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In this neighborhood, the median household income is about $45,000, and average rent is about $2000 per month. So assuming no income tax paid, you're down to $21,000 per year to spend. To buy a new Dodge Charger would be $363 per month for 72 months, which comes to $4356 per year for 6 years. You would be spending about 10% of your gross income on a car payment. The rule of thumb is to not spend more than 10% of gross income on at max a 4 year term. This situation is marginal but is pushed over the edge by the higher-than-average rents in the neighborhood and the 6 year term. If you take that $4356 and double it, you could buy a decent used car with two years' worth of financing or extend the term for a lower monthly payment.
Missed my point...you lumped a lot of cars in together and suggested some are "tooo flashy" or expensive compared to Civics and Corollas. New mid-level Beetles are HARDLY flashy and they are about the same MSRP as mid-level Civics is my point.
Could you maybe squeeze in some productive work time into your busy globetrotting schedule?
I support a free market in housing and land use, I want to own an affordable 400-sf tiny house on a 2,500-sf lot. Standard zoning regs don't allow that.
Spoken like a true taker in life!! I am retired freemkt. I volunteer many hours a week and pay way more taxes than you even make in income which irritates me because why should I have to pay more taxes than people who choose to do some of the things that you have done. You see, I did the right things when I was younger and now I'm enjoying the fruits of my labor and still contributing to society. You could have done the same but you didn't. Now for you it is what it is. I will globetrot to my heart's content!
Could you maybe squeeze in some productive work time into your busy globetrotting schedule?
I support a free market in housing and land use, I want to own an affordable 400-sf tiny house on a 2,500-sf lot. Standard zoning regs don't allow that.
The min lot size is typcially something that is desired by people in your area which may then in turn get laws or regulations put in place. My house is on a lot less than 2000sqft in Houston
The min lot size is typcially something that is desired by people in your area which may then in turn get laws or regulations put in place. My house is on a lot less than 2000sqft in Houston
Exactly. Minimum lot sizes are designed to exclude potential buyers who do not meet the 'desired' financial standards of incumbent homeowners. Which keeps lower-income people in economic bondage as renters, and always vulnerable to displacement.
Houston is notorious for its LACK of zoning and thus its LACK of government-imposed minimum lot size requirements.
Great article on how lower-income people (presumably renters) voted against a proposal (and middle class homeowners voted for it) to impose zoning on Houston:
Exactly. Minimum lot sizes are designed to exclude potential buyers who do not meet the 'desired' financial standards of incumbent homeowners. Which keeps lower-income people in economic bondage as renters, and always vulnerable to displacement.
Houston is notorious for its LACK of zoning and thus its LACK of government-imposed minimum lot size requirements.
So, I think we are all thinking the same thing.... move to Houston and quit the conspiracy posts.
Within the lower income community, I see people with trashed credit who can't pay their rent, and I see people with the same amount of income who are living comfodtably. Not lavishly, but they can pay their rent, they can pay for a balanced diet, their cars run, they can aford cable tv and internet, and their credit is good.
Same income so the difference is lifestyle choice and a willingness to defer gratification and balance a budget.
Within the lower income community, I see people with trashed credit who can't pay their rent, and I see people with the same amount of income who are living comfodtably. Not lavishly, but they can pay their rent, they can pay for a balanced diet, their cars run, they can aford cable tv and internet, and their credit is good.
Same income so the difference is lifestyle choice and a willingness to defer gratification and balance a budget.
During my Active Duty Navy career, one of the many hats I wore was 'Command Financial Specialist'. Which meant that anytime a service member got in trouble with debt, the command sent that service member to me for counseling. I also provided quarterly budgeting training and I was available all the time for private budget counseling sessions. I was a certified tax preparer and I prepared income tax filings for most crewmembers on the last two subs I was stationed on.
Among a group of E5s [who are all earning the same] their budgets will all be different, and their Net Worths could all be different. [the same can be said of all pay-grades on a sub]
I have worked with officers in the O4 and O5 level whose Net Worths were far less than some of our E5s. Which is why whenever I see people talking about how officers are always wealthier than enlisted, it rankles me. Because it is a myth.
One time, an O5 officer was chewing me out because I needed a letter to be notarized. In chewing me out he told me that the biggest divider between nobility and peasants is how we look at money. As the aristocracy he has wealth and he hires servants to dirty their hands dealing with money for him, all true nobles would never dirty their hands to deal with budgeting or investing themselves. That is why I will always be a poor peasant. I kept my mouth shut, saluted him and thanked him for notarizing the letter. At that time I had previously filed his taxes, I was familiar with his portfolio, my net worth was 10X his.
So, I think we are all thinking the same thing.... move to Houston and quit the conspiracy posts.
Actually I considered that in 1980 - there was a local boom in Houston Sunday newspapers just for the job ads as new graduates were fleeing the Rust Belt - but as I was broke and didn't have money, I didn't do it. Now, of course, it's way too expensive for a burger flipper to move to.
Within the lower income community, I see people with trashed credit who can't pay their rent, and I see people with the same amount of income who are living comfodtably. Not lavishly, but they can pay their rent, they can pay for a balanced diet, their cars run, they can aford cable tv and internet, and their credit is good.
Same income so the difference is lifestyle choice and a willingness to defer gratification and balance a budget.
Lower income people can afford rent + balanced diet + cars + cable tv and internet?
Rent consumes 40-70 percent of my income and I can make it work only by consuming an unbalanced diet, forgoing car and cable tv, and not resolving 15-year-old credit issues.
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