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Many don't have $2,000 for a rainy day

money.cnn.com

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Re: Many don't have $2,000 for a rainy day

#111

Post by getsat »

robflynn wrote: post #3

I certainly don't have any put away for a rainy day. After a bit of time being jobless, I finally found some underpaying work to get back on my feet. Coupled with various bills and medical bills, etc., I'm sitting at a paycheck to paycheck point. I get paid again tomorrow and I have $5.00 in the bank. It's quite depressing. Couple that with my girlfriend also losing her job and we tore through any savings pretty quic…

> I'm also polishing up the resume to begin sending out June 1.

Why are you reading HN instead of doing this? Close your browser, finish your resume, and apply for ten jobs online before you go to bed tonight. Apply for ten more tomorrow. Repeat until you're employed.

Good things come to those who hustle.

Re: Many don't have $2,000 for a rainy day

#112

Post by djcapelis »

hugh3 wrote: post #50
ebiester wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're looking at it from a middle class perspective. Unfortunately, most of these people are also deep in debt and have already made such cuts. This is the byproduct of double digit unemployment as much as anything. As much as we talk about consumption, most of it is at the middle class level. Now, I've seen poor people make very bad decisions, but many are on purchases you and I would make without a second thought.…

Unfortunately, most of these people are also deep in debt and have already made such cuts. Sometimes I wonder about this. How many poor folks are wasting their limited budget on frivolous crap? One reality show I really would like to see would be about a sensible financial advice type who parachutes into the lives of low-income, deeply-in-debt people and shows them how to budget properly.

One reality show I would really like to see would be about sending entitled people into low income neighborhoods so we can all watch them realize just how hard working some people are and just how well most people manage their money. Maybe then they'd stop saying misinformed stuff like "all that person really needs is someone to help them with a budget." A budget helps you cut excess spending. There's not a lot of spending in low income places almost by definition. There is not a lot of excess.

Deeply in debt people typically don't come from low income neighborhoods, they come from the middle class. Low income folks can't get credit that easily, even when credit was easy.

Most poor people I know work amazingly hard and manage their money well.

Re: Many don't have $2,000 for a rainy day

#113

Post by droz »

When I started college, I had 1000$ to my name. I didn't take out any loans and worked my way through a full load every semester for four years. Graduated and found a job and lived in places well below what I could afford. Every pay check I put between 55-65% of what I earned into savings. A couple years later I bought a house. Took the rest of that savings and put it into the market. Now, eight years later, I've got six figures in the bank and another five in the market. It isn't impossible to come up with money, you just have to think longer term and be disciplined about it.

Re: Many don't have $2,000 for a rainy day

#114

Post by almond »

artmageddon wrote: post #72
AndyKelley wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What part of that does insurance play?

I had a problem similar to this about two years ago. 9 hours in the ER on a Friday night to get checked out for a pain cost $13,000. I had to pay around $100 upfront, and then insurance kicked in and took care of the rest.

The way hospital balance sheets work these days, they charge you that much to subsidize the many patients who (a) could not afford health insurance, (b) are unemployed, underemployed, or employed without health insurance benefits, (c) avoided preventative health care and healthy lifestyle choices like most Americans, (d) went to the ER as their primary care provider, long after they should have first visited a doctor about preliminary symptoms but could not afford to go, (e) could not legally be turned away by the ER, and (f) had absolutely no way to pay for their care even if they wanted to. The fact that your insurer had to pay almost $13,000 is the point of the individual mandate in health care reform. Otherwise, the only way to keep ERs from closing (and many ARE closing) is getting people like you and your insurer to subsidize the people that use no insurance, get no preventative care, do not manage symptoms and walk into the ER as disasters.

Re: Many don't have $2,000 for a rainy day

#115

Post by reemrevnivek »

arn wrote: post #41
elbelcho wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I disagree. Saving money for an emergency should be a priority over paying off a credit card debt. In an emergency, you cannot count on the credit card bank keeping your account open. You cannot count on them maintaining your current credit line. ALL banks are "evil" in the sense that they operate with their best interests at heart, and no matter how horrible of a position it may put you in, the CC bank has no obliga…

The only thing people should be aware of in this situation is that $2000 under your bed actually cost you $4000 or whatever since you are holding a balance on your credit card with high interest.

But the alternative, having a $2000 expense and no cash, would be a emergency. You can pay off $4000 in debt (and that doubling is probably hyperbole, but whatever), If you can handle small emergencies that will come up. Read Chapter 6 of Dave Ramsey's "Total Money Makeover" for a more thorough analysis.

Re: Many don't have $2,000 for a rainy day

#116

Post by synnik »

I've been working my butt off in the corporate world, trying to save a year of living expenses for my family of 5 in the suburbs, in hopes of quitting and doing my own thing once I had that cushion.

I hit the 9 month mark, then had major health issues that are wiping a lot of it out.

At first, I was fairly devastated. Then someone told me, "Isn't this exactly the kind of thing that savings is for?"

And you know what, it is. Sure, I wanted to quit my job in the near future. Sure, I wanted to be the rare married family guy who still had the flexibility to do startup work.

But how blessed and thankful I am that I am "only" going to have 3 months stored away after this is all done.

It is always good to keep things in perspective.

Re: Many don't have $2,000 for a rainy day

#117

Post by anamax »

anonymouser wrote: post #43

I have a question for HN hackers. I make over 6 figure a year. My wife doesn't work. She keeps telling me that we are not middle class, and that I should earn more if I want to afford us a middle class lifestyle, because everything is very expensive now. She also thinks that I'm a bit of an underachiever, professionally, for earning only 120K a year. Am I an underachiever or is she out of touch with Midwestern Americ…

> Am I an underachiever or is she out of touch with Midwestern America?

What has she achieved, besides you? The answer doesn't matter.

What matters is that marriage is an investment and you've both made a bad one. You both deserve better and will have to separate to get it, the sooner the better.

It won't get better.

Re: Many don't have $2,000 for a rainy day

#118

Post by pyre »

sunchild wrote: post #56
robflynn wrote: post #3

I certainly don't have any put away for a rainy day. After a bit of time being jobless, I finally found some underpaying work to get back on my feet. Coupled with various bills and medical bills, etc., I'm sitting at a paycheck to paycheck point. I get paid again tomorrow and I have $5.00 in the bank. It's quite depressing. Couple that with my girlfriend also losing her job and we tore through any savings pretty quic…

Don't be embarrassed. Many "rich" people have similar problems. It's just that, in their case, the cash flow figures are larger by orders of magnitude. Desperation can be a tremendous motivator, and a great way to set priorities. Think of yourself as a newly-arrived immigrant. Now make your way in your new world. Whatever you do, don't let depression set in. Depression = failure. Even if you struggle to pay the bills…

  > Depression = failure
Just to clarify, depression (mostly) leads to failure. Depression doesn't define you as a failure.

Re: Many don't have $2,000 for a rainy day

#119

Post by latj »

anonymouser wrote: post #43

I have a question for HN hackers. I make over 6 figure a year. My wife doesn't work. She keeps telling me that we are not middle class, and that I should earn more if I want to afford us a middle class lifestyle, because everything is very expensive now. She also thinks that I'm a bit of an underachiever, professionally, for earning only 120K a year. Am I an underachiever or is she out of touch with Midwestern Americ…

divorce

Re: Many don't have $2,000 for a rainy day

#120

Post by reemrevnivek »

vaksel wrote: post #58
anonymouser wrote: post #43

I have a question for HN hackers. I make over 6 figure a year. My wife doesn't work. She keeps telling me that we are not middle class, and that I should earn more if I want to afford us a middle class lifestyle, because everything is very expensive now. She also thinks that I'm a bit of an underachiever, professionally, for earning only 120K a year. Am I an underachiever or is she out of touch with Midwestern Americ…

middle class is something like $40K family income...so you are more than double that.

$40k is roughly average income, which is not the same thing as middle class.
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