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fwiw, I think most people live pretty ordinary, non-flashy lives. It's hard to square that with the idea that Americans are debt ridden spendthrifts. You read a
by trgn 10y ago
fwiw, I think most people live pretty ordinary, non-flashy lives. It's hard to square that with the idea that Americans are debt ridden spendthrifts. You read about that so much, there must be some truth to it, but then I look around, and see mostly modest people, modest cars, modest homes, modest vacations. Where are all these crazy spenders? I'm sure there are some, but are they really a majority?
- tyingq 10y agoIt's harder to notice if you aren't doing it yourself. For me, though, it's fairly easy to see in the parking lot of a tech company. Don't see too many modest cars in the ones I've frequented. The workaholics typically get the closer spots, so you can kind of gauge how prevalent it is by how far back the expensive cars go in the lot.
- dpark 10y agoWhat's a modest car and a modest home? I suspect if you looked at most people's banks and then at what they drive and where they live you'd think they're living beyond their means. It also depends a lot on your other expenses. If you have two kids and a mountain of student loan debt, "modest" might be pretty low even if your income is way above average.
- trgn 10y agoI guess so. It's hard to see how much downgrading most families can do. If you're driving a 10+ year old car, which seems pretty normal, there's not a lot of cheaper vehicles to drop down to. A family in a 2-3 bedroom bungalow or ranch, which seems to be the norm for most, doesn't have much room to downsize either. At the same time, it's not like people don't have things going for them. A house, growing retirement plans, some savings, a vacation here and there... Judging from the tone the last 10 years in this country, this qualifies you as "affluent". Which, in a cosmological sense, it is. But it isn't like it is unusual, or only something the very fastidious achieve. It's normal-ish. So it's not that I'm disagreeing, people can dig themselves in a hole by overspending. I just don't think this is particularly common, or some sort of national sickness.
- dpark 10y agoI'm not sure how common 10-year-old cars really are. I feel like I don't see that much, at least amongst the middle class. For the house, what you're describing could be $75k or >$1MM depending on location, square footage, and finishes. I know a lot of people are "house poor", though. > So it's not that I'm disagreeing, people can dig themselves in a hole by overspending. I just don't think this is particularly common, or some sort of national sickness. Based on the published debt and savings stats, it seems like it is pretty common. I know a lot of people with almost no savings, and not always because their income is too low to save.
- NotSammyHagar 10y agoModest car - Tesla non performance. Yeah, I'm kidding. 5 years ago I was looking for a diesel awd with decent mpg, which is not available :-) Unless you count those cars with fake emissions tests. I ended up with a tesla model s, the toy of my life. It's my favorite toy of all time, better than my rock climing shit I bought when i was in grad school and able to climb, better than all my computers except maybe my next machine. My one regret is not having more kids.
- watwut 10y agoStatistically speaking, most bankruptcies are caused be medical expenses. Also, young people have huge amount of college debt.
- jacquesm 10y ago> Statistically speaking, most bankruptcies are caused be medical expenses. Worldwide they aren't. In the USA they are, but it has rather unique problems.