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Quote:

Originally Posted by GregWeld (Post 507131)

I have to chime in here -- on the whole "living within your means".

It's FAR FAR easier to live within your means if you have plenty of "means". LOL

I've had this discussion many times with many of my friends. I've always been very open about money - money management - and discussions like this aren't and shouldn't be embarrassing. They ARE embarrassing if you are embarrassed by your own personal situation. By that I mean --- if you're one of those people that APPEAR to be doing well.... driving the new Audi - New house - out to dinner all the time - etc.... and your cards are about maxed out... and if you lost your job next week -- you couldn't make your next house payment... YEAH -- you should probably not be discussing your finances without being embarrassed. You're EGO is driving you to bankruptcy. You need help but your ego would never allow you to actually get some.

I'm saying this hypothetically -- to "America" -- not to anyone here. The people here are (I presume) working to help themselves and improve their financial situation.

I've never ever had anyone tell me their cards are maxed and they can barely make the minimum payment. EVERYONE always makes the blanket statement "I always pay my cards in full every month". While I'd really like to believe it - and really hope that it's true.... the majority of people just ARE NOT doing that. They are managing their money by keeping their PAYMENTS in check -- and in the meantime are paying 18 or more percent interest.

GUYS ---- REALLY???

To the investors here -- how many of you would L - O - V - E to be earning 18% dividend on your investments???? HOLY COW --- I'D BE RICH!!!!

Yeah. I wonder the same. I listen to a lot of Dave Ramsey's radio show. Keeps my thought process in check. I've always handled money very well. Until I got married. The other half didnt handle money well at ALL. It was a big issue. Eventually we divorced, i ate a quite large CC bill on that one (that wasnt even MY stuff). But oh well. From that point forward, I've vowed to never carry a balance on my CC. 5 years later, I havent paid an interest fee yet! But, it can be a tricky game that some people can't manage. Me, i personally pay off each purchase a day or two after it hits my card. i dont wait for the bill to come at the end of the month and get surprised!

On a side note, me and my current GF (future spouse!? ;) ) have taken some of Ramsey's ideas even further and have implemented emergency funds (which first resulted in her getting herself completely out of CC Debt). Now we have monthly budgets, savings accounts, and purchased a house this year (albeit, with a mortgage, but thats OK).

We're well on our way to be financially fit, in the short term AND long term (retirement). Plus the communication level is MUCH greater than the 1st go around. LOL

First of all Albert.... AWESOME!!

Second -- there's absolutely NOTHING WRONG with a mortgage!

What people do wrong with a mortgage is to repeatedly refi - taking out equity to spend... and lengthen the time in which to pay it back!

The entire exercise should be to retire with a paid for house!! (unless you're retirement far exceeds what normal people are going to collect in those years).

The "ISSUE" is spending more than you can really afford to spend -- the CC allows this - and on a repeated basis. I think a NORMAL use of a CC is -- perhaps an emergency repair - or something unexpected -- and then a guy has to make some payments at those high interest rates.... BUT that is where you should have some dough saved for such emergencies. NOT BEING ABLE TO SAVE is the big mistake -- and that should be he first clue that someone is spending too much.

I have a buddy -- married -- old like me and retired now --- but he's a millionaire -- with a paid for house (millionaire NOT including the value of his house).... and the couple together never made 100 grand a year. He saved a 1/3rd of his income every year since he got his first job. The proverbial "pay yourself first". Called him today to come help me with the trailer --- and he can't -- why? Because they're out cruising around in his new F-250 and Airstream... ENJOYING RETIREMENT.

They spent years NOT having all the new stuff -- stayed in the same house etc -- so that he could spend years enjoying life later. GOOD FOR HIM!!!

Good job, Albert.

You're very correct about CC bills and life style, Greg. Somewhere in this thread, I think I read the comment "Just because you can pay for it doesn't mean you can afford it". I like that comment. I also think most people don't get it. If it weren't for the points that I get, I wouldn't use my CC. But I like it when the CC company pays me to use their card :D

Quote:

Originally Posted by WSSix (Post 507224)

Trey - I (WE) use the hell out of the credit card... in fact we are massive chargers.... but it still gets paid off every month regardless of how astounding the balance is.

Here's the part that busts me up --- someone that makes payments on revolving charge cards --- will have a HIGHER credit score than the guy that pays it off.

To me - that's the stupidest thing EVER.

We'll, i have to manage my money, my wife's spending, my employee's, and i dont like managing.

Case in point, Tuesday nite my wifey and i go out to dinner at Wente (for our 25th wedn anniversary) nice dinner, $169 meal. Great stuff. my brother gave us a 150$ gift card about a year ago as a thank you for watchin his two kids while he and his wife are in New York, they do the same trip every year, and we love watchin the kids...

So i pull out my debit card to pay the $19 balance plus the tip and the card is declined, i'm embarrassed. I turn to Pam and i'm like, um honey...??? She smiles and says "oops, i forgot to go to the bank" i was forgiving as usual, plus we had 3000in checks in her purse, 700$ cash in her purse and i had like 350 cash on me....so i have to have more of an eagle eye on "our" finances....it was a good (but embarrassing) reminder for me

I had a friend of mine i worked with for years and he used to always say "i hate money" and my dad (whom we worked for) used to say, "yah, till your out of it"

We gotta manage it, and those of us with partners, we have to watch out for them as well. Money is the #1 cause of divorce in the U.S.

A buddy of mine and I have accountability meetings on the last Thursday of the month. We are wired similarly and we both benefit greatly. He tends to be financially driven to the point of out of balance. Today part of our discussion was about goals. He's a big producer at Northwestern Mutual and he mentioned some of his peers trying to influence him to set huge goals. Way beyond what is achievable in a short period in my opinion. I could tell it really had his wheels spinning seeing just how much money he could reel in.

I told him it was a bad idea. Don't sell your soul to get what you want. He has 3 young boys and a wife. His cholesterol is 220, he could use a few more work outs and better nutrition. He doesn't NEED to make more money, his energy would benefit him in other areas of his life. Franky, areas that need more work and will lead to great payoffs.

I hope he progresses in his business but not by moving the balance beam to far. Money is important but not at the cost of others. Especially your family and friends.

Totally agree Todd... it's all about BALANCE.

We all seem to struggle with balance...

Quote:

Originally Posted by GregWeld (Post 507273)

Totally agree Todd... it's all about BALANCE.

We all seem to struggle with balance...

Ahhhh, well spoken "Danielson"...."now paint the fence" (ya gotta know this movie)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Vegas69 (Post 507271)

Great point. I think it was Rockefeller who said when asked "how much is enough money?"........."just one more dollar".

Quote:

Originally Posted by ErikLS2 (Post 507280)

Great point. I think it was Rockefeller who said when asked "how much is enough money?"........."just one more dollar".

Sadly --- somehow that old school way of thinking turned upside-down and became "can I spend just one more dollar".

My parents, and Grandparents, sole goal was to pay off their house -- and pay cash for a car. Mind you, saving for retirement didn't used to be quite so important because companies had PENSIONS and they also had Social Security which I think was larger by virtue of inflation (in other words inflation has eroded buying power and SS had NOT kept up).

Just look at governments around the world... all they do anymore is raise the debt ceiling. There's never any discussion about cutting spending to balance the books. Just spend more. There's no throttle modulation at all.

It would be nice if PEOPLE could do that. Right? Oh honey - we're out of money so we'll just increase our own credit card limit. Never having to pay the money back - just pay the interest only. No worries.