Why us smart folk feel so smart

"I can't figure out how to make my 250k salary work"

Occasionally, I come across an article that really tickles my sides. Of course, it usually ends up on yahoo, where most of the cheap-likely-written-by-a-college-student articles show up. The latest is a little bit about a family that earns 250k per year. The man babbles about how they are "just getting by."

I wonder where this one came from? Perhaps it is a side handed effort by one of numerous Republicans who have been quite successful in convincing equally numerous ignorant rural folk that they should fight for the rights of these folks because one day they might be rich. *pause* That is neither here nor there. All politics aside, I cannot wrap my head around this one.

Experts say that we need to be teaching courses in Personal Finance from a young age, and I cannot agree more. After all, this guy can't figure out that his expensive landscaping service and nanny service may be just that; expensive. I wonder what else he does with his tiny amount of money. He clearly doesn't have enough money to enjoy life.

The said thing is, I can't leave politics aside in this one. Recently, there have been a lot of folks parading against tax increases for the most wealthy. They are largely of the $$-less types and sometimes toothless (i.e. they can't afford dental care ). So what is this, just another attempt to convince us that the most wealthy are also struggling? If they are, then it is a self primed explosive, and if it goes off - poor financial planning.

So, I have a plan. First, I know how these high income rollers go. Usually, they pay top dollar for the work around the house that they are either not handy enough to do, or don't have the time to do. I will admit, for the busiest, time is indeed an issue. Then, you have their cars. BMW and Mercedes are the prime choice. Then considering that after a few years, Mercedes/BMW repair bills get really high, and they always go to the dealership, that is another huge expense.

So between the car, big house, nanny, landscaping, and maintenance work there is a lot of money flying out of the house. So, should I feel sorry for them?

No, I will not. Somewhere in that budget, they are needlessly spending money. If they are still paying for their house and it is 6000 per month, lets say, they still have nearly 100k in take home pay. Can't budget the 8,300 that is left on expenses? Maybe that house is too big? Probably took out a 30 year mortgage for it judging by how smart they are with financial planning. I can't wrap my head around it.

Uggh, I could go on all day but I think I'll stop here.

I say we rob them.

he should try going on unemployment for a few months... I've been on it for about 5 months now, conviently getting laid off a week TO THE DAY that I drove a brand new 2010 truck off a dealership lot, so I don't want to hear CRAP from anyone that has a job talking about "just getting by"...

I grew up in relative poverty. That is, my six member family had to live on the income of one retail sales clerk and supplemented by my dad's small retirement, plus whatever he could make doing occasional odd-jobs.

We ate meat maybe once a week. Some nights, dinner was nothing but buttered noodles or buttered rice. The family went out to eat five times a year: every kid's birthday and mom's b-day. We never ordered takeout or had pizza delivered.

In the wintertime, the heater was rarely used-- if you wanted to be warm, you used a lit of blankets. We were allowed to fill up a milk-carton with hot water from the tap to put at the foot of our bed to keep our toes warm at bedtime.

In the summer, fans were the order of the day. Or you went outside and swam in the bayou or went down to the beach.

Now I have a family of my own, and I have seven people (and four dogs) living in a house half the size of the one I lived in growing up. I make a lot more than my mom did, and yet I am still struggling.

I don't have cable or satellite TV, but I do have internet and cellular phones. My kids can eat meat nearly every night if they wanted to. They get to go out to eat about every six weeks or so.

Schooling costs me more than my parents ever had to spend. I have family members with medical issues that take us the doctor every week, not to mention the mountains of medications we go through. Thank goodness I have a hell of a medical plan.

I have two relatively new cars, which were bought when I was making substantially more than I do now, but selling one or both would not pay what I owe on them, and I need both vehicles since both me and my wife work and there is no commuting from the rural town where I live to the airport where I work. My savings was wiped out when I was laid off, so now we have to scrape by from paycheck to paycheck, and we end up in the hole every month.

So, all in all, I am not poor anymore. I am tempted at times to empty the cupboards and give my kids a feeling for what life was like when I was a kid, but frankly, I don't think they'd learn anything from it.

Someday, if I could get rid of two or three people, I'll be able to live comfortably again, but it'll be another few years before I can make that happen, I'm afraid (wife won't let me kick the son and his girlfriend out because they'd end up on the street).

So, yeah... it must really suck to make $250K and not have any money. I have a hard time felling sorry for the guy, since I make less than a fifth of that.

So expecting to be treated fairly by the government is thinking ignorantly? The Constitution only promises to "promote the general Welfare". Nowhere does it promise to confiscate income to distribute it among the people who are less fortunate. Many in government think that any income that people earn is subject to be confiscated and distributed by the government. They also think that people ought to be thankful to be allowed to keep any money at all.

It all comes down the right of individuals to keep personal property whether it is a home, possessions, money, etc. Since this is not a perfect world everyone is expected to contribute their fair share of their income in the form of taxes and fees to pay for the operation of the government. Unfortunately some people want to go beyond that and confiscate more and more income of the so called rich. Their twisted logic is that the rich only got rich because they stole it from the poor in the first place. Thus they only doing justice by returning it to the rightful owners.

On a side note it is useful to understand one of the main differences between a free country like the United States and the former Soviet Union. The US constitution serves mainly to set the limits of power for the federal government. All other rights are reserved for the states and the people. The Soviet constitution on the other hand lists numerous rights for its citizens. All other rights are reserved for the government.

The US was unique when it was created because it championed individual rights as opposed to collective rights that was more common in other counties. This shows in the major difference between the political philosophies today. In general the conservatives favor personal rights while progressives are more for collective rights. Take your pick.

In the final analysis the wish to protect the right of all people whether rich or poor to keep their personal property (or income) is a fight that all freedom loving people should champion.

wow you have to fend for your son and his gf? Why doesnt he get a job with you at the airport?

Contrary to popular belief, getting a jobs isn't simply a matter of saying "I want to go to work."

He has a job, but minimum wage for ~30 hours/wk does not get you enough at the end of the month to rent an apartment here in CA. Not if you want to eat, pay car insurance, health, etc.

When there are job openings at the airport, I tell him-- at least the hours are full-time there, and the benefits are decent. But openings are rare, and the list of applicants large.

I'd just as soon get his ass down to the recruiting station and see him safely off to boot camp, but that isn't my choice.

So do you feel that a child grows up following a similar path as their parents?

I've seen many people from my childhood who had terrible home lives, go to college, and then fall into a similar situation where they don't have a lot of money, and end up living paycheck to paycheck and end up staying that way for a long time.

I honestly think that an individual make their own life what it is. If you get up every day and fight for what you want and believe you should have, you will get it. If you work hard and appreciate what you do have, you will do well too. Remember... a smile goes a long way, and in life even when things are shitty, if you are constanly down about it and negative about every aspect of your life, you will never get anywhere. You won't get promoted you won't get people calling you out for great work, it simply will not happen.

Growing up my parents set an example for me. They both worked hard, and gave us the things we needed. Sure we had stuff we didn't need too, but it was never excessive. My parents never drove BMW, or had fancy stuff, they just lived, and enjoyed the people in their lives. It didn't matter if they made 10k a year or 200k a year. They never told the kids, when we didn't have money for something, they just explained, maybe next month, or we'll see.

When it came time to go to college it wasn't a question if we go or not, it's where can we afford, and what do I want to study. That is the difference between some of my friends and me. They may have had more or less money, but they didn't have the drive. No passion to really do anything, they just wanted to "be" and get money thrown at them.

I guess what I'm trying to say is, don't be mad at people who have more in life. Maybe they are lucky... but maybe they pushed themselves to be more.

And yeah the guy in the article is a tool. Depending on where he lives, he should not be scraping by on 250k. Even a half a million dollar home is about 3000 a month. , so where is the rest of his money going?

Hookers! That's where.

I hope they at least contribute to your finances a bit.

You know what? I'm game.

Lets make a provision in law that states that any registered Tea Partiers are not permitted to get unemployment extensions and lets see who bitches then.

Oh, by the way, Amendment XVI.

Not at all. My path took me down a strictly blue-collar line. My children are smart enough to go anywhere they want, whether it be Blue, white-collar, academics, or traveling the world on $15 a day.

Unfortunately, my eldest has decided that low-end food-service is the way to go for the moment.

I don't have any kids yet, but I hope I like them

I was going to ignore this but here goes..

Extending unemployment benefits on the surface seems benevolent but in the long run does nothing to solve the underlying problem. The real solution is for the government do a much better job to create a business climate that encourages companies to create jobs.

Someone recently said something that summarizes the opposing political views quite well. One party is for "unemployment and food stamps" while the other is for "paychecks".

Look, we could go on all day, all year, until the day we die.

I just wanted to laugh at the idiot that can't figure out how to make his very large salary work. Somebody needs some very serious financial help. You've gotta be creative to struggle with THAT kind of cash.

Edited for content.... I really don't want to carry this on..... its not worth it.