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I used to listen to the Dave Ramsey show on talk radio everyday until I got tired of hearing these wealthy people calling in asking for advice of what to do with the $200k settlement they just recieved, or how to spend the $1,000,000 inheritance they just got from someone passing away, or because they make $300k a year and don't know what to do with the extra $125k.
Now I was just in another forum where people were saying that me and others like me who struggle with poverty are basically stuck in this situation based on our own stupidity. Well, from my point of view these people who have so much extra money to throw around and have no idea what to do with it or how to invest it are pretty damn stupid to me. Any of us bottomfeeders would find a way to use that money to help people or double up on it.
Why do rich people call in on these shows as if they are struggling with how to spend all that extra money. I thought you had to be intelligent to make money in the first place after what some other posters on here said about us folks in the lower income bracket.
Why do rich people call in on these shows as if they are struggling with how to spend all that extra money. I thought you had to be intelligent to make money in the first place after what some other posters on here said about us folks in the lower income bracket.
This is an age in which the only way to find common sense is with a search warrant.
I always say there's three kinds of people - rich, broke, and poor.
"Rich" and "poor" are mindsets more than anything else, and is defined by our behaviors and attitudes.
If you do rich people stuff for a long enough time, all things equal you'll get rich.
And if these people who inherit $1 million don't have a solid plan to do something with it, you'll become poor really, really quickly.
So, I'd call inheriting a wad of cash a legitimate reason to call in.
I get that and I've heard Dave say that on his show, but my point was about intelligence. How could people who are intelligent enough to be making lots of money not be able to budget when they have loads of money to budget?. I'm living at the low end of the spectrum, but I don't need a financial advisor to tell me what money goes towards the rent, food, bills, insurance, savings, fun-time ect....
I just have to get out a piece of paper and write everything down, make calculations, and budget my earnings. The people that I don't understand that call in are the ones who say, "Should I spend such and such money on a wedding, or should it go into my rainy day savings, or towards this new car I was thinking of buying?". These are the kinds of calls that tick me off because those are not situations where you need help to figure out how to spend the money if you are smart and have all that extra money to spend or save.
If someone called in and had a dying relative who needed medical expenses paid vs. paying off thier mortgage because they just lost their job then that would be more of a situation where you would need some advice. I just don't like those people who act like they are struggling to figure out what 'fun' thing to put thier money into. It takes time away from the callers with real money issues.
I get that and I've heard Dave say that on his show, but my point was about intelligence. How could people who are intelligent enough to be making lots of money not be able to budget when they have loads of money to budget?. I'm living at the low end of the spectrum, but I don't need a financial advisor to tell me what money goes towards the rent, food, bills, insurance, savings, fun-time ect....
Hi RaxorRob305--
That's easy. They could be an educated person (doctors, lawyers, engineers) but have zero street smarts at all. They could easily pull down $200,000 a year, and still be flat broke because they don't know what they're doing. Or they could be a trust fund baby, or could receive a big inheritance, hit the lottery, or just be flat out lucky.
Remember, there's a lot of lowest-common-denominator intelligence types out there, and their income isn't 100% correlated with their intelligence.
Quote:
Originally Posted by RazorRob305
I just have to get out a piece of paper and write everything down, make calculations, and budget my earnings. The people that I don't understand that call in are the ones who say, "Should I spend such and such money on a wedding, or should it go into my rainy day savings, or towards this new car I was thinking of buying?". These are the kinds of calls that tick me off because those are not situations where you need help to figure out how to spend the money if you are smart and have all that extra money to spend or save.
I wonder if those types are the husband-wife combinations who have reached a total impasse and somehow agree that they'll both listen to a third party.
Quote:
Originally Posted by RazorRob305
If someone called in and had a dying relative who needed medical expenses paid vs. paying off thier mortgage because they just lost their job then that would be more of a situation where you would need some advice. I just don't like those people who act like they are struggling to figure out what 'fun' thing to put thier money into. It takes time away from the callers with real money issues.
Yep, I'm listening to Friday's show now and I'm hearing one such person calling in right now.
I never heard 'rich people' or people who had money call Dave Ramsey.
Ramsey was on a location station and I listened very often, and I had the opposite experience. Practically EVERYONE who called was DEEP in CC debt. I got so tired of hearing Ramsey tell people to sell their house and car (and get a beater with no payments) to get out of debt.
He'd tell them eat beans-and-rice and rice-and-beans, if that's what it took. He says if you 'live like no one else' now -- meaning no vacations, no CC debt, no car payments, denying your self to get a house paid off in 10 years, etc....you'll be able to 'live like no one else" -- meaning taking good vacations and liver higher than most -- later.
He lost me when he advised against having any kind of credit card -- not even one for convenience.
More people with money call Suze Orman every week than I EVER HEARD call Dave Ramsey over months and months.
So I have the same question, only it's about people who calls Suze's "Can I afford It" segment who cal clearly afford what they're asking about.
Some viewers think those callers just want to be on the radio or TV and have people hear how much money they have. But that always seemed stupid to me -- the person is basically anonymous to all but who would know them anyway -- so what do THEY get out of me knowing some person named "Jan" in "Pheonix" -- has 350,000-thou in retirement, 150,000 in investments -- 110,000 in savings -- and is asking about spending 5,000 on a trip?
I get that and I've heard Dave say that on his show, but my point was about intelligence. How could people who are intelligent enough to be making lots of money not be able to budget when they have loads of money to budget?. I'm living at the low end of the spectrum, but I don't need a financial advisor to tell me what money goes towards the rent, food, bills, insurance, savings, fun-time ect....
I just have to get out a piece of paper and write everything down, make calculations, and budget my earnings. The people that I don't understand that call in are the ones who say, "Should I spend such and such money on a wedding, or should it go into my rainy day savings, or towards this new car I was thinking of buying?". These are the kinds of calls that tick me off because those are not situations where you need help to figure out how to spend the money if you are smart and have all that extra money to spend or save.
If someone called in and had a dying relative who needed medical expenses paid vs. paying off thier mortgage because they just lost their job then that would be more of a situation where you would need some advice. I just don't like those people who act like they are struggling to figure out what 'fun' thing to put thier money into. It takes time away from the callers with real money issues.
I often think the same things. I watch Suze Orman quite a bit and it's about the same on her show. I'm just sometimes flabbergasted at the incomes of the people who call in and how their expenses come SO close to that total.
I do my 'bookkeeping' like you do. I know my income and I know my outgo and I have tons of scrap paper around here with 'figuring' on them. lol
Being "Money Smart" is not a natural instinct for every human, if it were no one would be in a financial disaster. I personally know a woman who is one of the most intelligent humans I know until it comes to money, then she is as dumb as a bag of barber hair. Money management is a skill that is learned through trial and error from my experience and some take longer than others to learn and then there are those that never actually learn how to handle money instead of money handling them.
I often think the same things. I watch Suze Orman quite a bit and it's about the same on her show. I'm just sometimes flabbergasted at the incomes of the people who call in and how their expenses come SO close to that total.
I do my 'bookkeeping' like you do. I know my income and I know my outgo and I have tons of scrap paper around here with 'figuring' on them. lol
There is usually a strong linear relationship between the money you earn and what you'll spend. Not saying this as a rule, but generally speaking, it's commonplace to have a natural tendency to "live" according to your profession. If you're a doctor/lawyer/business exec, generally you want to feel your lifestyle is in sync with the money you pull down even if it sacrifices basic financial management principles of living BELOW your means.
A LOT of people earn six-figure incomes in our society and I think there is a prevalent mindset that this magic, six-digit salary is somehow an invitation to live life you're the crown prince of Brunei. There's just something about breaking the $100K/ year mark in your salary that seems to lend itself to excessive spending. People I've known who've gotten promotions/raises at this threshold often go out and purchase new vehicles, maybe a new and beautiful home, go on lavish vacations, etc etc but may only be making $20K or $30K more than they previously did before this "magic figure". Like someone else mentioned, it's a mindset more than anything.
When you surround yourself with people who make the big-bucks, you may get sucked into that life even if you aren't at that income threshold.
A doctor may be one of the best surgeon's in the nation but maybe he's completely clueless when it comes to managing money. This probably goes for a larger percentage of American society than I'd want to think about.
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