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Post by tory on Aug 15, 2019 7:21:00 GMT
I watched "Broke" on the BBC last night. It focused on 3 families, all of which were working but with nothing in the bank, and in one case, living in tents. The couple who were approaching their sixties were amenable but also a bit deluded. They rented in Islington and he was an Uber driver. The notion that there was "something around the corner" for them just seemed utterly far fetched. Why didn't they up sticks and rent cheaper elsewhere?
There is a statistic that says around a third of people in the UK have less than £500 in savings. Interest rates obviously play a part here, as do the flimsy nature of some jobs, but around 1 million people are on zero hours contracts out of 32 in the workplace means that that is around 3% of the workforce.
I suspect this will quickly descend into a "oh the Tories" discussion, but I'd like it more to be about the culture of saving and thrift that i think used to be far more commonplace than it is now.
Bankruptcy and debt have become so normalised over the last two decades that it is socially acceptable. I remember my mother, who was born in 1932, found debt utterly unacceptable, and I suspect would have been outraged over my own personal debt issues, which I thankfully solved in 2008. I got into debt because I wanted "stuff" and in all honesty until recently never truly understood the value of money. I look back on my spendthrift years aghast in horror in some ways, but I also think deep down I'll never get rid of it - I'm always buying board games and clothes, it's just that I also sell when I can to maintain a balance of sorts. I had to buy a car the other day for work and my attitude was "spend more so that you can potentially part exchange later" rather than buy the cheapest one on offer.
There was an article recently about "FIRE", an acronym about individuals who save like buggery until they are 30 and then retire on their investments. They interviewed a Chinese couple who said that "money is everything - without it you have nothing". They said that "if you have family and a roof over your head then you are not poor". I'll see if I can dig it out, but it was an interesting perspective.
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Post by tory on Aug 15, 2019 7:26:49 GMT
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Post by Cousin Lou on Aug 15, 2019 8:08:42 GMT
There's something in their story that's admirable but it's not for me at all.
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Post by Reactionary Rage on Aug 15, 2019 13:17:34 GMT
I have under a grand in the bank and that’s it but, mortgage excluded, I have zero debt. Which is practically unheard of for somebody my age. My Mum has a real thing about debt so I’ve always viewed it as this bogeyman to be avoided at ALL COSTS. It’s why I’ve always saved up for things rather than putting them on credit so I own everything I have. I didn’t even own a credit card until 3 years ago when I got a 0% interest one for holidaying in America. When I speak to mates who are thousands in debt it’s odd to me but it’s the norm and people don’t give a shit.
I save...but for holidays mostly. I have a work pension and my flat so I'm hoping that with a couple of savvy property moves will do the trick. Unless I start earning significanty more money saving isn't really much of an option. I'm not living like a bleedin monk for years just to get a fucking ISA.
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Post by tory on Aug 15, 2019 13:25:53 GMT
Are you worried that there might not be a state Pension in 20 years? That might be a distinct possibility.
As I'll be earning again from 2020 we are chucking my wage in ISAs and a Pension. I have one from my days at the Telegraph which gives me about £400 a month projected atm, but am switching it to a SIPP. That, a potential state pension and my teachers one should be enough for retirement.
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Post by Reactionary Rage on Aug 15, 2019 13:40:54 GMT
Do I sound like the kind of cunt who thinks that far ahead? Lol.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 15, 2019 17:30:35 GMT
The same goes for Americans. No savings and tons of debt on credit cards.
After my divorce, I had $100 in my checking account, about $1,000 in savings and $60,000 in various 401Ks. I was scared to death about upcoming retirement. We had a second mortage on the house so even though we sold it, there's wasn't much money to be split up and I was between jobs.
Luckily, if you look at it that way, I got a contract job and lived rent free taking care of my dad. Between splitting my dad's house sale cost and all my dad's savings and annuities with my brother, I feel a lot better. And then I got the job I have now, and while not very exciting, pays pretty well and I've already built up a fairly good amount in their 401K too. At least enough for a couple years living when I retire.
As far as debt, I have the place in Eugene, OR, that I rent out and break even on rent vs. mortgage and a loan on my car. But that's it as far as bigger debt goes.
But it's sad that after working 25 years that's all I had to show for it except for my dad dying.
And America is far tougher for old people if they haven't saved up. You get social security and medicare coverage, but that's about it as far as gov't assistance. The rest is up to you.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 15, 2019 17:49:45 GMT
Another thing, I tell kids nowadays that my college costs were $750 for a semester's tuition at a fairly respected university, $150 for books, and about $1,000 for rent/food in either the dorms or sharing an apartment. I had a small student loan and paid it off within a year. I paid the rest with summer jobs I got. I also worked in the afternoons delivering couches and stuff for a furniture store in the afternoons and working at record stores and bars & grills during grad school.
I have told my kids they have to go my route: Get their basic courses done at a community college and transfer to a state school.
My ex and I have some accounts set up for them, that should last the two years that they need fo finish, but if they want to go to grad school, they're on their own.
I should add that community college cost me about $100 a semester and I lived at home and worked in the afternoons.
My brother is probably paying $20,000+ a year for his son, my nephew, at Univ. of Colorado, which requires out of state tuition costs and his daughter is starting her first year at the University of the Redlands, which has an annual tuition of nearly $50,000. My brother's little bitch of a daughter will probably join a sorority, so that's more dough.
My nephew is a sharp cookie and going for an engineering degree so will have jobs after college - he still may have debt to pay off though.
He does pretty well at his business, but that's a lotta cash for two kids every year for the next three or four.
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Post by Reactionary Rage on Aug 15, 2019 18:06:17 GMT
That’s insane
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Post by Mr. FOLLARD on Aug 15, 2019 18:07:33 GMT
oh for FUCK'S SAKE
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Post by Deleted on Aug 15, 2019 19:59:39 GMT
The funny thing is my entitled bitch ass niece is going for some esoteric liberal arts degree. Univ. of Redlands has a good educational college so it will be really funny if my niece gets her ed degree and credential which will cost my brother in excess of $200,000 if she manages to graduate in four years so she can get a $50,000 a year teaching job - which is the main reason I no longer teach.
You can't live in the Bay Area and do it.
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Post by Cousin Lou on Aug 15, 2019 21:29:49 GMT
The funny thing is my entitled bitch ass niece is going for some esoteric liberal arts degree. Univ. of Redlands has a good educational college so it will be really funny if my niece gets her ed degree and credential which will cost my brother in excess of $200,000 if she manages to graduate in four years so she can get a $50,000 a year teaching job - which is the main reason I no longer teach. You can't live in the Bay Area and do it. The sensible thing is to learn a trade under those circumstances.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 15, 2019 21:51:47 GMT
The funny thing is my entitled bitch ass niece is going for some esoteric liberal arts degree. Univ. of Redlands has a good educational college so it will be really funny if my niece gets her ed degree and credential which will cost my brother in excess of $200,000 if she manages to graduate in four years so she can get a $50,000 a year teaching job - which is the main reason I no longer teach. You can't live in the Bay Area and do it. The sensible thing is to learn a trade under those circumstances. That's the funny thing. My brother went to college, I don't know why, to join my dad in his small kitchen and bathroom remodeling business afterwards. Instead of continuing with it after my dad wanted to leave, my brother decided to become a building inspector for real estate transactions. He wasted his time going to college - he could've gotten his contractor's and building inspector's license much earlier. It took him a few years to get going, but he's well established now and makes over a quarter million each year for like the last 10-15 years. He's rich as fuck.
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Post by Mr. FOLLARD on Nov 23, 2019 9:43:48 GMT
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Post by Cousin Lou on Nov 23, 2019 10:48:48 GMT
If you fix your 5 grand for 7 years in this plan, you have made a little over £700 in total. Spending that money on a Leica will make you much happier. Travelling through South America, the US or anywhere for a month or so too.
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