It's What I've Been Doing All Along

[owlice]

<p>But you’re still not paying rent or for your food, tuition, medical insurance and bills, etc., are you?</p>

[Canuckguy]

<p>

We leveraged fairly heavily, otherwise we are pretty conservative in our strategies. My h has been planning for retirement since he started working. It didn’t happen at 50, his target date. Not even at 55, though very close. He’s semi-retired now, and he does not know what to do with his time, and he waits on his kids and gets underfoot all the time to his wife. Sometimes, retirement is not all it cracked up to be.

</p>

<p>Sounds like you have a leveraged conservative account. Interesting. As I said earlier, for psychological comfort, I used leverage for short periods of time only. Most of the time, the small amount of leveraging I do has little impact on investment return.</p>

<p>Thinking back, I have made only three major investment decisions in my life. All other times the portfolio suffered from “benign neglect”. Oh, I made minor adjustments here and there, but they have no impact on portfolio performance as a whole.</p>

<p>Including my choice of a career and my choice of a spouse, they constitute the five major financial decisions of my life. With the exception of my career choice ( I could have done something that pays more), I have little regret. Life has been good.</p>

[insomniatic]

<p>

But you’re still not paying rent or for your food, tuition, medical insurance and bills, etc., are you?]

</p>

<p>No I am not paying for those items. I never said that I was. Like I said before, I decided to go to the local university. If I would have gone to an out of state university, it would have been up to me to pay. My parents offered to pay for my expenses and tutition if I attended the local university.</p>

<p>I made a choice. I decided not to be in debt.</p>

[owlice]

<p>Let me know when you are self-sufficient.</p>

[Whatapainthisis]

<p>Yeah, good luck. You’re not interested in real life scenarios, so I’m out of here.</p>

[insomniatic]

<p>

Yeah, good luck. You’re not interested in real life scenarios, so I’m out of here.

</p>

<p>This whole thread is based on real life scenarios.</p>

<p>Like many 21 years olds, this is real life for now. </p>

<p>Next year when I graduate I will be self-sufficient.</p>

<p>Maybe I talk to the wrong people, but a lot of parents pay for their children’s spring breaks, other trips, entertainment, etc.</p>

<p>I guess to me I enjoy things more that I earn it with my own money.</p>

[emeraldkity4]

<p>I guess to me I enjoy things more that I earn it with my own money.</p>

<p>like college?</p>

[insomniatic]

<p>College isn’t a thing.</p>

[marite]

<p>^^, Ah, medical expenses are not a “thing.” A mortgage is not a “thing.” Retirement savings are not a “thing.” Does this mean you don’t have to cover them with your “own money” and that you feel that, as long as you pay for “things” you can cliam to be living within your means? Just asking.</p>

[insomniatic]

<p>

^^, Ah, medical expenses are not a “thing.” A mortgage is not a “thing.” Retirement savings are not a “thing.” Does this mean you don’t have to cover them with your “own money” and that you feel that, as long as you pay for “things” you can cliam to be living within your means? Just asking.

</p>

<p>Right now, my expenses are everything besides tution, rent, and medical care. Everything else is up to me. I know that some people do, but I don’t go to mommy and daddy for my own personal expenses. I work and I make my own money.</p>

<p>As soon as I graduate, I will be responsible for living expenses, etc.</p>

[marite]

<p>Right, as I said, come back and lecture parents when you are responsible for your rent and medical care, preferably when you have kids of your own and trying to save for their tuition.
Right now, you are not self-sufficient. You have not experienced any of the reverses of fortune that bedevil even the best intentions.</p>

[owlice]

<p>Your expenses include tuition, shelter, and medical care; your parents are picking up these expenses, but they are still YOUR expenses.</p>

[insomniatic]

<p>

Right, as I said, come back and lecture parents when you are responsible for your rent and medical care, preferably when you have kids of your own and trying to save for their tuition.
Right now, you are not self-sufficient. You have not experienced any of the reverses of fortune that bedevil even the best intentions.]

</p>

<p>I never lectured anybody. I will recite post #1 again below. I was just making observations.</p>

<p>What does not being self-sufficent have to do with saving money?</p>

<p>Saving and earning money should start at a young age. </p>

<p>

It’s What I’ve Been Doing All Along </p>

<p>It seems like most people who I talk to or read about are living very tight right now. They can’t pay their credit car bills, car insurance, etc.</p>

<p>Americans have been living a fantasy for awhile now. If they want something, they would charge it and pay the minimum payment. Most Americans never think about saving and live paycheck to paycheck.</p>

<p>I have always been a saver. I look for coupons, sales, clearance, rebates, etc. I look for things that I can sell on EBAY and make extra money doing that. I don’t spend $7 to see a movie very often. I went to the movie theaters 2 times last year. Most of the time, I wait until things aren’t in demand and wait till the prices go down. </p>

<p>A lot of people that I talk to don’t like using coupons. They think that they are too good for it. They need things when they first come out and don’t buy things on clearance.</p>

<p>Now, I hear these same people complaining that they don’t have enough money to make ends meet. The funny thing is that they are doing the same things as before and not changing their spending habits.</p>

<p>I know that this might sound cruel, but I don’t feel sorry for most Americans who are in debt or who can’t pay their bills. I can bet you 9 times out of 10 (you can see a lot of these people on the Suze Orman show) that these people buy 10 times the amount of things that they needed. To me, that is their own fault and they should be responsible for their own consequences.</p>

<p>It’s funny because people always tell me that if people shopped like me, stores would go out of business. This country is structured for people to overspend. Unfortunately, most Americans are gullable and buy anything and everything (eventhough they don’t need 90% of it).

</p>

[marite]

<p>

I know that this might sound cruel, but I don’t feel sorry for most Americans who are in debt or who can’t pay their bills. I can bet you 9 times out of 10 (you can see a lot of these people on the Suze Orman show) that these people buy 10 times the amount of things that they needed. To me, that is their own fault and they should be responsible for their own consequences.
Unfortunately, most Americans are gullable and buy anything and everything (eventhough they don’t need 90% of it).

</p>

<p>Quoting your words back at you. Not lecturing, just pontificating without evidence and sounding like a smug know all. Enjoy your sense of being superior to the 9 out of 10 Americans who, according to you, buy more than they need.</p>

[Whatapainthisis]

<p>Yeah, I mean, you can’t pay your bills. If you could, your parents would not be paying them. 21 is a legal adult, just the same as any of these parents. A lot of people have the brains for college, but do not go, because they cannot afford THEIR bills, be it living in an apartment or on campus. </p>

<p>Technically, college is a want. You could go be a janitor, cashier, or a construction worker, just like many people have had to in order to pay their bills once they are legal adults. You do not NEED college to live, like you NEED food, water, and shelter, which bills you are not paying for. The fact that it is parentfare rather than welfare does not change that you are not paying it. As for Americans being gullible and buying everything and anything, how do you know that you are not wasting your parents’ money at college? There are some articles out there that say college is a trap and offers no guarantees of a better life. So why are you allowing your parents to buy into something that they have no assurance will offer a return on their investment? It’s been my experience that really smart people do well whether they go to college or not. Take William Hershey. And wasn’t Bill Gates a dropout?</p>

[insomniatic]

<p>

Quoting your words back at you. Not lecturing, just pontificating without evidence and sounding like a smug know all. Enjoy your sense of being superior to the 9 out of 10 Americans who, according to you, buy more than they need.

</p>

<p>I never said 9 out of 10 Americans buy more than they need.</p>

<p>I said 9 out of 10 Americans IN DEBT buy more than they need.</p>

<p>It is sad that the elders on here have turned this into such an immature thread. You think you know it all just because you are older than me and have more education. </p>

<p>One thing that I will never forget is when my statistics professor said that eventhough I have a doctorate degree, that doesn’t mean I am smarter than you. He said to always point out his mistakes.</p>

<p>Just because somebody is older than you does not mean than you can have more knowledge than them in some areas.</p>

<p>In conclusion, thank you for the very few people who understood my positions.</p>

[katliamom]

<p>OK smarty pants. I want you to show me the stats that prove your “9 out of 10 Americans IN DEBT buy more than they need” claim. </p>

<p>Until then, I say, you’re just assuming. And you know that when you assume you…</p>

[oldfort]

<p>Wait a minute…You told me to get off my high horse, someone else to stop with their sob story, accuse another person of talking out both sides of his mouth. I think people on this thread have been kinder to you than you deserve. You wouldn’t have survived 5 minutes at our dinner table.</p>

[insomniatic]

<p>

Wait a minute…You told me to get off my high horse, someone else to stop with their sob story, accuse another person of talking out both sides of his mouth. I think people on this thread have been kinder to you than you deserve. You wouldn’t have survived 5 minutes at our dinner table.

</p>

<p>I don’t remember accusing a person of talking out both sides of their mouth.</p>

<p>Than I deserve? Throughout this whole thread I have been stating my opinions. Is that so wrong?</p>

<p>The problem today is that young people don’t want to question authority. They just do things, but they never question anything even if they know they are right.</p>

<p>I can handle a discussion with an elder on this message board or in person.</p>

[marite]

<p>Once again, come back when you are truly self-sufficient, when you pay for your own bills, all of them.</p>