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Posted: 5/20/2023 12:16:16 AM EST
[#1]
A TRILLION dollar’s in theft each year...
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Posted: 5/20/2023 12:19:47 AM EST
[#2]
Quote HistoryQuoted: Good old fashioned American debt https://americanmilitarynews.com/2023/05/american-consumer-debt-passes-17-trillion-for-first-time-in-nations-history/ First link in search posted, didn't read. |
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Posted: 5/20/2023 12:29:09 AM EST
[#3]
Quote HistoryQuoted: I make less than $20 an hour and I'm doing okay. I live like I'm poor though. My brother and I work in the same place so I ride with him, we share the price of gas. My rent is not bad, it's affordable to me. My only other bills are natural gas for heat and hot water, electric, cable internet (no cable TV), and my cell phone bills. I grocery shop only for myself and I generally only eat one meal a day. I still manage to put away $1000 a month into my investment accounts. You are a rockstar . But eat a can of tuna every day too cheap good protein and healthy I buy it by the case . One meal isn't enough. |
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Posted: 5/20/2023 12:37:34 AM EST
[#4]
Quote HistoryQuoted: You are a rockstar . But eat a can of tuna every day too cheap good protein and healthy I buy it by the case . One meal isn't enough. Quote HistoryQuoted: Quoted: I make less than $20 an hour and I'm doing okay. I live like I'm poor though. My brother and I work in the same place so I ride with him, we share the price of gas. My rent is not bad, it's affordable to me. My only other bills are natural gas for heat and hot water, electric, cable internet (no cable TV), and my cell phone bills. I grocery shop only for myself and I generally only eat one meal a day. I still manage to put away $1000 a month into my investment accounts. You are a rockstar . But eat a can of tuna every day too cheap good protein and healthy I buy it by the case . One meal isn't enough. https://ketogenic.com/omad-and-keto-can-you-combine-the-two/ I'm overweight but not by much, it works for me. As long as you get enough calories into that one meal, it's fine |
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Posted: 5/20/2023 12:38:43 AM EST
[#5]
Quote HistoryQuoted: https://americanmilitarynews.com/2023/05/american-consumer-debt-passes-17-trillion-for-first-time-in-nations-history/ First link in search posted, didn't read. I am paying off debt now and make significantly less than what the op posted. People with high incomes, usually not always but usually, have lots of student debt and work a W2 job and get soaked with taxes. That really eats into your income. They also have significantly higher standards of living and don't really realize it. |
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Posted: 5/20/2023 12:49:12 AM EST
[#6]
Married 4 kids still at home.
I’m making 3x what I did 4 years ago. We are doing fine but if I was only making what I was before this new job we’d be screwed or my wife would be working as well. |
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Posted: 5/20/2023 12:52:24 AM EST
[#7]
Quote HistoryQuoted: Mrs and I were just talking about this tonight. Seems like people living in "poverty" have more mad money than we do. Fucking taxes for 2022 were more than I made all year at $15/hr  Most people living in the USA in “poverty” have everything taken care of thru govt handouts, many are obese, and they have 100% of their time available to do whatever they want since they have no pesky jobs to stop them…. Also- did not really understand your 2nd sentence. |
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Posted: 5/20/2023 12:54:04 AM EST
[#8]
Mortgage is 1000. We own our vehicles, mostly don't get out and do a whole bunch because the gas is so fucking expensive. I make $28 an hour I don't know if that's not making shit in your definition. Wife makes closer to $18 works 30 hours a week and pays the electricity and her car insurance. I am taking home about $870 a week right now. And spend about half of one of those paychecks in food for the kid wife and I.
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Posted: 5/20/2023 1:00:50 AM EST
[#9]
From what I noticed with my tenants,
1) Their not, debt and a drastically reduced quality of life. Having extra family move in with them. 2) Their part of the gig/grey/black market. And on government assistance. It sure as hell isn’t the salad days of Trump or Clinton. Me personally I understand that I will never own a new car in my life. I also understand that the next house I buy is going to be a wreck that I need to rehab for it to be semi affordable. I’m also debt free and have consolidated a lot in my life. Things will be shit the next 2 years. But we will get a break when the election hits………for reasons…….. |
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Posted: 5/20/2023 1:06:47 AM EST
[#10]
Single
Make about 70ishk take home. Rent is 1950. No other debt. Put 20% towards retirement. spend about 400 a week on random bullshit(food, gas, whatever) and the rest gets saved into categories. The main one being a down payment for a house. Need to save a fuck ton to get out of PMI... Need to cut my weekly spending down. ETA: I live only 15 minutes from work..so that comes at a cost(high rent)..I could get much cheaper rent..but then I would be living in places where I would want 87 locks on my doors, windows, and truck. |
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Posted: 5/20/2023 1:15:22 AM EST
[#11]
I'm is now a poor. I used to make decent money and always lived below my means. Housing, food, cars, whatever. The first job after I ETS, was a .GOV job that I could rode into the dirt, but it was soul sucking and after 8 years I'd had enough. I relocated to a better state and monkey branched through a few jobs, but once again landed in a job that started ok, but burned out in short order after a few years. Now I'm just in something that just barely covers the overhead but still looking.
It's possible but I don't live like a Kang, and God forbid something big comes up, but God has always provided even in my darkest hours and I place my faith in the devine ruler. Yes money makes things easier, but running a stripped down lifestyle is also freeing. You buy and have the things you need vs. Want. Anything above that at the moment is a pipe dream. When you know that you can't have certain things, it frees you to enjoy the things that you do have. If you're trying to keep up with the Jone's, you're doing it wrong. |
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Posted: 5/20/2023 1:20:51 AM EST
[#12]
Made a similar post the other day OP
I do pretty well for myself, spend incredibly frugally, and still feel like I'm just barely keeping my head above water I can't imagine what it's like for people making 20/hour in my AO |
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Posted: 5/20/2023 1:22:49 AM EST
[#13]
I think people just have massive debt.
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Posted: 5/20/2023 1:24:44 AM EST
[#14]
I got shitcanned from a horrible company prior to the COVID bullshit, and found a niche in doing house remodeling.
That led to doing stained glass and now I do unconventional house work. So far I've just been doing stuff for neighbors, family and friends with all kinds of stuff most of the contractors won't touch. Just finished this for a friend. I price myself really low so I don't take in a lot of money but it also gets people I know the stuff they want. I also don't deal with assholes.  Attached File |
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Posted: 5/20/2023 1:29:50 AM EST
[#15]
When I had a six figure job I bought a house that I could pay even if I made less than half of my six figure salary, my cars are all paid off, I don't have a pet, kids are grown, and I don't buy what I don't need
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Posted: 5/20/2023 1:32:09 AM EST
[#16]
Credit and uncle sugar.
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Posted: 5/20/2023 1:49:34 AM EST
[#17]
I'm selling off absolutely anything I don't truly need and hoping and praying somehow things improve
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Posted: 5/20/2023 1:54:47 AM EST
[#18]
Living with my dad. I wouldn't be able to make ends meet without him. At the same time he wouldn't be able to maintain the property/house without me. Works for both of us. I'm fortunate, others are not.
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Posted: 5/20/2023 2:13:15 AM EST
[#19]
Beg, borrow, steal.
It’s either work or prison. It can be said you’ve been put in an economic prison. This economic situation was no accident. It was created deliberately to enslave those most sensitive to price changes of basic everyday necessities. Fuel and food. On top of which the gov has stolen your buying power by devaluing your dollar. It’s a multi-prong attack on the middle class. All of which was built upon a lie.  |
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Posted: 5/20/2023 2:51:29 AM EST
[#20]
Quote HistoryQuoted: You are a rockstar . But eat a can of tuna every day too cheap good protein and healthy I buy it by the case . One meal isn't enough. Tuna will have higher bio-accumulation of mercury than smaller fish, like sardines. 
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Posted: 5/20/2023 3:25:12 AM EST
[#21]
I currently make a out 80k. Two kids and wife who stays at home. I own my house and cars so no payments. With just food, electric, gas, home insurance, life insurance, Netflix, random crap the kids need and phone bills I'm only able to save maybe 500 a month. My wife would have to go back to work if we still had a mortgage.
I have no fucking clue how people are making it on less than 75k household income right now with rent prices and whatnot. If I really crunched down on spending I might be able to save another 500 a month at most. Just two years ago I was saving around 1500 a month easily and buying shit I don't need a lot more often. You'd think at the very least most people would be voting against government spending and inflation. At this point as a priority. Politics is like religion now though. Democrats will vote democrat no matter how bad they get fucked. Republicans will vote Republican no matter how bad they get fucked. Neither party is even slightly serious about reducing federal spending so I think we are fucked either way. |
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Posted: 5/20/2023 3:30:09 AM EST
[#22]
Quote HistoryQuoted: This. Just imagine how bad things would be right now if Trump had won. |
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Posted: 5/20/2023 4:41:14 AM EST
[#23]
Quote HistoryQuoted: ebt |
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Posted: 5/20/2023 4:42:02 AM EST
[#24]
They get it made up with ebt, WIC, and what ever else gov cheese.
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Posted: 5/20/2023 4:53:08 AM EST
[#25]
Imagine struggling and having to pay child support.
I didn't have kids because I have a collection of ex girlfriends and not ex wives. On the plus side, I have a gun room. Those are my babies.  Anywho, I know quite a few people and I can tell you that the majority spend until they run out of cash. I have friends scraping by but as soon as they have cash, they go have a steak dinner on vacation. I also have friends who make quite a bit but have jack shit in the bank because they gotta spend every moment of their lives shopping. I do fine financially and can spend what they do without blinking but I'm a cheap motherfucker. Like my dad told me years ago. "Nobody got by spending money". |
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Posted: 5/20/2023 5:03:45 AM EST
[#26]
Quote HistoryQuoted: This is so true. When I was a lad, I dreamed of owning all kinds of toys - a Ferrari, a nice boat, a mansion. Now that I am a mature man, and can afford many nice toys, I find that I don't want them anymore. My perfect day is me and the missus taking a drive out into the country, finding a local place to have lunch and a margarita, then going home and watching an old movie on the telly. Or taking the kids for a round of clays, then lunch. You get the point. Life is now about experiences, not things. My wish for GD is that y'all can find the peace that I have. The marriage that I have. The friends that I have. It's out there. Unfortunately, most will never achieve it. "He who dies with the most toys, dies surrounded by toys." Man thats a nice ass thought. Its not the toys that people are talking about here. I think that so many people have dished out the sage advice of "money doesn't make you happy" that they don't even realize what they are actually saying anymore. For me I have never thought money would make me happy. But what it does, and what so many people who have it forget that it does is make life easier to relax and enjoy. People forget that the people they are departing this wisdom on, are working 10 hour days, 6 days a week, maybe have two jobs and are living constantly stressed about the next bill or if they can afford to buy food and pay the electric. Retirement is a pipe dream, and wage stagnation means that your toiling for less and less every year. I mean think about what you said. "Life is about experiences", that's only said by people who have time to experience anything other then work, recovering each night for the next days work, and then trying to cram everything you need to get done around the house on the weekend. Driving around with the wife and eating out is a luxury, and buying food and activities for the kids is also a luxury that the majority of the people the OP is referring to can't afford. Money doesn't buy you happiness. Unless you consider living stress free, with a happy wife in a home you own a happy life. Then yes money does buy happiness. |
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Posted: 5/20/2023 5:05:14 AM EST
[#27]
I should try to tighten my budget a little more. My expenses this year have been $2700-3000/month. Seems like everything I pick up in the grocery store now is some multiple of $5. I do my own work on my bikes, buy ingredients for energy gels and powders and mix them myself, only eat out once a week or once every 2 weeks usually.
Probably should start looking for a job next month, but I don't really want to. |
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Posted: 5/20/2023 5:53:22 AM EST
[#28]
Retired. No mortgage. But I feel the inflation bite in the every day things I buy the same as everyone else.
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Posted: 5/20/2023 5:59:01 AM EST
[#29]
Quote HistoryQuoted: It's pretty easy when you've only got yourself to take care of. I guess I bought all the shit I really "need" long ago, so now it's just about making enough money to be comfortable without dipping into savings, which so far hasn't been a problem. If I get a hair up my ass about a new toy I can put it on credit and adjust my luxuries until it's paid off. It works for me and I'm relatively happy. this is me |
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Posted: 5/20/2023 6:06:27 AM EST
[#30]
We're struggling and we've had to cut back on everything.
Also, we've been putting off maintenance style things. It sucks, but it's only going to get worse. I'm convinced this is where the US is headed:  Attached File |
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Posted: 5/20/2023 6:09:13 AM EST
[#31]
The continuing economic tampering is done on purpose to crush the middle class down into the lower public-assistance/democrat-ballot tier.
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Posted: 5/20/2023 6:11:14 AM EST
[#32]
Quote HistoryQuoted: The continuing economic tampering is done on purpose to crush the middle class down into the lower public-assistance/democrat-ballot tier. It’s been going on for decades but the last few years it’s been put in overdrive. It’s insane. |
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Posted: 5/20/2023 6:12:05 AM EST
[#33]
We make good money and are starting to feel it like crazy. Went from feeling like we finally reached F You money, to feeling like we're living paycheck to paycheck.
Our grocery bill, to include toiletries and cleaning stuff, has doubled. Yesterday I ran to the store to get dinner. Ground beef, buns, two citronella candles, and a couple bags of veggie tots. $40 fucking dollars. It sucks. |
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Posted: 5/20/2023 6:14:42 AM EST
[#34]
Quote HistoryQuoted: I got shitcanned from a horrible company prior to the COVID bullshit, and found a niche in doing house remodeling. That led to doing stained glass and now I do unconventional house work. So far I've just been doing stuff for neighbors, family and friends with all kinds of stuff most of the contractors won't touch. Just finished this for a friend. I price myself really low so I don't take in a lot of money but it also gets people I know the stuff they want. I also don't deal with assholes. https://www.ar15.com/media/mediaFiles/67160/photo_2023-05-20_01-01-38_jpg-2822666.JPG  Attached FileI suspect I’ll have some sort of creator-type income after I leave my W2 job. It probably won’t be onlyfans, either. That’s cool that you’ve figured out a way to bring money in without associating with assholes. |
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Posted: 5/20/2023 6:15:22 AM EST
[#35]
I'm not making light of the misfortune of others, but IMHO the real difference between what we want and what we actually need is often amazingly vast.
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Posted: 5/20/2023 6:17:57 AM EST
[#36]
Quote HistoryQuoted: Our 150k is taxed, so there is no 12k a month, and we're doing well. I guess I'm really bitching about, in my own case, that I can't just go and be a financial dipshit on a whim, or feel like I can't. I'm 48 with 6 stents in my heart, arthritis so bad that sometimes I wonder how I function, and kinda get the feeling I'm not going to have some golden retirement so I'd like to do the things I want to do while also making sure my family is secure after I'm gone. Maybe what I make isn't that good, and I'm fooling myself, but I still have 3 kids at home and I haven't hit penny pinching yet, but the economy had definitely put me in "wait a little while" mode. I did splurge and buy this, 700 rounds of ammo, and 8 magazines for it though, so I'm still somewhat of a dipshit. Seemed like a good price though and I've wanted a Dragunov knockoff for 20+ years... https://www.ar15.com/media/mediaFiles/133760/pix013078029_jpg-2822638.JPG |
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Posted: 5/20/2023 6:29:36 AM EST
[#37]
We make good money and inflation and fuel and materials costs are hitting us pretty hard.
The customer base can't really bare another price increase but costs of some materials have tripled. Cost of hay has doubled, fuel is double. Oil, filters, grease, propane and parts or just steel all through the roof. Don't even get me started on groceries! It's like we are living in the twilight zone where our money is worth half of what it was. |
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Posted: 5/20/2023 6:35:01 AM EST
[#38]
Quote HistoryQuoted: They spend less and/or accumulate debt. This is what we are doing. FJB and anyone who keeps him in office. |
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Posted: 5/20/2023 6:35:23 AM EST
[#39]
Some people still have money. Trump shoveled out 6 trillion…. That’s a lot of borrowed money to spend. Add in people who moved to cheaper areas and made money on their house, all the bitcoin people. It’s taking a while to unwind. Once people max out their debt, they’ll feel it. Around me it’s 2 or 3 families per house now. Shitty trailers parked in peoples yards. Property theft is already up. Now that criminals have immunity, the crime wave coming should be biblical.
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Posted: 5/20/2023 6:57:48 AM EST
[#40]
I think the people saying spend less and you live below your means as advice are correct. Principles like that remain true.
However, those posting about their cheep mortgage and paid off houses need to realize that things have changed since they bought. Go ahead and check your house estimate on zillow and look at the mortgage cost. Could you afford that today? I'm doing ok, but I worry about people just starting out (like my kids in a few years). You will own nothing and be happy. |
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Posted: 5/20/2023 7:00:03 AM EST
[#41]
Quote HistoryQuoted: It would be the same. Inflation is what's crushing us. Most of that is trumps covid spending and I highly doubt he'd cut federal spending in a y reasonable way. He'd just increase inflation a little less than Biden at best. |
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Posted: 5/20/2023 7:05:20 AM EST
[#42]
Quote HistoryQuoted: My feet aren't bad, I have evolution toe though, does that command a premium or hurt my overall foot portfolio?  I live on about $10 an hour after retirement savings, 401K takeout, taxes, insurance, HSA and all that stuff pretty easily. However, I don't buy shit I don't need or use, and I don't have any debt payments, just monthly expenses. Most people waste far, FAR more money then they could possibly imagine in a month and have little to show for it. |
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Posted: 5/20/2023 7:09:51 AM EST
[#43]
I oughta thank some of my worthless cousins for keeping me off of facebook
they only time they message me is to say, "anything will help"...after I've already told them "no, i've already got a kid and i'm not adopting any now" |
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Posted: 5/20/2023 7:10:29 AM EST
[#44]
Quote HistoryQuoted: I'm not making light of the misfortune of others, but IMHO the real difference between what we want and what we actually need is often amazingly vast. Look at a 1950's middle class lifestyle. 1200sq ft house with one bathroom, no AC, one small tv, one used car that routinely needed tuned up, home made food made from scratch every night. My lifestyle today is quite a bit above the way I lived as a kid in the 80's. Inflation really has hit pretty hard the last three years, especially on the food side. Five or six years ago I was making a little over $75k/yr and was saving over $30k/yr in retirement accounts (with a SAHW and three kids). Now I make far more and have been saving slightly less. Most of that extra income has gone to lifestyle increases, more guns, new truck, fourth kid, dirt bikes, etc. But my raw food cost has probably increased $7k/yr in that time span. |
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Posted: 5/20/2023 7:16:51 AM EST
[#45]
DoD pension and wife's good income make up for the $15/hr gig I find myself in currently. I actually love the job, my coworkers, and I'm pretty good at it, but the GM keeps the purse strings sealed shut.
If it wasn't for the other 2 income streams, I'd have to either go back to the DOD contracting route which the wife has said no more of, or go back to white collar IT work, which I loathe. I imagine it's brutal in this economy for the low wage earners these days without alternate income streams. |
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Posted: 5/20/2023 7:26:11 AM EST
[#46]
Me personally, I’m struggling. Luckily I only have myself to take care of, no wife or kids. Truck is paid off, Mortgage payment isn’t terrible, I don’t eat out much anymore so I cook most of my meals.
I’m looking for a better job, but I’m either over qualified for entry level positions, or lack the skills to go into the trades or something better. I went to college like they told me too, and it really isn’t helping me out. |
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Posted: 5/20/2023 7:27:22 AM EST
[#47]
Quote HistoryQuoted: I got shitcanned from a horrible company prior to the COVID bullshit, and found a niche in doing house remodeling. That led to doing stained glass and now I do unconventional house work. So far I've just been doing stuff for neighbors, family and friends with all kinds of stuff most of the contractors won't touch. Just finished this for a friend. I price myself really low so I don't take in a lot of money but it also gets people I know the stuff they want. I also don't deal with assholes. https://www.ar15.com/media/mediaFiles/67160/photo_2023-05-20_01-01-38_jpg-2822666.JPG I’m jealous, this is a skill I’d die to have. |
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Posted: 5/20/2023 7:29:28 AM EST
[#48]
i ate oatmeal for dinner last night
got that new rear for my bike coming tho lol |
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Posted: 5/20/2023 7:29:39 AM EST
[#49]
We made $65k last year and we're doing just fine. Money is tight, but we're in no way about to lose anything. Bills are getting paid on time.
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Posted: 5/20/2023 7:30:30 AM EST
[#50]
On paper I make more money than I ever have but financially I feel like I did 15 years ago. Some of its bad luck - 3 flat tires in two weeks, had to buy a new set. Just one example. Can’t go to the grocery store and get out with a meal for less than $30 it seems. Gas, property tax increases, car insurance increases, taxes, etc…..I tell my wife all the time I don’t know how people can do it.
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