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Baja Mofufu posted:I've seen so many bad money moves since grad school, it boggles the mind that these are supposed to be the smart people. Particularly in my cohort, there were four couples who just had to keep up with each other and now all of them are pretty screwed financially... That is so pathetic. What is your field? My friends are always trying to get me to buy this, upgrade that, because "they would if they made my salary". Sorry, but I have retirement fund, mortgage payment, general savings, and the constant flow of expenses that never ends. I have a corolla with only 80k miles but had to drop $950 in it yesterday for a clipped mirror and steering wheel issue. Many people assume that they can get by with an empty bank account, and then get in credit card debt when something expensive happens. I think one thing that's changed in America is that many young people refuse to accept being poor. They get expensive, questionable degrees and take jobs that pay little, then blow everything they earn on expensive clothes, organic groceries from whole foods, restaurants, etc. if they can't have the best, then it's not worth living. I don't have any money issues but I still buy cheap, cook my own meals, budget, save, etc. because there is no reason to spend more. I'm going to drive my beat to hell corolla until it dies and never have a car payment, gently caress buying the BMW.
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Jul 3, 2013 02:22
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Extreme frugality: my uncle is a wealthy man, no kids, he and his wife are successful, live on the Puget Sound, drives a Porsche, etc. But he has moments of extreme frugality that are either insane or brilliant. For the latest example, he decided he hated paying the fee to park at the airport, and he didn't want to pay for a taxi. So he got in his beater Corolla, drove a mile away from the airport, parked on the shoulder, and put a FOR SALE sign on his car. Then he walked the mile to the airport entrance. He left his real number because he was curious about the response, and he wound up getting calls all week. I guess he saved $150 but he risked getting his car towed. The car was fine when he came back.
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Jul 15, 2013 22:19
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My brother is not so smart with money. He worked as a software developer at a non-tech company in NYC, making decent money but nothing spectacular. The place was so poorly managed that over the 4 years he worked there, he maneuvered his position to be in a department where he was the only engineer, arranged his schedule so that he came in at 11, left at 4, skipped coming in at all on Thursdays, and barely produced any code. Then a major major shakeup happens because the company's stock is performing so poorly (no surprise). Most of the management is fired, and a new CTO is brought in. My brother has to give a presentation to the CTO where he explains what he does at the company, which apparently doesn't impress the new CTO, who tells him he's going to be reassigned to the engineering department. This makes my brother very unhappy, because it looks like he will have to actually work now. So in a later meeting the same day, my brother bad-mouths the CTO to a bunch of people, calling him a dipshit dumbass, etc. It gets back to the new CTO, who fires him. Next, he tries to get a job at one of those code academy things as an instructor. He makes it through many rounds of interviews, and they decide to hire him(!!). This particular code academy turns out to be a wholly-owned subsidiary of his former employer, and the new CTO hears that my brother is trying to work there, so he calls the company directly and tells them bad things about my brother. They rescind their offer letter. At this point, he has about 20k in savings, and then receives a pension buy-out from his former company for 10k. Because he has barely any friends and does nothing except play video games, he is able to live just outside of Manhattan for $1k a month (or so he says). He then decides to found his own video game company, because that's his 'true passion'. He spends a year working on his 'game', which is a Twitch-plays-Pokemon copycat for a different semi-popular game. A month ago he finally launches it, and has about 10 people logged on at any given moment. He considers this proof of his success, and passes out business cards saying he's CEO of his own game company, that he's living the dream, etc. He's down to about 10k in savings, and because of his work history and personality I think it's going to be very difficult to find a job. My poor mother has bailed him out of many fiascos in his life (failing out of college, paying his rent, giving him food money) and I'm deeply concerned that she is going to be bankrolling his video game business in a few months. I've convinced her not to pay his rent when he inevitably goes broke, but it's difficult to make her see what a total loser he is, and how his problems are completely his own fault.
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Apr 11, 2015 21:55
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Krispy Kareem posted:I blame our system of publicly traded companies. Take that mobile home builder, Clayton Homes. They're doing reasonably well without gutting consumer protections. They lend money to high-risk, low-income individuals and make a profit doing it. But barring a slew of tornadoes, it's not like mobile homes are a growth industry. Removing those consumer protections doesn't mean all or even most of Clayton's customers will pay more for their homes because they is still competition. But the people who do pay more will ensure next year's profits are better than last year's and keep their stock high (or in this case Berkshire Hathaway's). Generally I agree that a less regulated market is better, but I am OK with consumer protections that try and make opaque situations more clear. In this case, the customers (who are mostly poor and uneducated) have no idea that the company selling them the mobile home is also providing the mortgage, so salesmen have full incentive to rip them off. It's just scammy, and if they really felt that what they were doing was OK then shining some light shouldn't be a big deal.
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Apr 15, 2015 20:43
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mastershakeman posted:50k is a reasonable wedding amount these days for most people, just FYI. I make $200k a year. I'm going to propose to my girlfriend in a few months. I'm not buying her an engagement ring, the rings we do eventually get will be under $1k each, and I refuse to spend more than $10k on the wedding. Ceremony in a college chapel, and party later with booze bought myself and bartenders hired independently. My money is better spent on property, experiences, investments, etc. Weddings are about love, not appearances, and I would never marry someone who disagreed.
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Oct 15, 2015 04:37
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