<p>I want it ALL! :)</p>
<p>My bicycle is 30 years old and still functions reasonably well. I have a few computers that are 10 years old and still work well. We have some computers from the mid-1980s that are still up and running. Cell phones don’t last that long - they are designed to be disposable.</p>
<p>I think that idad provided an idea of his income a while back and I didn’t consider that to be poor; perhaps he feels poor relative to his geographic peers.</p>
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<p>You must mean Dad II…not idad. Dad II posted that his income was “about $10,000 a month”. That didn’t seem low income to me either.</p>
<p>If a 30 year old bicycle is fine, then Dad II should be able to find a used one that will be far less than the prices he was quoting on his bicycle thread…with PLENTY left over to fund his cell phone.</p>
<p>$5K wouldn’t be out of line for a bicycle in the world of my athletic friends, BUT they are triathletes or at least very serious cyclists. Not for everyone.</p>
<p>I guess that I mix up the moms and dads here from time to time.</p>
<p>$120K is a lot to most people given that median income is around the $50s. In many neighborhoods, it’s not that much. If you have a lot of assets, $120K is easy to life off. If you have a lot of liabilities, it may not be.</p>
<p>My 30-year-old bicycle is a racing bike and isn’t particularly comfortable - it wasn’t designed to be. It has also been well-cared for. The average 30-year-old bicycle, I would guess, hasn’t been as well cared for. I don’t begrudge someone wanting to spend $500 on a bicycle - that’s nowhere near high-end these days.</p>
<p>I recall the old Raleigh Roadster back in my teenage years. A sturdy old comfortable bicycle. I see that it is still sold for $400 to $500. That’s something that would be good for very casual riding. Parents often gave them to kids in their teenage years. They were far cheaper back in the 1970s. I imagine that those bicycles could last several decades with proper care.</p>
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<p>It’s only a fortune if you are “low income” and your kids are on full need based financial aid. If that is the case, in my opinion, you should be limiting your spending.</p>
<p>And in this house, a cell phone would be a higher priority than a bicycle of any price (we can afford to buy either one…or both…we’re DONE paying college tuition).</p>
<p>MOWC-
You can have it all !! And you can choose what you want to spend your hard earned money on and you dont have to justify it because you dont whine about it and claim to be poor and have no money to provide basic necessities for your family. You dont sing a “woe is me” song of sorrow and then boast about frivolous purchases! And you answer questions when they are posed to you!</p>
<p>Totally agree with Thumper- people need to learn money management. If they dont have discretinary funds they SHOULDN’T SPEND. SAVE. SAVE. SAVE.</p>
<p>I also agree with whoever posted above who said they believe this is all a big joke to the posters who seem to like to mess with the heads of other posters here, who really are trying to be helpful to parents and students. </p>
<p>** Here it is-- it was mom60
Bingo. Spot on.</p>
<p>I also have to wonder if some posters are getting paid on the side to deflect and take threads off topic. Always looking for those alternative income streams :)</p>
<p>Samsung Vibrant…having way too much with this toy.</p>