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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
Rachel isn't saying that they can't afford it, the couple is saying that they can't afford it. Loosely translated: they don't want to pay for it, not that they can't.
It's their money, they earned it, if they don't want to pay for their kid's school, they don't have to. Kid will learn by doing it on his own, and maybe not repeat his parents spending habits that they couldn't even go 8 fricken hours without a damn meal without melting down.
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.
Okay so I'm still reading through the 64 pages of the Feds jibber jabber report but on page two it says 3 out of 10 adults have family income that varies from month to month. Maybe its the $75.00 and $125. 00 emergencies that keep people from saving. In order to save you need to have the same amount of money each month even if you are going to put away $25.00 per month.
I definitely know real, and I'm in agreement with Chowhound.
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.
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.
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.
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This is when you take your life experiences, observations, and try to create something, as you did by starting a business.
Working on it now ... I will be working long after I retire; I know this; so the plan is in motion.
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People keep buying all of that stuff.
That would not be me and I drive sales people crazy. I work, go home and that sums up my life. Once a week I stop along the way, fuel the car and buy food. And no I don't drive across town to pick up an item that isn't local ... I'll do without it. If people did what I did, the market would reset itself.
I think it's in China that if the sun is out, their house lights are off ... I do what China does. But then I was raised by parents and grandparent, that lived through the Great Depression --- I paid attention.
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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.
Life happening does not stop while one socks away money ...
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Even those who are super poor, how many of them have kids?
At least they are having children, as we are in the middle (globally) of a baby bust. In time that will bite this economy in the buttocks.
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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.
One can not prove that is what they are doing ... all this argument has is speculation at best.
Okay so I'm still reading through the 64 pages of the Feds jibber jabber report but on page two it says 3 out of 10 adults have family income that varies from month to month. Maybe its the $75.00 and $125. 00 emergencies that keep people from saving. In order to save you need to have the same amount of money each month even if you are going to put away $25.00 per month.
Car repair or broken appliance ... unexpected illness. If you're in a job that doesn't cover extended LOA --- while in recovery, you may as well look for work.
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In order to save you need to have the same amount of money each month even if you are going to put away $25.00 per month.
How much are they earning each month ... ? It does make a difference.
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
I know. It's hard to believe how irresponsible people can be, isn't it? Tthat a couple earning $400,000 spends every cent they make and claims they have no money to send their kid to college, but that's what she told me. They never gave any thought to saving money for the kid's college because they didn't have any "extra" to put away, and they certainly don't have it to put toward the kid's tuition once it starts. He's on his own because his parents had no financial discipline.
Another leftist who simply calls liar when conservatives point out how people can indeed be financial irresponsible, and that it's not always "society's fault."
Rachel isn't saying that they can't afford it, the couple is saying that they can't afford it. Loosely translated: they don't want to pay for it, not that they can't.
It's their money, they earned it, if they don't want to pay for their kid's school, they don't have to. Kid will learn by doing it on his own, and maybe not repeat his parents spending habits that they couldn't even go 8 fricken hours without a damn meal without melting down.
Ok. That would change the story, and also make it irrelevant to the discussion.
Another leftist who simply calls liar when conservatives point out how people can indeed be financial irresponsible, and that it's not always "society's fault."
You are a conservative? You are the only poster who has mentioned anything about "society's fault".
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