RE: REPORT: Nearly half of Americans are living paycheck to paycheck

jamin wrote:

rib nerd wrote:

This is spot on. Just about every material purchase these days turns into some kind of status symbol. You have people that can't live without the best phone, 50k dollar cars, etc.

People in every nation flaunt their wealth. Go to China and see the kind of swag the business owners have in their suits and Mercedes. Or Dubai, for Pete's sake.

The thing about America is that people flaunt wealth that they don't even have. That's what we get for easy credit and not being taught financial discipline from our parents.

This is so true. My parents struggle pay check to pay check like most americans. Meanwhile, my friend makes 20k less a year but he has no debt and is smarter with his money and is actually able to save 10k a year. The way he explains it is "just don't buy crap you don't need, like a samurai sword is pretty cool but I'm not going to go buy a samurai sword; and if you want something always pay in cash for it and if you can't afford it in cash wait til you have enough money saved up to buy it in cash."

Your friend is smart and doing things the right way. You dont need to go around trying to keep up or impress others. Live within your means and dont buy a bunch of crap you dont need. And yes get to a point where you have zero debt, save your money and pay cash. No better way to live. The simple things in life are just as enjoyable as the lastest big ticket item. If more people would just understand this concept they'ld be alot better off.

People should do whatever they want to do.

There is no right way of doing things.

If their recklessness affects you, that's one thing.

Otherwise, just do your own thing.

agip wrote:

I read somewhere that a third of the nation spends more on tech and entertainment than food. in other words, they make massive amounts of optional purchases.

Well, to be fair, feeding a human beyond excess is the cheapest it has ever been in the history of the world.

here wrote:

People should do whatever they want to do.

There is no right way of doing things.

If their recklessness affects you, that's one thing.

Otherwise, just do your own thing.

Their recklessness leads to a bunch of tin-panners voting in the party that wants to redistribute wealth from those who live responsibly to those who don't. They deserve to be caned and scorned.

jamin wrote:

You can only consume enough if you produce enough. Production doesn't necessarily have to be material, though. An Android engineer working remotely from India is producing something.

Just using Zimbabwe as an easy example there are a lot of structural reasons that Americans and others take completely for granted why there aren't a lot of Zimbabwean engineers out there producing software:

1. Poor access to education, like a computer science or business degree that would help you program your app and commercialize it

2. Poor access to telecommunications infrastructure to develop and sell your product worldwide

3. Lack of stable currency and banking instutitions to store your money and conduct secure transactions

4. Closely related to 3., lack of credit and capital finance to grow your business

5. No reliable legal system to defend your creative property and enforce your business contracts with others

6. Corrupt, confiscatory government with periodic civil unrest

Tadpole wrote:

Your friend is smart and doing things the right way. You dont need to go around trying to keep up or impress others. Live within your means and dont buy a bunch of crap you dont need. And yes get to a point where you have zero debt, save your money and pay cash. No better way to live. The simple things in life are just as enjoyable as the lastest big ticket item. If more people would just understand this concept they'ld be alot better off.

Yep, I go to my friend for financial advice, not my parents. He wasn't the smartest in school but he thanks video games to how he's managing well. The way he puts it "I like video games because I like seeing numbers go up, so I save money to see my numbers go up; and in a video game you can't buy something without enough money so I approach things that way in real life."