|
My sister and her husband make about $80k a year in the rural midwest, where the cost of living is low. However they have nothing to show for it, live in a dumpy house, and are getting deeper and deeper into debt. They insist that they're ok but they're not. Her husband makes flailing attempts at fiscal responsibility yet my sister wants to spend money like it's nothing. She needs a tattoo, needs to go shopping, and needs to go to Chicago for a weekend to "get away from it all." She whined about not having enough money to vaccinate her dogs but then was on Facebook the day before talking about going to a sushi restaurant. I never really cared about all of this except she wanted to borrow $5,000 from me to get a newer, nicer car. This car was going to be $30,000 or so, about $17,000 more than what I spent on my car. The reason was because she works hard and deserves it! I told her no. Now she talks poo poo about me all the time and didn't even get me a Christmas present or nothing last year. As for me: - In high school I worked two jobs and had nothing to show for it. I wanted to save for college but my beater car kept falling apart. I lived in the middle of nowhere so not driving was not an option. The first taste of disposable income was in the form of a Capital One card with a $300 limit. Within a week, I had maxed it out. I bought a GBA SP, a few games, some McDonald's, and a Talib Kweli album. I kept getting told my card was declined but I wouldn't believe it! How the hell could I have maxed it out? Clearly I didn't think about how much stuff costs apparently. I was 18, still lived at home and kept all of this secret from my parents. They must never know. - In college I always took out the maximum amounts of loans. I would have $3500 in spending money per year, go through it all on either games, alcohol, weed, or some other dumbass activity. In the end, I wound up $87,000 in the hole when I graduated. This is at a public university where I paid in state tuition and even got some grant money. - I stepped up in credit cards and had two with a combined limit of $4000. I spent it all on a kickass Sega Saturn collection, a 60 GB iPod Video, and lots and lots of top shelf booze, good weed, and weightlifting supplements. I went through my $1750 or so in spending money from my loans, maxed out the two cards (and always got told I was declined), and had maybe $200 in my name. I was going to run out of money and be late on some bills and not even have enough for poo poo like gas money to go to back home for Christmas when the semester ended. So I had to fire sell everything almost right away and made just enough to get by to get more money, which I promptly spent through. At that point I had a revelation and did better with money. Now I'm debt free and have a shitload in savings and investments.
|
#
¿
Jun 21, 2013 03:09
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ Apr 25, 2024 20:27 |
|
|
I had a friend name Jake whose father was a rags to riches type of story with real estate. Jake thought "Wow, I can do the same thing!" so he skipped going to college and immediately tried to make headway into making his own riches. It isn't like you need college to do well and this was 2002 when people were making money hand over fist in house construction. Using his father's connections, he joined up with a fly by night house construction business that went tits up the next year. So he tried to go into real estate next where it turns out he never had the knack his father had and that was a bust. Not willing to give up he co-owned another house construction business that did OK until the market started failing in 2008. Then he started his own landscaping business (because during a recession, people spend all kinds of money on landscaping  ) Now he works under the table at a construction gig working for a guy who used to work for Jake during his second house construction business.In all of this time, he insisted of having a lavish lifestyle. His thought was that you got to look the part. So he would live in nice houses, new cars, vacations in Hawaii, and had a wife who didn't want to work (because she was as delusional as him) with a child. He pretty much burned all of his bridges with his friends (which is why I said "had a friend" earlier) by borrowing money that he'd never pay back. He probably should have filed for bankruptcy but his dad keeps giving him just enough to stay above water. I heard he was cut off, which might explain working under the table. Supposedly he is waiting for the right time to get back into business. Not sure how he'll swing that unless he moves because his name is mud here.
|
|
#
¿
Jul 27, 2013 23:08
|
|
|
I make six figures at 28 and I think that guy is full of poo poo. I took out exorbitant amounts of student loans, maxed out credit cards, etc. and all of those actions were regrettable. The total amount of my fiscal irresponsibility from 18-23 adds up to about $100,000. That is enough to buy a nice used BMW 7 series (if you're into that kind of thing) and a down payment on a house. The best part of all is that I have nothing to show for that irresponsibility. It would be way different if I had a nice car or a huge entertainment center. Good saving habits at 21 is likely going to translate to good saving habits at 31, 41, etc. Most people aren't going to touch $200,000 in general but let's say you do make that money. With those saving habits long since established (ie, not as likely to impulsively buy some expensive poo poo), you can put yourself in a great position without having to live a cheap lifestyle. I think that guy is not so stealth bragging about the money he is making at a young age more than he is handing out financial advice.
|
|
#
¿
Oct 9, 2013 13:07
|
|
|
Inheritance issues are messy but it often shows who the good people are and who are the pieces of poo poo. I had a Great Aunt who had a few hundred thousand dollars in savings due to depression-era frugality. As she was getting close to her deathbed, she wanted to update her will. There were pretty much two factions of family: one who I never met and one that I was in. The former family faction swooped in and tried to cajole her to give the money to their side of the family. The other family faction, who included my grandmother, swooped in and tried to cajole her to give the money to her side of the family. The Great Aunt settled on "share and share alike" to both sides of the family which seemed like a fine enough solution. Except that people didn't like it because it meant getting a couple grand instead of tens of thousands of dollars. So they kept fighting and kept trying to get my great aunt to change the will again. Then she died without changing it again. So there was a bunch of fighting to see who deserved it more. There was talk among my side of the family to pool some money together to hire a lawyer to contest the will. Since I was named as one of the people to get money from the will, I was expected to contribute. I didn't give a poo poo either way and was already tired of the bullshit. Both sides of the family are stereotypical small town conservatives who don't have much money. With me, a LIEberal in engineering who had a bunch of savings and investments, a couple thousand was nice but not earth shattering. To these people, it's a lot of money and I understand why they'd want $15,000 a piece (their estimate) instead of almost $2,200 a piece, which was what we were all going to get. I said I didn't care to get either the inheritance or give money for a lawyer which incited a shitstorm. I haven't really bothered to talk to these people since. In the end, they got the original amount minus whatever legal fees they pissed away in trying to get more money.
|
|
#
¿
Apr 13, 2014 17:43
|
|
|
My parents are bad with money. I think I made an earlier post here. They were lower-middle class and were always bad with money. For instance, they thought that paying off loans with loans was a good idea, especially if they could pay it off longer with the new loan. They decided to retire two years ago and they are in their 50s. They pulled out their 401K, paid everything off, and worked low stress semi-retirement jobs as well as a small business they started up. Well, the hidden story is that after they paid everything off, they had just $50,000 left. They initially thought that with their semi-retirement jobs, that $50,000 could last them for a very long time. The twist to this is that they assumed there would be no emergencies whatsoever. So when their truck broke down, the repairs were hideous (because it's old) and they decided to buy a brand new Ford F150. They could have put down cash on it but that would take a big chunk out of their nest egg. So they're making payments on it. Well, when it comes to small businesses, it takes a while to make money. Last year they made their first profit (the business has been around for four years) of just a few thousand dollars. They were expecting to make tens of thousands of dollars but wouldn't you know it, big customers of theirs kept falling through. To be fair, it does seem like they will be making more money this year but it will still likely be in the thousands of dollars, not the tens of thousands. As a result, my parents are working more hours at their semi-retirement jobs, which were about as stressful as their pre-retirement jobs. The next twist is that they took pay cuts to get these jobs, with my parents losing about 30-40% of their previous wages on these new jobs. Of course, they lost their health benefits so they don't have that to lean on either. I found out recently that my mom is donating plasma, which apparently doesn't pay poo poo either. I guess the lesson here is that if you're going to retire, make drat sure you're actually ready for it. Assuming there would be no emergencies or that their side business was going to make tens of thousands of dollars of profit nearly ruined them and might ruin them if there is another emergency or if their side business falls through.
|
|
#
¿
Nov 16, 2014 02:34
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ Apr 25, 2024 20:27 |
|
|
There was a guy I knew who worked two jobs. He was a safety inspector for two employers. His job was to inspect construction crews out and about in the field for both jobs. Long story short, it lasted about six months and was fired from both jobs. Seems to me that it is a matter of when, not if you get caught.
|
|
#
¿
Jan 10, 2015 19:20
|
|