Do you live paycheck to paycheck? 61% of Americans now do

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Do you live paycheck to paycheck?

  • Yes I live check to check

  • Some times I live check to check

  • No, I am in good shape


Results are only viewable after voting.

Dryst999

Member
Feb 25, 2010
46
0
0
They really should implement a "Finance" class for seniors in highschool across the nation, even at the very very basic level I think it would be huge in the long term... how many 18yr olds do you know that actually know how APR works or compounded interest? These are really simple concepts but you are not taught them in highschool at all and with the majority of people not going to/finishing college they have to learn these real world concepts the hard way.


Age and your family status has a HUGE amount to do with your financial situation, I love when people from upper middle class families who had their parents pay for the education/living expenses talk shit about how financially irresponsible people are b/c they have don't have 20k in savings and are debt free at 25. If your 40 and have no savings? Yeh your bad with your money... if your late 20's and still chipping away at that debt and trying to scrounge up a tiny bit of savings then you are the normal majority and more then likely just weren't blessed with a financially sound family.
 

ProfJohn

Lifer
Jul 28, 2006
18,161
7
0
It sad (doubly sad as you're the OP) that in a thread like this, which I assumed was for a general consensus, you have to pull it into the mud with partisan bullshit. You're no better than anyone of the talking heads on TV or the puppets in the offices. Partisan bullshit is killing us all. And you, and many others on this board, must bring a "side" into every thread.
Actually I was just pointing out the fact that the people who are the worst at throwing the mud seem to be avoiding this thread.

A few of them are very active posters and yet they are no where to be found in this thread, why not?
 

PricklyPete

Lifer
Sep 17, 2002
14,582
162
106
It sad (doubly sad as you're the OP) that in a thread like this, which I assumed was for a general consensus, you have to pull it into the mud with partisan bullshit. You're no better than anyone of the talking heads on TV or the puppets in the offices. Partisan bullshit is killing us all. And you, and many others on this board, must bring a "side" into every thread.

I agree that this behavior is very annoying regardless of who is doing it...conservative or liberal.
 

Jhhnn

IN MEMORIAM
Nov 11, 1999
62,365
14,681
136
It is amazing what a few months at bottom will do to you.

I hit a similar point 10 years ago. Was taking all my change to the coin counter and then buying food with it for the week. And then the lights were turned out one day etc etc etc.

That was the point where I turned it all around. In the ten years since I opened up a Target card, to rebuild credit, and just recently bought Fridge on credit 0% for two years so it is free money.

Otherwise I have avoided any type of credit other than cars and my house, neither of which I can realistically expect to pay cash for.

It was, of course, the "Free market! Deregulated Banking! Cut red tape!" mentality that led to giving out that sort of loan on real estate, too, running up the price, leaving huge numbers of families completely screwed. With a refrigerator, the consumer can realistically pay off the loan in the "free money" period, and even if they don't, they'll survive the other rather onerous contract provisions. That's not true wrt real estate, because the consumer can't possibly pay the full balance in the allotted time, and needs to refinance in order to escape the ass-raping that's right there in the fine print... when values fall, as they have recently, refinance becomes impossible, so it's on with the contractual ass-raping, or the alternate ass-raping of default/bankruptcy...

Which is not to say that ARM's (essentially balloon mortgages) don't have their place, a rather small place, where it's illegal to securitize them. If lenders can't make money offloading bunk out the back door, they won't let it in the front door...
 

child of wonder

Diamond Member
Aug 31, 2006
8,307
176
106
Has anyone else noticed that none of the uber liberals of this forum have posted their situation in this thread? (other than phokus)

I guess the fact that so many of us can live our lives and survive without government assistance must be scary since it goes against their core beliefs.

Says the person that would have almost no money in savings without a housing credit check.

Awesome.
 

Throckmorton

Lifer
Aug 23, 2007
16,829
3
0
I think the definition, as PJ said, is that if you miss a paycheck, you're not going to be able to pay your bills. The bolded part is a necessary part of the definition as well.

For those saying "Yeah, after I put money in 401k, savings, IRA, stocks, etc, I am living paycheck to paycheck!" -- uh, NO, you're not. You may not have a lot of discretionary income left to spend on toys, but you can still pay your bills and manage to build up your 401k and savings. People living paycheck to paycheck generally have no savings.

I disagree. I'm required to put money into my pension, and I have no way to access that money.

I have about $3000 a SimpleIRA that I can extract in an emergency, but I also have $5800 in credit card debt (mostly from hernia surgery with big insurance deductible) and $11000 in student loans debt. Neither of those debts is going ANYWHERE, because I pay the bare minimum on the student loan, and with the credit card I spend the amount that I pay off every month, otherwise I wouldn't be able to afford food.
 
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Exterous

Super Moderator
Jun 20, 2006
20,479
3,597
126
They really should implement a "Finance" class for seniors in highschool across the nation, even at the very very basic level I think it would be huge in the long term... how many 18yr olds do you know that actually know how APR works or compounded interest? These are really simple concepts but you are not taught them in highschool at all and with the majority of people not going to/finishing college they have to learn these real world concepts the hard way.

It still astounds me that we don't encourage more financial education. I was very fortunate to have a father who took the time to educate me in this (and still does). We rely on the same people who live beyond their means to educate their children about finances. I try to stear my friends in the right direction but I still suprised by how few of them save for retirement, know what a RothIRA is etc.
 

piasabird

Lifer
Feb 6, 2002
17,168
60
91
Most people's money problems are caused by the decisions they make themselves.

Can you say no, no, no, dont buy it!

Most things people buy they dont really need. I am not that well off, but I am still putting money away every month and I live in a house that is large enough for me. Everywhere I look I see supersized houses and supersized automobiles. People with Boats and houses on wheels and motorcycles. If you can afford to buy that kind of stuff then maybe you make too much money or are doing just fine. Of course I have also seen people who have a bigger boat than the trailer they live in. People seem to buy what they think will make them happy.
 

BurnItDwn

Lifer
Oct 10, 1999
26,164
1,637
126
Ehh .. lived in good shape until a few years ago, woman I was with managed to help me spend a lot more then I made, and I was 10K in the hole on my credit card, with a 175K mortgage with a modest income.

Since then, I've paid off the CC, and am paying all the bills, but, I've since put a balance on my CC with my home theater construction and purchasing a couple of old snowmobiles last winter ... The only "big ticket" items I have left in the near future is some furnature and building supplies ... which should be under 2K total ... then I'll have a year or so without any crazy new big ticket expenses hopefully ... though the Furnace and Central AC will need to be replaced in the next couple of years...

Anyhow, I could go 2 or 3 months without pay, but, unless I sell some stock, I wouldn't be able to make the kind of payments I want on my credit ... so I consider myself as borderline month to month right now... (and my stock is only worth maybe 3-5 months worth of expenses ... not 12+ months which I would like in order to be "comfortable) ....
 
Jul 10, 2007
12,041
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One guy I knew bought 3 new cars -- in the same month. These weren't all Aveos either -- one was a 2007 Yukon Denali, another was a 2007 Miata, and another was a 2007 Ford Escape (this was in 2007). There were two people at his house. AFAIK, the only thing he traded in was his 2003 Yukon which I believe he still owed money on. Nearly every Monday, the guy would come in and tell us about his weekend shopping spree at Fry's the previous day. This guy bought himself 2 new desktops, a laptop, a UMPC, a netbook, and a Mac as well. Think that's bad? He did the same for his wife too. He was always buying new TVs, electronics, you name it. He bought so much crap that he literally had a room where all his new purchases sat, boxed up. Yes, you read that right -- he bought so much shit that he didn't even have time to open it all and set it up! And I haven't even mentioned when he would go to shows and come back bragging that he spent $5K or $6K on jewelry for his wife.

His wife worked and made good money, but she had to quit for health reasons so that was $50K or $60K of income gone. Do you think that caused him to change course? Nope! The computers mentioned above were bought AFTER she quit, as were several of the electronics.

You can guess where this is headed. He finally had to declare bankruptcy and told me how his lawyer ripped him a new one for his incredible irresponsibility and poor judgment. He had to give up some of this cars and toys too. This guy was beyond stupid with his money and the lawyer was probably afraid the judge would tell them both to get screwed and pay up. Fortunately(?) for the guy, the judge let him declare.

I am sure this guy's story is more typical than anyone would want to imagine.

i've read this story somewhere before...
 

PricklyPete

Lifer
Sep 17, 2002
14,582
162
106
They really should implement a "Finance" class for seniors in highschool across the nation, even at the very very basic level I think it would be huge in the long term... how many 18yr olds do you know that actually know how APR works or compounded interest?

Couldn't agree more.
 

SammyJr

Golden Member
Feb 27, 2008
1,708
0
0
Has anyone else noticed that none of the uber liberals of this forum have posted their situation in this thread? (other than phokus)

I guess the fact that so many of us can live our lives and survive without government assistance must be scary since it goes against their core beliefs.

Blah blah blah. I'm not the type who discusses my personal finance on the Internet, but I'm in fine shape. There's money in the bank. My mortgage is fixed. Thanks for asking.

I receive no Government assistance aside from police, military, and fire protection, public schools for the kids, public roads, USDA food inspections, library services, and all that.
 

IceBergSLiM

Lifer
Jul 11, 2000
29,932
3
81
Wrong! We FUCK supermodels and date and marry heiresses. Seriously ..wealth creation is not that hard if you read millionaire and austerity books like that. one example in book guy never made more than $25K in earned income and was a millionaire by 55. But those tried and true methods seems to go against human nature hence we all know people making 100K+ and broke...unable to retire or really live life.

I can't help but think about those folks that work their whole lives, save, have a nice nest egg because they lived conservatively. Then they go to retire and die within a year or two. Never having enjoyed anything in life but the satisfaction of knowing they were fiscally responsible :'(
 

PricklyPete

Lifer
Sep 17, 2002
14,582
162
106
I can't help but think about those folks that work their whole lives, save, have a nice nest egg because they lived conservatively. Then they go to retire and die within a year or two. Never having enjoyed anything in life but the satisfaction of knowing they were fiscally responsible :'(

There is some truth to that...but there is also some truth to the fact that people who feel they must spend money to enjoy life often miss a lot of what life has to offer. So their are two sides to that coin.
 

IceBergSLiM

Lifer
Jul 11, 2000
29,932
3
81
There is some truth to that...but there is also some truth to the fact that people who feel they must spend money to enjoy life often miss a lot of what life has to offer. So their are two sides to that coin.

yes there is a definitely a middle ground. If you are going to be irresponsible get it out of your system when you are young. Unfortunately for most, periods of irresponsibility in youth carry over as habits in adulthood.
 

Phokus

Lifer
Nov 20, 1999
22,994
779
126
Do you mean your net, after taxes et al., is $137K? That's pretty well above the median. You're at least upper middle.

Before tax. You would think so, but where i live, the median house value is well over 600K . Let me put it this way, there are a lot of asshole Executives, Wall Street bankers/CT hedge fund managers, movie stars, athletes etc. that drive up the price of housing near me. We're talking a huge radius too, you could drive for 2 hours on the interstate and it'd still be ridiculous housing prices.

If i lived in Texas, i'd be 'rich'
 
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Phokus

Lifer
Nov 20, 1999
22,994
779
126
Yes, less taxes and smaller government kills me!!! I mean who would want to keep the money they earn?? We'd all be much better off if the government took ALL of our money and then just gave us what it thought we should earn.

And this whole class warfare thing of your is stupid.

The top 1% isn't screwing us over. We are screwing ourselves over. No one forced these idiots to buy $300,000 homes on $25,000 in income as a bus driver. Or to take out ARM loans that could see the payments double in just a few years.

And please explain to me how allowing one group of Americans keep more of the money they EARNED hurts another group?

HEY GUESS WHAT. Liberals don't want to tax the poor/middle class more. In fact, see my sig, assholes like spidey do. What is this 'WE' business.

Did you cry like a little girl when Obama gave you a $400 or $800 tax rebate?

People who spend way more than they can afford is a separate issue. The BIGGEST issue is that for the past 30 years, we've been giving the elite of the elite what they want, tax cuts... deregulation... free trade, and it's cost us nothing but middle class jobs. You have to be frikking blind as a bat not to be able to see this.


Here's how letting the uber rich 'keep more of their money' hurts you and me. First, in a lot of cases, these rich assholes actually keep more, as a percentage, of their income than we do, thanks to insane tax cuts like the capital gains tax cut. This is one of the reasons why people like Warren Buffet pay less in tax, percentage wise, than his secretary and normal folk.

Second, the less the rich pay, the more the defecit goes up and more of that burden will fall on you and me. Also, there is the invisible tax we call inflation thanks to these deficits. And that tax falls squarely on you and me.

edit: and for all this talk of 'responsibility', you depending on a rebate check to get you back to where you were before buying a house (a month or two worth of savings, are you shitting me?) isn't exactly responsible either.
 
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