31% Of Americans Have No Retirement Savings At All (students, children, parents)
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??? Short list. 1, I decided very early - with my first hamburger job - I never wanted to be a fast food manager. 2, dead-end menial jobs do not have advancement paths. 3, couldn't afford to go to law school or return to school to get a marketable skill.
That is not the list. I am talking about the one blaming everything from your parents to childhood to upbringing , to health and your lack of motivation and drive .
??? Short list. 1, I decided very early - with my first hamburger job - I never wanted to be a fast food manager. 2, dead-end menial jobs do not have advancement paths. 3, couldn't afford to go to law school or return to school to get a marketable skill.
So the roots of your current situation were a liberal arts degree decision on your part and a dysfunctional family that raised you to be a top high school student. So wouldn't your message be better served in the education and or family forums? Perhaps your disconnect with so many here is the nature of the forum and most participants.l
Why didn't you get Work Study? I did that, and while my job didn't benefit me in any way in my career, working as an usher in the sports stadium meant I saw sporting events and concerts for free.
See, I had this dysfunctional family with an absentee father who was living underground (running from a pending indictment) and thus couldn't qualify me for financial aid on his income. He had handed me off to lower middle class relatives in high-COL NYC; their lower middle class income made me ineligible for financial aid. In the meantime, I worked multiple crap minimum wage jobs to pay for school and borrowed some money along the way. (And yes the wheels of justice did catch up with him and he did his time.)
Many folks in these forums were in similiar situations . But they controlled the situation.they found ways out and went on to do quite fine. If they seem less than sympathetic it is because they were there themselves.
I grew up in a nyc housing project at near poverty. But i swore to myself i wouldn't stop trying until that life was no longer an option.
Merely buying a home in the first place affords you the unearned net worth effect of appreciation; something renters can never enjoy.
So does starting a business, playing the stock market, etc. It's called risk and reward.
You make it sound like a decree has come down that certain people are forbidden to own homes and must rent forever. EVERYONE can own a home. They do have to put away the excuses, blame and pity, and make it happen.
??? Short list. 1, I decided very early - with my first hamburger job - I never wanted to be a fast food manager. 2, dead-end menial jobs do not have advancement paths. 3, couldn't afford to go to law school or return to school to get a marketable skill.
So you pretty much decided very early on that you were willing to spend your life as a minimum wage worker. Sad, really....
So the roots of your current situation were a liberal arts degree decision on your part and a dysfunctional family that raised you to be a top high school student. So wouldn't your message be better served in the education and or family forums? Perhaps your disconnect with so many here is the nature of the forum and most participants.l
??? The liberal arts degree was suited extremely well to its intended purpose, which was to get me into law school. (The name of my major was just oozing with connotations of law and politics.) What I didn't expect was that law school would be financially beyond my reach. Even so I expected my comp sci minor would afford me some additional opportunities, but the then-emerging PC changed everything.
See, I had this dysfunctional family with an absentee father who was living underground (running from a pending indictment) and thus couldn't qualify me for financial aid on his income. He had handed me off to lower middle class relatives in high-COL NYC; their lower middle class income made me ineligible for financial aid. In the meantime, I worked multiple crap minimum wage jobs to pay for school and borrowed some money along the way. (And yes the wheels of justice did catch up with him and he did his time.)
I'm risking sounding like a broken record, but you and I have very similar stories. I also worked through college (full time, with a full time school load), and had student loans. But you had the advantage of an actual degree and you were a man.
I, too, entered the work force at the same time as you. The difference is that I was willing to slowly work my way up the ladder, instead of rolling over and playing dead, then spending the next 3 decades complaining that life had dealt me a crappy hand.
So does starting a business, playing the stock market, etc. It's called risk and reward.
You make it sound like a decree has come down that certain people are forbidden to own homes and must rent forever. EVERYONE can own a home. They do have to put away the excuses, blame and pity, and make it happen.
??? Millions of failed business startups disagree with you. But yes, starting a business is generally a great idea; I'm working on that and have $10K of inventory on hand, but crappy cash flow in my dysfunctional living environment - I'm paying to store my inventory because my living space consists of a single room plus the time and hassle of moving it around.
And yes, government has decreed that I am forbidden to own a hone that I currently can afford.
see "accessory dwelling unit" and "cannot be segregated in ownership"
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