gee, i wonder why-



http://money.msn.com/saving-money-tips/ ... bout-money

with a $2700 mortgage, and $300 electric bills, and $70 on internet, you are NOT saving wisely. and apparently they are on foodstamps because who can feed a whole family for $150 a month?!?!?

and that $3k cc bill every month... holy shit!

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the world will always the world. your entire existence is defined by your response.

Why can't someone making $100k be struggling?

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Be well

GO BEARS!!!

Income is very relative to where you live. They live in Texas. The $3K CC bill stands out.

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They can be. It just means they are a dipshit with money.

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Fare you well, fare you well
I love you more than words can tell
Listen to the river sing sweet songs
To rock my soul

Pretty much.

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The credit card bill.
We put everything on our CC including all utilities (cellphone, internet, electricity, food, etc.) along with other CC expenses (clothes, entertainment, gas, etc.) and we have it range month-to-month between 1800-2000 that we pay off every month. If the house utilities they name are not in their CC bill (which it appears it is not) there has to be things there to cut in the budget in the credit card bill.


...oh and the student loans but I've gone over that.

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3000 CC bill might mean they are eating out a lot which would explain the low grocery total.

Eat your damn meals at home.

That grocery bill does seem insanely low. I buy for a total of one person and mine is like $200-250/month.

_________________
Fare you well, fare you well
I love you more than words can tell
Listen to the river sing sweet songs
To rock my soul

Generic Doritos and Hot Pockets cost you that much?

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A 2,700-dollar mortgage in Texas is a fucking mansion. It's also a bad decision for someone who barely makes 100K for a household.

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What the fuck are generic doritos? Are you high again? I thought we talked about you not being able to handle certain drugs.

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Fare you well, fare you well
I love you more than words can tell
Listen to the river sing sweet songs
To rock my soul

Goddamnit, go to Aldi's!

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Speaking of drugs, I see Mr and Mrs $100k aren't budgeting them. Good for them, stay punk rock forever.

There's no category for them on Quicken Plus. What do you want them to do!?

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that's the "credit card" money.

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I'm sorry you're poor.

But for real, $2.09 for a gallon of milk at Aldi's is unmotherfuckingbeatable. I think it went up like 20 cents recently though.

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Fare you well, fare you well
I love you more than words can tell
Listen to the river sing sweet songs
To rock my soul

I will shop at Aldi's till the day I die... even if I can afford to put drugs on a credit card budget.

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$100K income total for a full family isn't really "a ton."

edit: Yeah...$125K for a husband, wife, and two pre-teens. I wouldn't say "scraping by" but they aren't exactly rich either.

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Rick Hahn is the best GM in baseball.

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Good people drink good beer - Hunter S. Thompson

<º)))><

Waiting for the time when I can finally say
That this has all been wonderful, but now I'm on my way

That's what stood out the most for me in this story. They had to have put zero down on a $500,000 house to be paying that much.

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Yeah, I echo the sentiments on the house and credit card. The student loan is also awfully high. I pay $200 a month at 4.25% on my loan that I have been paying back for the past 17 years. DePaul ran me about $95,000 when all was said and done and my parents didn't put much down on the loan when we got it.

That said, I can sort of sympathize. Things have gotten much more expensive for people, especially if you have a kid.

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100K up to the max for FICA deductions (117K) is taxed out the arse. By the time you add up all city, state, local, federal income tax, bullshit FICA taxes, health insurance etc you're lucky if you're talking home $1200 a week on a six-figure paycheck.

And then you need to pay property taxes out of your take home pay. Parking tickets,red light tickets, fees, etc etc etc all get paid out of post-tax take-home income. oh, and all sales/gas taxes/sin taxes are paid with post-tax income.

200K is the new 100k. Or at least 150k. and a couple with combined earnings of 100-150K--it's likely they are both taking the max FICA hit on all of that income.

and woe is you if you have to pay the self-employment FICA tax hit: 15%.

How fucking insane is that? 15K a year to social security--you could do a lot better with that money investing than you'll ever see from social security.

and with Boomers retiring and making up the largest voting block, expect that FICA number to keep creeping upward.

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I'm going to bounce from the spot for awhile but I will be back at some point to argue with you about this hoops stuff again. Playoffs have been great this season. See ya up the road.

I'm out.

He's the last guy you want to call.

Actually, 80% of the commercials on the score seem to be related to a shady business.

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But my daughter just got out of the military and wants to avoid PMI?

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Elections have consequences.

Seriously though, the best way to avoid PMI is to rent or buy a condo where you have enough of a downpayment, not to call a guy that repeatedly calls you "son" and "buddy".

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3 thousand dollars a month dedicated to credit card debt is the problem. That can't be explained away with "utilities" . Utilities, including gas, electric, water and cable should still be under a thousand dollars. You have obviously been foolish with your money (or credit more accurately) and have credit card debt that has gotten out of hand. The interest you pay on that debt is ridiculous and now, because you lacked the discipline to restrict your spending to what you could truely afford, you are screwed. Now you need to cut back on unnecessary expenses, increase your income and pay off that debt.

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Go Cubs!!!!

Its not always foolish spending. There are few options right now to build up savings without taking risky ventures into the stock market. If you don't have a lot of money saved up and you have a big expense, there is a good chance you are going to put it on credit. Why? Equity has pretty much disappeared from everyone's home over the past seven years. I bought in 2004 at $243,000, the bank values my home at $161,000 and because I put more money down on principal, I've managed to pay my loans down to $190,000. Because of the low valuation, it would take me about another six years just to hit the bank's valuation before I can even pull from equity. If there are any major expenses I get hit with, I will be putting them on credit. I'm sure I'm not alone in this type of mess.

There is also something to be said about the predatory practices of companies with credit cards. Go to any department store and you will have a deal going on where you get discounts by using your credit card. The middle class and economy were built on credit debt for the better part of the 90's and 2000's. College students and women get targeted directly, and while they need to take responsibility for their actions, I can see why people fall into the trap. All I'm saying is, humans are prone to addictions and money is the most addicting thing out there.

Oh, and I can't just "increase my income". You make it sound like its easy to just go out and get money, but unless you are really handy or have a skill in demand, its pretty hard to do.

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A slightly different way to word this. I see the cost of expenses and wonder how families get by without making more than $100k combined.

- If you want a decent 3-4 bedroom home and have the average of 2 kids, you are looking at a monthly mortgage payment, with taxes and insurance, at around $2,500.
- Food is the second biggest expense, and unless you eat the minimum, its going to average about $800 when you factor in kids.
- If both parents work and commute from 10-25 miles, you are looking at $80 a week in gas across two mid-sized cars, worse with SUVs. Insurance will run you $150 a month. If you have car payments, you may add $500-$600 a month. Maintenance runs you about $50 a month when you average it out. You are looking at $500-$1000 in car-related expenses.
- Utility bills depend on usage, but you are looking at gas to be about $100, electric to be about $100, TV and internet to be around $150, home phone to be $50 and cell phone to be $150. You are looking at utilities to be around $550.
- Health insurance depends heavily on who you work for, but you are probably looking at $800 for health and dental for a family.

So for those mostly mandatory expenses, a family is looking at ~$6,000. A $100k income, after 20% taken out for taxes, breaks down to $80,000, which divided over a 52-week period comes out to... $6,000 a month.

Now... God forbid you need to pay into day care, you are looking at another $300-$1,500 a month. Or worse, you have to pay for school? And what if the kids want to play sports? You need to clothe yourself. House maintenance? I can easily see a family having to tack on an additional $2000-$3000 in personal expenses. I assume you have to turn to credit cards at that point?

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As the bookeeper in our house... what Hoffy said. We do not live extravagantly and budgeting just making min payments on CC's (which is stupid) come in around 5,000. That's before any child care and food etc. And we certainly do not make 100,000 a year.