amdx wrote:
On 8/14/2014 12:09 PM, Califbill wrote:
wrote:
On Wed, 13 Aug 2014 22:53:34 -0400, Wayne.B
wrote:

On Wed, 13 Aug 2014 15:03:13 -0400, wrote:

On Wed, 13 Aug 2014 12:37:54 -0400, "Mr. Luddite"
wrote:

On 8/13/2014 9:50 AM, F.O.A.D. wrote:


There are two ways to respond to your assessment. The first is to cast
the blame on those who have been successful and demand a cut of the
fruits of their labor.

The second is to qualify oneself via training and education for the jobs
that exist in a highly competitive world ... that is only becoming
*more* competitive.

For most, the second route was drilled into us as youngsters. Unlike
today, we were never taught to "expect" it due to some societal right.
The required education may be acquired in many ways. It doesn't
necessarily require daddy's fat checkbook.

I'd also add that it often takes many years of work to rise to the
"middle class" financial category. Some people seem to think it's a
"right" and should start as soon as you become an adult. I didn't
achieve a "middle class" lifestyle until well into my 30's.

If you believe the assessment made by millionaire media and author
types, I never have.
There is a story floating around the talk shows now that you need
$150,000 for the basic necessities of life ... what bull****!

===

It depends on your life style and expectations. $150K sounds a bit
short to me but we probably live better than many.

We never made over $100k combined until recently and I don't think we
were living badly. We had "paid for" cars, boats and this house. Our
daughter came out of college without debt and we actually never owed
money for anything but the condo in Treasure Island. I paid it off
early and we had that free and clear too.

I am also not sure I know anyone who makes much more than $100k, most
make less, some a lot less.
This is SW Florida tho. I know it costs more to live in other places.

I made more than a 100k and the wife only worked part time for a friend.
And that was 12 years ago when I retired. I make at least that now with SS
a couple small pensions and investment income.

At 100k, you're doing very well.
My wife and I have a few years before retirement, 59 and 55, If we us
the 4% withdrawal rule on our saving and add SS in we should be near
$80k. However as we live now, we only spend about $40k a year. We have no
debt and haven't for about 23 years. We still have one child left with
two more in years of college, so that expense will be gone soon.

Recently I ran across this info on net worth, (assets minus liabilities).


http://web.stanford.edu/group/scspi/...lth-levels.pdf


It is disappointing that 50% of the population has less than $60,000 in
net worth. See the lower right chart on the first page.
If you have $1.4 million in net worth you are in the top 5%.



As they say, “the first millions the hardest” :-)


Not touching the ira's
until this year. The 70 1/2 rule. For both wife and I. But we paid cash
for just about every thing we bought, except the house. First car we
financed in years was the wife's Venza. Was less than the return on
investments. But we also keep cars 10+ years! and do not need the $500 a
day hotel. In the 1980's we were having layoffs at a company. One
engineer who reported to me was worried about finances. I said worry about
the assembly line ladies who made $20k a year. He made $65k and drove a
POS dodge van, and commented his wife had 4 credit cards maxed out. What
did he waste money on?

It is not just people making $65K, there are people making $250k, and
don't save. They could never retire in the lifestyle they have become accustomed to.

Sounds like he was following government spending
guidelines. I do live in a higher cost of living area, but did not take
money out of the house for toys when refinancing, and paid the house off.
I see the same thing with a lot of the people around me. I have an
acquaintance who's husband is the $500k a year VP of a high tech company.
Lake house, $80k African safari this year for the family. $2mm house. One
payment from bankruptcy basically. If there was a glitch in the company
and he was laid off, how long could he go on severance and savings?

Oh, ya, like I said above.

I just hope my wife's and my lifestyle has rubbed off on our kids.
My daughter is married and we were very disappointed when her hubby
bought a new car. The kid was offered a job, and went and bought the car
before his first day of work.
Bad sign.

My daughter bought a house shortly after that, I have this thought that
she did that just to put them in debt, so he wouldn't spend any more. She
wasn't happy with his poor decision.
She's still only 21 years old and has a good job, already got an
advancement with a pay increase and company vehicle, and a nice home.
Now, if I can just get the son through college! :-)
Mikek


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The $65k was in the late 1980's. I started working when I was in junior
high school. Making pallets. Piece work. Saved money then. When I went
to work at Western Electric warehouse in 1961, I lived at home, and made
about $65 a week. Saved. $30 in the credit union. Never saw the money,
did not miss the money. Adjusted lifestyle to my take home income. I paid
for college educations for my 2 daughters. Paid via credit card as much as
I could, and never ran a CC balance. Got miles or rebates for the money
spent. I have a friend who runs a donut store. Favorite activity is
shopping. She and her husband have a large CC balance. 18-23% financing
charge! How you going to save for later years? And how many of those CC
bought items will still be in use? Like the advertisements for refinancing
your home, and they guy says he took out $100K. Why? As to your article,
has a radical error in part if it. States the wealth went down 23% or so.
Most of that was in value of the house, and how much had the sales price of
the house inflated in the previous 8 year? I could say I lost $300,000 at
the of the housing bubble. My hose I paid $139k for 1979, went from $1.2mm
to $900k. I really lost nothing. Paper profits, and if I had sold at
$1.2mm, I would have had to shell out more for the same amount of house,
unless I moved to a lower cost area.