Survey: 64% of Americans Now Living Paycheck to Paycheck

[daylatedollarshort]

There's a lot of wealthy people in the Bay Area so many of the thrift shops have really nice merchandise. We've gotten some pretty cool stuff on Freecycle type sites, too, like a big screen TV and patio, table, both in like new condition. I furnished a lot of a college apartment for one of the kids and a roommate for around $200 and it turned out really cute. (We bought items like the mattress and couch from Ikea so those cost more.)

 

[Music Lover]

When you say history, what do you mean? The brand's reputation? Your knowledge of them? Your perception of them? Where did all of that come from?


And those YouTube videos, who created them? Were they all done totally altruistically or were the producers selling themselves and their work? Did you have to view an ad before the video started? Were there ads on the screen?


I'm not saying ads necessarily unduly influence us, but we see them, we take them in, and they are one of many many factors that feed into our decisions.

You're reading a lot more into this than there is. I have a mechanic I trust who gave me advice. There are plenty of unbiased reviews. There are accurate reliability records. And so on.

By the way, I didn't even see an ad for my car until several months after I purchased it. Ads had nothing to do with my purchase.

 

[Major Tom]

There's a lot of wealthy people in the Bay Area so many of the thrift shops have really nice merchandise. We've gotten some pretty cool stuff on Freecycle type sites, too, like a big screen TV and patio, table, both in like new condition. I furnished a lot of a college apartment for one of the kids and a roommate for around $200 and it turned out really cute. (We bought items like the mattress and couch from Ikea so those cost more.)

I also live in the Bay Area, and have a family member here, who supplements her retirement income very well by frequenting the various thrift stores. She finds quality vintage clothing in great condition, and sells it on eBay. Having worked in a related industry throughout her working life, she is well acquainted with what true quality is, and the sorts of clothing items people will pay good money for. The buyer is happy, because they scored something they value and want, which would be hard to find in their area. She's happy, because she often makes a good profit on the sale.

If she did this full-time, she could do very well. However, for her, it is a lucrative and enjoyable hobby, and a significant supplement to her retirement income. She frequents thrift stores anyway, and looks for a lot of the same types of things for herself, so it doesn't really feel like work to her.

 

[disneysteve]

There's a lot of wealthy people in the Bay Area so many of the thrift shops have really nice merchandise. We've gotten some pretty cool stuff on Freecycle type sites, too, like a big screen TV and patio, table, both in like new condition. I furnished a lot of a college apartment for one of the kids and a roommate for around $200 and it turned out really cute. (We bought items like the mattress and couch from Ikea so those cost more.)

On our local Buy Nothing group, people give away some really incredible stuff. I'm talking about items that they could easily sell for a couple hundred dollars. While it's very generous of them, I wonder how many of them are paycheck to paycheck types who could really use the money. Or even not p-t-p but have some debt or could otherwise use a few extra dollars they could get from selling that stuff instead of giving it away.

 

[Irishgirlyc58]

Is it really great? The first hit I get asking what percent of the money generated by Goodwill goes to help people, says, "Less than one-eighth of the company's profit goes toward its charity work." I haven't followed any further so, maybe the story is wrong.
https://aliceminium.medium.com/the-...cas-greatest-thrift-store-empire-183967087a1e

You know I was basing my statement on my own professional experience. It’s very possible that it depends on the region and person in charge of the region at the time and that the overall organization isn’t that great.
That’s disappointing.

 

[F.I.R.E User]

I can tell you first hand that the CEO of the mega Corp I worked for and all the executives worked far less and performed far less than the middle managers. I worked under a senior executive who would leave early during budget season and ask for reports to be emailed or faxed to him. They all took time off to go to a fund raiser, their kids events, etc while the senior analysts and managers worked late. We routinely prepared reports and briefed them on the reports. Executive pay is very corrupt and they have an ungodly number of perks. The big guys looked out for each other and the board served them. They could very well be the next ones sitting on a board somewhere. It’s immoral for the CEO to make $30 million all in. I don’t think anyone can really justify this salary. As I said I saw the corruption first hand. One of the very senior sales executives only job was to sit in meetings and hob nob with big customers. Yes, they had a bigger span of control and have more at stake but they definitely didn’t outperform the middle managers. Getting ahead in the corporate world is often a game of politics and you pat my back and I’ll pat yours.

If the stocks are going up then CEO is doing well. Market decides the pay. Regardless, that isn’t stopping you or anyone to move up the ladder for more pay.

 

[scottpush]

You'd never know it by all the people spending all kinds of money on everything. Cars, houses, you name it.

 

[ExFlyBoy5]

I haven't watched television in almost 45 years and I use an adblocker online. When I had paper subscriptions to the NYT and WSJ, I know they had ads, but I never looked at them. So I have been blissfully unaware of advertising for my entire adult life. Maybe that's how I kept enough money to retire.

Were you never solicited when you were licensed? There are a LOT of companies out there that spend a significant amount of money on lawyers...I know I get about 3-5 emails a DAY. Even if the information on your contact info is not easy to get, the likes of AVVO, Martindale, Legal Directories, etc. are REALLY good at finding people. How did you choose who to do MCLE with?

 

[Gumby]

Were you never solicited when you were licensed? There are a LOT of companies out there that spend a significant amount of money on lawyers...I know I get about 3-5 emails a DAY. Even if the information on your contact info is not easy to get, the likes of AVVO, Martindale, Legal Directories, etc. are REALLY good at finding people. How did you choose who to do MCLE with?

I designate them all as junk and block the senders when I can. If I want to do business with someone, I'll go find them.

As far as CLE goes, in all my years in NYC, we did it in house at the firm. Connecticut did not have a CLE requirement until the last three years before I retired. For that, the court system provided CLE online, as did some law firms as a way to gin up business. We also did much of it in house at the Attorney General's office. I was a presenter a number of times, both in my firm and at the AG's office. So I never paid for CLE.

 

[Irishgirlyc58]

If the stocks are going up then CEO is doing well. Market decides the pay. Regardless, that isn’t stopping you or anyone to move up the ladder for more pay.

Google CEO compensation for failed companies and many articles over the years say otherwise.

 

[Rustic23]

Been here about 20 years. This about the 5th paycheck to paycheck thread. Looks like it was about 70% in 2006. So not much has changed.

Search: Keyword(s): Paycheck
Thread / Thread Starter Last Post Replies Views Forum

6 Attachment(s) Go to first new post Survey: 64% of Americans Now Living Paycheck to Paycheck (Multi-page thread 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8)
ExFlyBoy5
Today 06:00 PM
by Irishgirlyc58 Go to last post
284 15,625 FIRE and Money

How many Americans are really living Paycheck to Paycheck? (Multi-page thread 1 2 3)
cyber888
10-10-2019 02:56 PM
by Alan Go to last post
89 9,018 Young Dreamers

2 Attachment(s) 4 in 10 Americans live paycheck to paycheck (Multi-page thread 1 2 3 4 5)
RAE
01-29-2019 06:46 PM
by Dtail Go to last post
189 41,991 Other topics

Poll: Poll:Living paycheck to paycheck (Multi-page thread 1 2 3)
Live And Learn
07-17-2017 08:40 PM
by jazz4cash Go to last post
106 11,355 FIRE and Money

Just heard a statistic that 70% of America is living Paycheck to Paycheck.... (Multi-page thread 1 2 3)
Cut-Throat
07-13-2006 09:38 PM
by Mwsinron Go to last post
85 10,710 FIRE and Money

 

[MC Rider]

Re: Goodwill, I have read in the past that the execs take a lot more money than the charitable stuff gets.



I donate my stuff to Salvation Army, which I believe is better in that respect.

 

[disneysteve]

Been here about 20 years. This about the 6th paycheck to paycheck thread. Looks like it was about 70% in 2006. So not much has changed.

Yep. A story about some new survey pops up in the press every few years. It may well be the same crew doing the survey periodically. The results are always about the same, in the 60-70% range.


I think there is a segment of the population that lives that way pretty much out of necessity because they earn very little and most day to day costs of life are regressive in nature. Then there are the folks who live that way by choice, although it's not a conscious or intentional choice. They've just built themselves a lifestyle that sucks up every penny they make. I have little sympathy for the latter group.

 

[disneysteve]

deleted

 

[daylatedollarshort]

The thrift shops here are often filled to capacity and not accepting donations. The smaller charity thrift shops often have set times and are very picky about what they will accept. We donate to a Goodwill we've found that usually isn't full, isn't super picky and accepts donations most business hours. Otherwise sometimes we've had to drive to 3 or 4 places to find a shop accepting everything we've had piled up in the car to donate.

 

[disneysteve]

The thrift shops here are often filled to capacity and not accepting donations.

That's a shame. We have a Goodwill donation center very close to our house. A few months ago, they opened a brand new one pretty close to that one and I was sure they would close the older one, but they've kept both of them, so they must be able to handle enough donations to support having two sites about a mile apart.

 

[Teacher Terry]

More of the value of goodwills is that some employ people with disabilities that otherwise aren’t employable. Our local one did for years until Sacramento management came and fired the people running it and then fired the disabled employees. It was heartbreaking. Salvation Army does a much better job.

 

[Phroig]

Goodwill has also gotten expensive. Our local store has $9-12 pants! You can find better deals during sales at Old Navy. I recall buying several Levis 501s as a graduate student in Austin for $2-3 a pair. Of course, that was 25 years ago.

 

[disneysteve]

Goodwill has also gotten expensive.

Agreed. I used to depend on them as one source of merchandise to resell on ebay. No more. They now charge ebay prices or sometimes even more. I was just there today because I'm a hopeless optimist. I looked up a few promising items on ebay only to find that their price matched or exceeded recent sale prices.

 

[teachme]

I always packed my own lunch. Usually leftovers from the night before. My old battered aluminum lunchbox was famous in my office.

Now that is a classic!

 

[Gumby]

Now that is a classic!

Thanks. It was my grandfather's. He was a miner.

 

[aleabo]

Pay check to pay check means that in time you get paycheck your bank account is empty.
While I have no doubt that there are people in US who live like this (it was period in my life when I was in this situation) I doubt that there are 64%.
And even if your bank account empty - where money? Maybe some people invest everything - market down, people buying

 

[daylatedollarshort]

Goodwill has also gotten expensive. Our local store has $9-12 pants! You can find better deals during sales at Old Navy. I recall buying several Levis 501s as a graduate student in Austin for $2-3 a pair. Of course, that was 25 years ago.

Same in our area. I can get new clothes for the same price, or not much more, at Costco or on Amazon. The local charity thrift shops here tend to have much better deals.

 

[Irishgirlyc58]

More of the value of goodwills is that some employ people with disabilities that otherwise aren’t employable. Our local one did for years until Sacramento management came and fired the people running it and then fired the disabled employees. It was heartbreaking. Salvation Army does a much better job.

That was my experience with goodwill and it looks like we are/ were in the same general area. They were always willing to help with employment and actually wanted to increase their footprint in employment services. The local thrift store also had reasonable prices for what they were selling.
Based on my own professional experience I wouldn’t give the Salvation Army the time of day. They had a thrift store in my area and their prices were ridiculously high.
SA never came through with the assistance they promised to clients I served. Then just a few years ago they completely pulled out of a project for homeless services at the 11th hour.
Needless to say I’m not impressed with SA.
But we all form opinions based on our own experiences.

 

[HawkOwl]

According to Charity Watch, Goodwill Industries International spends 88% of its money on programs (compared to overhead). They give it a rating of A.

https://www.charitywatch.org/charities/goodwill-industries-international-national-office

Charity Watch doesn’t rate Salvation Army collectively due to incomplete reporting data required for religious organizations. However, they do give ratings for some of their components, which range from 57-97% (most are in the 80’s to 90’s %).