I wonder why people stay so broke

[Grayhead]

I have a man that works for me. He started out making $15 bucks an hour. He stayed broke and bummed money all the time. I was paying what I could afford and what he was worth at that time. Fast forward 1 1/2 years later. He's making $21 per hour. Still just as broke. It baffles me why people overspend their expenses each week. He rents and basically has the same bills. Also, his girlfriend works in the medical field doing ultrasounds.

I keep some rainy day money aside. I have learned since recovering from the recent depression we were in to save for such times. This cat makes close to 50gs a year. When I worked for someone else, I made much less and still made it.

He would come in on Monday and not have lunch money. I refused to loan him cash to teach him a lesson. I had other guys threatening to quit because of him doing this everyday.

Why do people on fixed incomes or lower class wages always smoke? Or have a better phone plan or cable package than I do?

 

[prlyles]

I have a man that works for me. He started out making $15 bucks an hour. He stayed broke and bummed money all the time. I was paying what I could afford and what he was worth at that time. Fast forward 1 1/2 years later. He's making $21 per hour. Still just as broke. It baffles me why people overspend their expenses each week. He rents and basically has the same bills. Also, his girlfriend works in the medical field doing ultrasounds.

I keep some rainy day money aside. I have learned since recovering from the recent depression we were in to save for such times. This cat makes close to 50gs a year. When I worked for someone else, I made much less and still made it.

He would come in on Monday and not have lunch money. I refused to loan him cash to teach him a lesson. I had other guys threatening to quit because of him doing this everyday.

Why do people on fixed incomes or lower class wages always smoke? Or have a better phone plan or cable package than I do?

Sadly, living within your means, is a concept few people understand today including our government

 

[chick_bleeds_carolina_blue]

I have a man that works for me. He started out making $15 bucks an hour. He stayed broke and bummed money all the time. I was paying what I could afford and what he was worth at that time. Fast forward 1 1/2 years later. He's making $21 per hour. Still just as broke. It baffles me why people overspend their expenses each week. He rents and basically has the same bills. Also, his girlfriend works in the medical field doing ultrasounds.

I keep some rainy day money aside. I have learned since recovering from the recent depression we were in to save for such times. This cat makes close to 50gs a year. When I worked for someone else, I made much less and still made it.

He would come in on Monday and not have lunch money. I refused to loan him cash to teach him a lesson. I had other guys threatening to quit because of him doing this everyday.

Why do people on fixed incomes or lower class wages always smoke? Or have a better phone plan or cable package than I do?

Wow! He should not be broke all the time! He has a nasty habit somewhere that costs him out the butt! I used to work in Radiology years ago and ultrasound techs back 20 years ago made easily $50K a year, and I believe now they are around 65-70K at hospitals (doctors offices are much less but probably around $25 an hour at least).So if they have two good incomes like that, I cannot imagine why they are broke. What kind of housing do they live in, as in renting a luxury apartment or something, lake house?

I have to say though, I make a decent amount myself and when things are steady with work and I work without taking time off (I am self employed essentially), I do fine. My Lexus is paid for, house paid for, so just have a bunch of silly bills, probably more than I need, honestly, with direct TV AND cable/internet, phones for me and the twins, regular utility bills, several insurances for cars, health, house, etc. I pay a boatload of taxes! (which I hate!) and if I take time off, I end up feeling a struggle for a few weeks. I cannot figure it out. I may buy too much at Sam's and other shopping though. My kids money me to death so I don't want to think how much they get out of me... I'd probably find the problem right there!

 

[Blue2010]

Devil's advocate...he may have a lot of debt racked up and even though he makes more, it all still goes against the debt. Could be one scenario.

 

[WhatTheHeel?]

I don't know what these people make/save, but in my area, I see a LOT of substandard houses with ATVs, boats, relatively new Mustangs/Camaros/heavily modified trucks, and other expensive "toys." I'd say in general we are a immediate gratification society. I suppose I'm guilty on occasion, but am fortunate to not be on the edge.

 

[JuleZ '02 HEEL]

Sh*t adds up.

I don't know about other people, but I can tell you what's absurd in my budget: childcare. It's more than my mortgage and car payment combined, and that's at one of the comparatively reasonable places in town. Our household income is modest, but we're doing ok; I don't know how people do it on lower incomes.

 

[Grayhead]

He rents a house for 1 grand a month. I know he has a truck payment of about 250 and she has a car payment. They have no health insurance. They basically live right at the poverty level. Nothing classy about their lives at all. Never buy new things. Always used stuff or collect junk and try to rebuild it(lawnmower or weedeaters for example)
He just had a baby at 43 years old. I told him that anytime he smoked a joint, drank a beer, or smoked a cigarette he was taking something away from his kid.
I really think he can't manage money. Most likely entertaining friends on the weekends.

 

[Blue2010]

I've seen and lived on both sides of the coin. In all seriousness, I have nothing but the utmost respect for people who truly came from nothing and created a successful life for themselves.

But just b/c you make more money, doesn't mean you all of a sudden can start saving. You could get a decent raise, and then the car breaks down...a medical bill pops up...anything. You have to either get extremely lucky to avoid the "unexpected expenses" and create a decent nest egg to cover for those when they arise, or you have to increase your salary drastically enough to not really notice those off-the-wall things.

It's way too easy to sit on the comfortable side here and say "why are they struggling" when you're not the one walking in their shoes (not directing this at the OP, just a generalization). I'm not talking about those who are using the money for drugs, alcohol, or toys...I'm talking about those who are truly fighting (and there are a lot of them we never hear about).

 

[Raising Heel]

My first job living on my own I barely made more than minimum wage. I didn't have a lavish lifestyle but I got by just fine and all my needs were taken care of. Sometimes I wonder: why don't I still live like that?

It's human nature. I'd be willing to bet the majority of Americans live right around their means.

 

[prlyles]

My first job living on my own I barely made more than minimum wage. I didn't have a lavish lifestyle but I got by just fine and all my needs were taken care of. Sometimes I wonder: why don't I still live like that?

It's human nature. I'd be willing to bet the majority of Americans live right around their means.

A wise man (my dad) once told me "It's not what you make it's what you KEEP".

 

[Grayhead]

I can see if the household was in real struggles. It just seems he has no areas of improvement in his life.
When i still worked by the hour, we lived within our budget. We did not over extend. Now that I make a much better living, I can "play" more. But I also know if things got tight again, I could always cut back. I have also made a policy to keep 1 year of living expenses in cash on hand at all times. Takes a while to get there, but that required discipline.

 

[TarHeelNation11]

I live right around my means......because of discretionary spending. Could I save a decent chunk more money by cutting some expenditures that I buy/indulge in purely because they bring my happiness? Yes, absolutely.

However, I never let it get to a point where I literally can't pay my bills.

 

[UNC '92]

 

[Blue2010]

I'll give you an example.

I attended UNC-Wilmington about 15 years ago. My mom worked 20-hour days to pay my full tuition. I never once asked for a single penny from her. I took the max course load allowed b/c I wanted to graduate as fast as I could so she would have less tuition to cover. I also worked two full time jobs at $7.25 per hour (the max I could find) to pay for rent, food, utilities, and cover the cost of school supplies / books. My day was: School started at 8am. I was at my first job by 3pm. Then I worked night audit for a hotel from 11pm thru 7am...then back to school. Most of my studying and homework was done around 3am or 4am...once my night audit work was finished and the place was dead. Luckily, the security guard "covered" for me so I could grab 1-2 hours of sleep.

And the truth of it -- I had to sit there looking at my bills and decide which was the more important one - power or water? My meals usually consisted of the dollar menu at Taco Bell when I could find 5 quarters to cover a burrito.

In my junior year, the night audit job bumped me up to a whopping $10 per hour. I thought it was going to be awesome to start living easier and save some. Then the mechanic at our job got drunk at work and hit my car in the parking lot -- completely ripped the front of the car apart and he drove off. He had no insurance and the hotel denied all responsibility. Obviously I could not afford legal advice so I had to pay for those repairs. The employee kept his job b/c (we all knew) he was a "fall guy" for something the owner got caught with years earlier.

So -- please do not act too self-righteous. Some people genuinely have real struggles. It's too easy to label them as druggies or partiers without knowing the context.

I'm VERY fortunate now and am in a place where I'll never live that way again, but it is flat out hard to break that barrier. I'm having to watch my younger brother fight this battle now...and he's someone who has never touched so much as a cigarette, much less anything else.

Sorry for the rant...this topic just hits home for me a little bit.

 

[Raising Heel]

I live right around my means......because of discretionary spending. Could I save a decent chunk more money by cutting some expenditures that I buy/indulge in purely because they bring my happiness? Yes, absolutely.

Exactly. Of course it's important to have savings for emergencies, but I don't want to be so focused on saving that I deny myself the events that make life worth living: football games, concerts, vacations, etc. I could die tomorrow for crying out loud.

 

[TarHeelNation11]

Exactly. Of course it's important to have savings for emergencies, but I don't want to be so focused on saving that I deny myself the events that make life worth living: football games, concerts, vacations, etc. I could die tomorrow for crying out loud.

Yep. I see the prudence in never spending on anything besides necessities, and sometimes I'll do that, but overall, certain things and opportunities present themselves and you just go for it, savings be damned.

 

[Grayhead]

Well, if this was some cat off the street, then it would not be in question. This dude has worked for me for several years. I'm just says he got a $6 per hour raise almost a year ago. He stays broke every week. They also get some kind of check for his girlfriends oldest son because of some kind of trama he witnessed as a kid. That's about $300 per month. If he was in school and working several jobs I could see. I even try and find him work for the weekends, and it's rare he takes it. We work 4 10's so he has time for side work. I really think he has a problem holding on to his money. He would be one to blow lottery winnings easily.

 

[heelbent]

My son will be a senior in college this fall. He works as a waiter and works in the school's admin offices part-time. He tutors, also. Dylan has always saved his money, and I mean every dime. He paid cash for a car when he turned 16 from saving birthday money, allowances and odd jobs he picked up. He is in school on an academic scholly and I send him a little each month to help out, but he has an apartment and just leased a 2016 Honda Civic. He manages his own money and never asks for a dime. Last week he went on a cruise to the Bahamas with 3 friends. I did send him some spending money so he could enjoy himself and buy a few things but other than that he paid for the trip.

His major is Finance. I think he chose the right field.

 

[chick_bleeds_carolina_blue]

Sh*t adds up.

I don't know about other people, but I can tell you what's absurd in my budget: childcare. It's more than my mortgage and car payment combined, and that's at one of the comparatively reasonable places in town. Our household income is modest, but we're doing ok; I don't know how people do it on lower incomes.

Thus the reason for some assistance for those WHO WORK AND TRY to make ends meet. But I forgot, most of y'all hate that! You don't like paying a mere 8% of your state taxes to help someone.... hehe, oops! forgot

 

[heelbent]

You don't like paying a mere 8% of your state taxes to help someone.... hehe, oops! forgot

IMO paying to help someone should be an individual choice...not mandated by the state. No one has a right to my money but me.

 

[chick_bleeds_carolina_blue]

Well, if this was some cat off the street, then it would not be in question. This dude has worked for me for several years. I'm just says he got a $6 per hour raise almost a year ago. He stays broke every week. They also get some kind of check for his girlfriends oldest son because of some kind of trama he witnessed as a kid. That's about $300 per month. If he was in school and working several jobs I could see. I even try and find him work for the weekends, and it's rare he takes it. We work 4 10's so he has time for side work. I really think he has a problem holding on to his money. He would be one to blow lottery winnings easily.

maybe he gambles it away. I have known a few to do that... take the paycheck straight to slot machines and blow it all in one day.

 

[chick_bleeds_carolina_blue]

IMO paying to help someone should be an individual choice...not mandated by the state. No one has a right to my money but me.

I assume you voluntarily pay taxes every year???? I don't like paying them either and would much rather take my money and give it to a charity than the government but since most of us, myself included, might slack off on doing things like that, we have it done through the tax system. I certainly hate the fact that most of my tax money is used to fight a war where people have to die but nothing I can do about it.

 

[heelbent]

I assume you voluntarily pay taxes every year???? I don't like paying them either and would much rather take my money and give it to a charity than the government but since most of us, myself included, might slack off on doing things like that, we have it done through the tax system. I certainly hate the fact that most of my tax money is used to fight a war where people have to die but nothing I can do about it.

No, I don't voluntarily pay taxes and that's my point.

 

[Blue2010]

As far as the giving part here -- I do not believe in giving blindly. We give to our church, and outside of that, a lot of times, if I know one of our employees is struggling or when I know my brother(s) are struggling...I'll do something like call up the utilities company and just pay their bill directly. I don't ever tell them who did it and ask the company to keep that quiet too. Getting credit means nothing to me - I genuinely just want to see people catch a break when they need one. But just blindly sending money to our government or some massive non-profit that pays it's exec team huge salaries...that just doesn't feel right, to me.

 

[prlyles]

Thus the reason for some assistance for those WHO WORK AND TRY to make ends meet. But I forgot, most of y'all hate that! You don't like paying a mere 8% of your state taxes to help someone.... hehe, oops! forgot

I have a girl that works part time here at the store and every few weeks she asks me to print out her payroll record for the year. She is scared to death she will make too much money and her Obamacare health insurance will go up. This is a 40 something married woman with no kids and her husband works part time also. Any program that encourages people to not work.is not set up correctly.

 

[BillyL]

My son will be a senior in college this fall. He works as a waiter and works in the school's admin offices part-time. He tutors, also. Dylan has always saved his money, and I mean every dime. He paid cash for a car when he turned 16 from saving birthday money, allowances and odd jobs he picked up. He is in school on an academic scholly and I send him a little each month to help out, but he has an apartment and just leased a 2016 Honda Civic. He manages his own money and never asks for a dime. Last week he went on a cruise to the Bahamas with 3 friends. I did send him some spending money so he could enjoy himself and buy a few things but other than that he paid for the trip.

His major is Finance. I think he chose the right field.

IIRC, your son is at UNC right . . ?

 

[gunslingerdick]

Sh*t adds up.

I don't know about other people, but I can tell you what's absurd in my budget: childcare. It's more than my mortgage and car payment combined, and that's at one of the comparatively reasonable places in town. Our household income is modest, but we're doing ok; I don't know how people do it on lower incomes.

Amen brother. My younger son is going to kindergarten this year. At a private school. And it's going to save us money. Yep, that's right. I paid more for my son's daycare over the past 4 years than I will for his private school education over the next 6 years. I was paying $170 per week to his daycare and I'll be paying roughly $1250 per month for two kids to go to school. Now, granted his daycare was the bees knees. It was an "early learning center" that had all kinds of accreditations and whatnot and I could have found somewhere cheaper. And private school cost goes up when they hit middle school. But it's still crazy to think that daycare cost is so high.

 

[HeelFan58]

I have a man that works for me. He started out making $15 bucks an hour. He stayed broke and bummed money all the time. I was paying what I could afford and what he was worth at that time. Fast forward 1 1/2 years later. He's making $21 per hour. Still just as broke. It baffles me why people overspend their expenses each week. He rents and basically has the same bills. Also, his girlfriend works in the medical field doing ultrasounds.

I keep some rainy day money aside. I have learned since recovering from the recent depression we were in to save for such times. This cat makes close to 50gs a year. When I worked for someone else, I made much less and still made it.

He would come in on Monday and not have lunch money. I refused to loan him cash to teach him a lesson. I had other guys threatening to quit because of him doing this everyday.

Why do people on fixed incomes or lower class wages always smoke? Or have a better phone plan or cable package than I do?

Could it be dranking(on purpose) and partying at clubs? That tends to get expensive.

 

[HeelFan58]

I have a girl that works part time here at the store and every few weeks she asks me to print out her payroll record for the year. She is scared to death she will make too much money and her Obamacare health insurance will go up. This is a 40 something married woman with no kids and her husband works part time also. Any program that encourages people to not work.is not set up correctly.

it's set up just the way the dems want it......it's all in the perception , it's a vote bought and paid for.

 

[Archer2]

The average American family is $132K in debt, with $15K of it in credit cards! In other words, we live in a debtor society and have for the last 40-50 years. Fifty years ago, the only time most people borrowed money was to buy a house or possibly a car. Everything else they saved for and paid cash. The advent of credit cards certainly hasn't helped people spend responsibly, nor has the era of instant gratification.

 

[Raising Heel]

I have a girl that works part time here at the store and every few weeks she asks me to print out her payroll record for the year. She is scared to death she will make too much money and her Obamacare health insurance will go up. This is a 40 something married woman with no kids and her husband works part time also. Any program that encourages people to not work.is not set up correctly.

If she and her husband were already working part-time voluntarily, it's not entirely accurate to say the program encourages them not to work. They were already doing that. She's just trying to game the system but your point remains. So many benefit programs are predicated on income level so there is a disincentive to work. It's bizarre.

 

[Raising Heel]

The advent of credit cards certainly hasn't helped people spend responsibly, nor has the era of instant gratification.

Absolutely. I would add to that "keeping up with the Joneses" and the constant bombardment of advertising to which we're exposed. Recipe for disaster if you lack financial discipline.

 

[Grayhead]

My brother managed to gain disability from the military. He was in the coast guard. Never saw action. He did a tour in Bahrain guarding oil rigs in the gulf. He managed to get $2400 per month for PTSD. Just as he was starting the process, he was arrested for 7 felonies. Managed to get out of those because one of the cops who arrested him was sleeping with a minor and got caught.
He is no more disabled than I am. He has a girlfriend who is very able to work but does little to contribute to his house hold. He calls me all the time to borrow money. I won't do it. If he needs, I will buy groceries, but only so many times before I cut that out. I hate what society has turned into. He held a security clearance before all this happened.
I've had to sweat for everything I own. I paid more in taxes last year than what I made the year before. I give plenty to my church and to those who I know are in need in my community. I just can't see handing my.hard earned money to people who refuse to take care of it.

We helped a family in our church, only to see them that next day taking 6 people out to eat at a Chinese restaurant. That kind of stuff drives me nuts

 

[heelbent]

IIRC, your son is at UNC right . . ?

ECU. He graduates this December.

 

[strummingram]

Grayhead, you know some interesting folks!

 

[jerryusc]

I'll give you an example.

I attended UNC-Wilmington about 15 years ago. My mom worked 20-hour days to pay my full tuition. I never once asked for a single penny from her. I took the max course load allowed b/c I wanted to graduate as fast as I could so she would have less tuition to cover. I also worked two full time jobs at $7.25 per hour (the max I could find) to pay for rent, food, utilities, and cover the cost of school supplies / books. My day was: School started at 8am. I was at my first job by 3pm. Then I worked night audit for a hotel from 11pm thru 7am...then back to school. Most of my studying and homework was done around 3am or 4am...once my night audit work was finished and the place was dead. Luckily, the security guard "covered" for me so I could grab 1-2 hours of sleep.

And the truth of it -- I had to sit there looking at my bills and decide which was the more important one - power or water? My meals usually consisted of the dollar menu at Taco Bell when I could find 5 quarters to cover a burrito.

In my junior year, the night audit job bumped me up to a whopping $10 per hour. I thought it was going to be awesome to start living easier and save some. Then the mechanic at our job got drunk at work and hit my car in the parking lot -- completely ripped the front of the car apart and he drove off. He had no insurance and the hotel denied all responsibility. Obviously I could not afford legal advice so I had to pay for those repairs. The employee kept his job b/c (we all knew) he was a "fall guy" for something the owner got caught with years earlier.

So -- please do not act too self-righteous. Some people genuinely have real struggles. It's too easy to label them as druggies or partiers without knowing the context.

I'm VERY fortunate now and am in a place where I'll never live that way again, but it is flat out hard to break that barrier. I'm having to watch my younger brother fight this battle now...and he's someone who has never touched so much as a cigarette, much less anything else.

Sorry for the rant...this topic just hits home for me a little bit.

Hope you aren't exaggerating. If not, that is really impressive and I couldn't have done it.

Why do people on fixed incomes or lower class wages always smoke? Or have a better phone plan or cable package than I do?

We hired some people to work on our house and they, of course, were not well off but almost everyone of them smoked.

 

[HeelFan58]

My brother managed to gain disability from the military. He was in the coast guard. Never saw action. He did a tour in Bahrain guarding oil rigs in the gulf. He managed to get $2400 per month for PTSD. Just as he was starting the process, he was arrested for 7 felonies. Managed to get out of those because one of the cops who arrested him was sleeping with a minor and got caught.
He is no more disabled than I am. He has a girlfriend who is very able to work but does little to contribute to his house hold. He calls me all the time to borrow money. I won't do it. If he needs, I will buy groceries, but only so many times before I cut that out. I hate what society has turned into. He held a security clearance before all this happened.
I've had to sweat for everything I own. I paid more in taxes last year than what I made the year before. I give plenty to my church and to those who I know are in need in my community. I just can't see handing my.hard earned money to people who refuse to take care of it.

We helped a family in our church, only to see them that next day taking 6 people out to eat at a Chinese restaurant. That kind of stuff drives me nuts

That's kind of like the guy who ran into his Baptist preacher and the preacher asked him why he hadn't been at church in so long? The man told the preacher he had been kind of down on his luck and was ashamed to show up in his "old" suit. Well the preacher promptly takes him out and purchases him a new suit. The next Sunday the man still doesn't show up for church. The preacher sees him later in the week and says brother I got you a new suit and you still didn't come to church. The man says preacher I felt so prosperous that I went to the Episcopal church on Sunday.

 

[JuleZ '02 HEEL]

Amen brother. My younger son is going to kindergarten this year. At a private school. And it's going to save us money. Yep, that's right. I paid more for my son's daycare over the past 4 years than I will for his private school education over the next 6 years. I was paying $170 per week to his daycare and I'll be paying roughly $1250 per month for two kids to go to school. Now, granted his daycare was the bees knees. It was an "early learning center" that had all kinds of accreditations and whatnot and I could have found somewhere cheaper. And private school cost goes up when they hit middle school. But it's still crazy to think that daycare cost is so high.

I'll send mine to public school and get a boat. If they behave they can sail with me on the weekends. First one'll be starting kindergarten in three more years!

 

[strummingram]

I'll send mine to public school and get a boat. If they behave they can sail with me on the weekends. First one'll be starting kindergarten in three more years!

How is Bella?

 

[JuleZ '02 HEEL]

How is Bella?

*Belle. Thanks for asking. She's amazing. Kid is really sharp, and hilarious. We're also grateful that she's sweet to her baby sister.