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I think Portugal is one of these. Trying to remember...when I was on tour with a family entertainment show, the advertised starting time was 7:00, but we wouldn't actually start until 8:00, because no one would be there until then. That's the only country where we did that.
Lol. I spoke to someone recently about this thing and we agreed from what we see it's mostly countries like the US, Canada, the U.K., etc., that embrace time regarding being early/late. I don't know what they have seen but I know that in the "Middle East"," some if not most Caribbean islands, the people run on their own time lol...not literally but you get the jist.
Someone making 150k a year has no business marrying, let alone having kids with someone who has no earning potential. Hypergamy like a **** and dude is gonna get raped in divorce court. She's a stay at home mom, yet pays a crap load of money for, child care, house cleaning, eating out, lawn care, what does she do all day.
I think I was thinking the same thing but wasn't sure how old the other two children are. I'm wondering if due to wanting to save money, maybe the other two are still babies and she keeps them all day? She only mentioned 3 days a week of daycare for the toddler. I feel the other two children are in school though and not babies.
I think for certain she should be doing the house cleaning. As for child care, I'd lose it if I had to be with a toddler every day of the week. I kind of get it why she needs the service. She could probably cook more and cut down on eating out.
Just so you know, some men like this kind of thing-to be the breadwinner. Some men don't want their wife to have income anywhere near theirs. They like the whole power/control thing. Some men are traditional and like their queen to just relax and stay pretty while they work.
lol @ all this intense scrutiny. Apparently c-d is populated entirely by Clark Howard devotees.
They're just normal people doing exactly what society is designed for them to do: live slightly above their means, get trapped spending excessively on murky recurring payments, never accrue significant savings, work through a large portion of their lives, seek refuge in further consumerism--since you're chained to your work, what else are you going to do? Everyone ITT (myself included) practices this behavior in some form or fashion. We're Americans; this is our wont.
And $500/mo on restaurants is quite modest for such a family. The restaurant industry in Georgia sells about $20 billion per year, which works out to $150/mo for every man, woman, and child. Do we really expect a family with ~triple the average household income to be significantly below this amount?
lol @ all this intense scrutiny. Apparently c-d is populated entirely by Clark Howard devotees.
They're just normal people doing exactly what society is designed for them to do: live slightly above their means, get trapped spending excessively on murky recurring payments, never accrue significant savings, work through a large portion of their lives, seek refuge in further consumerism--since you're chained to your work, what else are you going to do? Everyone ITT (myself included) practices this behavior in some form or fashion. We're Americans; this is our wont.
And $500/mo on restaurants is quite modest for such a family. The restaurant industry in Georgia sells about $20 billion per year, which works out to $150/mo for every man, woman, and child. Do we really expect a family with ~triple the average household income to be significantly below this amount?
Very true! Consumer spending is 2/3-70 per cent of the US economy and they are doing what Americans live to do-spend. I think certain expenses are a little too much but I expect most people in their income range to spend similar
lol @ all this intense scrutiny. Apparently c-d is populated entirely by Clark Howard devotees.
They're just normal people doing exactly what society is designed for them to do: live slightly above their means, get trapped spending excessively on murky recurring payments, never accrue significant savings, work through a large portion of their lives, seek refuge in further consumerism--since you're chained to your work, what else are you going to do? Everyone ITT (myself included) practices this behavior in some form or fashion. We're Americans; this is our wont.
And $500/mo on restaurants is quite modest for such a family. The restaurant industry in Georgia sells about $20 billion per year, which works out to $150/mo for every man, woman, and child. Do we really expect a family with ~triple the average household income to be significantly below this amount?
True dat! This is how online forums always are, filled with holier-than-thou types lying through their teeth about how they are fiscally responsible. My family was at this income level, we've been below it and above it. Through it all we've managed to save plenty for retirement and college for kids but we still float a car payment (because we think 9/10 % interest is an okay way to do that) and until very recently had monthly restaurant spending > $800/mo.
I also got scolded on this forum for liking coffee made by others and paying $3 a cup for it. LOL.
Location: Formerly Pleasanton Ca, now in Marietta Ga
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Quote:
Originally Posted by testa50
lol @ all this intense scrutiny. Apparently c-d is populated entirely by Clark Howard devotees.
They're just normal people doing exactly what society is designed for them to do: live slightly above their means, get trapped spending excessively on murky recurring payments, never accrue significant savings, work through a large portion of their lives, seek refuge in further consumerism--since you're chained to your work, what else are you going to do? Everyone ITT (myself included) practices this behavior in some form or fashion. We're Americans; this is our wont.
And $500/mo on restaurants is quite modest for such a family. The restaurant industry in Georgia sells about $20 billion per year, which works out to $150/mo for every man, woman, and child. Do we really expect a family with ~triple the average household income to be significantly below this amount?
I actually thought they were doing really well at 500 a month for eating out. I just went out the last two nights as a single and ordered a coke and a small order of wings. With tip it was $20 each those two nights and that’s just me in a cheap place.
Through it all we've managed to save plenty for retirement and college for kids but we still float a car payment (because we think 9/10 % interest is an okay way to do that)
Yeah, that's where I get off the Dave Ramsey budgeting train in a big way, or the trains of other financial experts who suggest only buying cars with cash and/or sticking with cheaper used cars until debts are paid down. If you have good credit, car loan interest rates are extremely low. I drive a lot of miles to work and back, so I don't see how it's all that beneficial to buy an old car that won't last for very long with cash versus a gently used one that requires a loan at a low interest rate. We drive our cars into the ground (kept my last Honda Civic for 300,000 miles and 9 years of long commutes). Also, if you make a comfortable living, then why not spend some of your money on things you enjoy?
Looking back from age 52 and making significantly less than this couple did at their age, yes I do wish we'd done some things differently. We're paying some things down from a Home Equity Line of Credit that we wouldn't have needed to do if we had planned and saved better. We made some bad assumptions about college savings, and life events made a HUGE change in one daughter's college plans that increased costs tremendously. So, yeah, we're having to pay for some things with credit and loans now that I wish we weren't. Once all kids are off the payroll, we'll be able to pay all these off very quickly, so I'm not stressing over it. Some of our "not so good" choices 10-15 years ago on a lower income allowed us to have some really great family experiences and make memories that we wouldn't be able to make now.
If you're young and have a good income, then set up some easy, automatic savings out of your paychecks so you will have a pot of money down the road to help pay for things like vacations, date nights, emergency repairs... the things that tend to get put on credit cards. Be sensible about things like cars. But life really does pass fast, so keep that in mind too. You can't put all your eggs in the retirement basket.
This family is blowing a lot of cash. With that kind of income, there's no way they should be having significant credit card or debt other than student loans. Making that kind of cash they should be able to pay off whatever debts they have in a year or two if they made reasonable cuts in their budget. They should also have their retirement locked down at their age.
I'm not judging by any means, but I note that they are both from working class backgrounds. I am also from a working class background and I know for me, it was easy to fall into the overspending trap when I started making real money. When you're used to growing up not having everything you want and feeling like money is scarce, some people tend to spend, spend, spend to make up for that void they had growing up. Others can become miserly in response, but neither mindset is healthy.
There are many areas where this family is blowing money. For instance, I'm wondering how a stay at home mom has a monthly gas expense of $262. That is about $20 more than what I spend monthly on the high end and I commute 60 miles round trip every day from PTC to downtown Atlanta and then shuttle my kids around evenings and weekends.
$1000 a month on groceries is excessive given their kids are under 8. If they were teens, then it might make more sense. Also consider they spend an additional $500 a month eating out. $800 is hard to justify for a child who is nearing pre-k age who has a SAHM.
Looking at each expense by itself this family is not doing too badly budget wise but overall it looks like their money is being sucked into a black hole each month. Heaven help them as their three children become teens.
There are many areas where this family is blowing money. For instance, I'm wondering how a stay at home mom has a monthly gas expense of $262. That is about $20 more than what I spend monthly on the high end and I commute 60 miles round trip every day from PTC to downtown Atlanta and then shuttle my kids around evenings and weekends.
I wonder if that's for both of their cars. The husband is provided with a company car, but maybe he has to provide his own gas? Our gas expenses last year for two of us were about $277/mo. I commute about 25 miles round trip most days, and drive around a lot on weekends doing family activities. Plus did quite a few trips during the year. Wife was a SAHM until a few months ago, but didn't just stay at home.
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$1000 a month on groceries is excessive given their kids are under 8. If they were teens, then it might make more sense. Also consider they spend an additional $500 a month eating out.
Our grocery bill for a family of three averaged $444/month last year. Almost all of my meals are provided at work, and my wife barely eats. I guess it's not a huge stretch for a family with two more people who eat every meal at home could hit $1,000 a month, but we spend just over that per month on all food and dining, including all groceries, fast food, dining out, bars, snacks, ice cream, school lunch/breakfast...everything. And I know that we spend way more than we should be. Yet, they spend half that again on eating out. That does seem like a lot.
I call BS on the entire thing. For numbers sake assume he's getting paid bi-monthly so $6,250 each check. Take out 401K, health insurance, taxes, etc and it's most likely down to about $4,100. So monthly, $8,200. Tack on her $12,000, which is freelance work so not guaranteed, but assume she averages $1,000 month. After taxes she's down to $750. So total net income on a monthly basis is $8,950. Her total monthly expenses were somewhere right around $8,400/month. That leaves $550 left over not including any extra expenses like medical bills, clothes, something breaks, etc. So where exactly is the investment savings going to come from, the real estate investments and the large famliy vacation? I'm not criticizing how they live or what they spend money on, but the entire article just seems off in that why would anyone consider "dipping their toes into real estate investing" when their monthly surplus is so small.
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