Average American family "can't pay their bills"
- Thread starter turkeyneck
- Start date
Quote from toc:
Mortgage $1550: See if you can rent the basement if it has seperate entrance.
Taxes $600: Fine
Ins $400: Health? Fine
Car Ins $250: Go for a cheaper and older cars.
Elect $400: Disagree, are you running a lighthouse or something.
Cable $120: Cut down dude, more time for mind to be in tune. get some $50 package.
Cell phns $120: No need for Cell phones.
Platform $250: What is that? Tradestation on lease?
Data/News $250: $100 data is easily available.
Food $1000 (kids eat a lot, you find out when you grow up): $150 per person is excellent unless you eat out alot.
Gas $300: Disagree, get some share a ride arrangement, you trader? then no need to commute!
Misc $750-$1500 (lunch,dentist, dr, birthdays, kids stuff,etc, etc. denist appt this month cost me $870, for example).
Misc should be $500 at best, $870 for dentist, still with health insurance? Drive to Mexico and get it done for 1/3rd if you are in Southern border states.
BOTTOMLINE IS "WHERE THERE IS A WILL, THERE IS A WAY".
VERY TRUE IN TRADING ALSO
The taxes are Real estate taxes
$240 car insurance is cheap. the cars are an 04 and a 99 but in FLorida ins rates suck.
Elect..Again, this is Florida. everythings elect for one, rates are high for two and I make more than enough to pay for it for three.
Health Ins..yep, my plan sucks. You'd think for $800/mo it would cover dental but it doesn't. But, considering what I'm paid I'
m okay with it.
As for everything else, I'm not complaining about my expenses. I save as much or more than I spend. My point was you can easily spend 6-7K/mo without being in debt or living in a 500K with all sorts of shit. Remember, I don't have a credit card payment. I don't have a car payment. My kids go to public school, etc.
The bottomline is while 6K may seem like a lot to someone who doesn't have it, once you get there you'll find out it doesn't go nearly as far as you'd think.
As for the trading questions:
Yes I trade fulltime but I also have a fulltime senior management position. It's a unique setup to say the least. I'm am very lucky. Though having 2 fulltime jobs does consume a lot of time.
I use Sterling and Esignal.
I never had ANY dental issues for the first 40 years on this planet.
But one must keep in mind that a person's body and chemistry changes as time goes by . . . and sometimes teeth "break" too.
I had 11 cavities in one year from "de-calcification" that just all of a sudden "happened" - - - along with two crowns. That was about $4,000 right there.
Sad, but true.
'I had 11 cavities in one year from "de-calcification" that just all of a sudden "happened" - - - along with two crowns. That was about $4,000 right there.'
Try India option:
Spend $1300 on plane ticket, $200 on stay and food for month (rent a room or so), and $500 on treatment and come out ahead along with some cosmetic dentisry done in addition.
Try India option:
Spend $1300 on plane ticket, $200 on stay and food for month (rent a room or so), and $500 on treatment and come out ahead along with some cosmetic dentisry done in addition.
Ahh and here we go with Captain Logic aka Deadwood:
Depends on what you mean by that. I agree, it is VERY subjective. Although if you would take a few minutes to read my post, you would note that I already mentioned I live in FL, not rural Arkansas. $50k should go a long way if you are conservative. Have fun arguing that point as much as you want.
Depends. I never said I "never made much money". I am doing quite well in the 3 years being a civilian. I am not "rich" or "wealthy" but not many 26 year olds are, at least of their own accord. I do well. Don't be silly, and don't put words in my mouth. Just because I don't play polo and eat caviar and go on wine tasting ventures doesn't mean I don't do alright for myself.
Okay, yes, I admit, I am young. You will most likely die before me. I guess that makes me ignorant. I have already told you I have plenty of life experiences that you don't have that I can laugh at you about as well.
Yes, if you are inflating your expenses unnecessarily, then sure, of course you can spend $6-8k a month...but you didn't "prove" anything, because I (and toc) "proved" that those expenses are unnecessary and inflated. $300 in gas? What do you have a 2 hour round trip commute 5 days a week or something?
Yeah if you call those "points". And please take note of my responses to show you that I in fact do not necessarily agree with you.
You did get me to think. You helped me remember why people that think like you are such tools and how I am making the right choice by taking the narrow and winding road to success and not the corporate traffic jam. So, yes, thanks for helping me think.
Quote from Landis82:
I never had ANY dental issues for the first 40 years on this planet.
But one must keep in mind that a person's body and chemistry changes as time goes by . . . and sometimes teeth "break" too.
I had 11 cavities in one year from "de-calcification" that just all of a sudden "happened" - - - along with two crowns. That was about $4,000 right there.
Sad, but true.
Hey man I wasn't ripping on you. I went back and saw how it may have come across that way. LOL
No trust me I know what you mean. That's why I don't drink carbonated beverages (other than Sam Adams lol). I am paranoid about stuff like that.
Sorry if my post came out wrong.
I live in Oilberta with the oilsands a couple hundred miles north of here. When a new company comes to town to set up shop it's called a megaproject. There are many megaprojects operating and in the works, and each one is measured in billions of dollars. I read somewhere last year that the Edmonton-Calgary corridor is now considered the hottest economic zone in the world.
We had a provincial election here a month or so ago. And guess what. There were commercials and politicians complaining about the same problems as on this thread. Last fall the city dismantled a huge homeless village in downtown Edmonton. You can hardly drive down a street without seeing a couple of help wanted signs. It just does not seem to matter that anyone - and I mean virtually anyone - could find ten employers in a day willing to bargain for a person's employment. Businesses are closing down and restricting operating hours because they can't find employees. And yet there are still people out there ending up bankrupt and would fit in that CNN clip with their complaints.
Everything is a bell curve. Even here in the land of oil and honey there are some (don't ask me how) at the back end of that curve.
We had a provincial election here a month or so ago. And guess what. There were commercials and politicians complaining about the same problems as on this thread. Last fall the city dismantled a huge homeless village in downtown Edmonton. You can hardly drive down a street without seeing a couple of help wanted signs. It just does not seem to matter that anyone - and I mean virtually anyone - could find ten employers in a day willing to bargain for a person's employment. Businesses are closing down and restricting operating hours because they can't find employees. And yet there are still people out there ending up bankrupt and would fit in that CNN clip with their complaints.
Everything is a bell curve. Even here in the land of oil and honey there are some (don't ask me how) at the back end of that curve.