Very true. My point with the rich getting richer is people with a poor financial acumen well take their “free” funds out and buy consumer items. They will trade their money for a depreciating item that will be worth nothing 5 to 10 years down the road and the wealthy will capture it back by either being invested in those businesses that’s the poor give their money to or having investments that grow due to the inflation it causes – or both.
Did anyone else check their bank account this morning and have a heart attack?
- Thread starter litespeedhuskerfan
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We have all known people you could give $1,500 a month to for free, and in 2-3 years time they would have zero to show for it.
My 20 y/o son (just turned it 3 weeks ago) who just entered the Air Force a little over a year ago and worked retail until he left and make jack shit already has $3,500K in his retirement account because he sends every penny he can there and does without the rest of the month. On the flip side, I know people who make $75K)ish) that don't have $10K in their 401 because they will never be able to manage money.
Rich people spend more and they make more. no shit. In other news water is wet
Patrick Ewing -- President of the Player's Association during contract negotiations --
"Sure NBA players make a lot of money, but we spend a lot too."
In Nebraska, maybe. In most major urban areas, $75,000 is barely above the poverty line.
i agree. I have friends who got good grades in specialized majors that routinely provide jobs with fantastic salaries. They worked as hard or harder than anyone else in college. But i have other friends who basically partied all thru college and graduated with no particular training and some of them are making as much or more money than anyone else. The only common theme is they all went to college. Sometimes we earn the opportunity for that big salary and sometimes it falls in our laps. and sometimes the opportunity never arises.
the rich people have enough money to invest. the poor people dont.
rich people execute MORE poor financial decisions than poor people. They just make so much more money they can absorb all those poor decisions.
financial experts will tell you MANY of the purchases that rich people make are poor financial decisions. Expensive cars, moving up in homes; boats; etc. But it doesn't matter because they have so much money they can do all kinds of bad financial decisions and still be well off. if a poor person makes 1 bad decision they are done.
my neighbors make bad financial decisions every day. thats why they wont be able to retire until they're 65. but they are still rich by any measure because they have nice salaries which allows them to make stupid financial decisions
I don't understand this desire to "get to retirement"
Do you all hate your jobs that much? If so, why are you doing what you do?
And retire to do what? I know people love to pretend that they are going to do all these amazing things but everyone I know that is retired is bored.
I have summers off, I used to think it was the greatest thing in the world...until I found out how boring it was. The idea that you will take all these trips and see the world or that you will spend more time on your hobby, it just isn't true for most retired people.
What hobbies do you guys have that take up 8 hours a day, 5 days a week?
Unless your work is physical and back breaking, I don't get this rush to retire.
Do you all hate your jobs that much? If so, why are you doing what you do?
And retire to do what? I know people love to pretend that they are going to do all these amazing things but everyone I know that is retired is bored.
I have summers off, I used to think it was the greatest thing in the world...until I found out how boring it was. The idea that you will take all these trips and see the world or that you will spend more time on your hobby, it just isn't true for most retired people.
What hobbies do you guys have that take up 8 hours a day, 5 days a week?
Unless your work is physical and back breaking, I don't get this rush to retire.
I'll go first...I mountain bike, a lot. I'd do it a lot more in some really places and I have an amazing GF who is a total riot to hang with doing anything. Good lord I cannot imagine how people could be bored in retirement unless they were bored before they retired with zero friends. In that case they were gonna be bored regardless....but that ain't us.
I am not planning on retiring early. I enjoy working. But I want the ability to stop early if I want. Some people encounter health issues with them or their spouses. Some people have their industry or company change drastically and they don’t fit it anymore. There are a variety of reasons to possibly retire early that don’t have to due with hating work.
My goal is to have F-you money. If my company, boss, industry changes or starts getting to me I have the option to say f-you, I’m out.
I have plenty of hobbies that I could take all that time with. I'd start by getting 18 in and then see what other activity I wanted to do. During the winter months I could ski everyday or head south and play more golf. Yes some people are lucky to have their dream job, but most people picked a path and are now in the full thick of things with probably a family or other circumstances that don't make it easy to just do a career overhaul. I for one can't wait until retirement and am planning for an early one by putting 25% away in 401ks or other investments.
I know a few peolpe who have been bored in retirement but they had few if any hobbies before they retired and same for friends, and are just fine sittin on the couch all weekend. Screw that.
It's not all about hate of the job, sometimes it's not always feasible to have your dream job. I have a great job that I somewhat enjoy and it pays the bills and affords me the opportunity to do a lot of the hobbies I love and travel all over the world. With that said, I can't wait for retirement so I can do more of the hobbies I want and spend time with my future adult kids.
I have young kids (2 & 4) and am in the thick of the terrible stage, although my four year old is leaving that stage but still loves to fight with the sibling. Retirement seems awesome when you have to deal with adult children all day and then your own at night.
Yep. My grandparents travel all over the place still at 87 and still do everything they want. I plan on being busy the entire time when I retire.
This is such a fallacy. There are a swath of people self-made, yes. But if you think that the playing field is level and the market is "free" in our current American economy, I truly don't know how to help you. The issue isn't people being wealthier than others. It's about access to opportunity and monopolistic, predatory practices, as well as subsidies, lobbying and tax code that distort the market significantly. The "free market" is a myth. Look no further than The Fed.
My GF's folks are in their mid 70's and live in Denver...most active people ever. Travel everywhere, just super fun people with the best attitude and always busy doin something. I think a lot has to do with marrying the right person...way to many people choose wrong, get way to far into kids and a routine and just aren't happy in work or personal life and then of course retirement. I got caught in that myself in a 26 year marriage. Now, dating a super cool chick who I can laugh with all the way to the grocery store...... bring on retirement, we are gonna have a freaking blast.
With the Covid year only one year it’s been more difficult to do a lot of traveling especially by Air..
Where does the money come from that pays you? You are saying there is no NEA in Nebraska?
I worked in a donut shop years ago...every single day, the same 8-10 old retired guys came in, sat there, drinking, smoking and eating a donut, for about 3-5 hours...they were basically solving all the world's problems. Then they went home and sat.
It was amazing because the next day they all came back and did it again. You know what they talked about second most, after solving the world's problems?
Their former jobs.
It was amazing because the next day they all came back and did it again. You know what they talked about second most, after solving the world's problems?
Their former jobs.
Ha! That's not the terrible stage, just wait. There are going to be a lot of days several years from now where you are going to say to yourself "why couldn't they have just stayed little."
bingo, here is a study done by Dave Ramsey you might find interesting. https://www.daveramsey.com/research/the-national-study-of-millionaires
You are generalizing a lot in your statements. Clearly there is no definition of rich in all these comments. If compared to other countries, we are all rich in the United States.
I cam from dirt poor and there is a mind set and lack of financial understanding. Later in life I taught personal finance including investing in high school and there were definite beliefs that tended to follow economic status, but not always. I remember very well, two HS kids who came from lower economic settings and I came across several years after HS - one had a good job and commented about learning about 401K's in my class and that he had one and was on his way to being financially secure someday. The other was a young lady who frankly struggled with school, learn to save money for a down payment on a house and went with a 15 year loan. She understood her finances.
I used many articles I had saved about rich people ending up bankrupt especially a lot of athletes. We have a center that provides services to women and couples who find themselves unexpectedly with child. There are many classes including child raising, marriage, etc and one area that is always a huge need is personal finance. There is just a different view of money and finances connected to economic levels. Just having money doesn't guarantee the success you describe.
Are you at a private school? For some reason I thought you were at a public school.
No, but I still charge my students tuition, that is how good I am!!
Agree, but just went to Mexico for a week. Also have started seeking out countries that I am able to travel to now that don't have crazy restrictions. I plan on continuing to live my life.
In last 10 months i've been to Arkansas, Moab, Vegas, Santa Barbra and Kansas City...all personal recreation, zero biz. It's been freaking awesome. If people wanna hide under their bed fine by me, i've gotten great deals and many places to myself and it's been awesome.
Edit....I forgot one, Valentine for a kayak trip down the Niobrara.
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you are not wrong. i haven't worked for over a year now and i am bored. Of course, covid put a BIG damper on my year without work. i was unable to do just about anything except go to the gym.
i think when most people say retire what they mean is do what they want instead of doing what they have to do to maintain their lifestyles. its a nice little dream to say we should all just get a job that is a passion but trust me i have spent the last year looking for a job in one of my passions and its been impossible. So most people end up working mainly to make money.
i 'd like a part time job making some spending money and taxing my brain a little. i love working out and i love traveling and hiking. You're right most people dont end up doing all the things they talk about. I also love planning our trips which often takes weeks of work.
you raise a legit concern. a lot of people should heed your warning. but others have a very clear plan and will execute it.
the last thing i will say is based on my life experiences i dont want to miss out on many of the active experiences i want to partake in by waiting so long that i am physically unable to do them any more. almost EVERY friend of mine who retired wished they would have done so sooner only because they were only able to PHYSICALLY enjoy retirement for a few short years before their bodies broke down. they would have liked to have had another 5 physically good healthy years to enjoy what they enjoy.
in other words, dont put off things too long. if you have the opportunity to make a dream come true. take it now. put it in your pocket . you never know what might happen that will prevent you from ever doing it in the future. and something often does.
This is really well said.
For me, I get my summers off, I can do all the things I want to do at that time. But honestly, once August hits, I am bored.
And I do get the old "I get to spend more time with my wife and best friend". well, if your wife and best friend are the same person, spending 24/7 with each other is going to suck.
The health/ability to do things is a legit concern though.
If you're a good little soldier, you may be allowed to live your life, in small groups, on July 4th.
Wait, lots of posts about people wasting money, and not investing or saving properly. Does that have to do with people making their dream come true (taking trips, buying a nice vehicles, etc.)? Maybe this explains why rich people waste more money, because they are making their dreams come true.
Your neighbors are not rich - they are simply high income earners. If they lose their job, they likely cannot sustain their current standard of living. I appreciate them though - as they pay a huge chunk of income taxes. If the make $1 million, they pay tax on damn near every dollar.
Rich people invest in return producing assets that pay them whether they show up or not. Many of these are tax advantaged investments that allow them to pay tax on after depreciated and expensed dollars - like businesses, real estate, energy, etc.
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We got ours, used in to pay off our home equity line of credit and some furniture we financed at 0% just to get it out of the way. We've both remained employed throughout the pandemic so we didnt really need it and I'd rather we not have driven the country into more debt for it, but I figured if we're going to get it anyway might as well get rid of some debt.
As the legendary Patrick Ewing once said " we spend a lot of money because we make a lot of money!"
