Catherine: You state "If it's not the dog, it's the sidewalk assessment, the roof, your transmission, a natural disaster, an act of God, a messy family situation that explodes expensively, a tax time surprise, a lawsuit, etc. These things, too, are part of everyone's budget, but are much harder to predict or control."
Let me point out to you that your family already makes twice the average in the USA and...
1. Animals get sick, especially as they get older. Pet insurance is a good thing. It's to be "Expected" that they need some care. If you don't have pet insurance, look into it, or having a "sinking" fund (retained earnings fund for those of you out there that are accountants). Put a budget line item in your budget of $50 per month, $100 per month (whatever you think is appropriate), AND DON'T SPEND IT, to cover this "Expectation". When the times comes, you'll have it or at least most of it.
2. The roof...and other household maintenance things like water heaters, air conditioners, etc. This is "Expected". All things wear out! Again, another line item in your budget THAT IS NOT TO BE SPENT EXCEPT FOR THIS, to take care of this when Murphy strikes. It is "Expected" that things around the house wear out. I've been there and done this with the roof and the airconditioner in a 3 year time span. I paid cash when Murphy came to visit me on this issue. When my 5 year old stove went out one day, I bought a new one at a scratch-n-dent for 1/3rd the cost. FYI: Roof and AC exceeded 12K. I had a $500 per month sinking fund for over 2 years when this hit.
3. Natural Disaster and Acts of God...insurance covers this for the most part. In my state, I pay about $200 extra a year for earthquake insurance. I live on the largest fault in the USA. Many of the readers here don't know that Missouri is more at risk than Southern California. Again, cheap insurance for another "Expectation". I have a 10% deductible for earthquake. I have the $30K set aside for this "Expectation". As for Acts of God, my dad died in 2002 with no insurance. It was "Expected" that he'd die one day, and my brother and I had saved up for it and handled it.
4. Messy Family Situation that Explodes Unexpectedly and Lawsuits...been there done that also. I spent $8K last year in legal fees. But, I expected it and put $500 a month (and continue to do so) into another sinking fund for those damned lawyers. I do not help relatives monetarily who can help themselves or who make bad decisions and expect me to bail them out.
5. Transmission...I gave up on automatic transmissions a long time ago. Not only do they do not last, they are also expensive to maintain. I drive a stick and it's nice to know I'll probably never see a transmission break down on me, and when my battery goes out (twice in the last 4 years), I can always get my auto rolling, pop it in second gear, and go buy a battery.
6. Tax "Surpises". There are no tax surprises. I earned $20K extra in 2004 that I knew no tax was being taken out of. I put 1/4 of it away in another sinking fund. When tax time came and I had to write a check for 4K, I just wrote it! Paying taxes is like death, it's "Expected".
7. Sidewalk Assessment...you knew this was coming in advance, didn't you? My dad had something similar happen to him before he died. Start another sinking fund to handle it and things like it. It was not "totally unexpected"! Fortuantely for dad, my brother was able to do most of the work for him - yeah for a brother that works in construction! I am sure you had months of notice before your government told you that your sidewalk was going to be installed....
I've met a millionnaire who is broker than I am. He's just broker at a higher level! If you don't have a budget and don't plan for life, then life takes you to the cleaners. I think you need to create a realistic budget and cut back on your spending. I make the same as you, so I know what you're bringing in..
I guess because I am a single mother and I have no one but my brother to lean on (we're the only 2 left alive in the immediate family) that I have had to learn to plan, plan, plan. I tell you what, I practically got money rolling out of my ears, and so should YOU!
Adding extra vegetables or making an appetizer is a great idea. I've also done things like making pan-gravy from drippings, and then pouring over extra rice or a side of pasta. If there are no drippings (say that the meat entree is grilled), some butter, olive oil, garlic powder and dried parsley flakes will make the rice or pasta look fancy as well. If there's parmesan cheese available, add that too!
What is the next level of income worth to you? Are you willing to trade off time with loved ones to move up the ladder or spend more time in your own business?
Some of us have decided the rat race is meant for just that- rats.
We are instead just looking to live at the level where peace can be found.
My dad is a public speaker and he does some motivational speaking on finances and levels of income. He talks to mainly middle class, cubicle rangers. He discusses how those at the upper echelon really live- sacrifices that are commonly made of time, integrity, belief systems, etc-- then discusses how those in the truly "poverty culture" see the same impossibility at moving up from their level to middle class.Its fascinating.
My partner and I made $110,000 last year and while we have made some gains, we have a long way to go. We live on Miami Beach and have not even owned a car in almost 13 years. He walks to work and my employer pays for my monthly bus pass. But my partner is a survivor of both AIDS and throat cancer and staying alive is and has been very, very expensive. Additionally, when he was given the AIDS diagnosis thirteen years ago, we were told that the "best possible outcome" was that he would live another 18 months. So, yes, we went a little nuts spending money and doing things like traveling and, yes, we took on debt. We're both very healthy right now and very thankful for it. The other part of the equation is that, even though we made that much last year, the year before that we made maybe $85,000 between the two of us and for many years before that $45,000 to $65,000. During those leaner years, his health insurance was dismal and the co-pays on his medications along with his premiums took up a disproporionate share of his income, so he had to rely on me. There are simply too many variables out there to judge and blame anyone who is struggling financially. And it's simply not helpful. I think any constructive advice is wonderful and any judging and blaming is simply cruel and lacking in humility. If you're lucky enough to be financially stable, terrific, but you shouldn't assume someone who is not is simply an irresponsible spendthrift. Life can be very expensive.
I read your post about your "hobby" websites which are creating a very good income for you. If you have the time, would you mind sharing the URLs and any other info that you're willing to share about how you generate sales please?
I'm a big girl. I can take criticism. But do NOT diss the dog. LOL. :-)
Seriously, though, it was a much more complicated situation than you think. Sometimes they don't give you a bill up front. We did end up euthanizing her, and I wish to God we'd done it before we ran up that kind of bill, but sometimes you have to make decisions on the fly. (The whole story would make a good post, actually.) You can second guess any expense in life, but the bottom line is that these things happen. If it's not the dog, it's the sidewalk assessment, the roof, your transmission, a natural disaster, an act of God, a messy family situation that explodes expensively, a tax time surprise, a lawsuit, etc. These things, too, are part of everyone's budget, but are much harder to predict or control.
I think many will find this helpful. It can be hard to get creative with these ideas on the fly when you are at the end of a long day.
Now that we are in the middle of nowhere, this doesn't happen to us as often. But when we lived in civilization, it did. I don't think I'd ever broken it down into strategies like you did, though. Thanks!
They're not using your tax dollars and giving it to others as "spending money." Didn't you hear? Bush got a loan from China to fund the rebates to increase the >3K trillion dollar deficit that we all ready have. All of your tax dollars are in Iraq, and China can kiss this loan goodbye. They're gonna probably come and evict us out of our own country! And the illegal immigrants that we're always complaining about will be turning us away when we try to sneak into Mexico.
I am a single mother of one and I bring home just over 96K a year, gross. I find that taking one or two "modest" vacations a year is ridiculous. My idea of a vacation is taking 5 days off and watching television, sleeping in and going to a matinee. Also, if one of my animals (I have 3 cats and 1 dog) were so sick it would cost me a $4K vet bill, well then it's good-bye Fido!
You are living outside your income...period.
I don't have credit cards. I have a 6 month emergency fund. I don't have payments on my two vehicles (they were both bought new in 2007) or any other debt besides my home. The vehicles, although brand new, are quite modest (stick shift, no remote key entry...air conditioning and power steering is about it - the truck doesn't even have carpet - it has the commerical flooring).
I can pay all my bills and have my retirement in place, and send my daughter to college. And, I do not live in a cheap place. My modest home was purchased for almost $300K.
I grew up on welfare and know what it is like to go without. You are spending way beyond your means, period. I consider myself lucky, and if you cut back on your spending instead of being "entitled", you'd be lucky too!
Sorry, hun. I'm screwed too. I'm in college but my mom still claims me as a dependent. Because I'm over 17, she won't get a rebate on me. But because I am a dependent, I won't get a rebate at all, even though I work and make more than $3k. So if your parents claimed you on their taxes, you can kiss that rebate goodbye!
My family of 3 would kill for make that income. We average 45 grand as a whole, yet we manage to live in a decent neighborhood (In MIAMI), 500,000 house, Two average cars from 2000+. We all wear nice clothes and eat well. The difference is theres no healthcare, no retirement, no giving to charity, no vacations. A vacation for me is a day off and going to the movies.
The title of this post reminds me of the explanation given by Sherman's wife to their daughter about how he makes money as a bond trader.
Something to the effect that Sherman is like some one who passes slices of cake around and collects the crumbs. If you pass a lot of cake, you end up with a lot of crumbs.
Thanks for the additional insight into "stock" -- you are right that other companies have stock but are not publicly traded or publicly held. I decided to make things simple for this post (one version had a detailed explanation but I didn't want to confuse the "child" with the difference between closely held and privately held stock vs. publicly-traded shares, and so removed the extra, potentially confusing information). I hope this helps explain some things for people who are getting started with investing.
How good it is that people like contractor are so happy to remove themselves from gene pool by not having any kids. It will be nice when this sort of logic is finally extinct. It may come as a surprise to contractor, but most people still consider family, rather than the accumulation of wealth, the central point of life.
As far as the article goes, I think the problem is that we've always viewed six figures as "the goal". Inflation changed all that, but we're still having some trouble adjusting. Much of the discussion seems to center around phrases like "you might think that a family with a six-figure income would be able to afford...". We just have to redefine what a six-figure income is in today's society.
It might also be true that our expectations of a six-figure income were never all that real to begin with. We may have imagined a person making $100,000/year driving a mercedes-benz and wearing designer clothing and living in a huge house with lots of kids, when the reality all along may have been driving a mercedes-benz OR wearing designer clothing OR living in a huge house, etc.
At any rate, I think you are doing very well if you can see your debts being paid off any time soon, and if you're managing to save something. To me, there's no-one wealthier than that. Any amount of stuff you can accumulate beyond that is pointless.
I lived in Ann Arbor 2000-2003, and can vouch that it's pricier than where I grew up (Traverse City, MI) but cheaper than where I live now (Chelmsford, MA). Housing is a huge factor - The last time I looked, a 3 bed 2 bath house near my parents in northern Michigan was $155K. In Ann Arbor, I lived in a house split into 2 apartments that roughly fit that bill, and I think it sold for $300K. We bought our house here, in the far suburbs of Boston, for $350K. It's a 1500 square foot, 3 bed, 1 bath house.
I think fully funding the retirement accounts is also a huge factor. If each adult is socking away $15.5K in a 401k and $4K in an IRA, that's $39K/year off the table right away. Admittedly your taxes are lower, but you'll still have far less "fun money" than a couple putting nothing into retirement accounts, or even the standard 10%.
---- Mom: Yes, a stock comes from a business but not all businesses have stock. Some businesses are privately owned by a family or a few investors; others have publicly traded shares or stock
I beleive that every limited liability company has stock. For example, I have an LLC (or Ltd outside of the US, Gmbh in Germany etc), which i use for contracting. There are 100 shares - stock - of which I own 99 and my wife owns 1. They are worth £1 each.
This is not a public company, so the directors (me and my wife) control who can buy shares, and we publish our financial info to those who have stock. The difference with a public company is anyone can buy stocks (they are "listed"), but in the same way, the financial info must also be published to the public.
The only businesses I can think of that do NOT have stock are partnerships (which are technicly not a company, tho they often look like one) and single people who are self employed, and they are quite thin on the ground.
I am a single male, and I make 45 K a year. i am 26 yo and live in Boston metro area. Now 45 k a year isnt cutting it for me. I live in an apartment with 2 roomates, we each pay 433 a month plus utilities. I have no car and no dependants. Now I am sure as hell that this is not enough money for me to live on. At times im down to my last 10 bucks for days and have to buy pasta and sauce to eat. I mean 45 k a year after taxes leaves little. I have 1 laptop an old tv and a good mp3 player. So whats the deal? Can I live? And i dont think I will bring children into the world on my budget. I feel that I cant even help with the rest of my family. My mom my little sister. I buy them things but I would like to provide more. I want to be well enough off to help my mother retire comfortably. so I will work harder and progress faster so I dont fall behind.
Great post...this subject is a rough one for me. I try to remind myself to consider how much I'm going to use the item. A really, really nice refrigerator and dishwasher are important to me, but did I really need the pretty good sewing machine. I use the fridge and dishwasher daily, I use the sewing machine maybe 10 times a year. Of course, my rationalization at the time was that my old sewing machine had lasted 20 years - let's hope this one does!
I third (or fourth, or whatever) the freecycle suggestion. I find it much easier to part with stuff if I know that it is going to someone who will use and appreciate it, rather than some anonymous charity. An old basketball hoop is gracing a church shed, a crockpot is helping a busy mom, and that old dresser is holding gloves somewhere.
There are a couple of problems with that scenario. If I were to ride my bike for only 20 minutes prior to work, I would be drenched and odoriferous. I don't know about you, but I don't particularly like to wear office clothing with sweat stains, or work in close proximity with someone who smells the way I do after a 20 minute bike ride. Besides that, as it is, my commute would be more like two hours. It's only 25 miles, but it's 45 minutes by car.
More power to you, if you have a job and location that allow you to ride your bike for transportation. Just don't be too hard on others - they may have jobs that are more sensitive to the side effects of such exercise, or have commutes that become unreasonable when human powered.
Like they say, 'Every place is within walking distance if you have the time.'
It doesn't matter if Papa Murphy's is the best, cheapest, tastiest pizza in the world in most places. Here is the point:
It sucks and is over priced where I live.
I don't care how good it is where you live, or what kind of awards they win, or what a great place it could be if my local manager was fired. Those things don't change the fact that I had a terrible experience at my local store and won't be going back. Ever.
I'm relating my bad experiences, "slamming" them as you put it, because I should NEVER have to endure that in the first place. In my case I did speak to the local store manager while I waited, but he did nothing to fix the problem and didn't offer me anything to try and win me back as a customer.
The Krispy Kreme story goes like this:
They had a GREAT product, the stores were always packed, and I had hot, fresh donuts whenever I wanted. Then all of a sudden, the 3 local stores where I live went out of business. Nobody understood why, the stores were always packed. Then I saw something on the news where the VP of Krispy Kreme was asked about his business model. I forget exactly what he said, but it was clear he didn't have a clue what a business model was, let alone what his own company's business model was. Who knows what happened? I'm guessing management at some level found a way to suck the money out of the business and stuff their own pockets.
I'm struggling with this now. My fiance is starting a side business and desperately wants to leave his day job.
We have to decide between buying 5K in equipment now so he can leave, or toughing it out three more months to buy 10K, and then leaving. Or taking a business loan. Or taking out a 0% business credit card. It's hard.
Catherine: You state "If it's not the dog, it's the sidewalk assessment, the roof, your transmission, a natural disaster, an act of God, a messy family situation that explodes expensively, a tax time surprise, a lawsuit, etc. These things, too, are part of everyone's budget, but are much harder to predict or control."
Let me point out to you that your family already makes twice the average in the USA and...
1. Animals get sick, especially as they get older. Pet insurance is a good thing. It's to be "Expected" that they need some care. If you don't have pet insurance, look into it, or having a "sinking" fund (retained earnings fund for those of you out there that are accountants). Put a budget line item in your budget of $50 per month, $100 per month (whatever you think is appropriate), AND DON'T SPEND IT, to cover this "Expectation". When the times comes, you'll have it or at least most of it.
2. The roof...and other household maintenance things like water heaters, air conditioners, etc. This is "Expected". All things wear out! Again, another line item in your budget THAT IS NOT TO BE SPENT EXCEPT FOR THIS, to take care of this when Murphy strikes. It is "Expected" that things around the house wear out. I've been there and done this with the roof and the airconditioner in a 3 year time span. I paid cash when Murphy came to visit me on this issue. When my 5 year old stove went out one day, I bought a new one at a scratch-n-dent for 1/3rd the cost. FYI: Roof and AC exceeded 12K. I had a $500 per month sinking fund for over 2 years when this hit.
3. Natural Disaster and Acts of God...insurance covers this for the most part. In my state, I pay about $200 extra a year for earthquake insurance. I live on the largest fault in the USA. Many of the readers here don't know that Missouri is more at risk than Southern California. Again, cheap insurance for another "Expectation". I have a 10% deductible for earthquake. I have the $30K set aside for this "Expectation". As for Acts of God, my dad died in 2002 with no insurance. It was "Expected" that he'd die one day, and my brother and I had saved up for it and handled it.
4. Messy Family Situation that Explodes Unexpectedly and Lawsuits...been there done that also. I spent $8K last year in legal fees. But, I expected it and put $500 a month (and continue to do so) into another sinking fund for those damned lawyers. I do not help relatives monetarily who can help themselves or who make bad decisions and expect me to bail them out.
5. Transmission...I gave up on automatic transmissions a long time ago. Not only do they do not last, they are also expensive to maintain. I drive a stick and it's nice to know I'll probably never see a transmission break down on me, and when my battery goes out (twice in the last 4 years), I can always get my auto rolling, pop it in second gear, and go buy a battery.
6. Tax "Surpises". There are no tax surprises. I earned $20K extra in 2004 that I knew no tax was being taken out of. I put 1/4 of it away in another sinking fund. When tax time came and I had to write a check for 4K, I just wrote it! Paying taxes is like death, it's "Expected".
7. Sidewalk Assessment...you knew this was coming in advance, didn't you? My dad had something similar happen to him before he died. Start another sinking fund to handle it and things like it. It was not "totally unexpected"! Fortuantely for dad, my brother was able to do most of the work for him - yeah for a brother that works in construction! I am sure you had months of notice before your government told you that your sidewalk was going to be installed....
I've met a millionnaire who is broker than I am. He's just broker at a higher level! If you don't have a budget and don't plan for life, then life takes you to the cleaners. I think you need to create a realistic budget and cut back on your spending. I make the same as you, so I know what you're bringing in..
I guess because I am a single mother and I have no one but my brother to lean on (we're the only 2 left alive in the immediate family) that I have had to learn to plan, plan, plan. I tell you what, I practically got money rolling out of my ears, and so should YOU!
I frequently consume rattlesnake meat>, but never from can.
If so, awesome! :) I love Gburg & I went to college there. If not, still a great photo!
Adding extra vegetables or making an appetizer is a great idea. I've also done things like making pan-gravy from drippings, and then pouring over extra rice or a side of pasta. If there are no drippings (say that the meat entree is grilled), some butter, olive oil, garlic powder and dried parsley flakes will make the rice or pasta look fancy as well. If there's parmesan cheese available, add that too!
What is the next level of income worth to you? Are you willing to trade off time with loved ones to move up the ladder or spend more time in your own business?
Some of us have decided the rat race is meant for just that- rats.
We are instead just looking to live at the level where peace can be found.
My dad is a public speaker and he does some motivational speaking on finances and levels of income. He talks to mainly middle class, cubicle rangers. He discusses how those at the upper echelon really live- sacrifices that are commonly made of time, integrity, belief systems, etc-- then discusses how those in the truly "poverty culture" see the same impossibility at moving up from their level to middle class.Its fascinating.
My partner and I made $110,000 last year and while we have made some gains, we have a long way to go. We live on Miami Beach and have not even owned a car in almost 13 years. He walks to work and my employer pays for my monthly bus pass. But my partner is a survivor of both AIDS and throat cancer and staying alive is and has been very, very expensive. Additionally, when he was given the AIDS diagnosis thirteen years ago, we were told that the "best possible outcome" was that he would live another 18 months. So, yes, we went a little nuts spending money and doing things like traveling and, yes, we took on debt. We're both very healthy right now and very thankful for it. The other part of the equation is that, even though we made that much last year, the year before that we made maybe $85,000 between the two of us and for many years before that $45,000 to $65,000. During those leaner years, his health insurance was dismal and the co-pays on his medications along with his premiums took up a disproporionate share of his income, so he had to rely on me. There are simply too many variables out there to judge and blame anyone who is struggling financially. And it's simply not helpful. I think any constructive advice is wonderful and any judging and blaming is simply cruel and lacking in humility. If you're lucky enough to be financially stable, terrific, but you shouldn't assume someone who is not is simply an irresponsible spendthrift. Life can be very expensive.
You just made me realize something very discouraging.
Offering stock is like taking out a loan that you don't necessarily ever need to pay back.
As a potential lender in such a situation, that sounds really, really unwise.
Greetings!
I read your post about your "hobby" websites which are creating a very good income for you. If you have the time, would you mind sharing the URLs and any other info that you're willing to share about how you generate sales please?
Thanks in advance for your time!
Marlene
I'm a big girl. I can take criticism. But do NOT diss the dog. LOL. :-)
Seriously, though, it was a much more complicated situation than you think. Sometimes they don't give you a bill up front. We did end up euthanizing her, and I wish to God we'd done it before we ran up that kind of bill, but sometimes you have to make decisions on the fly. (The whole story would make a good post, actually.) You can second guess any expense in life, but the bottom line is that these things happen. If it's not the dog, it's the sidewalk assessment, the roof, your transmission, a natural disaster, an act of God, a messy family situation that explodes expensively, a tax time surprise, a lawsuit, etc. These things, too, are part of everyone's budget, but are much harder to predict or control.
Catherine Shaffer
I think many will find this helpful. It can be hard to get creative with these ideas on the fly when you are at the end of a long day.
Now that we are in the middle of nowhere, this doesn't happen to us as often. But when we lived in civilization, it did. I don't think I'd ever broken it down into strategies like you did, though. Thanks!
They're not using your tax dollars and giving it to others as "spending money." Didn't you hear? Bush got a loan from China to fund the rebates to increase the >3K trillion dollar deficit that we all ready have. All of your tax dollars are in Iraq, and China can kiss this loan goodbye. They're gonna probably come and evict us out of our own country! And the illegal immigrants that we're always complaining about will be turning us away when we try to sneak into Mexico.
I am a single mother of one and I bring home just over 96K a year, gross. I find that taking one or two "modest" vacations a year is ridiculous. My idea of a vacation is taking 5 days off and watching television, sleeping in and going to a matinee. Also, if one of my animals (I have 3 cats and 1 dog) were so sick it would cost me a $4K vet bill, well then it's good-bye Fido!
You are living outside your income...period.
I don't have credit cards. I have a 6 month emergency fund. I don't have payments on my two vehicles (they were both bought new in 2007) or any other debt besides my home. The vehicles, although brand new, are quite modest (stick shift, no remote key entry...air conditioning and power steering is about it - the truck doesn't even have carpet - it has the commerical flooring).
I can pay all my bills and have my retirement in place, and send my daughter to college. And, I do not live in a cheap place. My modest home was purchased for almost $300K.
I grew up on welfare and know what it is like to go without. You are spending way beyond your means, period. I consider myself lucky, and if you cut back on your spending instead of being "entitled", you'd be lucky too!
Sorry, hun. I'm screwed too. I'm in college but my mom still claims me as a dependent. Because I'm over 17, she won't get a rebate on me. But because I am a dependent, I won't get a rebate at all, even though I work and make more than $3k. So if your parents claimed you on their taxes, you can kiss that rebate goodbye!
My family of 3 would kill for make that income. We average 45 grand as a whole, yet we manage to live in a decent neighborhood (In MIAMI), 500,000 house, Two average cars from 2000+. We all wear nice clothes and eat well. The difference is theres no healthcare, no retirement, no giving to charity, no vacations. A vacation for me is a day off and going to the movies.
The title of this post reminds me of the explanation given by Sherman's wife to their daughter about how he makes money as a bond trader.
Something to the effect that Sherman is like some one who passes slices of cake around and collects the crumbs. If you pass a lot of cake, you end up with a lot of crumbs.
Amanda
Thanks for the additional insight into "stock" -- you are right that other companies have stock but are not publicly traded or publicly held. I decided to make things simple for this post (one version had a detailed explanation but I didn't want to confuse the "child" with the difference between closely held and privately held stock vs. publicly-traded shares, and so removed the extra, potentially confusing information). I hope this helps explain some things for people who are getting started with investing.
How good it is that people like contractor are so happy to remove themselves from gene pool by not having any kids. It will be nice when this sort of logic is finally extinct. It may come as a surprise to contractor, but most people still consider family, rather than the accumulation of wealth, the central point of life.
As far as the article goes, I think the problem is that we've always viewed six figures as "the goal". Inflation changed all that, but we're still having some trouble adjusting. Much of the discussion seems to center around phrases like "you might think that a family with a six-figure income would be able to afford...". We just have to redefine what a six-figure income is in today's society.
It might also be true that our expectations of a six-figure income were never all that real to begin with. We may have imagined a person making $100,000/year driving a mercedes-benz and wearing designer clothing and living in a huge house with lots of kids, when the reality all along may have been driving a mercedes-benz OR wearing designer clothing OR living in a huge house, etc.
At any rate, I think you are doing very well if you can see your debts being paid off any time soon, and if you're managing to save something. To me, there's no-one wealthier than that. Any amount of stuff you can accumulate beyond that is pointless.
I lived in Ann Arbor 2000-2003, and can vouch that it's pricier than where I grew up (Traverse City, MI) but cheaper than where I live now (Chelmsford, MA). Housing is a huge factor - The last time I looked, a 3 bed 2 bath house near my parents in northern Michigan was $155K. In Ann Arbor, I lived in a house split into 2 apartments that roughly fit that bill, and I think it sold for $300K. We bought our house here, in the far suburbs of Boston, for $350K. It's a 1500 square foot, 3 bed, 1 bath house.
I think fully funding the retirement accounts is also a huge factor. If each adult is socking away $15.5K in a 401k and $4K in an IRA, that's $39K/year off the table right away. Admittedly your taxes are lower, but you'll still have far less "fun money" than a couple putting nothing into retirement accounts, or even the standard 10%.
However:
---- Child: Does a stock come from a business?
---- Mom: Yes, a stock comes from a business but not all businesses have stock. Some businesses are privately owned by a family or a few investors; others have publicly traded shares or stock
I beleive that every limited liability company has stock. For example, I have an LLC (or Ltd outside of the US, Gmbh in Germany etc), which i use for contracting. There are 100 shares - stock - of which I own 99 and my wife owns 1. They are worth £1 each.
This is not a public company, so the directors (me and my wife) control who can buy shares, and we publish our financial info to those who have stock. The difference with a public company is anyone can buy stocks (they are "listed"), but in the same way, the financial info must also be published to the public.
The only businesses I can think of that do NOT have stock are partnerships (which are technicly not a company, tho they often look like one) and single people who are self employed, and they are quite thin on the ground.
I am a single male, and I make 45 K a year. i am 26 yo and live in Boston metro area. Now 45 k a year isnt cutting it for me. I live in an apartment with 2 roomates, we each pay 433 a month plus utilities. I have no car and no dependants. Now I am sure as hell that this is not enough money for me to live on. At times im down to my last 10 bucks for days and have to buy pasta and sauce to eat. I mean 45 k a year after taxes leaves little. I have 1 laptop an old tv and a good mp3 player. So whats the deal? Can I live? And i dont think I will bring children into the world on my budget. I feel that I cant even help with the rest of my family. My mom my little sister. I buy them things but I would like to provide more. I want to be well enough off to help my mother retire comfortably. so I will work harder and progress faster so I dont fall behind.
Great post...this subject is a rough one for me. I try to remind myself to consider how much I'm going to use the item. A really, really nice refrigerator and dishwasher are important to me, but did I really need the pretty good sewing machine. I use the fridge and dishwasher daily, I use the sewing machine maybe 10 times a year. Of course, my rationalization at the time was that my old sewing machine had lasted 20 years - let's hope this one does!
I third (or fourth, or whatever) the freecycle suggestion. I find it much easier to part with stuff if I know that it is going to someone who will use and appreciate it, rather than some anonymous charity. An old basketball hoop is gracing a church shed, a crockpot is helping a busy mom, and that old dresser is holding gloves somewhere.
will method one or two work on a hood from the underside of the hood?
There are a couple of problems with that scenario. If I were to ride my bike for only 20 minutes prior to work, I would be drenched and odoriferous. I don't know about you, but I don't particularly like to wear office clothing with sweat stains, or work in close proximity with someone who smells the way I do after a 20 minute bike ride. Besides that, as it is, my commute would be more like two hours. It's only 25 miles, but it's 45 minutes by car.
More power to you, if you have a job and location that allow you to ride your bike for transportation. Just don't be too hard on others - they may have jobs that are more sensitive to the side effects of such exercise, or have commutes that become unreasonable when human powered.
Like they say, 'Every place is within walking distance if you have the time.'
I think you're missing the point.
It doesn't matter if Papa Murphy's is the best, cheapest, tastiest pizza in the world in most places. Here is the point:
It sucks and is over priced where I live.
I don't care how good it is where you live, or what kind of awards they win, or what a great place it could be if my local manager was fired. Those things don't change the fact that I had a terrible experience at my local store and won't be going back. Ever.
I'm relating my bad experiences, "slamming" them as you put it, because I should NEVER have to endure that in the first place. In my case I did speak to the local store manager while I waited, but he did nothing to fix the problem and didn't offer me anything to try and win me back as a customer.
The Krispy Kreme story goes like this:
They had a GREAT product, the stores were always packed, and I had hot, fresh donuts whenever I wanted. Then all of a sudden, the 3 local stores where I live went out of business. Nobody understood why, the stores were always packed. Then I saw something on the news where the VP of Krispy Kreme was asked about his business model. I forget exactly what he said, but it was clear he didn't have a clue what a business model was, let alone what his own company's business model was. Who knows what happened? I'm guessing management at some level found a way to suck the money out of the business and stuff their own pockets.
I'm struggling with this now. My fiance is starting a side business and desperately wants to leave his day job.
We have to decide between buying 5K in equipment now so he can leave, or toughing it out three more months to buy 10K, and then leaving. Or taking a business loan. Or taking out a 0% business credit card. It's hard.