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Just par for the course with their other life choices. I really don't have much to do with my family, they only call me to ask for money here and there.
I guess what I'm trying to ask is: Did your parents model irresponsible financial choices? I'm guessing yes, if they call you begging for money.
Um...poor people inherently have a very narrow - if any - margin for financial error, so common sense dictates a bias toward risk aversion. I cannot afford to buy something that doesn't produce the desired result. In this case, I don't want to buy something unless I'm sure it can do two related things equally well.
OK. So, do you want the Samsung Galaxy S3? The price is right.
Um...poor people inherently have a very narrow - if any - margin for financial error, so common sense dictates a bias toward risk aversion. I cannot afford to buy something that doesn't produce the desired result. In this case, I don't want to buy something unless I'm sure it can do two related things equally well.
How did you determine your risk aversion for the storage facility? What has been the net result for the past few years? (Amount paid for rent, amount sold less selling expenses & taxes)
Just curious, I thought you said you were selling on ebay and had $1200 saved up? But then you say you haven't been.
When I was younger and spending whatever I made, I could not understand the point of saving money. Why put it in the bank when you can buy what you need now? Of course, some of those needs were wants. EVER being able to save enough for a down payment on a home seemed out of reach. Most people I knew who could buy a house got help from parents, or got an inheritance, and one guy was in an accident and won a lawsuit and bought his house that way. I could not fathom ever being able to save enough money for a home, so there seemed to be no point.
When I did finally get to buy a condo in my 50s, I did a 3.5 down payment FHA with money borrowed from my pension fund. I paid it back with the first-time homebuyer's tax credit.
NOW I finally am building some savings.
Last edited by Mightyqueen801; 10-17-2016 at 08:03 AM..
When I was younger and spending whatever I made, I could not understand the point of saving money. Why put it in the bank when you can buy what you need now? Of course, some of those needs were wants. EVER being able to save enough for a down payment on a home seemed out of reach. Most people I knew who could buy a house got help from parents, or got an inheritance, and one guy was in an accident and won a lawsuit and bought his house that way. I could not fathom ever being able to save enough money for a home, so there seemed to be no point.
When I did finally get to buy a condo in my 50s, I did a 3.5 down payment FHA with money borrowed from my pension fund. I paid it back with the first-time homebuyer's tax credit.
NOW I finally am building some savings.
You're so right! If you don't believe you'll ever have enough for a house of your own, then why NOT enjoy what you have now? I mean, that's logical...it is hard to aspire when you don't see many around you succeeding or you don't believe YOU can succeed. It takes a LOT more in these situations than if you're solidly middle class and everyone has a home and most have some post-H.S. training or education.
I grew up middle class and had a graduate degree but after getting a divorce it just didn't occur to me that I could have a home of my own. Maybe not in terms of affording it so much but it just seemed out of place, like I should wait to be married again or something. Actually it was my ex who said - why not?! So I started looking into it...and yes, now my home will be paid off by the time I retire and I'm soooo glad I didn't wait any longer than I did - I doubt I'll ever remarry but who needs to!
You're so right! If you don't believe you'll ever have enough for a house of your own, then why NOT enjoy what you have now? I mean, that's logical...it is hard to aspire when you don't see many around you succeeding or you don't believe YOU can succeed. It takes a LOT more in these situations than if you're solidly middle class and everyone has a home and most have some post-H.S. training or education.
I grew up middle class and had a graduate degree but after getting a divorce it just didn't occur to me that I could have a home of my own. Maybe not in terms of affording it so much but it just seemed out of place, like I should wait to be married again or something. Actually it was my ex who said - why not?! So I started looking into it...and yes, now my home will be paid off by the time I retire and I'm soooo glad I didn't wait any longer than I did - I doubt I'll ever remarry but who needs to!
You said something important--"if you don't believe". That was part of the problem. I just assumed I would never be able to own anything. Then, when I was still married, a guy my husband talked to at the bar where he hung out had started working for a mortgage company and told us to come talk to him to see where we were, discuss our credit, etc. Since we knew the guy, we were ok with that. Our credit was terrible, mostly due to my husband's habits, but the guy told us that if we contacted creditors who had gone into collection and/or been written off and arranged a deal to pay them off by offering a lump sum of 80 percent of what we owed and asked them to note "paid charge-off" on our records and paid current debtors on time, we would be able in time to get a mortgage.
So I did. "I" being the operative word here. I paid off those debts over time, but at the same time my husband spiraled downhill ever further, and eventually I had to jettison him altogether. I still ended up with IRS debt and whatnot, but from that experience, I knew that home ownership was POSSIBLE, and in time, I bought my own place. I was 52, single, and my daughter was grown, so it was a little bittersweet, but I like my little place.
It's nice not to be a renter, to paint walls colors I like, to not worry about not having heat or broken plumbing taking forever to be repaired because landlords are too cheap to fix things. My second-to-last landlord was a veterinarian who owned two animal hospitals and about five houses, and I had to buy electric space heaters one winter because he wouldn't respond to my calls when the furnace wasn't working for three weeks. I was paying $2200 (3BR house.) The more money the landlords have, the cheesier they are, I think.
I have to say, the last landlord was funny, even though he wouldn't fix things, either. Called him when it rained because I had four pots catching the water coming in from the kitchen ceiling. "HAHAHA, guess I have to replace the roof one of these days!" I was only there 9 months and I knew he was a drunk, so I didn't get too upset.
Last edited by Mightyqueen801; 10-17-2016 at 08:52 AM..
Um...poor people inherently have a very narrow - if any - margin for financial error, so common sense dictates a bias toward risk aversion. I cannot afford to buy something that doesn't produce the desired result. In this case, I don't want to buy something unless I'm sure it can do two related things equally well.
Don't they have a return policy? If it does not have the functionality you seek, take it back. Just don't lose your receipt.
You said something important--"if you don't believe". That was part of the problem. I just assumed I would never be able to own anything. Then, when I was still married, a guy my husband talked to at the bar where he hung out had started working for a mortgage company and told us to come talk to him to see where we were, discuss our credit, etc. Since we knew the guy, we were ok with that. Our credit was terrible, mostly due to my husband's habits, but the guy told us that if we contacted creditors who had gone into collection and/or been written off and arranged a deal to pay them off by offering a lump sum of 80 percent of what we owed and asked them to note "paid charge-off" on our records and paid current debtors on time, we would be able in time to get a mortgage.
So I did. "I" being the operative word here. I paid off those debts over time, but at the same time my husband spiraled downhill ever further, and eventually I had to jettison him altogether. I still ended up with IRS debt and whatnot, but from that experience, I knew that home ownership was POSSIBLE.
A person's mindset, is a huge factor in this.
We have had many tenants whose salary income was greater than my salary income. We were able to buy apartment complexes, while they were not able to buy anything.
Then we had rental income that paid all expenses of owning those properties and we gained Net Worth. While those renters paid rent and gained nothing.
Those renters also paid income taxes, while we did not.
The primary difference is mindset.
If you say that you can not 'X' then even if I drag you along kicking and screaming, you can not 'X'. This has no bearing on your income or debt ratio or hair style.
If a horse refuses to drink, you can not force it to drink.
We have had many tenants whose salary income was greater than my salary income. We were able to buy apartment complexes, while they were not able to buy anything.
Then we had rental income that paid all expenses of owning those properties and we gained Net Worth. While those renters paid rent and gained nothing.
Those renters also paid income taxes, while we did not.
The primary difference is mindset.
If you say that you can not 'X' then even if I drag you along kicking and screaming, you can not 'X'. This has no bearing on your income or debt ratio or hair style.
If a horse refuses to drink, you can not force it to drink.
I also think it goes beyond just the horse refusing to drink. The horse believes the water is only for other horses and not available to them. Too often we get weighed down by our childhoods or our experiences that told us we are not as good as everyone else and that we can't live the lives other people live. We are imprisoning ourselves with our own minds while fully believing it is external forces keeping us down.
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