Let's talk money. Budgets. Life.

Joined
Jul 30, 2015
Messages
6,320
Location
Lenexa, KS
People have debt, or family that helps them. An old hunting buddy of mine got given 80K for a down payment on a house. This was back when that was 40% of housing prices. You can’t compete with that.


This was a big blind spot of mine that my wife just let me in on. She knows of plenty of her friends that get money from their parents (we are late 30's early 40's). Neither of our parents have helped us at all since we graduated college...but I guess we were responsible enough we never really needed it. I suppose there is some luck there but we have survived two periods of unemployment for 6 months and never needed or asked for help.

I don't know of my of my friends that get help, but I suppose if I were getting help I wouldn't tell my friends because there'd be some shame in that (for me, at least).
 

CorbLand

WKR
Joined
Mar 16, 2016
Messages
7,819

This was a big blind spot of mine that my wife just let me in on. She knows of plenty of her friends that get money from their parents (we are late 30's early 40's). Neither of our parents have helped us at all since we graduated college...but I guess we were responsible enough we never really needed it. I suppose there is some luck there but we have survived two periods of unemployment for 6 months and never needed or asked for help.

I don't know of my of my friends that get help, but I suppose if I were getting help I wouldn't tell my friends because there'd be some shame in that (for me, at least).
I always knew it was happening but never really understood how often and to what level. Take the example I used of the kid that got 80K given to him.

He got married and his wifes car wasnt the best but worked. His parents told him to sell it and he could have their "old" car (about two or three years old old). He then got the 80K when he bought their townhouse (townhouse was about 140K). He then got a job and had to move for it. His parents paid the mortgage on the townhouse until he could get it sold so he could buy a new house where he moved to. (probably three to four months) The offer that they ended up accepting to sell the townhouse had the contingency that they had to finish the downstairs bathroom, that mommy and daddy paid to finish. A couple years after all of this, he totaled his pickup and his grandpa gave him his old (probably five to six year old pickup) to drive until he got a new one. He drove it for over a year.

This all happened before he was 25-26 years old. Kid started out with a 100K in help.

My wifes cousin, her parents and his parents pay for their cell phone bills. That would save my wife and I 100 bucks a month. They also rotate through the promos for new phones, so one of them is getting a new phone for cheap to free every couple years.

My aunt and uncle gave their kids their first car when they went to college. Not super nice cars but they were probably worth 10K at the time (2006-2013ish).

My mom has helped me some, not a lot. She paid for some groceries when I was in college and bought some plane tickets so I could be there for family vacations. My grandma would send me a couple hundred dollar check every year for Christmas, she bought a lot of books in college. She passed away a couple months ago and gave a big finger to her kids and left a good portion of her estate to her grandkids. So, I wouldnt say I havent had help but it hasnt been to the level that some people I know have gotten it.

I remember filling out FAFSA and it would give you your estimated parental contribution to your education. I am the youngest so my mom made decent money on paper but not in real life. It would generally state she could contribute 4K a year or so. I would also call her and jokingly ask if she wanted to send that to me in cash or check.

If you dont have what the people above have had, you cannot compare your life to them and think you are behind. They got a head start that you have to catch up to and the honest truth is, you probably will never catch up to them.
 
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KsRancher

WKR
Joined
Jun 6, 2018
Messages
710
I always knew it was happening but never really understood how often and to what level. Take the example I used of the kid that got 80K given to him.

He got married and his wifes car wasnt the best but worked. His parents told him to sell it and he could have their "old" car (about two or three years old old). He then got the 80K when he bought their townhouse (townhouse was about 140K). He then got a job and had to move for it. His parents paid the mortgage on the townhouse until he could get it sold so he could buy a new house where he moved to. (probably three to four months) The offer that they ended up accepting to sell the townhouse had the contingency that they had to finish the downstairs bathroom, that mommy and daddy paid to finish. A couple years after all of this, he totaled his pickup and his grandpa gave him his old (probably five to six year old pickup) to drive until he got a new one. He drove it for over a year.

This all happened before he was 25-26 years old. Kid started out with a 100K in help.

My wifes cousin, her parents and his parents pay for their cell phone bills. That would save my wife and I 100 bucks a month. They also rotate through the promos for new phones, so one of them is getting a new phone for cheap to free every couple years.

My aunt and uncle gave their kids their first car when they went to college. Not super nice cars but they were probably worth 10K at the time (2006-2013ish).

My mom has helped me some, not a lot. She paid for some groceries when I was in college and bought some plane tickets so I could be there for family vacations. My grandma would send me a couple hundred dollar check every year for Christmas, she bought a lot of books in college. She passed away a couple months ago and gave a big finger to her kids and left a good portion of her estate to her grandkids. So, I wouldnt say I havent had help but it hasnt been to the level that some people I know have gotten it.

I remember filling out FAFSA and it would give you your estimated parental contribution to your education. I am the youngest so my mom made decent money on paper but not in real life. It would generally state she could contribute 4K a year or so. I would also call her and jokingly ask if she wanted to send that to me in cash or check.

If you dont have what the people above have had, you cannot compare your life to them and think you are behind. They got a head start that you have to catch up to and the honest truth is, you probably will never catch up to them.
Agree 100%. I have grown up in a small town area. K-12 school with under 100 kids in the high school. It was rough on me growing up. We got by in life but nothing extra. And in every class there were several kids who's parents/grandparents/great grandparents farmed and ranched, kids parents owned an oil company, kids mom or dad was CEO of one of our local big companies, etc. So out of a class of 25 there were 5-6 that were in a whole different level. Drove new pickups, new clothes, new toys and so on.


It bothered me bad. I worked my ass off starting in high school bound and determined to be to that level on my own. At the current age of 37 I have realized in the past few years that it just won't happen. I still bust my butt working a full time job and logging on the side to make as much as I can.

Sucks, but you just can't compete with getting given 1000's of acres of farm ground, an oil company, etc.
 

TaperPin

WKR
Joined
Jul 12, 2023
Messages
3,255
I hate to be the guy to say this. But study and save money in bitcoin asap.
Ten years ago I worked with two 20 year old kids who would never shut up about bitcoin - it was like Bubba talking about shrimp - every day they were trying to buy another computer to mine coins, or talk about borrowing money from every relative - they probably sold blood for extra bitcoin money. Drove us nuts. *chuckle*

Those kids are probably already retired.
 
Joined
Sep 22, 2021
Messages
470
Location
Western NC
I'm 32, my wife and I don't have kids yet. But my wife hadn't ever lived on her own before she moved in with me. She is constantly terrified of being broke. While I moved out at 18 and had some very real times deciding if I was getting gas to get to school and work or food that day.

All that said to say when I started making good money. I blew it fast. I sat down and made myself a budget.

We've busted ass on it and became debit free last year with a very modest house of our own. That's not to say we don't have nice things but we just decided we valued our freedom from debit more than brand new things.

The biggest eye opener was going to lunch out at work. 20 bucks a day 5 days a week is a 100 a week. Now double it. Then multiply by 4 weeks. Your at 800 bucks. That's a damn nice chunk of change to use for something else.


Edit- I commented then went back and reread some of these post about people getting help from parents or grandparents. My grandmother left me and my sister a house to split. Left in my dad's name. Long story short I bought my sisters half out and was paying my dad since they were paying for her school. (While I went to school and worked full time and they weren't helping me). Anyways right before he was suppose to sign the title over to me, it got flooded total loss. He got the insurance money and told me 1/2 was mine. 3 years later still haven't seen a dime. And I've cut all ties with my parents.
 
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Historybuff

Lil-Rokslider
Joined
Jan 28, 2017
Messages
169
This is a genuinely uneducated question. What is backing anything in bitcoin? It’s just digital currency correct?


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I wish i was smart enough to articulate everything ive learned in the last couple years going down the bitcoin rabbit hole. Its the rarest, hardest assest ever created in the history of humanity. 11 ETFs were approved for Wallstreet today. You can buy them starting tomorrow. Blackrock, fidelity, jp Morgan are all on board now.
 

HornPorn

WKR
Joined
Oct 7, 2020
Messages
320

This was a big blind spot of mine that my wife just let me in on. She knows of plenty of her friends that get money from their parents (we are late 30's early 40's). Neither of our parents have helped us at all since we graduated college...but I guess we were responsible enough we never really needed it. I suppose there is some luck there but we have survived two periods of unemployment for 6 months and never needed or asked for help.

I don't know of my of my friends that get help, but I suppose if I were getting help I wouldn't tell my friends because there'd be some shame in that (for me, at least).
In 2024, parents can each give their kid and their kid’s spouse $18K each. So Dad gives a check to Johnny for $18K and Johnny’s wife a check for $18K. Mom gives Johnny a check for $18K and Johnny’s wife a check for $18K. So that’s $36K for husband and $36K for wife, $72K to the household, tax free. This for the wealthy is just like maxing out their 401k or IRA contributions. Its just what you do every year to keep money out of the hands of govt, and in the family.

IMG_2581.jpeg
 

Freewilly

FNG
Joined
Jan 9, 2024
Messages
18
Success stories are easy to talk about. The way I see our society, we value instant gratification. New car, new clothes, electronic variants, sports tix , eating out etc.
Being a saver doesn’t get you any of that. It’s a slow process with no fanfare.
Also, do as much as you can yourself helps. You can change your oil for 1/3 of what jiffy lube charges. Can it be a Pain, yes , but you can do it .
Just my opinion
 

WCB

WKR
Joined
Jun 12, 2019
Messages
3,640
We live in a rural area that is captive ot Wal Mart for shopping for the most part with the exception of one local mom/pop grocery that is not real affordable. We will drive an extra 10-15 minutes to shop at Aldi. The amount of groceries we get from their store vs. Wal Mart is substantial and worth what little extra gas is being spent. Aldi has greatly improved over the past several years.
We do the same thing with ALDI along with discovering a discount grocery store that sells over goods or damaged crate items. Hell I was in a pinch and bought some raspberries the other night !!! $7 !!! for 12oz !?! The same brand and same amount at the discount place is $2. They don't have everything but kids go through fruit so fast it makes your head spin. You can find most of your basics and some real gems in places like that. Some people might care about being seen in a place like that but not us.

Lucky for us we have a WalMart, Aldi, the discount place, and a Coborn's all within 1/2 mile of each other. When my wife is in an extra saving mood everything we buy is the cheapest you can find. We still splurge on Steaks and Meat product in Coborns for special occasions though.
 

UpNorth89

Lil-Rokslider
Joined
Jan 12, 2019
Messages
179
I dropped my daily gas station stop a few months ago after I realized that would easily pay for another trip per year. Actually I got 2 birds with 1 stone because I save money and also quit every drinks.

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CorbLand

WKR
Joined
Mar 16, 2016
Messages
7,819
Agree 100%. I have grown up in a small town area. K-12 school with under 100 kids in the high school. It was rough on me growing up. We got by in life but nothing extra. And in every class there were several kids who's parents/grandparents/great grandparents farmed and ranched, kids parents owned an oil company, kids mom or dad was CEO of one of our local big companies, etc. So out of a class of 25 there were 5-6 that were in a whole different level. Drove new pickups, new clothes, new toys and so on.


It bothered me bad. I worked my ass off starting in high school bound and determined to be to that level on my own. At the current age of 37 I have realized in the past few years that it just won't happen. I still bust my butt working a full time job and logging on the side to make as much as I can.

Sucks, but you just can't compete with getting given 1000's of acres of farm ground, an oil company, etc.
Nope, you probably wont catch up to them. All you can do is live your life, trying to be better tomorrow then you were today and in the end, leave this place with more than you started.

Generational wealth is hard to compete with.
 
Joined
Jun 15, 2016
Messages
2,833
This is a genuinely uneducated question. What is backing anything in bitcoin? It’s just digital currency correct?


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Im not deeply knowledgeable about Bitcoin, but one thing you should understand if you do not already, there is a fixed supply. There will only ever be 21 million bitcoins. Unlike our dollar, which more is printed every day. Imagine if there were only 21 million dollars in the United States, ever. How many dollars would you have right now? What do you think a dollar would buy then?

There are already business who accept bitcoin as payment for goods and services. This genie is not going back in the bottle, even though the banks hate it.
 
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