How do you afford life?

Times are rough these days if you only bring in income to barely scrape by. Cost of living expenses are going up, but what I think is really hurting some Americans is the ridiculous housing market and cost associated with homeownership or even renting in certain parts of the country. I lived in Hawaii and California my entire life and see how unaffordable it has become for many folks out here, especially young growing families. I agree that the income to housing cost ratio use to be much lower back in the day regardless of interest rates being much higher back then. After the huge housing crash in 2010 I would have never thought home prices would go up as quickly as it has especially right about 2013 when it starting rising up quickly again.

I think it helps to have dual income and work hard to better yourselves to drive up your income on top of budgeting. I have a lot of friends that really made sacrifices, mostly going back to school into a good field some of them increasing their household income significantly. Really proud of them for sticking it through and stepping up. Then again I have friends that make decent money, but due to their location struggle or almost have no hope buying a home with the way the current market is.
 
Grassshoppa said:
I don't get it. I remember in the 90's...

  • A brand new Ninja style 750 or so street bike cost about $7,500.
  • A brand new Chevy Z71 truck cost about $25,000.
  • A brand new really nice house with a good yard... depends on the state but maybe $350,000?
But now a new street bike can cost you $13,000. A new truck can cost near $60,000 or more. That's like the price of a condo from the 90's. But yet, I don't see wages and raises keeping up with the cost of things. A new truck costs $60,000 but I think a person is really lucky to be making $100,000/year.

How the heck do people afford all this crap these days? What about in another 20 years when a new Ford Raptor costs $100,000 but people's wages are the same.

/rant
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It’s not easy, but nothing in life worth having is.

I saved money and bought a crappy place in 2001 (Utah). Sold it a few years later, used the money I made to put a down payment on a nice house in Seabrook (near Houston). $170k.

Poeple love to rip on Houston, but there’s lots of work and housing is reasonable. Your money goes farther here. The weather may suck in the summer, but I love the rest of the year here. If I ever need to (or want to) move to a city with higher home costs I can, because I have enough equity to afford a good down payment and not get crushed with pmi.

I have never bought a brand new vehicle. It’s a fucking rip off. The sweet spot for buying a vehicle is 2-3 years old, 25,000-50,000 miles. The factory warranty still applies and you can buy an extended warranty cheap. Here’s the vehicles ive bought over the last 15 years.

2004 - 2001 Jeep Wrangler w/lift, tires, etc. 25k miles - $16,000 - Sold for $13,000 in 2009.
2010 - 2008 Expedition - 31k miles - $27,000
2011 - 2009 Chevy 1500 4dr - 22k miles - $21,000
2016 - 2012 Jeep JKU Wrangler w/lift, etc - $19,000

It’s not easy. There were roommates and other creative living situations in my 20’s. In my early 30’s, I finally got the promotion that allowed me to spend a little without stressing about paying the bills.

People think they need the best of everything, when in fact they don’t. I drove a shitty Honda Civic for years. It worked and that’s all I needed. People want to live in the best areas, but don’t want to put in their dues.

I think entitled is the proper description.
 
Clippy said:
I whore myself out for cheeseburgers
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I knew this was you:
VagueRareAustraliancattledog-max-1mb.gif
 
syct23 said:
Economics class was destroyed ITT..

"Hey guys, remember when whoring yourself out for a cheeseburger used to cost a nickel..

"Why so much now days?
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More people need to take economics classes, and not the shit in high school where they have you watch grapes of wrath all semester, nor the shit where you bake stuff.

Although, the problem with that is even the people who take just intro to microeconomics and intro to macroeconomics come away from it thinking no regulation is the best way to run the universe, completely forgetting that all the models they show you exist in a vacuum and assume perfect competition.

Everyone should major in economics I guess.
 
Scerpi said:
It’s not easy, but nothing in life worth having is.

I saved money and bought a crappy place in 2001 (Utah). Sold it a few years later, used the money I made to put a down payment on a nice house in Seabrook (near Houston). $170k.

Poeple love to rip on Houston, but there’s lots of work and housing is reasonable. Your money goes farther here. The weather may suck in the summer, but I love the rest of the year here. If I ever need to (or want to) move to a city with higher home costs I can, because I have enough equity to afford a good down payment and not get crushed with pmi.

I have never bought a brand new vehicle. It’s a fucking rip off. The sweet spot for buying a vehicle is 2-3 years old, 25,000-50,000 miles. The factory warranty still applies and you can buy an extended warranty cheap. Here’s the vehicles ive bought over the last 15 years.

2004 - 2001 Jeep Wrangler w/lift, tires, etc. 25k miles - $16,000 - Sold for $13,000 in 2009.
2010 - 2008 Expedition - 31k miles - $27,000
2011 - 2009 Chevy 1500 4dr - 22k miles - $21,000
2016 - 2012 Jeep JKU Wrangler w/lift, etc - $19,000

It’s not easy. There were roommates and other creative living situations in my 20’s. In my early 30’s, I finally got the promotion that allowed me to spend a little without stressing about paying the bills.

People think they need the best of everything, when in fact they don’t. I drove a shitty Honda Civic for years. It worked and that’s all I needed. People want to live in the best areas, but don’t want to put in their dues.

I think entitled is the proper description.
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the only thing i won't cut corners on is living in a nicer area. Living in a shitty area trickles down to every aspect of life. It will suck the life out of you.

Dumbest thing i see people do is argue that owning is better than renting and they end up owning in a shitty area, while being bogged down by the liabilities of ownership.

I had numerous people laugh at me for fixing up two places that I rented. First of all, I had to live there. Second, I happened to get very affordable rent in two very nice areas.
 
therealdope said:
the only thing i won't cut corners on is living in a nicer area. Living in a shitty area trickles down to every aspect of life. It will suck the life out of you.

Dumbest thing i see people do is argue that owning is better than renting and they end up owning in a shitty area, while being bogged down by the liabilities of ownership.

I had numerous people laugh at me for fixing up two places that I rented. First of all, I had to live there. Second, I happened to get very affordable rent in two very nice areas.
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Agree. You can tell a lot about a person when you first walk into their place.

I’ve lived in some crappy complexes, but there’s reason to live like a complete slob and not take care of your place.
 
therealdope said:
the only thing i won't cut corners on is living in a nicer area. Living in a shitty area trickles down to every aspect of life. It will suck the life out of you.

Dumbest thing i see people do is argue that owning is better than renting and they end up owning in a shitty area, while being bogged down by the liabilities of ownership.

I had numerous people laugh at me for fixing up two places that I rented. First of all, I had to live there. Second, I happened to get very affordable rent in two very nice areas.
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Only poor people and vagabonds rent.
 
drstrangelov said:
Well, I make a lot more than 100k per year, so the cost isn't really an issue. Sometimes I doubt if it's really worth the trouble, though. If I could pull in 50k a year doing an easy job,keep my wife at home, white picket fence and a new ford every 5 years, would I be happier? I figure it's a case of the grass always being greener on the side of the fence, though.
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I'm seriously considering taking a step back so I don't miss out on my kids growing up
 
ralphc1 said:
http://www.ushistory.org/us/59b.asp

It was hotly debated between the Reagan camp and the George H W Bush and /john Anderson in the Republican primaries before the 1980 election. Bush was constantly calling Reagan's plan "Trickle Down Economics". All it did was about triple the national debt.
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No he never called it trickle down economics ever. Post proof of it. No one ever ran on that platform. Ever. Now,
Reagan (as well as JFK) cut taxes across the board. They have never only gave cuts to the rich and no one else.


Right here, a high level economist dropping knowledge.
 
get an education

get a job and work hard at it, promote if possible

don't get fired

save your goddamn money

buy a place, even a little place (show some intelligence here, is it an area likely to appreciate in value?)

sell it after a while and buy a bigger place in a nicer area

don't get side tracked by money grubbing bimbos or slacker friends

mortgage interest is a great write off tax time, build equity in your home

if one job isn't enough, get another one or work lots of OT at your main one

bottom line: doing just these few things should result in financial success and stability after some YEARS.

I'm on my sixth home, this one in a really great area, valued at probably $1.5 million.

My investment portfolio is close to $650K and I have no outstanding debt, other than my mortgage.

If I can do it, so can you.

/speech
 
People spend a lot more on stuff that wasn’t even around in the old days.

As I get older regular household expenses seem to grow at a crazy rate.

Let’s look at a few things.

1. Cell phones, this didn’t use to exist now some families pay 200+ a month in cell phone bills

2. Cable, same here didn’t use to exist. Some families pay 250+ a month (my house is one. Fast internet, home phone , security and 3 cable boxes with hd/dvr 256.00 a month)

3. Netflix/video game services Hulu etc, again something that didn’t exist, we have Netflix it’s like 15.00 a month plus two Xbox live accounts, 20.00 and some change total a month. So just this equals the old family expense of just a house phone.
 
astrozician said:
I'll try to sum it up:

1) Stop caring what other people have
2) Stop thinking you need to impress people with what you have
3) Provide a product or service for which people will want to pay you for; the more the merrier
4) Spend less than what you make
5) Invest what you can ; Roth IRA recommended
6) Use credit as sparingly as possible
7) Learn to do as much on your own
8) Keep some cash on hand for emergencies

It's not brain surgery.
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TestosterOWN said:
Pretty sure majority of people are in a huge amount of debt.
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Rich dad, poor dad. Dave Ramsey podcast. Seriously, folks, make efforts to get out of debt. You really dont need all the things you are buying. And this is coming from a gadget whore who loves buying things on credit. Get on a budget. Make a plan to get out of debt. Stop spending so much. One thing that helps me is cooking meals instead of eating out for lunch. My coworkers like my meals so much they pay me to cook lunch for them. Debt free in 2018, gents, lets do it!
 
ralphc1 said:
If you haven't cashed out, you haven't gotten any return.
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Tell that to the guy who can't find the bigger fool to buy his overinflated shit. My shit's widely traded and very liquid.
 
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