At what age should you no longer be living paycheck to paycheck?

Until the day you die! If you are a GOOD CITIZEN and love capitalism more than Jesus, then you should always be CONSUMING, SPENDING, and BUYING! That is GOOD for the job creators and the investor class. It is right and pure. To do any less is TREASON against the very nation and ideals that made your lifestyle possible.

You do love AMERICA and CAPITALISM, don't you?

Make your two trips only 2 weeks each = winning.

This. As Jack Handy said:

When I die, I want people to say "that guy sure owed me a lot of money."

Jecht - you are absolutely right about cars. I remember mentioning I bought a low mileage Lincoln SUV, and was derided on the these boards (accurately, it appears, so I am not defensive about it) for buying an old guys car. But since younger people don't buy them, it was lower in price than a like equipped Ford - as in 7 percent lower. I did have to go 50 miles to get it, but it was just off lease and only had 20k miles with no accidents, etc. I paid cash just as with my wife's Honda SUV, which frankly is incredibly reliable. I am no great car buyer and did not negotiate the price - just thought it a good deal. There are things I don't really like about it - it has the larger turbo engine and it lags when accelerating a bit. But hardly a big issue. Car payments simply should be avoided if possible (not realistic for most at first, but over time, it is a reachable goal). Car payments are a killer to investing and saving. By the way, on a whim I put 500 bucks a month in Wealthfront, opting for a safe investment choice on their 1-10 risk scale (5). That is my car fund, but since I put so little mileage on my cars, it may end up being another retirement supplement. Not a recommendation for Wealthfront - their investment choices are numerous and thank goodness they automatically feed into Turbotax or I would be typing in 20 pages of data - but they just make it easy to set up a supplemental car fund or supplemental fund (e.g. vacations, school fund, and so on). And this is no Dave Ramsey thing - I heard a Wall Street Journal speaker in 2010 tell us never spend more than 25k on a car. Adjust for today, my guess is that is 35k. Some good ideas just stick.

THE SYSTEM - I was poor (very poor) and on my own since age 17 - completely. One thing I avoided was having large and emotional opinions about the economic system. I mean, but for the accident of birth I could be in a place like Belarus or Syria with scant opportunities. I just adopted modest strategies to survive. And ended up doing more than just surviving. I do think that there is too much materialism in this country but that doesn't let anyone off the hook from making sound decisions. I belonged to a union - the Teamsters - and was a trader for a commodities company which was the largest United Food and Commercial Workers union in the industry. I worked in some of the toughest factories in the nation, although don't let me fool you - I didn't do the line work and was there to glean quantitative data. But make no mistake - my respect for working class people is immense and the decline of private sector unions has definitely hurt the middle class. Big grand opinions don't really help, and clinging to them doesn't advance the handling of reality. One of the odd things I found about progressives when I was the law review editor at a top law school was how much they resented me. They couldn't go off on some narrative about working class people because as elites they had no idea what working class people did or the way in which they made decisions. They didn't like their narrative interrupted (which I really didn't do often - I just raised eyebrows at the emotionally laden large opinions) and did not like opposing points of view, even if not really political. The elite class (and it exists in both parties) does not look out for the interest of working people.

One thing I am both nervous and to a degree anxious about is the fairly clear pattern of de-globalization which is occurring, largely due to a shift in China's place in the world's supply chain. We have a chance to localize and energize manufacturing and logistics in this country again - no doubt with some fear of inflation - and it is my hope that working class people prosper. Certainly more practical than railing against the system.

Why would you judge someone less fortunate than you are

Could you define paycheck to paycheck?

My general expenses are about 40% of my income and I invest/save a lot of what remains. I could survive about a year without a job, but that's assuming there aren't any major financial hang ups. I'm 35. I wasn't in this situation until I was about 31. Most of it was just because I was a little irresponsible and didn't make much effort to save money.

Y'all get a paycheck?

Practically speaking, your first job after college (or trade school or w/e). With roommates, you can get by just fine at an entry level career occupation and have money to save towards retirement, emergency savings, student debt repayment, etc.

This all assumes you have an education, no kids, and don't live alone. Eventually you will need to progress in your career in order to afford kids and have money left over.

If you're single with kids and no education, unfortunately you are statistically doomed and probably already getting government assistance just to survive. I have empathy for these people.

The answer to the question is as soon as you start working full-time out of high school you should already be able to put a little bit of money aside and afford your own place. Within about 3 years after that you should be able to be married and raise a few kids on one workers income in the household.

That's the way things should be

But they're not.

And there are just certain negative things in this economic system that are completely out of the hands of working people.

It's been rigged the other way.

Heads should roll

Yea the GOP is dumb. However, the democrat party is just as pro corporate for different reasons. Specifically, woke capital. When you cant get your social agenda passed in congress, you use corporate tyranny over employees and customers to push narratives and policies. The lib favorite "Terms of service". And the even more popular "It's a private business, they can do what they want" which has been a recent rallying cry of the democrats moreso than the GOP. If the ESG score is up, the Dems aren't going to go after corporations

This. Democrats abandoned the working class starting with Clinton. Of course, Republicans never cared in the first place. Now neither party really cares.

This is true

Incredible post, no sarcasm. I was adopted from the PI (a poor country) by American parents who taught me the value of hard work and getting an education. Despite some career missteps I'm finally where I need to be. Your take is rock-solid, as BOTH parties don't care about us.

There was an economic model in the 1930s that made working class people become more secure and treated fairer than any other time or place.

It wasn't in America and it wasn't Russia.

They've been smeared by the ruling class in America because the ruling class doesn't want you to know about that.

I think the norm around the world is still very much about survival. Most governments know exactly how much money they can extract from the populace and still remain in their good graces, and is usually just this side of revolt.

I've lived on one pension for 11 years then collected another pension at 60. Don't have a lot saved because i'm good with my 2 pensions. When i have extra money i give it to my son, he just bought a house last year. I'm no hippy dippy leftist. It's just that i have enough to be comfortable and that's ok for me.

If you have a wife you will always be living paycheck to paycheck.

Dat be da TRUTH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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