|
|
"WEEKEND INVESTOR Six-Figure Incomes"
09-05-2014, 03:31 PM
|
#1
|
Recycles dryer sheets
Join Date: Jan 2008
Posts: 136
|
"WEEKEND INVESTOR Six-Figure Incomes"
"WEEKEND INVESTOR
Six-Figure Incomes—and Facing Financial Ruin
Some High Earners Live Paycheck to Paycheck. Here's How to Break the Cycle of Overspending."
Sad state of affairs...
http://online.wsj.com/articles/six-f...uin-1409936418
|
|
|
|
Join the #1 Early Retirement and Financial Independence Forum Today - It's Totally Free!
Are you planning to be financially independent as early as possible so you can live life on your own terms? Discuss successful investing strategies, asset allocation models, tax strategies and other related topics in our online forum community. Our members range from young folks just starting their journey to financial independence, military retirees and even multimillionaires. No matter where you fit in you'll find that Early-Retirement.org is a great community to join. Best of all it's totally FREE!
You are currently viewing our boards as a guest so you have limited access to our community. Please take the time to register and you will gain a lot of great new features including; the ability to participate in discussions, network with our members, see fewer ads, upload photographs, create a retirement blog, send private messages and so much, much more!
|
09-05-2014, 03:56 PM
|
#2
|
gone traveling
Join Date: Sep 2013
Posts: 1,248
|
I can't read it without subscription to WSJ.
But what is a surprise. Building a nest egg is as much about LBYM as about making good money.
|
|
|
09-05-2014, 04:24 PM
|
#3
|
Moderator
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: Eastern WV Panhandle
Posts: 25,346
|
My sister worked with some people who had six-figure incomes and were living paycheck-to-paycheck. Astonishing.
Here's a link that doesn't need a log-in. At least it didn't for me. http://online.wsj.com/articles/six-f...uin-1409936418
__________________
When I was a kid I wanted to be older. This is not what I expected.
|
|
|
09-05-2014, 04:31 PM
|
#4
|
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Jun 2005
Posts: 10,252
|
That Northern Trust sample budget was a hoot. I didn't see where they showed the $80,000 a year paid to Northern Trust, but maybe I missed it.
They also put less that maximums into retirement accounts and had pathetic contributions to charity.
|
|
|
09-05-2014, 04:34 PM
|
#5
|
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Jun 2010
Posts: 2,301
|
I think the article would be more interesting if it were based on real data as opposed some hypothetical family that spends 30k on groceries a year.
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Early Retirement Forum mobile app
|
|
|
09-05-2014, 05:47 PM
|
#6
|
Full time employment: Posting here.
Join Date: Nov 2012
Location: Dogpatch
Posts: 561
|
Quote:
Originally Posted by Walt34
|
There's a way to read paid sites, with the "Google First Click Free" hack:
It works like this. You first copy the web address of any news article that is behind the registration firewall and paste that URL into the Google Search box. Now click the first Google result and you’ll be able to read the full text of the corresponding story without registering or subscribing.
|
|
|
09-05-2014, 05:51 PM
|
#7
|
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Nov 2013
Location: Bay Area
Posts: 2,745
|
Quote:
Originally Posted by tfudtuckerpucker
There's a way to read paid sites, with the "Google First Click Free" hack:
It works like this. You first copy the web address of any news article that is behind the registration firewall and paste that URL into the Google Search box. Now click the first Google result and you’ll be able to read the full text of the corresponding story without registering or subscribing.
|
It worked like a charm. Thanks!
( I can always count on this forum to learn something useful now and then. )
|
|
|
09-05-2014, 06:26 PM
|
#8
|
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Sep 2012
Posts: 11,702
|
Quote:
Originally Posted by photoguy
I think the article would be more interesting if it were based on real data as opposed some hypothetical family that spends 30k on groceries a year.
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Early Retirement Forum mobile app
|
Hold the phone! I mentioned my BIL in another thread. This is nearly exactly his profile. I mean, it is scary how close it is to their reality. The utilities and taxes are spot on for a large home in IL. The groceries are not as nuts as you think when you are addicted to the finest meats and wines.
Cars? Only the best luxury SUVs. They are not buying Corollas every 5 years.
Did they mention the country club?
Don't pooh pooh it folks. I've seen this.
|
|
|
09-05-2014, 07:08 PM
|
#9
|
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Feb 2011
Posts: 1,797
|
I was blown away by the lady first mentioned in the article. Even after going through a half-million $$ bankruptcy 9 years ago, she gets herself right back in deep financial trouble by vastly overspending what her big $200k/yr income could sustain. Her explanation: "I felt entitled".......What utterly oblivious, misguided, narcissistic CRAP. No one is "entitled" to continuously spend on luxuries far beyond their means. Some one eventually gets stuck with the tab.
And BTW- after that 2005 bankruptcy, (Ch 13 vs Ch 7 not stated), what mental midgets in the financial industry approved her credit limit increases to get right back to $300k in the hole?
And agree 100% with JoeWras. This is NOT a unique story. I've seen it a few times too. Hardly the kind of folks a solid economy is built on.
|
|
|
"WEEKEND INVESTOR Six-Figure Incomes"
09-05-2014, 07:36 PM
|
#10
|
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: May 2014
Posts: 7,373
|
"WEEKEND INVESTOR Six-Figure Incomes"
I made in the low 6 figures for the last 20 years of my career although the first 10 of those was in NNJ so a huge chunk went to housing. Sometimes I think it was a no-brainer that DH and I were able to save as much as we did. Then I remember my Ex, who really did try to live like the people in that article. I chose better the second time!
|
|
|
09-05-2014, 07:53 PM
|
#11
|
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: May 2009
Posts: 9,343
|
Quote:
Originally Posted by ERhoosier
I was blown away by the lady first mentioned in the article. Even after going through a half-million $$ bankruptcy 9 years ago, she gets herself right back in deep financial trouble by vastly overspending what her big $200k/yr income could sustain. Her explanation: "I felt entitled".......What utterly oblivious, misguided, narcissistic CRAP. No one is "entitled" to continuously spend on luxuries far beyond their means. Some one eventually gets stuck with the tab.
And BTW- after that 2005 bankruptcy, (Ch 13 vs Ch 7 not stated), what mental midgets in the financial industry approved her credit limit increases to get right back to $300k in the hole?
And agree 100% with JoeWras. This is NOT a unique story. I've seen it a few times too. Hardly the kind of folks a solid economy is built on.
|
I generate about 80k a year in retirement. I have thought about taking a PT job but 2 reasons keep me from it. The taxes and the fact that 20-30k a year extra would not change my lifestyle unless I leveraged debt with it. People who declare bankruptcy a second time should be given a public flogging along with the people who approved the loans!
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
|
|
|
09-05-2014, 08:04 PM
|
#12
|
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Nov 2009
Location: SF East Bay
Posts: 4,342
|
Hangonasec. So you're saying that some people who earn a lot spend every penny they earn and don't save anything?
Well I never.........
__________________
Contentedly ER, with 3 furry friends (now, sadly, 1).
Planning my escape to the wide open spaces in my campervan (with my remaining kitty, of course!)
On a mission to become the world's second most boring man.
|
|
|
09-05-2014, 09:34 PM
|
#13
|
Dryer sheet aficionado
Join Date: Apr 2014
Location: Alberta / SoCal
Posts: 34
|
I felt entitled".....
From my almost 40 years of megacorp experience, I honestly think this really means 'I cannot add or subtract'.
|
|
|
09-05-2014, 09:36 PM
|
#14
|
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Jun 2010
Posts: 2,301
|
Quote:
Originally Posted by JoeWras
The groceries are not as nuts as you think when you are addicted to the finest meats and wines.
|
Perhaps this is not so contrived then although I still have a hard time believing the estimate is not way over the top even for those saving little (the 30k doesn't even include dining out for which another 20k is allocated).
Most of the high income couples I know are getting burned by some combination of daycare, nanny, private school, etc which weren't even mentioned in the article.
|
|
|
09-05-2014, 09:55 PM
|
#15
|
Moderator Emeritus
Join Date: May 2007
Posts: 12,901
|
I do think that the Northern Trust spending estimates are overinflated. They would make Chicago at least twice as expensive as San Francisco.
|
|
|
09-05-2014, 10:15 PM
|
#16
|
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Apr 2012
Posts: 6,181
|
This is similar to what happened to a SIL (one of DW's sisters). After her 2nd marriage she and new husband had a combined income of over $160K in a relatively low cost state (Florida), no mortgage on the house (from her first divorce), and additional rental income from late FIL's condo (which she forged papers to show she was co-owner when he died, but that is another story).
Even with 3 kids still in the house they could have saved SOMETHING... but it was fancy cars, expensive tastes, parties all weekend (and dumping kids off at Grandma's house for free baby sitting), trips, etc. Then they started using the house and rental property as home equity and 2nd mortgage ATMs.
Of course when things came crashing down after about 5 years of this they came us and their mother for help to sustain this lifestyle - and felt "insulted" when we wanted to find out why they needed money given their lifestyle and the "things" they had. When I suggested they sell one of their cars - they would still have had 3 - you would have thought I told them to throw their kids of a cliff as a sacrifice. The entitlement mentality is wonderful...
__________________
FIREd date: June 26, 2018 - "This Happy Feeling, Going Round and Round!" (GQ)
|
|
|
09-06-2014, 09:57 PM
|
#17
|
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Jun 2013
Location: Bonita (San Diego)
Posts: 1,795
|
Simple math escapes some people.
__________________
"So we beat to our own drummer in the sun;
We ask for nobody's permission to run.
I just wanna live in a world like that;
Now I'm gonna live in a world like that!" - World Like That, O.A.R.
|
|
|
09-06-2014, 10:09 PM
|
#18
|
Recycles dryer sheets
Join Date: Jul 2013
Location: Cocoa Beach
Posts: 414
|
|
|
|
09-07-2014, 05:41 AM
|
#19
|
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Sep 2012
Posts: 11,702
|
Quote:
Originally Posted by FIREd
I do think that the Northern Trust spending estimates are overinflated. They would make Chicago at least twice as expensive as San Francisco.
|
There's some inflation, sure. Like I said, the grocery component has to include something expensive, like a few $40 bottles of wine each week.
The property tax and utilities were unfortunately almost exactly what my BIL pays. When he gets drunk on his wine, he starts complaining about these costs. I had to look up their property tax on the records because I just thought he was drunk. Nope. $25k per year.
Now, that house is large and has a pool. But it is typical of a neighborhood of thousands of houses just like it.
|
|
|
09-07-2014, 06:33 AM
|
#20
|
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Nov 2009
Posts: 6,698
|
Quote:
Originally Posted by Lucantes
I am still trying to figure out how everyone that went "underwater" on their mortgage is something that I should care about, or be somehow responsible for. You make an agreement or contract with someone, you honor your commitment (pay your debts!). I am completely fed up with the current prevailing attitude that nothing is anyone’s fault anymore.
|
I fail to see how being underwater on one's mortgage is necessarily a terrible thing, too. I bought my co-op apartment in 1989 just before the real estate crash of the early 1990s so I was underwater for a few years before its value bounced back. I had no plans to move so I kept making my payments, doing a refi along the way to knock down the interest rate 6 points.
I paid off the mortgage in 1998 while the apartment's value was rebounding and today it is worth more than I paid for it. The fact that I was underwater for a few years meant nothing to me.
__________________
Retired in late 2008 at age 45. Cashed in company stock, bought a lot of shares in a big bond fund and am living nicely off its dividends. IRA, SS, and a pension await me at age 60 and later. No kids, no debts.
"I want my money working for me instead of me working for my money!"
|
|
|
|
|
Currently Active Users Viewing This Thread: 1 (0 members and 1 guests)
|
|
Posting Rules
|
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts
HTML code is Off
|
|
|
|
» Recent Threads
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
» Quick Links
|
|
|