I know a lot of people who are “planning for the future” and honestly, I’d rather be broke and buying a rope than living the life they do.
The only people I know who are financially stable are either miserable or had their feet put under them by their parents (or still live with them).
It’s almost impossible to establish yourself without financial support in some kind.
If a student loan is considered “acceptable debt” what about actually paying your way through school on your own?
I’ve been nearly broke every week for … uhm … probably almost 10 years. If I need money, I get money.
I have no credit cards and no overdraft protection. I pay cash for every purchase I make.
Sure sometimes you end up spending a week eating 59¢ pasta.
I chose to do a job I love instead of a profitable one.
It’s downright amazing how many people spend their entire lives building an empire and they hit 25-30 and all of a sudden stop bothering to actually “live” a little.
Sure, they can retire with ease, and have all day to sit around comfortably regretting everything they never did.
lol i bargain for my things u know bing
im only 17 and my only expenses are
Insurance/Finish paying back my mom the 6gs i owe her/and gas/oh and the gurlfriend
After my monthly mortgage, my monthly utility bills, my property tax, house and car insurance, cost of gas and maitanance for my car is all paid and done with there is hardly any money left to manage :lol:
But what ever is left I manage it wisely, I save up all year and in the summer I go to Europe for 6 or 7 weeks and have a blast.
I have to admit this year I spent way too much money on my car, I am guilty of that, but if it wasn’t on my car it would of been something else like last year I had my driveway repaived and the year before that I had french garden doors instaled at my house and new doors and windows all the way around and the year before that I built a new patio in the back yard and had the roof redone with new shingles. Next year I will finish renovating the basement.
So the way I looked at it this year is, I have to stop spending on my house all the time and get this SR20 swap done and get my suspension done and get some nicer rims. My SR20 swap is complete now, I still have a few more modefications/upgrades to do but I will wait till next spring to get the serious horsepower out of that engine. I think I spent way too much this year as it is.
The secret to managing money is having your priorities straight and having self control when it comes to spending, knowing when to draw the line and understanding that your life does not revolve around your car, there are many more things in life like home ownership and travaling etc. Plan your future now that you are young because life goes by faster and faster the older you get and before you know it things start passing you by so enjoy your life and spend wisely, the whole point is to one day make your money work for you not you work for your money.
Yeah some damn good points here… I definitely see people living check to check at work… these fuckin crazies are so happy when they get their paychecks and i usually dont deposit mine until i have 2 or 3, i even deposited 4 at the same time a few months ago. if it wasnt for my job putting pressure on me to stop doing that because it fucks up their accounting it would probably be more like 8 or 10 checks before they go in the bank account haha.
I’ve been lucky (strategic?) enough to never have to wait to pay a CC bill, ever use my overdraft and never have a loan… not on purpose anyway. I think when I was young i used my overdraft accidentally and I’ve missed the odd CC or Cell bill only because I completely forget (I have the worst memory ever)
I don’t really do much managing, i’ve tried a few things… some very very detailed and some not so much but ultimately ended up scrapping them because it doesn’t really help me and I get lazy. I’ve got horrible spending habits when it comes to food and since im in the middle of building a car i’m spending a lot there - but all in all I always make sure that I have money to survive if I need it. I’ve got quite a bit saved up from working pretty constantly since I was 15 and I don’t buy alchohol, drugs or smokes and never have so that’s something that helps keep me ahead as well.
However, I don’t own a house yet - I only throw my money away in to rent, car insurance, stupid amounts of fast food ($500+/month between the girlfriend and I, ouch), cellphone and gas. Other than that - I don’t spend a lot aside from the 240 and even that has been on hold for a couple of months now that it’s been 750 kilometers away from here. My beater has been super reliable and I couldn’t have asked for a better car.
I’ll be buying a house within 6 months though I figure, hopefully sooner - we’ll see how well off I am after that
Since I was a really young I always saved my money. I remember hating it for the 1st little while but then I realized holy shit I can get almost anything I want, I bought my gameboy, my super nintendo, saga, my computer, my everything I wanted while my parents provided food etc…
When I turned 17 I decided to buy a 77’ Corvette for $6,000, paid in cash and had around 3gs left over. Realized that was more of a dream then reality ($5xx month insurence + feeding a carborated 350), and got luckey selling it for $7,400 a month later.
In early may I bought my 1st 240sx (92’ Sr Coupe) for $7,000 cash.
The only reason Im able to do things like this are because I carefully watch where I spend my money, I’ll buy a everything bagel tosted with butter for $1.04 at timmys be pissed about it for an hour or so later.
People are going into debt today because either they buy stuff they cant afford (and let interest rape them) or buy stuff and have nothing to show for it. Impulse buying is a horrible habit, some people are worse then others, people buy shit all the time they dont need.
If you have this problem just ask yourself “do i really need this ___?”
Personally what I have noticed saving my money is that when you buy somthing that dosent depreciate in value you constantly building your net worth. Example: My 240, if I choose to sell it in a year i’ll mabe loose/make $500, so that 7gs I spent was barely spent to begin with.
Same thing with a house espically if its in a good location.
I donno Im just typing as the thoughts come in my head. When it all comes down to it you have to sacrafice a little now to help you down the road. Personally I love the feeling of being able to throw down CASH for anything I want within reason, rather then buying shit I cant afford and going into debt or asking mommy and daddy to help me out.
a person will always be happier with more money rather than less
no matter what
this is a fact
HOWEVER, it works out that most people who have lots of money are NOT happy. But then again people without money aren’t that happy either. Bottom line is most people aren’t happy.
So if you’re broke/poor and find a way to earn and save money you have the highest chance of being happy out of anyone, esspecially if that gain of money comes very slowly over a very long period of time.
The key is to balance happiness with your 9-5 with happiness that comes from acceptable income.
If you LOVE what you do 9-5 (say for example racing) but make ZERO money off of it, infact have to PAY to do it, well then long term you WILL NOT be happy. You’ll be liek god damn i want a big mac meal i cant even get that much yet a steak from the Keg. And girls wont like you cause you cant take care of them, and guys will stop hanging out with you since you cant cover taxi bills and whatnot. So in teh end you wont be happy.
If you work a 9-5 you HATE but make a killing, you’re gonna come home too tired and pissed off to enjoy the money. You’re going to have a poor social life because the bitterness from your job will reflect over to your friends and familly, and you’re going to be an all around blah kind of guy.
Now it usually takes risks, large risks, to be able to do what you love AND make money doing it, because if it didnt EVERYONE would do it, and then there would be no janitors or garbage dudes or dudes workign the corners of mosport for free just cause they love racing.
And we NEED those people. So basically I gues what im saying is do you have enough to be happy? It takes a ridiculous amount of hard work and dedication to be long term happy.
UNLESS, you can just chill out and be like fuck ya im alive
what if you’re working a 9-5 that doesnt make you a killing and you dont HATE it, but just dont mind it
that way when you go home you’re not pissed off and tired but can still afford a big mac or help cover the cost of a taxi… and take care of your woman.
it seems to work alright for me
both of the extremes may suck but I’m fairly comfortable right now… then again i don’t own a house yet. we’ll see what happends then
be stingier for 3-4 months, build up a base of $2000 - $3000 in the bank and then live like you do now… that way you always have a reserve.
better yet, gradually get back to your current zero-sum game and along the way you will see the benefits of having some cash to play with.
they say put 10% of your income away before you ever get a chance to use it. this way, you will automatically adjust your spending habits to accomodate the slightly lower income. But after a year or so you have built up a decent reserve… what do you do then?
up it to 15%…
you will then automaticall adjust your spending habits again.
right now i only auto-withdrawal a little bit into an RRSP driven mutual fund everymonth, and only out of principle. In the next few weeks as i get some more time i’ll be raising that little bit and then establishing an auto-withdrawal on to my soon-to-be mother-in-law’s mortgage…lol… why?
becasue at least i will gradually begin to spend less on my friggin car…
I never pay for anything I don’t have the money for… I’ve never carried a balance on my credit cards. I once took out a loan for school but it was repaid before I spent any money on my car.
I watched my parents go in and out of debt twice. Bottom line is if you live in Canada you will be able to eat and sleep somewhere warm even if you get into trouble.
You can live your whole life in debt and still live better than 50% of the population in north america if you do it right.
personally i dont do this. Sometimes i have a low bank account but i know im getting enough money in a few days.
I have a savings account taht i put $300 in a month. But sometimes if i wana have fun ill take money out.
Its all relative really.
i personally dont see the need to have a high end sports car while my $4000 car is just as fast.
