I read that half of Americans couldn’t cover an unexpected $1,000 expense. This sounds crazy to me. I understand that poverty exists, but the idea that an adult with a job doesn’t even have that amount saved up seems really strange.
What’s your relationship or philosophy with money? What do you credit for your financial success, or alternatively, what do you blame for your failures?
For the extra brave ones: how much savings do you have, and what are you planning to do with them?
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every time I read one of those statistics, I feel the same way.
I’m doing very well relative to that statistic.
I live fairly simply, but I don’t consider myself particularly frugal.
I like traveling, learning, eating, watching and reading stuff, and making things, which are all pretty cheap interests.
If I were to credit anything with my financial success, it would be a practiced awareness of financial opportunity and persistently learning about and attempting every viable opportunity I’m interested in to gain a practical knowledge of cost-benefit streams.
I’ve tried many ways to make money and work less, and some of them worked out.
I’m traveling this year, so I save most of my income, and with the IRS’ FEIE I don’t pay income tax(up to 120k).
I have a few investments and some ten thousands accruing interest.
i don’t have immediate plans, but I want to buy some land at some point, basically so I have more area to build stuff and make stuff, sign up for cryonics and get a new electric bike or the Aptera if it every goes into production.
c’mon aptera.
It’s a difficult subject to discuss without sounding like you’re either bragging or talking down to those less well off.
I recently bought a new-to-me truck. I paid in cash, and if I wanted to, I could’ve bought two more. If I liquidated my investments, I could have bought three more, so six in total. I’m self-employed now, but I built all my wealth while working for a (plumbing) company where I was surrounded by people earning twice as much as I did. Yet, these are the people who need to finance their cars, have massive mortgages, and are always in a bad mood due to stress.
I understand that some people have been really unlucky and struggle to improve their financial position despite their best efforts, but these aren’t the people I’m talking about when I wonder how a working-age person can’t come up with a thousand bucks for an unexpected expense. I hardly even consider that a lot of money.
but I want to buy some land at some point, basically so I have more area to build stuff and make stuff.
I feel you there. What kind of things would you like to build? For me, it’s things like a rainwater harvesting system, solar/wind power, a pond with a pier and sauna, a chicken coop, a heated workshop with a car lift, a root cellar… I basically have an infinite list of projects I’d like to pursue.
“I basically have an infinite list of projects I’d like to pursue.”
this is about where I’m at.
All the homesteading stuff, I want to try breeding meat rabbits, I want to try geothermal air conditioning, buy used cars and flip them (I started working on cars a few years ago and ended up enjoying it much more than I thought I would).
a whole separate area for home brewing and jerkying stuff too, canning, all that.
I like the idea of building different types of housing and read books and watch videos all the time, like straw bale or clay or underground, whatever the heck experimental cabins I could build, and I’ve further toyed with the beginning of an idea of how to turn that into low income housing after I land on the simplest, sturdiest and least resource intensive houses to build.
carpentry. I’ve built small tables and desks and chairs for classrooms, but I’d like to experiment with larger furniture.
I did a lot of solar power experimentation when I was living in a motorhome that turned out Great, and I expect many of my projects outside would be solar and wind powered.
fish farming, vermicomposting, yeah, just a thousand billion things haha.
I like making things, building things, and new experiences.
I’ve done smaller projects within most of the fields I’ve mentioned as the opportunity arose, but even when I’m renting a house somewhere for a couple months I can’t easily conduct long-term larger living experiments, so I’ll have to get a house and land at some point so I can fiddle at scale.
…“always in a bad mood due to stress.”
circumstance and opportunity.
some people don’t have the opportunities, many do have the opportunities but don’t recognize them or choose not to take them because anything outside of what they already know makes them uncomfortable where is seen as difficult, and they haven’t been taught or learned themselves through experience to push past that discomfort or initial effort.
Yeah I love all that. Flipping old cars is something I’ve thought about as well but something I’d be even more interested in is doing the same with boats. Now that I’m self-employed I’ve tought about getting a project boat that I could work on when ever business is otherwise slow. I couldn’t fit a large one on my yard but some smaller fishing boat would be interesting to start with. When looking at old boats they often look like just even a simple pressure wash would double their price.
absolutely, That’s a great call with flipping boats also, I think the exact same thing about cars.
give a “clunker” a wash and change the battery and oil, clean some corrosion, and half the time you’re done with the tune-up and can make a few extra bucks.
I got my first motorcycle for my guy who basically did that for a living with bikes, and that was one of the first times practical commodity flipping made sense to me.
I had heard of flipping houses, but I didn’t hear about it, but then I saw like five bikes in this guy’s backyard and how simple it would be to replace the vital parts, which is fun, and sell them at a fair profit.
I keep trying to figure out how practical a solar /wind powered paddle houseboat would be, that I could just sort of like sustainably ferry out to wherever and paddle around the ocean for a while hahaha.
sounds super fun!
I’m doing well at the moment. The problem is that no matter how well I do, eventually something destroys my savings and eventually there’s a layoff at my company.
Even if I’m doing well at the moment, I’m still a couple paychecks from not doing well, and am no where near on track to eventually be able to retire
I have five digits of savings for the first time since my kids were born, but I also have college expenses for them, and at least that much in deferred house maintenance
I credit Apple, of all things. I always chose credit cards to minimize interest and fees, so this is the first time I’ve had one with significant cash back. Now I pay essentially everything with Apple credit card, pay off at the end of the month, get a surprising amount of cash back, directly into the high yield savings account. While of course my job is the reason I’m doing well, I credit this for turning things around to actually let me put money aside, to boost my savings
I am one broken leg away from being homeless and losing everything, and it’s been like that my entire working life. I’ve never been able to make enough to actually save. Currently I have -100 in the bank and some debt I’m trying to pay off on top of that. My rent is literally half my income.
I have $15.
Not just that I can spend. Not “until sometime in the future.” Just $15.
feel ya. i had $8 left before my last payday and I’m guessing it’ll be like that before my next payday too.
I’m digging myself out of a $13k credit card debt hole. I burned through my savings when a job that I had ended on my unexpectedly, and because it was contract work I wouldn’t qualify for benefits. They kept me around as a sub, promising me a full time position if I just stuck around long enough and I was foolish enough to believe them.
I’m self employed now and making do with the best I can, but I’m planning on ending my dream as a musician/ teacher and moving home. I don’t know who would want my skills, but I know they are specialized and strong. I just gotta see what kind of work would value them.
I dislike money. I worked hard to have enough that it’s not on my mind. I don’t need to think about the cost of eating out or buying food, or pursuing hobbies. But I also don’t really spend much. I don’t make big purchases very often and when I do I still over-analyze them.
If I had a lot more money I could retire, but I still have half my life to live. I hope to retire in 16 years. I have a job that pays well, with good job security, and minimal stress. I get 38 hours of leave time per month and I live in California.
I have cash savings earning enough per month in interest to pay my cell phone and home internet bills entirely. But I don’t really have any other discretionary monthly subscriptions. My savings will probably be used on a new kitchen and bathroom eventually.
I’m doing well but i wish i could afford my hobbies.
Maybe it helps to understand it when you think of it from the perspective that those $1000 expenses do happen, they’re not just hypothetical. But being able to cope with an event like that leaves you less able to handle a second one, and a third one
Couple that with the fact that I’m the US there is very little financial education so what might be an expected event for one person surprises another. Imagine living with a roommate and not realizing that to move into your own place involves coming up with first and last month rent, deposit, hook up fees, renters insurance, furniture, kitchen supplies, toiletries, etc… None of those should be unexpected, but also why would you expect them if you didn’t happen to run into them before?
Basically no amount of saving accounts for an expense that takes it all, and it’s then followed up by another one right after. And for some people those events are small and happen so quickly you never catch up and now you have late fees and interest and stress.
I am not American, but Austrian. I earn way more money than I spend each month, causing my bank balance to rise over time; I am not going to say exactly how much I have, but €1000 (which is about the same as $1000) is no problem for me to afford when I need it.
While it’s better than the alternative, it still doesn’t make me very happy because this only helps fulfill the bottom two levels of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. I wish I could easily earn less money, but have more free time to travel and pursue hobbies, but the system of wage labor is not flexible enough to cover the needs of someone like me.
Doesn’t Austria have a law that allows employees to reduce hours to part-time as they see fit? We do here in Germany. Last place I worked at, my team lead didn’t want me to reduce from full-time to 80%. The Betriebsrat (employee council) was ready to go to bat for me, but I didn’t like the role anyway, so I interviewed for another place. They offered me 80%, a pay raise, a better role and benefits.
This might come off as bragging, I realize. Sorry, not my intention. I just wanted to share my experience, maybe it’s useful to someone 😊
All my jobs have been paycheck-to-paycheck until about 3 years ago. My last job allowed me to save up $24k, but then I lost my job. Now I’m down to $7k and getting worried.
I know the feels, you are not alone
I fall between the government won’t give me SSI because I’m not disabled enough in there fucking eyes. And being disabled and can’t work.
So financially I’m fucked and nothing I can do about it.
Even if I had said It would only be iirc around 800 a month.
It’s part of Amerikkka hidden eugenic programs. (Not verified but living with a disability it sure fuckin feels like it)
The last year has been rough on my savings. The retirement savings are untouched but the general savings have been emptied by a combination of travelling for family weddings and a downturn at work. I’m not worried but I do need to make a change.
Ever read Miller’s Death of a Salesman? well it’s almost like that, but without any insurance.
There are a lot of very poor people in the US compared to other developed countries. There are also a lot more extremely rich people. The inequality is palpable, and it shows in the stats. The US government also doesn’t step in with coverage when it comes to healthcare, unemployment and other emergencies to the same degree as governments in other western countries.
My relationship with money is kinda weird. When I was a kid I would always save my allowance, but my siblings would steal it from me. My parents never did anything about it. When I had finally had enough, I stole some money back and then said all the bullshit excuses I had received over the years. The stealing stopped then.
I don’t like money and I don’t care much about material stuff. When I was in university, I was dirt poor, but I managed. Then I got a shitty job and didn’t make a lot of money, but it was so much more than what I had before, that my bank account started to grow. And that made me very nervous. Every time I saw my balance I panicked. I didn’t know what to do with all that money, there was nothing I really wanted or thought I could have. I did go on a vacation then, which was great, but I felt really guilty afterwards about the expenses I’d made.
After some time I lost my job and since then I’ve received benefits. Because of the system here and because I’m still quite frugal, I still have a significant back account. In a few months’ time I will hear if I will keep receiving benefits or not, and if I spend the money now, it will be beneficial for me financially. I should basically buy something expensive and eat out and buy lots of clothes before the government takes my money, but I can’t. I’m just not able to.
What doesn’t help is that I hate the fact that the world is in such a miserable state. Sure, I could buy a car, but I don’t need it and why would I mess up the environment even more just for my own pleasure and comfort? The same goes for clothing, equipment, furniture, anything. I don’t like this capitalist system that produces crap and ruins the planet. I don’t want it. But there’s nothing I can do about it other than what I already do. Also, most of the stuff you can buy nowadays is just plastic crap. I can’t even find decent cotton socks anymore, it’s all plastic. And it all breaks way too quickly, just so you have to buy new plastic crap again. Fuck that.
Purchase some carbon reduction.
https://climeworks.com/subscriptions
These guys have giant CCS machines. When you send them money (which they use to fund their operations), they calculate what share of carbon reductions you’ve funded and they give you a certificate for it. It is NOT a carbon offset. They pull carbon out of the air directly and bury it in the ground.
