Posted on 07/18/2007 7:39:01 AM PDT by truthkeeper
Edited on 07/18/2007 8:06:58 AM PDT by Admin Moderator. [history]
Gannett meterial must be linked-only.
Since when is a couple earning $80,000 considered to be “high earners”?
Wow, a child prodigy!! Despite his asthma, he has student loans. Is he going to Harvard, along with this writer?
It's really very, very simple. Don't spend more than you earn. With the possible exception of a house, if you can't afford to buy it outright, you can't afford it. It's really that simple.
“I can see the bias from here - the medical problems causes them to be in such dire straits, and it can only be solved by HillaryCare.”
You’re imagining things. That was the only mention of medical problems in the whole piece.
I’ve been in this couples’ position...in my case it was a matter of growing up in a very poor family and never learning how to handle money. When I finally began making a good income, I didn’t know how to deal with it...it literally took me 20 years to get things straight and understand how things should be done...no one had ever taught me.
That phrase alone marks you as a smart investor. Buicks are good, safe, dependable cars which are generally owned by elderly drivers who take meticulous care of them and don't rack up the miles. They are also negative status symbols for young people, so they be bought used for a reasonable price.
This makes me think of the introduction to Thomas Sowell’s book ‘Basic Economics.’ We live in a world of scarcity and everyone has the potential to live above their means. Even millionaires can have problems paying the bills if they live like billionaires.
“Every single credit card was at its maximum. Steve and Nicole Brown could barely scrape by living paycheck to paycheck,”
Yep, spend more than you earn.....
“Medical costs for their son, Kobe, 4, who has asthma, along with student loans from college, led the Browns into debt.”
Ooops, my bad. If we only had “free” health care and “free” college, these poor folks would not have a care in the world!
I'd add "A Car" to that list, too. And, the word "reasonable" to both of them.
When I bought my house, we were preapproved for an absolutely ridiculous sum of cash, something like 1/2 million dollars. Could we have made payments on a 500,000 house? Maybe. But Mrs Wbill and I would need to get rid of both cars, pickup 2nd jobs, turn off all the utilities, and eat Ramen Noodles for 30 years.
I think that the issue is that no one sat these people down and explained the financial facts of life to them. "Just because you can spend it, doesn't mean you should." is a good start. "Whatever you earn, spend less." is an excellent followup.
That actually is the primary problem. Right now, alot of our people are moving into higher priced suburbs with a longer commute for the “good schools”, never mind the fact that a house in a nice area in the city costs less, and when they combine the higher mortage payment, and the longer commute they have to put up with, actually, the end up spending more then they would if they just stayed in town, and sent their kids to private schools.
Or to put it another way, in alot of our suburbs, you see a lot of people switching to these hybrids, because they’ve realized that driving more than an hour to work every morning could be a drain on the expenses, I don’t think it’s a shock that the people who live in town close to where they work, the people who shell out the money for private school, well, could it be shocking that most of them can find that having a V-8 is not a drain on their expense accounts.
That free “good public school” education is really not all that free, that’s why they keep statistics on the “per child” expense for the public schools, and actually, our public schools spend more per child on aggregate then I spent yearly per-child for the elementary level education of my kids. When I was growing up, we always lived in house below our means, and not necessarily with people of our general social class. But, we also had a house on the gulf, a hunting camp, several boats, and my father always managed to have leather in the family cars.
It’s all a matter of how you spend it, and actually, most people don’t really need a 3000 sq ft house, or even a 2500 sq footer. I can remember when 1800 was considered big, and that wasn’t all that long ago.
I’m sorry you had to learn the hard way.
Another indication of our failing public education system. Instead of teaching how to dial the local abortion clinic, maybe a class should be held on personal finances.
Your situation sounds like ours. When we moved to this town we had a hard time selling our old house. We rented for a few months, then realized that we could buy a house and continue to make payments on the old one until it sold. It sold pretty quickly after we bought the “new” house (it was a year and a half old, on a 1/2 acre lot at around $115K). Our income has about doubled over the last 20 years, and we resisted the temptation to buy bigger and bigger houses. I am almost 50 and this house has been paid for for 2 years. We have made some small additions (screened deck and finished basement) and we are pretty much set. Our two kids will go to college in another 3 years and this house will again be “too big.” We live well below our means, and that makes it much more comfortable. We save both in 401k’s and bank savings, plus a very few shares of stock.
Trying to impress others with your wealth is a never-ending, losing proposition. There is always someone else who has more. If that is your measuring stick, prepare to be disappointed.
In the South, that actually is a very high household income, even in the cities. The flipside is, the COL is much lower here. Prior to the storm, the average middle class home price, 3/2, 1800, was for the entire metro area around $120,000. In the city limits, where you are expected to pay for amenities such as private school, most people could move into what you would consider at least towards the higher range of middle class for just over $100,000
We used to live in the highest income part of the city, and the average household income according to statistics, was roughly $100,000. That’s why people move here, you can live better on less, and companies like it because they can pay less and yet still have their employees have the same standard of living they would have in more expensive places. Now granted, today, the median area home price is beginning to shoot into the stratosphere, but here, when we say stratosphere, well, it hasn’t even reached $200,000 yet.
It’s all a matter of where you live and how you live
If you’re only making that combined after 10 years in the working world, something is wrong. I assume BOTH have degrees as well?
Not that 80k is poor, but still...if he STILL has student loans and is only making that much WITH his wife’s income?
High earners? There’s some more jobs we can outsource!
You can still live quite well anyway - it’s all in priority. Here are a few secrets:
-buy slightly used furniture and home electronics - get stuff less than a year old and pay a third the cost new
-buy late model cars - same as above - get a 2 year old car for half the cost new
-look for homes sold on estate sales, foreclosure sales, or sellers who were tranferred to another area - save from 5 to 15% - more in the current buyer’s market
-use a VOiP phone service - same cost as regular land phone - free long distance
Exactly.
I have a lib mother-in-law that tries to make the claim that we are not buying the bling and the cars and the cell phones of welfare recipients, nor are we paying for abortions at Planned Parenthood with our tax dollars.
My response is: OK, you pay my house payment & medical bills, I’ll go buy a porsche, then you can tell me you didn’t buy me a porsche.
Amen..!! Amen..!! Amen..!!
And Amen..!!
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