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Just found out the wife ran up some serious credit card debt

Discussion in 'General' started by USracer900, Nov 6, 2022.

  1. Past Glory

    Past Glory I still have several AVON calendars from the 90's

    Follow the Gorilla George mindset: Get a new one every two years, max. Long term ownership is for suckers, the new one will have more buttons.
     
    Shenanigans and Gorilla George like this.
  2. Gino230

    Gino230 Well-Known Member

    Yeah, but isn't that because younger people generally have less take home income? It's not exactly showing that Boomers and Gen X'ers are smarter, they just are more financially established.

    When I was younger, I would never have taken on a big car payment because I was concerned about saving for a house. Saver's mentality I guess, and that has served me well.

    In a way I can't blame the youngest generation, they were brought up with mortgage forgiveness stories, student loan forgiveness stories, and the huge financial bailouts for all the big businesses. COVID is just the latest bailout scam. Kind of hard to tell them to be financially responsible when they've grown up seeing that.
     
  3. In Your Corner

    In Your Corner Dungeonesque Crab AI Version

    I don't accept that it is that much tougher to get started, kids just don't (in general) believe in denying themselves today in order to save for tomorrow, they believe in a credit lifestyle. When they get money they don't think about saving it, they ask themselves "what do I want to spend this on?".

    You can't save money hitting Starbucks twice a day and having fast food delivered to the house.
    You can't live a lifestyle designed around maintaining a high level of personal comfort at all times and work extra jobs or do double shifts to accumulate a down payment for a house.
    You can't insist on having a new car and the latest phone and have money to put away.
    You can't get your first job at the age of 25 and expect to have any kind of savings to put toward a house right away.
    You can't run up a fortune in college loan debt for a diploma that gets you a low-paying job and expect to be able to afford a mortgage payment.
    Lifestyle choices matter. Reward requires work and sacrifice.
     
    nowayout, YamahaRick, tl1098 and 5 others like this.
  4. pickled egg

    pickled egg Tell me more

    Who can blame them? When their dollar earned is only worth 70¢ once it hits their hands, next year it’s only 62¢?

    The corpse keeps getting Weekend at Bernie’s-ed.
     
  5. rafa

    rafa Well-Known Member

    I agree with some of that. I am a millennial, for me the biggest change (which is obvious if you think about it) is that you wont have the same life style you are used to (from your parents) when you first get a job.
    You parents are likely in the mid of their careers you are just starting.

    I was born, and up to 8th grade lived outside of the US, and there is a big culture difference.
    I stayed at my parents house for a few years after college and it was much easier to save money. I only payed rent for a year since one of my jobs was too far to commute. For my following job I just commuted (fairly far) while still saving money. Eventually bought a townhome and moved out.

    I cant imagine moving out right after college, paying rent, annnnd trying to save money for a house.
     
    Gino230 likes this.
  6. mpusch

    mpusch Well-Known Member

    There's truth to those points and it does have an impact. Personal responsibility is important. That said, there's plenty of responsible people in the younger generation and plenty of foolish people in the older generation as well.

    Sourced from the St Louis Fed:
    Median (household) income in 1990 - $60,370
    Median (household) income in 2021 - $70,784

    Median house price in 1990 - $123,900
    Median house price in 2021 - $369,800 (and even worse using 2022)

    These are not "work extra hours on the weekend and you'd be fine" situations. Lots of minor and anecdotal evidence takes a backseat to much larger, macro-economic forces. We could go into a lot more on expenses in life (some of which are voluntary or at least manageable, some less so), but the fact is that it's just that much harder to get established these days than it used to be. Yes, the older generation also deals with inflation like everyone else, but have significantly more assets to be able to deal with it.
     
    Rebel635, SuddenBraking and Gino230 like this.
  7. In Your Corner

    In Your Corner Dungeonesque Crab AI Version

    Owning a house doesn't pay the bills.
     
  8. gixxerboy55

    gixxerboy55 Well-Known Member

    What about a reverse mortgage.
     
  9. Venom51

    Venom51 John Deere Equipment Expert - Not really

    Like selling boob implants to an 80 year old woman. It's a dumb idea any time it happens.
     
    sheepofblue and pjdoran like this.
  10. gixxerboy55

    gixxerboy55 Well-Known Member

    I didn't say it was a good idea, for some it is an option.

    At least I don't fantasize about 80 year old boobs.
     
    Last edited: Feb 25, 2023
  11. worthless

    worthless Well-Known Member

    Just curious….I haven’t researched them. Why is reverse mortgage a dumb idea any time it happens? House is almost paid off (worth about $600k currently). We have no kids. My wife is a year away from early retirement and I have about 3 or 4 more years to go. I have just 3 nieces and nephews. 2 of my nieces/nephew’s parents are pretty well off and both kids are going to do well for themselves (niece got an entry level job with EY out of college (graduated after 3.5 yrs) at about $80k and no student loan debt still living at home and already saving for a house). Nephew is at an Econ major at a very prominent university and is wicked smaht. My other niece will get what’s left over from my brother (his kid), my sister (no kids and owns 3 properties), and mom. My wife and I have pensions, 401k, other investments, etc.
     
  12. Venom51

    Venom51 John Deere Equipment Expert - Not really

    It's a solid plan as long as you don't outlive the R-mortgage term or the bank doesn't just decide to sell it out from under you because the market value went up significantly and all they have to do to pull it off is declare that you are behind on required maintenance, fall behind in property tax payments or wait for you to let your homeowners policy lapse.
     
  13. "Reverse mortgage"?

    What is that? I don't know if I have ever heard that term before this thread.

    From the sounds of it, it seems like instead of you paying the bank to live in your house, the bank pays you to live in your house. Hell, sign me up. :D
     
  14. SpeedyE

    SpeedyE Experimental prototype, never meant for production

    What does she look like? Post pics please
     
  15. tony 340

    tony 340 Well-Known Member

    They do, and you lose all equity
     
  16. Mongo

    Mongo Administrator

    That is quite simply because the morons think a starter home should be a mcmansion in the same HOA subdivision as mommy and daddy.

    It is still because of personal choices that do not remotely match what they could or should be doing. It is easy to get established, live in shitholes just like the old folks did til they saved up then move to a slightly less shittier hole. Grandparents raised 6 kids in a 3 bedroom house. Welcome to how you save money so you can retire nicely.
     
  17. Dave Wolfe

    Dave Wolfe I know nuttin!

    No no no equity means something different im pretty sure
     
  18. sheepofblue

    sheepofblue Well-Known Member

  19. mpusch

    mpusch Well-Known Member

    Helping people with that is what I do, so I definitely get it. The expectations of what a standard of living should be are much, much higher than 40 years ago.
     
    SteveThompson and tony 340 like this.

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