Posted on 09/18/2023 4:51:34 PM PDT by ChicagoConservative27
It’s not just low-income Americans drowning under inflation and interest rates — some higher-income folks are feeling the strain on their wallets as well.
Data from a June survey conducted by personal finance software company Quicken revealed that 32% of Americans earning at least $150,000 a year are currently living paycheck to paycheck, while 36% of folks earning $50,000 to $150,000 and 55% of households earning less than that reported the same.
(Excerpt) Read more at moneywise.com ...
fkg fools... hurting for money making 150K a year?? I dont pity anyone who becomes a slave to the possesions. and I say 80% of those did it all to impress someone else.
“I don’t think we have experienced anything like what is coming down the road.”
Oh Lord. I’m afraid you’re right.
When Biden destroyed our gasoline industry I knew food costs would sky rocket because of shipping costs. And they did.
At that time plugged in my down stairs freezer, stocked up MAJOR.
Most months since than, I only spend about $10 a month. (Been disciplined most months! Not easy!!)
Stuff is gonna hit the fan, big time.
When it comes to personal finances we (spouse and me) have made every mistake at least once. Having said that we did make a few good decisions, the best was buying a home (our second) that was well below what our income could handle and taking out a 15 year fixed rate mortgage and paid a little extra every month towards the principle.
Cars, credit cards, kids college and toys. Ten years ago with a household income of about $140K we had a total of about $140K consumer debt, a very scary situation.
We finally said enough and made a complete 180 with respect to how we handle our finances. We went scorched earth. 56 months of war is hell scorched earth.
Five years ago we made our last mortgage payment a 15 year note paid in 13 years, proceeded to pay off $28K credit card debt, then car loans and student loans for kids.
Today we are 100% debt free and are putting 30% of my income and 15% of spouses in our 401Ks and another 15% in savings and we continue to live like we are broke. But we are not broke, by the end of the year we will have 11 months income in our emergency fund (goal is 3 years), sometime in late 2025 our net worth will hit 7 figures. Spouse will start collecting SS age 69 me age 70, we are both FRA at this point but working to put as much as we can into savings.
Our next car will be paid for in cash. We do for ourselves everything we are able to do for ourselves such as home repairs. We use our kitchen for cooking and we do this every day. Over the last 5 years we have been on one trip and eaten out less than 10 times.
People (broke people that is) say to me all the time that life is too short we need to take vacations. I tell them that we don’t need a vacation any more than we need a swimming pool. We may want a vacation, but we don’t need one. We are actually on an extended vacation from debt. It is a stress free way to spend your time, not your money that you don’t have. Having said that we took a few days last June to travel and will take a few more next spring but will have the expense budgeted and paid for before we leave the house. Thank you Dave Ramsey for all the encouragement!
You can do the flooring yourself—I did, and I’m an old lady. Do the lawn yourself. If I lived near you I’d come over and do it with my 22” Toro walk behind mower for $150, even if it’s a couple of acres (I cut my own acreage that way every week, despite asthma and herniated spinal disks). And $130 for food for a week for one person? Sheesh, I live not too far from DC where food is truly expensive, and I’m betting you could cut back quite a bit on that. So there are ways you could save money on your expenses. Maybe not enough to let you retire immediately, but enough to let you put money aside. I’m sorry about the termites, electrical work, and septic. It sounds as though you’ve had everything fall on your head at the same time, unfortunately. Kind of in the same boat here.
No I can’t do the flooring. I work full time and watch my great grandbaby several days a week. I also clean my home food shop and do all the painting and staining. I am approaching 70 alone. There aren’t enough hours in the day. And yes everything is falling apart at one time. The previous owners hid all the problems and didn’t do anything to code. My inspection was worthless. I’ll get thru it but the prices are outrageous. I found an angel . Handyman who’s managed to help me thru this.
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