3 sad signs that you are middle class and always will be

1) You invest in bitcoin

2) you can't ever afford to buy a home anywhere that's nice (eg San Francisco, Boulder, Seattle)

3) you don't know what an IRA or Roth IRA is and the differences

That's Me wrote:

1.) Absolutely...last two cars I got 0% interest. I'd be a fool to tie up my money in the car at that rate.

2.) Yes! I've got money, but it doesn't mean that I don't like my weekends. My free time is more fun than my job.

3.) Why not...people throw free things at me, I don't turn them down!

1) This is how it works in the UK. Full price of car £20k available at 0% interest.

Same car will be discounted down to at least £18k for a cash buyer. Do you really think they are lending you money for nothing!

Some more select cars like Porsche you cannot get discount on. They are also not available on 0%

Pretty sure it works the same way in US.

Plus only a mug or rich man buys new. 2 years old you can get down as low as 50% off. Even few weeks old car will discounted 10%

Kemnend wrote:

1) You invest in bitcoin

2) you can't ever afford to buy a home anywhere that's nice (eg San Francisco, Boulder, Seattle)

3) you don't know what an IRA or Roth IRA is and the differences

Irish Republic Army. Bam, I got number three.

Lol, Alex Jones has a lot of listeners too.

You need to read those offers better. 1.25% actual gift cards back was the best one I could find. The others all claim to be higher, but in the fine print are either only on travel expense, or food, or some limitation like that. Or they have an annual fee.

verty wrote:

maffeboner wrote:

you buy a home on less than 20% down payment

you don't max out your 401K

you have an emergency fund, and think that's all you need

you validate your minimal net worth by your ridiculous obsession with travel

you don't pay for your kids college

your wife is involved in an MLM scam

Wealthy people don't need a 401K. If most of your income comes from your salary you are middle class.

that's only true of old money and the one-off entrepreneur. from senior managers making 500K to execs making 5 mil: they all are W2 employees and they all have 401Ks.

That's Me wrote:

1.) Absolutely...last two cars I got 0% interest. I'd be a fool to tie up my money in the car at that rate.

2.) Yes! I've got money, but it doesn't mean that I don't like my weekends. My free time is more fun than my job.

3.) Why not...people throw free things at me, I don't turn them down!

This ∆

1. My cars are all paid off. The newest is 14 years old, the other two are 45 years and 51 years old.

2. I enjoy Friday's because I can get the hell out of town for a couple days. Their drinks are ok but their food blows.

3. Have one cc but don't use it unless absolutely necessary. No points, no rewards. I pay cash whenever possible.

ETA - Have a 12 mil dollar trust but my 5k and "'thon" times are severely lacking.

Of course it works the EXACT SAME WAY in the US. Nobody gives you money for free but some of these dummies haven't yet figured that out.

I'd rather be living on the street with a bottle of cheap wine in a paper bag than be the OP. I promise you I'd be happier.

Dave Ramsey wrote:

1. You have a car payment and think that's normal

2. You live from Thank-God-It's-Friday to Oh-God-It's-Monday

3. You use a credit card to get "points" and "miles" (haha, so cute!)

Any more?

My parents were poor

Kemnend wrote:

1) You invest in bitcoin

2) you can't ever afford to buy a home anywhere that's nice (eg San Francisco, Boulder, Seattle)

3) you don't know what an IRA or Roth IRA is and the differences

Boulder and Seattle aren’t that nice. Rich people don’t have much use for IRAs. What’s retirement if you’ve truly never had a job? Kemnend is forever middle class for sure.

Old EA guy wrote:

You need to read those offers better. 1.25% actual gift cards back was the best one I could find. The others all claim to be higher, but in the fine print are either only on travel expense, or food, or some limitation like that. Or they have an annual fee.

You didn't look very hard.

Chase Freedom Unlimited: 1.5% on everything with no annual fee.

maffeboner wrote:

verty wrote:

Wealthy people don't need a 401K. If most of your income comes from your salary you are middle class.

that's only true of old money and the one-off entrepreneur. from senior managers making 500K to execs making 5 mil: they all are W2 employees and they all have 401Ks.

Have you ever heard of a pass through entity? Maffeboner is....MIDDLE CLASS

Dave Ramsey wrote:

Dave Ramsey wrote:

Your debit card has the exact. same. fraud protections as a credit card. Do some research!

By the way, you can check the "credit" button when you do a debit card transaction. Permanently middle class people don't even know this!

No, your debit card doesn't have the same fraud protections. I did do the research. Much of a credit cards fraud prevention is mandated by law.

My credit card has a max loss of $50 dollars. The credit card company will call me if there are suspicious purchases. If there is fraud I'm not out any money. No money is withdrawn from my account for a purchase. I control that via making payments (which I pay the full balance every month)

My debit card does not have a 50 dollar max loss. They don't call about suspicious purchases. If my account is compromised and used money is taken out of my checking account. Sure I will eventually get it back but initially it is gone. I actually asked my Credit union about this and they said for fraud they would work to get the money back in my account within a week or so.

So no a debit card and credit card are not close to being equal. Simple googling will support show you this.

ukathleticscoach wrote:

1) This is how it works in the UK. Full price of car £20k available at 0% interest.

Same car will be discounted down to at least £18k for a cash buyer. Do you really think they are lending you money for nothing!

Some more select cars like Porsche you cannot get discount on. They are also not available on 0%

Pretty sure it works the same way in US.

Plus only a mug or rich man buys new. 2 years old you can get down as low as 50% off. Even few weeks old car will discounted 10%

Well, that's not how it works in the US.

The dealer that sells the car does not lend money to the buyer.

The dealer works off of the sales price and financing is generally not a factor.

Once the buyer agrees to a price, they can write a check, give a wad of cash or get a loan from their own bank to pay the dealer.

Now, a dealer that offers 0% financing gets money from a financing company affiliated with the auto company.

Yes, there is a cost to that financing but that is put into their overall marketing budget or cost of doing business.

It doesn't change the profit margin on a per car basis.

Meaning, if they agree to sell it for 20k, they will take any payment and you don't get a better deal by offering cash.

That's a volume decision. If there were more cash buyers, they'd offer a cash discount. But not for a one-off cash offer.

That's similar to how a retail store will not offer a cash discount even though it costs them a fee to take a credit card payment. Volume and convenience.

All of the things I want money can’t buy.

Otq? Can’t buy that.

Happy marriage?

Old EA guy wrote:

You need to read those offers better. 1.25% actual gift cards back was the best one I could find. The others all claim to be higher, but in the fine print are either only on travel expense, or food, or some limitation like that. Or they have an annual fee.

My capital one is 2%. Even with a $60 fee it blows away 1.2% when my average bill is $5-7k a month. And the limitation is Travel but I vacation several times a year so it’s not a big burden. As other mentioned 1.5% fee free isn’t hard to find and you just credit it against your bill. Its worth hundreds of dollars a year at least.

If I was wealthy there's no way I would post on LR...or be a runner for that matter. Wealthy people might fun run for a lark or publicity/charity, but there's many more fun things for the rich to do.