Too poor to retire; too young to die

Some of you guys are brutal, call me a softy but I applaud her (the first story) for standing on her own two feet and not asking for public assistance (and if she did I'm sure some here would label her a free loader). Not only that but despite the hardship she's following her dream of touring the country on her own. Sure she could've done things differently to be in a better situation now or who knows may be she did make all the right choices but perhaps some situation outside her control wiped her out? She still has my respect and sympathy for doing the best she can at her age.

Considering she's older than my mother I certainly would send her a small donation if I knew where to send it.
 
Chuckanut said:
Oh I thought you were talking Canadian dollars, worth a lot less these days, IIRC.
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Was down on the Baja the winter of 1997/8...when it took a dive...went to change some Canadian dollars.....Mexican guy either said "Your money is worth less" or "Your money is worthless"...wasn't sure which.
 
Dvalley, The article is sad but there are many people making these same bad decisions all the time. I can't get passed the poor judgment she uses. The prime rib lunch to take the "edge off" before she goes food shopping. The "big insurance bill" coming due that lunch may have put her over the top. The Wright house tour ticket she bought instead of dental work. The article says she "is as stubborn as she is high-spirited." I know one like that and he will stick to his poor choices just to prove everyone wrong. The article is like a train wreck for me. I keep going back and reading it and thinking "how could you be so stupid" (I know, not nice to call a stranger stupid but that's what I'm thinking). I read something like this "She could hit the road, but she would have to keep working. And just maybe, there might be money for a few nice things. It was all so scary but also a little exciting." Money for a few nice things? That is stupid, pay off your debt that would be a "nice thing". Send a donation to your local animal shelter.
 
Meadbh said:
In Europe, that would be considered a large refrigerator. In my childhood home, the fridge was half that size.
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kcowan said:
and in my childhood cottage, the top third was reserved for the block of ice...:greetings10:
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My RV fridge is really smaller than it looks. Remember that it is only 6 cu.ft or 170 liters. The interior is small for 2 reasons. First, it is shallow because about 3 inches in the back side are taken up for the tubing; RV fridges are ammonia absorption type in order to run off propane. Secondly, it has thicker walls for better insulation, because the ammonia absorption process does not have the same cooling capacity (BTU/hr) compared to the common freon compressor type.

Still, we manage. My wife can pack food in there pretty tight.

At home, we have more than 40 cu.ft. between two fridges, and both are choked full! We eat a variety of food, and do not want to go grocery shopping every day, so stock up all different cuts of meat, bones for soup, condiments from east to west (kimchi and hoisin sauce to tartar and capers), cheese of about 5 or 6 different kinds, etc...
 
aja8888 said:
It's over the top expensive from my point of view. ROMEO is Retired Old Men Eating Out.
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100 MXN = $5.50 US for bacon and eggs fruit toast and coffee, with refried beans and tortillas, sauces in a real restaurant. We could save money by going to a chain but do not have the stomach for it. We enjoy eating in style.

(and full disclosure, if it is eggs benny on the beach, it will be $120 with tip.)
 
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dvalley said:
Some of you guys are brutal, call me a softy but I applaud her (the first story) for standing on her own two feet and not asking for public assistance (and if she did I'm sure some here would label her a free loader).
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well if she had internet access I suppose she could start a gofundme page...
 
NW-Bound said:
Something I noticed but forgot to comment on.

The woman has a class C motorhome, and the refrigerator commonly put into these models is a 6-cf unit, which is what we have in our class C. See photo below. It is indeed small compared to a residential fridge, but we have no problem storing food during our RV trek. And that's for 2 people.

It is true that we cannot keep a big jar of mayo like we have at home, and the ketchup bottle has to be small. But we never have to get them at convenience stores. Normal grocery stores carry them.

What are they talking about?

RM2862.jpg.thumb_popupprod_info_380x333_d84157d35b429dc1c00cfcafac997a44.jpg
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We did seven months in a pop-up camper. It comes with a mini-fridge, the size most often sold for dorm rooms. We supplemented with an ice chest that plugged in to keep cold for when we drove to a new location. We cooked 80% of our meals. It can be done.
 
W2R said:
Order something like perhaps the Chicken Parmesan and Spaghetti (their red sauce is fabulous!), with water to drink. This dish costs $17.50, which with tax would come to $19, and with tip $22.

As always, the serving size is huge. So, unless you are a teenager you will need to split it between yourself and another person, or take half home and warm it up to eat tomorrow. There. Now you have a nice and very filling lunch for $11.

If you go on a Monday or a Saturday, you can get the Shrimp Creole as the daily special and that is out of this world; by far my favorite dish there. It's $15.95 so with tax and tip you can split it and get out of there for $10.
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Which is basically what this woman did - it's right there in the first paragraph...

After much consideration, she ordered the prime rib special and an iced tea — expensive at $21.36, but the leftovers, wrapped carefully to go, would provide two more lunches.
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That works out to $7.12 per meal. Not that bad, all told.
 
dixonge said:
Which is basically what this woman did - it's right there in the first paragraph...



That works out to $7.12 per meal. Not that bad, all told.
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Thanks, I didn't notice that!! I take it back - - she was pretty smart after all.
 
These folks have some really nice rigs. They spent too much, they have no emergency fund for major equipment repairs. They don't seem to budget well either.

They need to emulate *these* guys, all of whom seem to have a much better time and quality of life on the road...

Cheap RV Living.com-Home
 
NW-Bound said:
As I said earlier, I have read blogs of destitute people who spend $5 on a fancy-schmancy toothpaste tube, or buy grocery at Whole Foods. How do we help these people?
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I'm not sure you can. I thought so when I became a financial advisor- it was one of my reasons for doing so. Somebody should have helped my grandmother. I don't really see these kinds of people except when they inherit something or get money in a lawsuit. I have tried to show them how saving at least part of the money for retirement- or even just emergency savings can benefit them, but most of the time, they cash it out and spend it. Five years (or usually less) after the windfall, they are no better off than before it. Sadly, there are some people that you just can't help.
 
ugeauxgirl said:
Sadly, there are some people that you just can't help.
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I agree. A friend who works for a service that helps people get their finances in order says her job is to go over their income and expenses and make suggestions about how they could put them in better balance. That might include eating out less, getting a cheaper cable plan, cutting back on the family's $200/month cell phone bill, etc. She says they always have reasons they just can't make those changes.

After a pledge drive at our church with particularly dismal results, with many people pleading financial difficulties, she and I agreed to co-teach a Financial Peace U. class. (Note: I charge everything on my credit cards and pay in full every month, so I don't follow everything DR says, but his basic advice to the financially clueless is solid, IMO.) We did everything we could to publicize it to the church and to the community and TWO people signed up. The ones who had bemoaned their difficult circumstances did not. Very disappointing.
 
I was dating a woman up until recently that I would guess is heading down the same path.
She admitted she was living "paycheck to paycheck" but still insisted on going out most nights. When she not so subtly suggested she needed new tires for her car. (hint, hint) that I saw the need for my exit. I think this money management style is very common and LBYM is the exception.
 
athena53 said:
We did everything we could to publicize it to the church and to the community and TWO people signed up. The ones who had bemoaned their difficult circumstances did not. Very disappointing.
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This does not surprise me. You're asking them to develop the maturity to defer immediate gratification and they don't want to hear it.
 
Olbidness said:
I wonder how often"SLIME in the ice machine" goes unreported now:LOL:
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one of my regrets in life is never having played golf with Marvin - I think he was a member at braeburn


I've played behind Rudy T at Memo and behind Racehorse Haynes at Inwood. Let's just say Racehorse didn't get his nickname on the golf course...Rudy is a slow player too - likes to hit 5 shots off the first tee
 
Walt34 said:
This does not surprise me. You're asking them to develop the maturity to defer immediate gratification and they don't want to hear it.
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When you are old and do not know how much longer you have to live, immediate gratification might be the best way to go....


Just saying....
 
Compulsive buying and impulsive behavior have been linked to ADHD, which in turn has been linked to numerous nutritional deficiencies, low birth weight, maternal smoking and a variety of other factors that involve more than personal choices. Depression can also be in the mix, and that also can have environmental, genetic, lifestyle and nutritional causes. I don't think overspending is always simply a "lack of willpower" issue for some people. Telling someone to stick to a budget may not be any more effective than telling a depressed person to be happy, an anxious person to stay calm, or an overachiever to relax and chill out. All of those are often complex issues with no single, simple solution.

Add to that billions spent on advertising to buy consumer goods and very little directly towards savings, and that has to play a role. too.
 
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NW-Bound said:
... How do we help these people?
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ugeauxgirl said:
I'm not sure you can. I thought so when I became a financial advisor- it was one of my reasons for doing so. Somebody should have helped my grandmother. I don't really see these kinds of people except when they inherit something or get money in a lawsuit. I have tried to show them how saving at least part of the money for retirement- or even just emergency savings can benefit them, but most of the time, they cash it out and spend it. Five years (or usually less) after the windfall, they are no better off than before it. Sadly, there are some people that you just can't help.
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Mine was just a rhetorical question. People with poor money management can be like drug or gambling addicts. They may know what's good or bad, but for some reasons just cannot do it. I don't know. I am no psychologist.

But on the other hand, as some posters agree with me, these are people who choose to live their life the way they want. They are working to support that lifestyle, and think that their effort is worth it. They are not on public assistance, and appear to be good workers.

So, it's not the way I would live if I were in their shoes, but I should just let them be. Pursuit of happiness was an unalienable right written in the US Declaration of Independence. This country is great, that these people can do what they do now. They are not hurting anybody. Perhaps they are regretting the notoriety brought on by this article.
 
Future's not looking too bright for one in five, or 20%, of baby boomers:

Here’s Why More Baby Boomers Won’t Enjoy Retirement Like Their Parents | The Fiscal Times

The Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts that more than a fifth of boomers 65 and older will be holding down a job in 2024. When their parents were the same age in 1994, only a tenth were still employed. The number of older women staying employed will double to 18.4 percent from 9.2 percent, while the men’s participation rate will increase to 25.7 percent from 16.9 percent.
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Emphasis added
 
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