3 ms·

Why would you buy a new car? Buy a $2000 used 15 year old Honda Civic. You need to be able to go from point A to point B, perhaps a working A/C and heat in the

Why would you buy a new car? Buy a $2000 used 15 year old Honda Civic. You need to be able to go from point A to point B, perhaps a working A/C and heat in the car. This is the thing, middle class people have been spoiled to spend $$$ in entertainment, useless gadgets and 65" TVs where they could just entertain themselves with frugal means - there are many! Go hike. Play chess and board games. Stop buying sugary drinks at Starbucks for $5 every day. Everytime I think about middle class folks living paycheck to paycheck - I have no sympathy. If you don't have disability, and have good physical and mental health, and are earning a middle class wage - you can become wealthy by saving and investing wisely.

ALittleLight 7y ago
What level of wealth are you talking about? Cancelling your Starbucks habit will save you 1-3k a year. What are you investing in to turn savings like this into real wealth?
- spectramax 7y ago
  Stick it in a mutual fund or index fund. If that's too adventurous and risky, get a CD[1] or buy government issued bonds [1] https://www.schwab.com/public/schwab/investing/accounts_products/investment/bonds/certificates_of_deposit https://www.schwab.com/public/schwab/investing/accounts_prod...
  - ALittleLight 7y ago
    If you saved 150 dollars a month for 50 years and got 2% interest on your savings, at the end you'd have an extra 150k or so. That's nice, but not really wealthy. Especially because we're not taking into account fifty years of inflation. If you want to be wealthy you need to figure out ways to earn gigantic amounts of money, not save small amounts by cutting out the pleasant parts of life. Wealthy people tend to either inherit or produce their wealth, not save it by a lifetime of penny pinching.
    - spectramax 7y ago
      Yeah, save that money and may be invest in education or learning a new skill? Living paycheck to paycheck is a problem of lifestyle and not the problem of affordability.
DoreenMichele 7y ago
Why would you buy a new car? I bought a new car when I got a corporate job. The first 90 days were training. Missing any of the training -- even just being late -- could get you booted. I had been a homemaker for about two decades. I was like 41 years old and it was my first full-time job. I have a bunch of college, but had job hunted a long time before finally getting a job offer. My POS older car was not reliable and was potentially going to cost me the job. This was kind of "my big break" and I was sharing a single room with my teenager sons while living at a relative's house and going through a divorce. People often spend money trying to make sure they can adequately qualify for a good job and it may not pan out. This is also essentially the TLDR behind a lot of crushing student debt in the US. I will note: I'm pretty tired of the "poor people just need to stop drinking Starbucks coffee" trope, and have spoken about that previously: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19585270 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19585270 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19585789 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19585789
- spectramax 7y ago
  > "It's generally disingenuous to act like if poor people just give up a few small luxuries, they, too, can invest their way to being millionaires. This is generally not true." I read some of your arguments but I am not convinced, at all. You can't just say "This is generally not true" without substantiating your argument. Its a bold claim to say "Keep enjoying your $120/month coffee" when your condition is dire and you're trying to lift yourself from poverty. > My POS older car was not reliable and was potentially going to cost me the job. That's twisting the argument at hand. I didn't say buy a $2000 honda civic that's gonna leave you astray for your job interview. I've lived and pulled myself out of poverty - just FYI.
  - DoreenMichele 7y ago
    No, it's not twisting anything. People make decisions in the context of their actual lives. People trapped in poverty usually need something more than "one cool investing tip" or so-called self discipline.

ALittleLight 7y ago

What level of wealth are you talking about? Cancelling your Starbucks habit will save you 1-3k a year. What are you investing in to turn savings like this into real wealth?

spectramax 7y ago
Stick it in a mutual fund or index fund. If that's too adventurous and risky, get a CD[1] or buy government issued bonds [1] https://www.schwab.com/public/schwab/investing/accounts_products/investment/bonds/certificates_of_deposit https://www.schwab.com/public/schwab/investing/accounts_prod...
- ALittleLight 7y ago
  If you saved 150 dollars a month for 50 years and got 2% interest on your savings, at the end you'd have an extra 150k or so. That's nice, but not really wealthy. Especially because we're not taking into account fifty years of inflation. If you want to be wealthy you need to figure out ways to earn gigantic amounts of money, not save small amounts by cutting out the pleasant parts of life. Wealthy people tend to either inherit or produce their wealth, not save it by a lifetime of penny pinching.
  - spectramax 7y ago
    Yeah, save that money and may be invest in education or learning a new skill? Living paycheck to paycheck is a problem of lifestyle and not the problem of affordability.

DoreenMichele 7y ago

Why would you buy a new car? I bought a new car when I got a corporate job. The first 90 days were training. Missing any of the training -- even just being late -- could get you booted. I had been a homemaker for about two decades. I was like 41 years old and it was my first full-time job. I have a bunch of college, but had job hunted a long time before finally getting a job offer. My POS older car was not reliable and was potentially going to cost me the job. This was kind of "my big break" and I was sharing a single room with my teenager sons while living at a relative's house and going through a divorce. People often spend money trying to make sure they can adequately qualify for a good job and it may not pan out. This is also essentially the TLDR behind a lot of crushing student debt in the US. I will note: I'm pretty tired of the "poor people just need to stop drinking Starbucks coffee" trope, and have spoken about that previously: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19585270 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19585270 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19585789 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19585789

spectramax 7y ago
> "It's generally disingenuous to act like if poor people just give up a few small luxuries, they, too, can invest their way to being millionaires. This is generally not true." I read some of your arguments but I am not convinced, at all. You can't just say "This is generally not true" without substantiating your argument. Its a bold claim to say "Keep enjoying your $120/month coffee" when your condition is dire and you're trying to lift yourself from poverty. > My POS older car was not reliable and was potentially going to cost me the job. That's twisting the argument at hand. I didn't say buy a $2000 honda civic that's gonna leave you astray for your job interview. I've lived and pulled myself out of poverty - just FYI.
- DoreenMichele 7y ago
  No, it's not twisting anything. People make decisions in the context of their actual lives. People trapped in poverty usually need something more than "one cool investing tip" or so-called self discipline.