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So, they earned over $100 000 a year and said they cannot afford a sandwich..... The story sounds as made-up as your other stories about brand new iPhones in everyone's hands.
I've noticed that you do this with lots of people who tell of incidents you don't like: you accuse them of lying.
It wasn't $100,000 singly, but these people were married, with working spouses, and together had at least that much income. Thus they had the latest electronics, and owned (or leased) late-model cars, but yes.....they did not have the money for a sandwich if payroll was delayed by a few hours.
I know you don't want to admit it, because you would have to acknowledge that multitudes of people do indeed make irresponsible decisions, but yes...many people spend every last cent on their "wants" (IPhones, late-model car leases, cruises, manicures, pedicures, etc.) and have absolutely no savings.
Here's two more examples:
1) I know someone who earns, together with her husband, more than $400,000 a year, and she has NO money saved for her 16-year-old's college. They bought a house that cost over $1 million, go on the most luxurious of vacations (as in more than $10,000 for a week), and to expensive restaurants several times a month. When she told me they didn't save anything for "Billie's" education, I was floored.
2) I worked at a bank one summer processing loan applications. There, I saw application after application from couples earning well over $100,000 (in 2020 dollars), with credit cards up to the limit, a few hundred dollars in the bank - and requesting loans of $1500 to rent an apartment at the beach for a week or fly down to Disneyworld for three nights.
I've noticed that you do this with lots of people who tell of incidents you don't like: you accuse them of lying.
It wasn't $100,000 singly, but these people were married, with working spouses, and together had at least that much income. Thus they had the latest electronics, and owned (or leased) late-model cars, but yes.....they did not have the money for a sandwich if payroll was delayed by a few hours.
No, I don't do it with lot of people. I call out your stories because they are very hard to believe, and you never have a way to back them up.
You said they earned thousands of dollars a week, and could not afford a sandwich.
Thousands = at least $2000 a week, which would mean over $100 000 a year.
I can't help it but I find your 'experiences' hard to believe, but they are just........hard to believe. They come across as stories invented to support your arguments. Most people who make $100K+ a year can afford a phone and a car AND a sandwich. I never, in my entire life, met a single person who was in such situation, and somehow you see them everywhere.
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1) I know someone who earns, together with her husband, more than $400,000 a year, and she has NO money saved for her 16-year-old's college. They bought a house that cost over $1 million, go on the most luxurious of vacations (as in more than $10,000 for a week), and to expensive restaurants several times a month. When she told me they didn't save anything for "Billie's" education, I was floored.
Maybe they paid cash for it. They earned $33K a month, so just because they didn't have an account for their sons college, didn't mean they couldn't afford to send him there.
Last edited by Finn_Jarber; 01-27-2020 at 02:06 PM..
No, I don't do it with lot of people. I call out your stories because they are very hard to believe, and you never have a way to back them up.
You said they earned thousands of dollars a week, and could not afford a sandwich.
Thousands = at least $2000 a week, which would mean over $100 000 a year.
I can't help it but I find your 'experiences' hard to believe, but they are just........hard to believe. They come across as stories invented to support your arguments. Most people who make $100K+ a year can afford a phone and a car AND a sandwich. I never, in my entire life, met a single person who was in such situation, and somehow you see them everywhere.
Maybe they paid cash for it. They earned $33K a month, so just because they didn't have an account for their sons college, didn't mean they couldn't afford to send him there.
To your first point, yes.....they earned thousands of dollars a week, meaning they had an income of $100,000, and YES....there was havoc because the payroll was delayed by a few hours, and they needed lunch money.
To your second point, sorry you feel it necessary to insist on telling me you don't believe my stories, but they're true. And I HAVE seen you accuse others of making up stories as well. Is it so hard for you to admit that plenty of middle-income (and up) people are financially irresponsible??
And to your third point, the $400,000 a year couple told me they had NO money set aside (in a college account or a regular account) toward their son's college education. They bought a house that cost them more than $1 million and didn't allocate ANY money for toward college, choosing to spend it on luxury vacations and high-end property. (The husband also drives a BMW 700 series.)
To your first point, yes.....they earned thousands of dollars a week, meaning they had an income of $100,000, and YES....there was havoc because the payroll was delayed by a few hours, and they needed lunch money.
To your second point, sorry you feel it necessary to insist on telling me you don't believe my stories, but they're true. And I HAVE seen you accuse others of making up stories as well. Is it so hard for you to admit that plenty of middle-income (and up) people are financially irresponsible??
And to your third point, the $400,000 a year couple told me they had NO money set aside (in a college account or a regular account) toward their son's college education. They bought a house that cost them more than $1 million and didn't allocate ANY money for toward college, choosing to spend it on luxury vacations and high-end property. (The husband also drives a BMW 700 series.)
I've seen some real mental gymnastics taking place in this thread to justify why people can't have 400 dollars in savings. I'll say it again, anyone over 25 that is employed and working more the 30 hours a week should be able to sock 15 to 20 bucks a week away toward a emergency fund. If they can't they've got a spending problem. Cut back on the frappy dappy whipty dippty coffee drinks and other "necessities"
And to your third point, the $400,000 a year couple told me they had NO money set aside (in a college account or a regular account) toward their son's college education. They bought a house that cost them more than $1 million and didn't allocate ANY money for toward college, choosing to spend it on luxury vacations and high-end property. (The husband also drives a BMW 700 series.)
Again, you DONT NEED a college account to send you kid to college. If you earn $33K a month, you can afford it easily even if you drive a BMW.
Again, you DONT NEED a college account to send you kid to college. If you earn $33K a month, you can afford it easily even if you drive a BMW.
Jeez. How many times do I have to explain this? This couple, earning $33,000 a month, told me that they saved NOTHING for their kid's college education and were not going to pay one cent for it because they can't afford it. They said he would have to either work his way through with jobs, or take out student loans.
In the meantime, they bought a $1 million house and spend $10,000 on week-long vacations. Shameful.
Did that; then changed jobs. Had to accept a lower wage job. Guess what happened to those savings in just a year an a half, before I found a job that paid just 10 cents less than what I was making. (which is $2 less than what I was making in 2001)
You don't know real --- if you did this would not be an argument for you.
I definitely know real, and I'm in agreement with Chowhound.
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And that was recent --- in 01 it was 3 years before I became employed again and to do that I started a business and worked that for like 7 years. In that time I aged out of the job market and yes, that is a real thing. At my age and that much time --- I am lucky to even have a job.
You definitely can age out of the job market, despite the fact that so many either deny, or plain old ignore age discrimination. Talk about some of the biggest discrimination we have out there, but everyone pretends it doesn't happen. It happens. A LOT!
This is when you take your life experiences, observations, and try to create something, as you did by starting a business. You don't need a brick and mortar building, you don't need a lot of overhead, you just need a good idea, based on what you've experienced and observed over the years that people need/want, and you give it to them. Once you age out of the job market (which, again, is a very real thing that happens to millions of Americans), you can't rely on an employer, you have to rely on yourself so no one can dismiss you.
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And trust I'm not one to worry too much about what people think they know. Because even the richest man (Amazon) knows that all it takes to go broke is one bad move. If a person thinks they are above it --- they may want to rethink that idea.
I am a firm believer that a lot of people are one bad idea away from losing everything that they have. There's no disagreement there. That does not negate the fact that people can save $10 every 2 weeks.
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PS: My wage today (I should be okay) is the same as it was in 1997 --- the price on everything else went up.
Ok...bear with me here: I was browsing through YouTube earlier, and I found these videos called "What I spend in a week" by a bunch of 20 and 30 year olds (possibly more, I grew weary after 3 of them). They bought so much crap. So. Much. Useless stuff. Absolutely useless stuff. And then I thought back to a post on here talking about how we keep buying the stuff, so the prices going up is our own fault.
You're correct. Prices have gone up on everything, wages have stagnated for a very, very long time. But as one poster pointed out: People keep buying all of that stuff. You have a business, are you going to keep your prices at 1997 level? Or are you going to realize that the demand is there, and you're going to protect your business, ie: yourself?
Businesses are in it to make money. They are not in it to ensure that everyone can buy everything that they want, when they want. I would not keep my prices at 1997 levels just because the wages hadn't gone up since then. Why would any business?
If you all (general "you") are tired of the high prices, stop buying. You (general "you") do not need all of that stuff.
One of the videos was of a 20 something who made $40k a year, living in L.A. and yet she still managed to find the money not only to pay her grotesquely overpriced studio apartment, but also $900 sneakers, and an $800 handbag (which was totally ugly).
Ok - think how much she could have if she had invested that money instead of buying shoes (she had well over 5 pairs of sneakers) and hideous handbags (no, not Hermes type bags)?
Chowhound is correct: If someone has a job, there is no reason that they can't save at least $10 a paycheck, OR, take that $10, invest in their company's 401k, still get the same size paycheck.
The point of bringing up the videos is that people don't pay attention to what they buy, more often than not, even those who don't have a lot of money. When you sit down and look at everything that you bought in a week, you'll see where you can start cutting things out, or finding a way to do them cheaper, and you can save that money.
For those will college loans - same thing. Stop shopping at Whole Foods, no you do not "need" organic right now because you can't afford it, go to your cheapest store you can find, WinCo, Publix, Grocery Market (super budget), even Target sometimes (rarely) has grocery items that are cheaper than at the stores (like overpriced Vons, for example), and use the extra money that you save paying off your loans and saving money.
Even those who are super poor, how many of them have kids?
The point is, if people stop with the instant gratification, stop thinking that they "need" something that they don't, stop overspending, despite wages not going up yet prices going up, it is very possible, and not difficult, for the majority of people to easily save up $400. Of the 40%, I'll bet only about 1-2% are truly so broke and poor that they can't. Everyone else? No.
Jeez. How many times do I have to explain this? This couple, earning $33,000 a month, told me that they saved NOTHING for their kid's college education and were not going to pay one cent for it because they can't afford it. They said he would have to either work his way through with jobs, or take out student loans.
No, you didn't say they could not afford it (until now). Someone making $400 000 actually can afford a $1 million house and a car AND a kid in college.
Another story which is hard to believe
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