Living paycheck to paycheck - must be hard wired

[Sandybestdog]

Quote from Kevmeister:

I highly recommend individuals read the book Your Money or Your Life. There is a passage that made me think of many of you, particularly Sandybestdog.

" Higher Pay: A Matter of Attitude

Many people are passive, even fatalistic, about the size of their earnings. They act out of a victim mentality, totally at the mercy of outside forces--the boss, the wage scale, the unemployment situation, the recession, the poor local economy, The President's economic policy, competition from low-paid workers in developing countries, and on and on. The attitude is one of "I can't find a good job--and it is because of THEM. THEY are keeping me in a low paying job.
While economic realities may at times be harsh, it is also the nature of the human mind to make real the thoughts and beliefs that we hold (a fact that should encourage great care in how we think about ourselves). If you see yourself as a victim, you may well be too busy feeling sorry for yourself to notice the many opportunities to change your dismal destiny"

This is a great nugget of wisdom. Use it as you wish. It may change your life.

Sandybestdog - If this is not you I don't know what is. You are by far the most "blame everybody else person" I have read about on ET. If you are not in control of your destiny then who the hell is?

Yea sure that’s why I just got a job offer that I’m about to take. You think I mope around all day thinking that I can’t get up and do something to change my situation and the world around me? Some things I can’t change. I work as a caddie at a golf course. Today I went down there and sat for 3 hours and didn’t get a round, so I made no money. There is absolutely nothing I could have done differently to have changed that. But what I can do is realize the summer is almost over and I’m going to have to find a new job soon, which it looks like I already have. I think it was pretty lucky though that I did.

A lot of the excuses you mentioned are true. It is much harder to get ahead nowadays. It just means I have to work twice as hard to get something, which isn’t necessarily right that I should. But I’m not just talking about me. If, for example, foreign workers are coming here taking low paying jobs and depressing the wages and job markets for Americans, that means I have to work harder to get ahead. Let’s say that I do and eventually can make decent money. But another guy has 2 kids and doesn’t have the time and recources that I do. Odds are he will stay like that forever. Not because he didn’t try hard enough, but because eventually the odds are going to catch up to most people. He can “think” about changing his life all he wants, but the odds say there’s too much going against him.

I would argue that improving people’s odds is a whole lot better solution for the little guy than some motivational speech about “changing your mentality” and “the way you see the world”. That’s not as exciting to talk about though, is it?

BTW I’m still waiting for your response to my question to the post that you misquoted. Any day now would be great.
http://www.elitetrader.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&postid=2456968#post2456968

 

[Random.Capital]

There are a heck of a lot more US-based "foreign workers" picking crops than writing code. Are those in favor of eliminating that source of competition also willing to pay 2x for their food?

 

[Sandybestdog]

Quote from Random.Capital:

Job: $50k/year gross, $30k/year net

Car: $5k (one-time expense, buy used econobox)
Gas: $2k
Car Insurance: $1k
IRA: $2k
401k: $4k
Emergency Fund: $2k
Rent: $9k
Food: $3k
Phone: $1k
Internet: $0.5k
Clothes: $1k
Utilities: $2k

That's less than $30k (car is non-recurring) and saves nearly 30% of your income. All approximate numbers, etc.

Thanks I appreciate this. But you also left out health insurance. That is another 3k a year. Also you are basing this on 50k gross a year. That’s fine except I don’t know one person under 30 who makes that much.

But the kicker is to take all these figures and add 10% to them every year. Then take the income figure and only add 5% every year. Then do that for the next 30 years and then tell me how they are supposed to stay ahead.

 

[Sandybestdog]

Quote from poyayan:

Nothing against Sandybestdog but if she can't tell the difference between student loan debt and credit card debt, not much to talk about.

Nothing against poyayan but if he/she can’t understand that debt is debt no matter who it’s owed to or what it’s used for, not much to talk about.

 

[Sandybestdog]

Quote from Random.Capital:

If "the poor and middle class" truly started living with less, the group that would be the MOST hurt would be "a few select people".

Isn’t that exactly what’s happened over the past year? Except when the “few select people” got hurt, they got a bailout.

 

[Sandybestdog]

Quote from aegis:

You forgot about taxes.

Also, Sandy is 24. Not many 24-year olds are making $50k these days. Maybe nurses and some engineers, but it's a rarity. However, a person used to be able to make enough to survive out of high school. Try doing that today. Not going to happen.

Plus, you can't actually qualify for financial aid until you're 24 unless you're a minority, lived in a foster home, or your parents live below the poverty level.

This is too many true facts for an ET thread. They don’t understand this. What you say about financial aid is abslutely true. They gave me $500 for one semester when I was 18 and said I didn’t qualify for anything. I applied a few months ago and all of a sudden they said I was eligible for $3500. My sister, who is 2 years younger than me, applied at the same time and she got nothing. So now I’m thinking about taking some courses now that I know I can get some money

The people around here worked in the Summer to pay for their whole year’s worth of college and can’t figure out why kids today can’t do the same. Then when they graduated, they got jobs right away and the turn around and say absolutely retarted things like this:

Quote from Random.Capital: There are a heck of a lot more US-based "foreign workers" picking crops than writing code. Are those in favor of eliminating that source of competition also willing to pay 2x for their food?

 

[Sandybestdog]

Quote from Random.Capital:
Apologies, but I have no idea what the relevance is of your "financial aid" comments.

Exactly. You have no idea what he’s talking about because Fox News hasn’t told you about it.

 

[zdreg]

Quote from nutmeg:

I have 3 kids with jobs. They get paid on Friday - broke by Monday.

Over different periods of time I have let them do what they want with their money or forced them to bank half of the paycheck. The results are the same - broke before the next check.

Whoever has money left in several days ends up being the banker to the other two till all three are broke and they all hit me up for a loan.

They run out of money and have their phones shut off, then suffer withdrawal like a bunch of crack heads.

I point out the money they made YTD and ask where it is and they look at me like I have 2 heads. "Why are you asking me that?"

your kids are right. they understand hyperinflation is coming.

 

[ashatet]

I am not totally disagreeing with you. I say that both get hurt, rich and poor. Remember that it is mostly poor that get the aid in printed money.

Quote from Sandybestdog:

What are you talking about? The poor are the ones most hurt by inflation. They spend 100% of their income, and everything they buy now costs more. They do not make more money to make up for it because wages never keep up with inflation. Plus, even if they did, they would have to pay payroll taxes on the increased wages which would decrease the amount they would use to buy the higher priced goods.

The rich on the other hand are perfectly hedged and in fact profit from inflation. They own real estate, stocks, and other investments that are the recipients of the higher prices. On top of that, they only pay 15% capital gains on this and they don’t have to pay that until it’s sold so it grows tax deferred.

There’s a reason the secretive bankers created a central bank, it benefits themselves and the rich. I mean isn’t it a great plan for them? They don’t worry about taking more money from the masses, they just create more of it and then keep it, thus devaluating the purchasing power of the masses.

 

[poyayan]

Quote from Sandybestdog:

Nothing against poyayan but if he/she can’t understand that debt is debt no matter who it’s owed to or what it’s used for, not much to talk about.

Sure debt is debt. Genius..