blessedbrian1989
New member
@jesussaves7763 I’m kinda anti owning a home and prefer renting.
Something you do ‘right’ that’s ’wrong’?
- Thread starter jesussaves7763
- Start date
flashman63
New member
@jesussaves7763 I lease my car. I love having a new car, love that maintenance is included, love that I never have to worry about breakdowns or surprise costs. Yes I have a monthly payment but it’s pretty low and I just looooove driving a new car.
@flashman63 Same - I don’t lease but I like having a late model car. I’ve had too many “breakdown on the side of the freeway” events for one life.
itsmeheathermarie
New member
@jesussaves7763 Didn't save any money for our kid's college when they were young and had more kids instead.
Never grew up with the concept of having to have X amount of money before having / adding a child nor with the concept of saving for a kid's college education.
Had six children in total. Spent way too much on FC charges over the years because of carrying debt. And we won't talk about the costs of orthodonics and glasses and everything else kid associated. Our kids had everything they needed and some of what they wanted - always. But between the ongoing costs, having one of us as a SAHP, and trying to keep up with the debt load - we never saved for college.
All six kids have gone to college - and all six have lived on campus, four went to private colleges, two have / are getting advanced degrees. The four who have graduated are all self-supporting and live on their own.
Each kid applied to at least 6 different schools they liked that had their intended major - both public and private. We went with the one with the best aid package / least oop cost. Kids work part-time on campus during school year for their spending money and to cover their phones. Kids work summers to come up with their share of tuition (roughly half - $5k - $7k) and we cover the other half. Remainder of cost paid by federal student loans, scholarships and grants. Half of the ones who've graduated have already paid off their loans.
They are all happy and thriving.
We are now debt free except for mortgage (will be paid off in 3yrs) and one vehicle (will be paid off in 2yrs - would have already been paid off except financed at 0.9%) We have enough in our emergency fund could pay both off immediate if we chose. We are happy and thriving as well.
"Everyone" seems to preach not to have kids till you can "afford" them, definitely don't have six of them on less than $60k in salary, and don't do private college - well it all went right for us!
Never grew up with the concept of having to have X amount of money before having / adding a child nor with the concept of saving for a kid's college education.
Had six children in total. Spent way too much on FC charges over the years because of carrying debt. And we won't talk about the costs of orthodonics and glasses and everything else kid associated. Our kids had everything they needed and some of what they wanted - always. But between the ongoing costs, having one of us as a SAHP, and trying to keep up with the debt load - we never saved for college.
All six kids have gone to college - and all six have lived on campus, four went to private colleges, two have / are getting advanced degrees. The four who have graduated are all self-supporting and live on their own.
Each kid applied to at least 6 different schools they liked that had their intended major - both public and private. We went with the one with the best aid package / least oop cost. Kids work part-time on campus during school year for their spending money and to cover their phones. Kids work summers to come up with their share of tuition (roughly half - $5k - $7k) and we cover the other half. Remainder of cost paid by federal student loans, scholarships and grants. Half of the ones who've graduated have already paid off their loans.
They are all happy and thriving.
We are now debt free except for mortgage (will be paid off in 3yrs) and one vehicle (will be paid off in 2yrs - would have already been paid off except financed at 0.9%) We have enough in our emergency fund could pay both off immediate if we chose. We are happy and thriving as well.
"Everyone" seems to preach not to have kids till you can "afford" them, definitely don't have six of them on less than $60k in salary, and don't do private college - well it all went right for us!
jesussaves7763
New member
@itsmeheathermarie I like the part about not having kids until you have a certain amount of money…. If you tried to crunch numbers before having kids… you’d never have them!! No need for birth control, just talk finances each night 
.
.@jesussaves7763 Calling ourselves “middle class”. Please don’t release the hounds or Pew. We come in “upper middle class progressing towards an unclear upper class” peace.
(For the record, I do enjoy it here and feel we still belong here for now, but would post my particular questions over in r/bogleheads or r/themoneyguy as to avoid pitchforks).
(For the record, I do enjoy it here and feel we still belong here for now, but would post my particular questions over in r/bogleheads or r/themoneyguy as to avoid pitchforks).
jesussaves7763
New member
@jesussaves7763 I spend $$ on travel I could be socking away for retirement.
jesussaves7763
New member
I'll add another one I did, back about 3yrs ago we bought a Jeep just to have some fun with and to get use to having 3 cars in the household for when my son started driving. Ended paying 25k cash out of my savings cause who knew jeeps cost that much?!? lol It was well taken care of, no mods, and very low miles....
The plan was to sell it when my son got ready for a car, put most of the money back in my savings and buy him car.... Well we love the damn thing so much that I kept it as an 2nd fun car and bought him a truck instead.
No regrets!
The plan was to sell it when my son got ready for a car, put most of the money back in my savings and buy him car.... Well we love the damn thing so much that I kept it as an 2nd fun car and bought him a truck instead.
No regrets!
@jesussaves7763 Paid off a mortgage that was at 2.6%
Bought two brand new cars (in cash, over the past decade).
Bought two brand new cars (in cash, over the past decade).
@jesussaves7763 Running my bank account dry to buy a house. Like someone else I scheduled closing for a payday so I would have some money at least. I have made out from that risky move. But I had a very reliable car so I wasn’t worried about car issues.
@jesussaves7763 My wife and I don't have any sort of emergency fund. We save roughly a third of our income, but both of us are lucky enough to work jobs where we aren't in any danger of suffering the type of economic shock that would necessitate an emergency fund.