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Exactly! My wife is a dental hygienist and all of her co workers tease her about the 2006 Scion that she drives. My wife asked the young lady who was teasing her, "oh how much do you guys pay for your car payments each month?" Response was "me and my husband both have new cars and we pay $1300 per month."
There are little financial tricks that smart people learn:
1. Max out your 401K
2. Buy the smallest house in a really nice neighborhood for your first home
3. Don't buy depreciating assets like new cars
4. Use credit cards for emergencies only.
These are just a few tricks that help folks get ahead....
Number 2 and number 3 especially.
Not only did I buy a small house in a quiet neighborhood, I never moved from there even after the family got bigger and our incomes went up. Payed off the mortgage and stayed put.
Regarding cars, another good point. I don't like to drive new cars that require collision insurance for one thing, and depreciate $2000 the minute you drive them off the lot. Don't like a car payment either.
That couple mentioned in the OP's article seem to have a budget problem.
They have car loans and credit card balances totaling near $70K.
The average CC debt is $8K and this couple has over $50K in cc debt.
And with their combined salary those student loans could have been paid off a long time ago.
You post an article about a bunch of fiscally irresponsible adults, to support your assertion that people are struggling to remain in the middle class - and when someone posts that they are conservative in their spending habits, you mock them with a smart-@zz comment.
Your message is clear now. You think it's okay to spend like that...probably because you feel you deserve it....even if your income can't support your lifestyle.
Brilliant.
It is not just a bunch of people, it is a snap-shot of the American middle class.
It's really simple as determined by the new Progressive talking point plan.
If we tax payers paid off their Student Loans that they were forced to take out, all their problems would be solved.
Anyone can see the solution. Let the taxpayers bail them out. It's good for the economy.
Then would could give them all $1000 a month to help paying off their Credit Cards.
If you don't agree with this, you must be greedy and privileged.
People of Color get $2000 a month as a Repatriations bonus.
Exactly! My wife is a dental hygienist and all of her co workers tease her about the 2006 Scion that she drives. My wife asked the young lady who was teasing her, "oh how much do you guys pay for your car payments each month?" Response was "me and my husband both have new cars and we pay $1300 per month."
There are little financial tricks that smart people learn:
1. Max out your 401K
2. Buy the smallest house in a really nice neighborhood for your first home
3. Don't buy depreciating assets like new cars
4. Use credit cards for emergencies only.
These are just a few tricks that help folks get ahead....
I disagree with #4 if you are responsible with credit and pay off your monthly balance in full each month. I never carry a balance, pay for everything with credit, and make about $2K per year off of credit reward programs. You just have to be responsible and disciplined with the credit cards to use them effectively.
Average housing prices, however, swelled 290% over those three decades in inflation-adjusted terms, according to an analysis by Adam Levitin, a Georgetown Law professor who studies bankruptcy, financial regulation and consumer finance.
The American middle class is falling deeper into debt to maintain a middle-class lifestyle
Cars, college, houses and medical care have become steadily more costly, but incomes have been largely stagnant for two decades, despite a recent uptick. Filling the gap between earning and spending is an explosion of finance into nearly every corner of the consumer economy.
Consumer debt, not counting mortgages, has climbed to $4 trillion—higher than it has ever been even after adjusting for inflation.
"Cars, college, houses" etc., DO'T go into debt for things you CAN'T afford!
Agree. Dont buy chit you dont need. Most spend, spend, spend. Then, have to build a garage to store it in. Run your house like a business. More coming in than going out.
Agree. Dont buy chit you dont need. Most spend, spend, spend. Then, have to build a garage to store it in. Run your house like a business. More coming in than going out.
Lol!! Your last sentence is part of the problem. More family coming in then leaving the nest!
Jest though I may....I can take two nickels and squeeze a quarter out of it...the power of budgeting.
This wins the award for the dumbest post of the day.
Yes I know math and thinking about things in new ways are hard. Let me know what's confusing and I'll walk you through it like you're learning multiplication tables.
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