by ball. 23 Replies latest jw friends
We are definitely not rich...........but we have a successful business and are doing okay, paying the bills and saving a bit too. I don't use credit cards if I can't pay them off immediately, so that is no issue for us. We don't own our house, but we're getting there. Hopefully we will own it in about 10 years.
Just paid a lot of income tax, so right now, not as flush as we were a week ago.
broke.
for everything else there is Master Card
Nope.........I'm not for sale..........
Somethings money can't buy...........
All things considered, I've gone through two peoples resources in one lifetime and am working on a third one with about five years til retirement. Made several rash financial decisions all of which I would do again given the same set of circumstances. Now its down to investing in quality real estate with income capacity. Can't trust the tech stocks, futures market or mutual funds.
carmel
I read an article today comparing salaries in the US to other countries. The US is way ahead and the main reason so many US jobs are being exported to other countries. That said, US personal debt is extremely high and a large number of people are not making adequate savings for retirement. It's almost like the reason a boss, I once had, used for not paying more. He said, "If I paid you more you'd only spend it and still complain how bad off you are." For "everything else there is MasterCard" sums up the US attitude. However, I read the UK is just as bad.
Like many JWs I didn't save toward retirement either. Now playing catch-up.
My dad accused me of being materialistic after I moved to the US. I explained to him that I live within my means, in a modest home (at least for my neighborhood) have no credit card debt, own my car, my furniture, my appliances and only pay interest on my mortgage. I do recognize that being counted among middleclass America, that on the global scale, I am among the very rich.
3rd
Over here across the pond we have a pretty good thing going. There?s much money to made and many ways to spend it! The thing is, when you drive down the Interstate on the way in to work each day there is almost nothing but new cars around you. Everywhere you go there are new houses going up. (And I mean four and five bedroom houses with full basements.) Wherever you go there are a Publix, a Home Depot, an Eckerds, a Wal-Mart, and a Blockbuster (video store). Cash flow yes, cash saving no. The truth be known, most folks are probably about four paychecks away from being homeless. I used to get a little jealous when I?d see a guy in a Jag or a Benz but I have learned that he?s probably just as tapped out financially as I am. Just got a little more cash flow than me, is all.
I read the opening page of a finical advisement book many years ago that said, " The first step to being independently wealthy is NOT making more money. It?s spending less." Yea, but try and do that when you can barley afford to pay your mortgage and need a car and the bank is willing to give you another thirty thousand dollars for that new car! It?s kinda weird.
We Americans want it NOW, so we charge it and wind up paying about 25% more for the thing we gotta have right away, instead of saving up for it. And I?m just as guilty of it as anyone else. My parents never used a credit card and always paid cash for everything they had. My dad never made a lot of money and my mom never worked. Yet, they always managed to have saved thousands of dollars somehow.
Still, I DO believe we here in America are rich, cuz we ARE by world standards. I probably make more money at my little job (about 50k a year), than what 80% of the world?s population of working people make at their jobs, around the globe, and I?m just middle class here.
Steve
Can anyone in the US tell me was there a housing market crash in the 90's like there was here in the UK? Current property prices here are 4 times what they were in 1990. Any thoughts on a second crash?
DustyB!!!! That was awesome!!!!!!!! As to the financial question, we are just now starting to catch up after years of buying into the live a simple life s**t. "Your credit doesn't have to be perfect because we won't be in this system much longer." Anyone else hear that one? How about," Pioneer and Jehovah will bless your efforts?" Should have asked "will Jehovah pay my electric bill?" By the way, the answer is NOOOOO!!!!!!!!! Tried to live the life of a perfect new dub family... Husband : ministerial servant, reg aux pioneer, self employed (but turning down any questionable jobs so as not to OFFEND ANYONE in the cong. (by the way, THAT"S IMPOSSIBLE!!!!!!!!) Wife: caring for our two small children, also reg aux pioneering. Jehovah of course, did not "bless our efforts and take care of us" , instead, it has taken forever just to get our heads above water! Because of not accepting certain jobs...anything to do with the churches, disfellowshipped ones, the military, or even people that others had a problem with personally, of course, work stopped coming in. We were given the "Satan's attacking you" crap, AND the "Jehovah's testing you" crap, also the "wait on Jehovah" crap So now we're stuck in sh*t. Does anyone else have a similar experience?????
Theres only two kind of people in this world, the awesomely wealthy and everyone else.Remember when even Donald Trump was broke.
I'm content with what I have, nothing! A some food in the fridge, a little house in the country, a bottle in the cabinet and a cupboard filled with pain medications!
