out on my own. But fortunately I had a steady job with an increasing salary and was able to get over that hump and learn some life lessons.
Thing is you never know what sort of humps are along the way. My first 'real' job I thought I was doing wonderful, but the health didn't stay that way. I get less a month on disability than I did that first starter professional job (which petered out when the 80's recession hit and my experience got too old and the competition were taking jobs they would never have considered when thats all that was.)
Never assume life will not be full of speedumps. I have satalite tv since you can't get local reception here, but its cheap. I have a decent phone. Haven't applied for food stamps but am eligable (but probably will as food keeps going up) and don't have a car in exchange for a LOT of things. It's all about tradeoffs. (and my 500 dollar phone cost me 20 since I'm such a 'valued customer', and I waited until they had the nice big instant rebate, no instant gradification)
Does it make me fell like I'm missing much. Not really. Rule is pay priotity bills, shop for monthly food, and then see whats left for the rest.
Perhaps this is also the result of high unemployment. People without income have a hard time putting money aside for a rainy day, since they're caught in the middle of a thunderstorm.
No, not at all. Too many people live beyond their means by CHOICE.
I wouldn't take that.... the insurance/taxes/fees/registration would be FAR too expensive for me to afford.
Sure, I could sell stuff....if I had anything to sell. I could sell the small CRT I have that I bought on craiglist for $20, I don't have any extra vehicles or toys, exercise equipment and the only computer I own is my laptop.... I could sell that, but then I'd have a lot of difficulty finishing my education and only about $300 in my hand.
Do you understand that many of these people don't HAVE anything to sell? You seem to think that a vast majority of broke people are living in giant houses with all this cool stuff. I can tell you right now that the poor people I know have none of that. Some stuff just isn't worth selling.
All I have to go by is the "poor people" that I know or have seen personally. They ALL have cell phones (one each, that is, including the teen agers - not 1-per-family). They all have at least one car, they all have flat screen televisions. They all eat at McDonalds (a lot), (yes sometimes the $1 meal, but usually more). What doesn't come from McDonalds comes out of a box.
They all rent DVD's and have dish programming. The women often have acrylic nails, get their hair highlighted and all of them AND I MEAN ALL OF THEM smoke cigarettes and 90 percent of them drink alcohol (usually to excess). Most of them also do plenty of drugs, which I presume to be an expensive hobby.
They all spend a lot of money on their kids' Christmas and birthday presents. They always get a big refund check back from the IRS (and blow it immediately on crap). They are *always* behind on their rent, evicted frequently and usually their cars are "repoed" at least twice a year.
I can see lots of ways that they could conserve that money and use it for better things. But you can't change the spots on a leopard, you know.
I am sorry, but what are you talking about? I live in a major city right now, and every single store accepts governmental programs. You can use food stamps in Whole Foods. Cities are also very fiscally segregated. There are million dollar houses three blocks away from slums. You do also realize that central business districts in cities have all types of people, don't you? There aren't special sidewalks for the wealthy and separate sidewalks for those on welfare in downtown areas of cities.
What do you think, that those on welfare have 'special stores' that only they go to?
What I interpreted SLC to mean was that these people here on CD who are seeing people buying on food stamps day in and day out and so on must live in neighborhoods where a lot of low income people live. My local grocery store takes food stamps yet I rarely see anyone using them. I don't live in Beverly Hills, but I do live in a middle-class neighborhood.
Quote:
Originally Posted by hnsq
No, he has the internet. I don't care what my friends do with their money. It is his life, not mine, so no I did not talk to him about it. He had the 3rd gen iPhone under contract and when 4th gen came out, he walked into a Verizon store and bought it outright, with no new plan. A new 4th gen iPhone with no plan is $649.99.
Why would you guess that he doesn't have access to the internet? I could also tell you about my old roommate who is a physical therapist now. About a quarter of his patients who do not have heath insurance have some sort of smartphone. Now how is it fiscally responsible for a person to not have health insurance but to pay extra for a data plan? I am interested to hear your response.
This is really amazing, but not for the reason you might be thinking. I cannot imagine any health care provider keeping tabs like that on his/her patients. Some people do choose not to have health insurance, especially some self-employed who have to buy individual policies. Some people have lost their insurance, perhaps after they bought the phone contract. Your old roommate should be ashamed of him/herself.
I guess no one wants to stand up and profess their stupidity
Oh, I'll admit to being a very stupid 20-something and making lots of mistakes with my finances. Fortunately, I learned my lessons fairly early in life.
Oh, I'll admit to being a very stupid 20-something and making lots of mistakes with my finances. Fortunately, I learned my lessons fairly early in life.
I know a couple in their thirties who knew there would be no work that decided it would be a great time to get pregnant while homeless in their car.
Some people are useless. We gave them shelter for a while, my wife found the woman a full time job with benefits and she looked like my wife was pissing on her. What would that do to her food stamps and $400 in welfare she said.
So my friend, you are well ahead of the curve on getting it compared to many. :-) Good luck!
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