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at least when an accountant goes bust they understand why ha ha ha . i guess it is like when an economist is on the unemployment line , he has a good idea why
I totally agree with you on the first sentence. The second sentence? Hmm
I lump economists in with weathermen. To find out the weather, the first group of weathermen spend all their time pouring over the American vs European models, radar readings, and satellites.
To find out the weather, the second group does the logical thing, and calls in the dog. If it's wet, there's a high probability of rain...
Trailer parks are cheap. I reckon if they broke, that's an option
No, they aren’t. When we lived in PA in 1983, we looked. We could rent a really nice apartment for the lot rent they were charging. Which we did. When we moved to CA, we looked again in 1987, and lot rent at crummy parks was almost twice our rent. And two hundred dollars higher than our mortgage payment. After we bought the house.
You want to buy a mobile and put it on a lot you own? That’s inexpensive. But trailer park living isn’t cheap.
Last edited by Tallysmom; 03-07-2018 at 01:22 PM..
I hope funisart writes in again to confirm this but when he/she said "$150,000 retirements", I think it was referring to retirement savings, not annual retirement income. I could be wrong but that's how I took it.
Most (if not all) of the people I know in the 62-64 age bracket are too overextended to retire and not because of getting laid off from jobs or getting walloped with huge medical bills or anything remotely "sad". Simply, these people overextended themselves in their late 50's without forethought that retirement was soon on the horizon. They overextended themselves buying bigger houses and 2nd homes. Also heavy spending things like tech gadgets, home products (fancy Keurigs, big screen TVs, latest and greatest this and that), expensive fancy food products, and what I call "entertainment" (dining out, casinos, shows, concerts, sporting events, etc.). Big expensive trips to Europe every year.
Their lifestyle isn't my business. I could care less what others do with their money. I'm only making a point that they did it to themselves. It comes down to one's choices, values, priorities.
If someone is making big money, they can afford to spend on all the stuff I mentioned above. I'm referring to people in the low 6 figures to under 6 figure income bracket.
I watch people when I'm out and about and listen to friends and relatives and I see a lot of wasteful expenditure and poor money management. It's not like these people aren't educated. These are relatively educated people. Some of them have personal accountants.
These people seem envious of my retirement but in reality they wouldn't be willing to live like I do. They only see the surface image of retirement: the ability to not work, to do what I want, travel, etc. However, they aren't willing to work towards it. Such as drawing up a budget and itemizing their expenditures.
I'm throwing this out there right now...If you're someone who's a little too strapped to retirement, why not TODAY start a savings program by giving up your daily coffee, lunch, and takeout/restaurant dinner? Right there you would probably save at least $150 a week which is $600 a month! Cut out the expensive cheeses, the expensive organic fancy foods, the fancy Italian grocery store with the $14 per lb olive bar...the expensive wines...the movie rentals, the Amazon expenditures...
It is amazing how easily people spend money.
I’ve agonized for two years to replace my old old beat up dresser. The drawer slides are broken and the drawers won’t close anymore. I’ve tried repairing it, they don’t make the drawer slides anymore and every one I’ve tried is exactly wrong in different ways.
I finally found the right dresser, and STILL kept checking prices, and agonizing. Finally, the place where we would buy this put a different dresser on sale, by the same company, so I know the quality will be excellent and I pondered for two weeks.
It’s coming next Thursday, and it ran me 1500 bucks.
What’s really driving me is we’re losing a large client in a few months. I’m having a little bit of spend it while you got it. Yeah a dresser, and stocking up on laundry supplies. I’m wild.
Have you priced travel lately, especially with groups that cater to the over 55 crowd?
I always run into retirees on trips who take one to three ]expensive vacations a year. These trips easily cost $6-10 thousand per person with international airfare and optionals. You get to talking to people on a 2-3 week trip; and some reveal that they are not that well off. They just feel like they worked hard and they deserve to spend money on travel while they are able to do so. I don't blame these people for having a little fun with some of their money. You need a break from worrying about making ends meet. I live very frugally on a daily basis, so that I can enjoy my retirement travel a few times per year, while I can.
Expensive cheeses, steaks and groceries--no way. Cheap cuts of meat and making soup that lasts several meal--yes. Budget plan for utilities--Yes. We all make choices that we can live with for our retirements and it does not matter what anyone else thinks.
I hope funisart writes in again to confirm this but when he/she said "$150,000 retirements", I think it was referring to retirement savings, not annual retirement income. I could be wrong but that's how I took it.
Most (if not all) of the people I know in the 62-64 age bracket are too overextended to retire and not because of getting laid off from jobs or getting walloped with huge medical bills or anything remotely "sad". Simply, these people overextended themselves in their late 50's without forethought that retirement was soon on the ...
No we are at that income per year trying to keep it under $170,000. So our Medicare part B doesn’t go sky high. It includes our Social Security, 401k and other investment income. We started as young people with nothing but good educations.
So many of these "sky is falling" articles are sketchy and vague on details and facts. Quite often the breathless headline hyperbole inferring that millions of retiree age people are about to be living under bridges and eating cat food, has no basis in fact.
For example, some of these editorials are based on the reported amount of "retirement" money people have in savings accounts. Of course, given the absurdly low savings account interest, that's a ridiculous place to keep one's retirement savings anyway. Similar articles randomly poll millennial's or other "future"(?) retirees about whether they are saving or expect to have "enough" for retirement. Others are simply internet opinion-based editorials needed to meet a deadline with X-number of column-inches and little/no accountability for facts.
As a non-home owner, I get the shock of my life when I watch HGTV shows like House Hunters and the demands some folks have for the house they want to buy. I grew up in a 3 bedroom, 1 bathroom ranch. There were 4 of us (mother, father, sister and me).
I don't understand these people who won't buy a house if it doesn't have the color backsplash and kitchen cabinet color of the wife's dreams, a three car garage, 3-4 bathrooms (in case they have company), a window their pets can look out of, a bedroom with an attached bathroom for their toddler, a separate play room for the one kid they have and maybe another room to store the kid's toys, 3 - 4 floors of house with a grand staircase so they can make an entrance, a man cave (when the h*** did that happen?) so the guy doesn't have to be in the same room with his family when he comes home from work and that fits all of the husband's toys in it, a media room (we used to call it sitting in front of the TV in the living room), a spa-like en suite (double sinks and a jetted tub or the house is a NO!) for a master bedroom the size of which you could hold the high school prom, separate walk-in closets bigger than the state of Rhode Island, not more than 10 minutes from work otherwise it's a tragedy, a back yard their dog(s) would like and at least an acre or two of land. Oh yeah, and anything they don't like means the whole room needs to be gutted. The Governor's Mansion for their state is smaller than the house they want...and some of them are first time home buyers.
I mean, who in their right mind looks at a house and says the bathroom has to be gutted because she doesn't like the light switches and the color of the cabinet under the sink?
This thread subject makes me think of them. I swear that HGTV goes looking for divas but that's another story. I think most of them will wind up getting divorced but I also think they could be saving some money for retirement with less grandiose houses. I wonder how many of them don't have any money saved for retirement.
This is why I no longer watch HGTV or work as a bridal consultant. The demands and the entitlement and the gluttony are too much for me.
No we are at that income per year trying to keep it under $170,000. So our Medicare part B doesn’t go sky high. It includes our Social Security, 401k and other investment income. We started as young people with nothing but good educations.
I was just reading an article AARP posted about a 76 year old woman without retirement savings. Apparently she worked low paying jobs all her life & only collected 980 or so between SS & SSI. Her roommate passed away in August & her rent was over $1000 per month. She uses credit cards for expenses.
Now, seriously, one her roommate was gone you'd think she would move to a cheaper apartment. She could apply for HUD housing which is based on your income.
I never know why these articles are published without a resolution to help with the problem.
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