Most Americans are one paycheck away from the street

[yk9001]

I cannot believe what mortgage payments are in suburban LA.  Jeezus.  We paid our house off  a couple years ago, but bought it for $170k iin 1993.

[yk9001]

I am in the same boat. I don't live extravagently, but a $3,000 mortgage, $800 student loan payment, $700 preschool payment, and $800 health insurance contribution (not to mention food for family of five, utilities, gas, insurance, etc) make it tough to save any meaningful amount of money.

 

 

Good god that is brutal.

[ten ocho recon scout]

We gambled a bit buying our house 13 months ago. We'd be pretty screwed if I lost my job in the next 12-24 months. If it were up to me we would've stayed in our condo with a cheap $1350 mortgage and low HOA fee.

True, its a gamble, but its a high reward gamble (that is also a smart investment). Whereas there is a risk that it could end in disaster, the reward of home equity, tax rebates etc balance it out.

[ten ocho recon scout]

I cannot believe what mortgage payments are in suburban LA. Jeezus. We paid our house off a couple years ago, but bought it for $170k iin 1993.

Congrats, gotta be a good feeling. After it was paid off, how much did it effect your taxes? Ive always wondered if i won the lottery if it would make sense to pay the house off immediately or if it would make sense to keep the mortgage for tax reasons.

[yk9001]

Congrats, gotta be a good feeling. After it was paid off, how much did it effect your taxes? Ive always wondered if i won the lottery if it would make sense to pay the house off immediately or if it would make sense to keep the mortgage for tax reasons.

 

With just property taxes, charitable deductions and various random things (car registration, etc) - we still itemize. We get no tax benefit for paying for two kids in college.  So even without the mortgage deduction, we have more deductions than the standard married couple deduction.

 

Having a mortgage just to get the tax deduction always seemed to me be the tax tail wagging the dog.  Others disagree.  To each his own.

[ten ocho recon scout]

Yeah, if youre still stuck with the property taxes i guess the interest deduction wouldnt be enough of a benefit to justify keeping the mortgage. And even if it was, owning it without the headache alone has got to be a great feeling.

[wopphil]

Good god that is brutal.

Yep, it is hard. A few weeks ago I prepared what I thought was a reasonable monthly budget. I included everything I could think of, including things like a cheap summer vacation and Christmas presents (divided over a monthly basis). The total was $9,300 per month in expenses. And I truly do live reasonably - reasonable car payments (both cars almost paid off), dinner out only once a week or so, no designer clothes, cheap and infrequent vacations.

And yet I do feel fortunate, inasmuch as I can't imagine trying to support a family off a minimum wage (or even triple minimum wage job).

[ten ocho recon scout]

On a seperate but related note, i knew a handful of people (and knew of way too many others) who got tied up in refinancing a while back. Ive done it twice to lower my rate/monthly, but never had any interest in doing it to pull money out of the house. Have seen too many people take the money out to buy some toy of some sort and end up upside down on the house with a monthly they cant really hang with anymore.

I dont want to come off sounding like a total cheapskate, im just as guilty as anyone else spending money on a junk. But more people need to learn to budget what their 'fun money' should be. Lets say after rent/mortgage, you have 500 dollars a month to play with. Have to figure gas and food in there, lets say you have 150 or something left after. IMO, at least 75 of that should go to a savings of some sort. Too many people still spend the 150.

Not sure how it was (or is for the younger people on here) when you were in high school, but ive always thought it was backwards that economics was such a short course. There should be some sort of course program to make it more in depth. Economics, govt, etc are almost a sideshow to the other core classes.

Ive always admired immigrants who come here and thrive. People who work insane hours the first few years and save, end up starting their own mom and pop shop, and work insane hours, open a second mom and pop shop, and later retire completely exhausted but with 2 kids in college. I think its just a part of our culture that we spend too carelessly without much focus on investing in something.

[yk9001]

Yep, it is hard. A few weeks ago I prepared what I thought was a reasonable monthly budget. I included everything I could think of, including things like a cheap summer vacation and Christmas presents (divided over a monthly basis). The total was $9,300 per month in expenses. And I truly do live reasonably - reasonable car payments (both cars almost paid off), dinner out only once a week or so, no designer clothes, cheap and infrequent vacations.

And yet I do feel fortunate, inasmuch as I can't imagine trying to support a family off a minimum wage (or even triple minimum wage job).

 

I assume you have a wife and her income.  Not knowing anything about you or your job situation, you both have to be making close to six figures... or else you aren't keeping your head above water. Wow.

[wopphil]

I assume you have a wife and her income. Not knowing anything about you or your job situation, you both have to be making close to six figures... or else you aren't keeping your head above water. Wow.

I have a wife who works hard....raising our three young kids. She hasn't had an income in five years.

I have kind of resigned myself to having no extra money my entire life.

[Brandon]

Cost of living is nuts.

I agree with the article. Young adults can't afford the rising costs of healthcare and expenses that weren't there decades ago.

Another thing I noticed increasing (and probably a huge reason for the growing discrepancy between rich and poor) is most gigs that used to have standard wages are either 1099 or some kind of low base and almost all commission based or some kind of performance based income. Employers aren't investing in employees anymore or taking care of benefits and employees are left to foot the bill all while making less or needing to work longer hours to make what used to be a standard wage.

[nando714]

Exactly, my daughter wants to focus on a trade school, much less spent on education and maybe more likely to find employment quickly enough.

I went this route. The school itself was around 30k.

[AngelsLongBall]

With just property taxes, charitable deductions and various random things (car registration, etc) - we still itemize. We get no tax benefit for paying for two kids in college.  So even without the mortgage deduction, we have more deductions than the standard married couple deduction.

 

Having a mortgage just to get the tax deduction always seemed to me be the tax tail wagging the dog.  Others disagree.  To each his own.

We rent and get absolutely crushed in taxes because we have no deductions beyond two kids.  I almost need to get in to a mortgage to get the deduction

[Adam]

True, its a gamble, but its a high reward gamble (that is also a smart investment). Whereas there is a risk that it could end in disaster, the reward of home equity, tax rebates etc balance it out.

 

I knew getting into marriage that my wife wanted a big home. For me, I just had to do some math. If I lost my job (unlikely, but you never know) what is the bare minimum we could survive on? We could live off of tuna and ramen (not literally) and pay all the bills as long as I netted $3K a month. So worst case, if I lost my job and the economy went to shit I could work enough mcjobs to make that happen. Or, my in laws would just move in. 

[Catwhoshatinthehat]

We rent and get absolutely crushed in taxes because we have no deductions beyond two kids.  I almost need to get in to a mortgage to get the deduction

 

In the end it doesn't always quite work out to be as favorable as people think it will be from a tax perspective.  Assuming you're married filing jointly the standard deduction for 2014 is $12,400.  Obviously in SoCal between mortgage interest, property taxes and then because you itemize state income taxes, donations, etc. you'll end up with a larger itemized deduction than the standard deduction but you have to figure how much more you're paying each month owning instead of renting.  You might reduce your taxable income by 35K (obviously could be more or less depending on your mortgage, property taxes, state taxes paid) instead of the $12,400 standard deduction but that's a $22,600 decrease on taxable income which then gets applied to your tax bracket which in the 25% bracket is $5,650 less you pay in federal income taxes.  

[mp170.6]

I wonder how many of these people with no savings have an iphone or droid.  Or HBO.

 

I always love the ones at the grocery store.  Brand new iPhone 6 in hand, paying for groceries with an EBT card. 

[mrwicked]

If you want to see some cost of living fun come up to SF.

This morning my fiancee and I grabbed breakfast: a latte, coconut water and two sandwiches... $43.

C'est la vie!

Edited January 9, 2015 by mrwicked

[mp170.6]

If you want to see some cost of living fun come up to SF.

This morning my fiancee and I grabbed breakfast: a latte, coconut water and two sandwiches... $43.

C'est la vie!

 

That's no McDonalds food. 

[wopphil]

If you want to see some cost of living fun come up to SF.

This morning my fiancee and I grabbed breakfast: a latte, coconut water and two sandwiches... $43.

C'est la vie!

But thank god for that "living" minimum wage you have up there. It makes everything so much more affordable for those on the bottom (rolls eyes).

[Catwhoshatinthehat]

I always love the ones at the grocery store.  Brand new iPhone 6 in hand, paying for groceries with an EBT card.

My favorite when I worked at a grocery store 12+ years ago was the couple with multiple kids, on food stamps and/or WIC and they drove a brand new escalade.

[mp170.6]

Which current or former Angels players are living paycheck to paycheck, or have considerable debt? 

[Ochocinco!]

Which current or former Angels players are living paycheck to paycheck, or have considerable debt?

Dallas Mchperson

[JAHV76]

Which current or former Angels players are living paycheck to paycheck, or have considerable debt?

Doug Decinces?

http://www.ocregister.com/articles/decinces-379101-medical-trading.html

[mrwicked]

That's no McDonalds food. 

 

Definitely not.

But not a sit-down place: just a corner coffee shop / "artisan" sando joint.

For the record the sandwiches are amazing.

[Adam]

So a dude I went to HS with has been unemployed a long time. Finally gets a job at Black & Decker. Makes a post about how he's determined to to "take over the company!". 3 days later.... "That was short lived. Got home after work. Got a phone call. Unemployed."

 

Someone asks: "What happened?"

 

Him: "They said I was sleeping during a training module."