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.
If you were handed $1,100 a month, why would I need to amount to anything?
If *I* were handed $1100 a month, how would that have anything to do with *you* or what you need to amount to?
Now if YOU were handed $1100 a month, I might suggest you invest in education, so you could better yourself. If the average person were to receive that kind of money, some would invest it wisely (educate, pay down debt, get a reliable car so they can work, etc.) and some would squander it. And since this is the political forum, I should mention that I bet there is very little in way of correlation between those who squander or invest, versus political affiliation or voting record.
Do people not understand the vast difference in cost of living across the United States?
From what I'm reading it seems like those struggling with the concept are from high cost of living areas and have likely never lived anywhere else at least not at an age when they were paying bills.
Well we do have a member who has long been pointing out that there are something like 2,500 local "economies" in this country, with widely varying costs of living. As I recall, Cincinnati has the lowest cost of living of any metro area in this country, while COL in about 3x higher in the highest metro.
$1100.00 would pay about 75% of my property taxes for the entire year.......but I'm not dumb enough to live in NY, NJ or California either.
He may live in an actual mansion, for all anyone here knows.
He may also live in an area with really high property taxes in a house that's not nearly as nice as the homes of the majority of people posting here. You never know.
I could pay property taxes on 1100 a month, but there would be very little left for anything else. And, I do not live in a high property tax area, nor do I live in a McMansion. I don't live in a small house, though.
__________________
When in doubt, check it out: FAQ
Not exactly sure where you were heading with this, but one thing is certain. Americans, and the West in general have been living waaaay beyond our means for a long time. One of the key statistics in confirming this is the following:
"According to a report from the Economic Policy Institute (EPI), the mean retirement savings of all working-age families, which the EPI defines as those between 32 and 61 years old, is $95,776." "...many families have zero savings and since super-savers can pull up the average, the median savings, or those at the 50th percentile, may be a better gauge. The median for all working-age families in the U.S. is just $5,000."
In other words, many Americans have gotten the idea that they must live for today, who cares about tomorrow, right? Houses far beyond their means, new cars every 5 years, electronic toys, the list goes on and on. This doesn't mean ALL Americans, it may not mean you. But the reality is that the concept of thriftiness and saving started to become quaint many decades ago. We are all going to pay the price for this materialistic excess - big time.
$1100 a month might be an exaggeration; but it IS possible to live on far, far less than we have become accustomed to. No matter what Trump says, those $30/hour factory jobs are NOT coming back. Suck it up and adjust your standard of living to be in accordance with the current reality.
If *I* were handed $1100 a month, how would that have anything to do with *you* or what you need to amount to?
Now if YOU were handed $1100 a month, I might suggest you invest in education, so you could better yourself. If the average person were to receive that kind of money, some would invest it wisely (educate, pay down debt, get a reliable car so they can work, etc.) and some would squander it. And since this is the political forum, I should mention that I bet there is very little in way of correlation between those who squander or invest, versus political affiliation or voting record.
If "everyone" were handed $1100 a month, living costs would increase, and a nominal increase in income might not increase purchasing power.
Since handing everyone $1100 a month would not magically increase the supply of housing, the additional money would merely enable rents and home prices to be bid up further.
Spoken wisely, Three Wolves
And that is how it is done.
Instead of taking tax payers money in the form of Section 8, food stamps, medical, etc.
Start simple with sacrifices, save save, save.
Work your way up with waves in work experience.
Then get married, then have kids.
Support you and your own
The mindset of having TV"s in every room, kids with cell phones, eating out, living beyond your means is not going to get you anywhere. And it hampers the hard working class Americans.
This sort of logic assumes that a person has had others to give him/her a positive example and that this person is living in an area where saving and sacrificing can be done on a minimum wage income without starving to death.
While I agree that saving and sacrificing are good things to do (allowing for an occasional splurge because it's miserable otherwise), not everyone has parents who can let them stay with them rent free or send them care packages or let them come over and do laundry if they cannot afford a laundromat or eat Sunday dinner for a really good meal, etc.
Most often the "I pulled myself up by the bootstraps" crowd had more than one advantage that they just don't realize they had.
Like an intact family or a college fund that helped offset expenses or a parent or relative who helped them get a job.
__________________
When in doubt, check it out: FAQ
Not exactly sure where you were heading with this, but one thing is certain. Americans, and the West in general have been living waaaay beyond our means for a long time. One of the key statistics in confirming this is the following:
"According to a report from the Economic Policy Institute (EPI), the mean retirement savings of all working-age families, which the EPI defines as those between 32 and 61 years old, is $95,776." "...many families have zero savings and since super-savers can pull up the average, the median savings, or those at the 50th percentile, may be a better gauge. The median for all working-age families in the U.S. is just $5,000." How much the average family has saved for retirement at every age
In other words, many Americans have gotten the idea that they must live for today, who cares about tomorrow, right? Houses far beyond their means, new cars every 5 years, electronic toys, the list goes on and on. This doesn't mean ALL Americans, it may not mean you. But the reality is that the concept of thriftiness and saving started to become quaint many decades ago. We are all going to pay the price for this materialistic excess - big time.
$1100 a month might be an exaggeration; but it IS possible to live on far, far less than we have become accustomed to. No matter what Trump says, those $30/hour factory jobs are NOT coming back. Suck it up and adjust your standard of living to be in accordance with the current reality.
They're saying that a 50-year-old earning minimum wage should have $90,000 saved. Highly doubtful. How much are minimum wage workers expected to save?
How would minimum wage workers adjust their standard of living to be in accordance with the current reality? Housing and zoning codes often prohibit the sort of adjustments minimum wage workers need to make if they are to adequately prepare for retirement.
Of course a wage slave is going to say he/she cannot live on $1100 per month. And who made that choice to become a wage slave? Nobody told you you had to lock yourself into that lifestyle. Nobody told you that you had to buy all those expensive things you are now paying on or live in pathetically expensive areas.
Some years ago, I bought a patch of land in rural North Dakota. Tax is less than $20 a year. Granted, when I build my home on the ground, tax (government rent) will go up a bit. But the home will be sub 500 sf, so tax, from what I've been told will be around $110 a year in that county for that location. Utilities will be solar/wind/grid backup with wood heat and oil backup. Water from the ground. No smartphone. No cable. Paid-off vehicle. Used to eating simple foods. My entertainment is largely from books, study, art, writing, and wilderness walks (all cheap entertainment). I have no need or desire for "vacations" or to go anywhere--all I'll see is the Dakota prairie and the big sky above. So tell me, where will that $1100 dollars (less in my case) go so that I would need more? I probably won't even need that much. Whether or not you can live on XXX dollars a month is completely dependent on your own choices.
And no, I don't expect you to make the choices I'm making, but some of you were mystified. So that's how it's done. Or at least one way.
They're saying that a 50-year-old earning minimum wage should have $90,000 saved. Highly doubtful. How much are minimum wage workers expected to save?
.
actually that would be very easy for a min wage worker to save
let's run the numbers
85% of employers offer 401k's (to include walmart and mcdonalds)
of that 45% offer matching (usually up to 5%)
average return on 401k's ...10% over the last 40 years
min wage 7.30
Adults employed full time report working an average of 47 hours per week... we will use 45
7.30x45hrs equals.....328
you put 10% into the 401k weekly .... 32.85...employer matches 16.42.... total going into 401k weekly 49.27..... this is before taxes, so it lowers your taxable income
that's 2562.04 yearly.... earning (we will use half of the average of 5% instead of 10%) 2690.14
we are NOT going to compound for simplicity sake
2690.14 yearly over a 30 year period.....80k
80k over 30 years with out compounding..without expecting raises/promotions, using half the expected gain from the average 401k...........
yet you say highly doubtful......
most people are not going to stay at min wage there entire life... most people move up as they gain experience
This sort of logic assumes that a person has had others to give him/her a positive example and that this person is living in an area where saving and sacrificing can be done on a minimum wage income without starving to death.
While I agree that saving and sacrificing are good things to do (allowing for an occasional splurge because it's miserable otherwise), not everyone has parents who can let them stay with them rent free or send them care packages or let them come over and do laundry if they cannot afford a laundromat or eat Sunday dinner for a really good meal, etc.
Most often the "I pulled myself up by the bootstraps" crowd had more than one advantage that they just don't realize they had.
Like an intact family or a college fund that helped offset expenses or a parent or relative who helped them get a job.
Mitt Romney offered an easy solution - borrow money from your parents, start a business. Easy peasy.
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.
