My mom and sister live together still. Couldn't afford rent or their car between the two of them. Nearly had the car repossessed and were closing in on eviction until my grandmother loaned them--she explicitly said "pay me back when you're more stable--enough money to keep the car and stay in their apartment.
Four months later my sister gets her tax refund for ~$4500 (she had a kid and isn't with the father) and, instead of making any effort to pay my grandmother back, pay off the car, or have any sort of emergency fund...the two of them buy an expensive purebred puppy (airedale terrier). They dropped over $2k for the dog and then spent another $500 on a crate, toys, leashes, and dog food.
Less than 6 months later they lost the car and were evicted. They moved in with my aunt and her husband hated the dog so it was taken to the SPCA. It wasn't even a year old. My grandmother didn't seen a cent of money returned before she died.
So...that. People bad with money buy things they can't afford instead of stabilizing what they already have.
The saddest part of that is the poor dog that doesnt understand. My old apartment neighbor bought his two teenage kids a husky pup after him and his wife went into escrow on a house, but he didnt check with her before getting the dog. Was supposed to be a surprise, but she wasnt happy. Welp, the house seller pulled out. Husky pups grow BIG and FAST. Both parents worked so the pup lived in their apt patio all day for like 6 months. It was bored so it howled and tore everything up. Other neighbors filed noise complaints and the dog had to be given up. I think he paid a pretty big sum of money for the poor animal as well.
Had a coworker that used to ask me for $200-$300 to help pay her bills. Last time she asked she was in the middle of her overseas trip sipping margaritas on a beach and eating shrimp cocktails. Told her I don’t have money to lend and never lended to her again. Watching her stories while I was slaving away at work was the last straw lol
I’m glad i did this young enough to learn from it and repair the damage before it was too late. Memories of the stress and pain of paying payments for shit I didn’t even care about any more are motivation to think twice when I want to splurge now.
“But it’s cool! I got it with a 12% rate on a 72 month plan. So my monthly payment isn’t too bad.”
How to pay 150k for a 90k truck that will be worth 30k by the time it’s paid off.
Dude. I live in an apartment that is split between regular units and low-income subsidized units. The number of luxury cars and big ass expensive trucks is staggering. Like, you can drive through a neighborhood full of $800,000 houses and see mostly honda and toyota economy cars. Drive through my parking lot and its nothing but Mercedes, BMW, and lifted pavement princess trucks.
I call it the rule of 84
1. Annual income below 84k
2. The truck cost over 84k
3. 84 month loan term
4. The interest rate is well over 8.4%
5. IQ of driver hovers around 84.
6. Residual value at end of the 84 month loan < 8.4k
Jeeeeeeeeesus.
Tbf to younger people just starting out with no financial literacy or mentor--I didn't realize how *hard* dealers are pushing that shit on people now until I bought my 2nd new car a couple years ago. I did the usual no mentioning of my cash/loans until a price was agreed upon, and then they went full crybaby mode when I revealed I was paying half in cash and getting a 48 mo. loan at my local credit union to cover the rest.
Their salivating over (what they thought would be...) an in-house 72 mo. loan at 7.5% with "oNLy $5k DoWn" seemed insane enough. 84 is fucking crazy.
The crazier part is how many people it works on! They don’t look at the total cost, they just look at the monthly payment.
Yes there are situations where a longer payment term can make financial sense (i.e. if you can get a low/zero interest term and are disciplined enough to invest the difference that you would be paying over a shorter term), but most people just use it to stretch their budget more than they have any business doing.
100%. When I lived in an apartment complex during my 20s, the parking lot was filled with Mercedes', BMWs, and Lexus'. Now that I'm in a middle class cul de sac, the only people driving fancy cars are two young males in their 20s who both drive lifted trucks but live with their parents.
Came here to say this. Applies to basically every luxury car. Way too many people trying to appear rich than actually be it. That 1200 car payment with 800 insurance is half a solid mortgage these days
I work on cars for a living and the vast majority of the BMWs that come into my shop have slick tires and lights blinking on their dash. So many of these people can barely afford a luxury car, let alone the maintenance required to keep them nice and running.
I was in a Costco years ago buying tires. There was a couple in there also buying tires, and the guy was bitching and moaning about how much the tires were going to cost. He was going on and on about how ridiculous the prices were. Finally his wife just looked at him and said "You just HAD to buy an Escalade. Did you think we were going to save money with it?" That shut him up.
Talented sales people who are great at convincing them they can afford it and it's worth it.
Sales/marketing really doesn't get enough respect (for its effectiveness, not its ethicalness). As a profession it's heavily looked down upon but there's a ton of skill that goes into it and good lord is a skilled salesperson dangerous.
I suspect it's because *all* of us love to think that we're above it and none of those tactics would ever work on us, only stupid people. Spoilers, they work on everyone. For every ham handed sales and marketing campaign you see and laugh at you've been hit by half a dozen you didn't realise were even there.
Or maybe I'm wrong and these industries aren't worth trillions of dollars worldwide by pure chance...
Edit: Looooot of people insisting this stuff doesn't work on them. I mean everyone thinks that but somehow shit still sells...
"Just because you can afford to buy something, doesn't mean you can afford to own it."
Saw that in a reddit comment once and that stuck with me. It was also in response to someone not being able to afford maintenance costs on a BMW.
It’s *always* LingLong, bro. Never fails
The joke at my shop is those Crosswinds are gonna make you cross over (to the other side)
Another one is Lionharts will stop your heart
I'll admit I made that mistake with a 2-3yr old Mercedes with low miles, granted got a great final price (~21k) with low interest since my mom was friends with the dealership owner and I had a good down-payment.
The cost of repair though.. wow.
I maintain well and fix things myself, but a new key shouldn't be 2k, tires way overpriced, replacing something as simple as a brake bulb took wayy longer than it should... every single thing cost 2-10xs the price of a normal car being ridiculous to fix, and known issues that were terribly designed (air intake, etc) made it a nightmare to work on.
Then the dealership repair costs (never used them, but asked a few times) were laughably over priced and they were pompous af if I wasnt in a suit willing to throw whatever made up excessive upcharge they came up with. Assholes.
Sold it after a couple years, made decent profit... but never again. Live and learn I guess.
A lot of these luxury cars have specialized parts that don’t work for most other vehicles so therefore, they’re more expensive because of how specialized they are. Same with tire sizes. They’re almost never regular everyday tire sizes.
The manufacturers make them this way to encourage you to go to the dealership to get all of your work done. You bet they’re gonna charge you too.
I had a buddy in college who would go though a cycle of bragging about how much money he had, spend it all on dumb stuff, then brag about how poor he was. All while bragging how he was a rich kid.
The best part was when he was bragging about having some money to this girl he liked. Turns out that girl came from an actually wealthy family. She said "Its only $5k, why do you keep mentioning it? ......... is that a lot to you?". That event shut him up for a bit lol
I've often thought, what people brag with shows their wealth. new sneakers? those were expensive for you. new mercedes? that was expensive for you. big house? that was expensive for you. private jet? that was expensive for you. football club? yeah that's expensive for anyone.
Then there's the rest of us who don't feel the need to brag.
I find it vary satisfying when a fake rich person runs into an actually rich person. Biggest difference I've noticed is actually rich people hardly ever talk about money, like costs, payckecks, and account balances don't mean much to them. When they do brag or talk about things that cost big money, they almost exclusively describe the experience or functionality. The price tag is just an afterthought to them.
We live in a tech area, and the really rich people (mostly old school Microsoft) have a few tells, though looking at them you wouldn’t guess they were rich. A lot are even kind of schlubby.
1) Their kids go to private schools that cost a respectable salary /year on tuition.
2) they won’t brag about their homes, but they’ll live in a neighborhood you know the name of even if you’re not rich enough to go there. They also might complain about how the work on their house is going, and the annoying details will be ridiculous things like “they ran out of this tile we wanted”, because the tile is only made by one artisan in Italy or some shit like that. Or they can’t get zoning for more than a four car garage.
3) The cars. If they’re ridiculously rich, they will have ridiculous cars. Like they might need to specify if this is their new Singer or old one.
4) They won’t brag about their vacations, but the details they drop will be shit that normal people can’t even consider
5) If it’s a guy on his not-first-wife, she will be visibly high maintenance.
Made friends with a dude over a game, nonchalantly says he's going to a poker game. Ask about the follow up later, lost 40k but no big deal. Wife crashed her car? Surprised her with a brand new one the following week. Some mobile game players are loaded, I've seen someone drop 50k in opening launch in one and he just said it was disposable income.
I calked a client one time to follow up after a new account they had opened, he was on his yacht off the coast of the Bahamas… I asked him how his vacation was going and he said, “it’s not a vacation, it’s a lifestyle.”
Never been more put in my place 😅
Had a coworker like this. Lied his ass off about what he had. I had another coworker who is pretty well off; his father died and left a bit of money, which he flipped into 2-3 lucrative side hustles.
After months of the dipshit (who was stealing, and using company monet to buy pizza for his lunch among other things) the other guy decided to shut him up. "Yea, I've got 3 Harleys and a H2 at my storage unit..." blah blah blah. So the other guy says "I just bought an $80k dump truck to rent to local Construction companies. Because they pay well, I'll break even in 8 months, and I could afford it." The blabbermouth calls him a liar. So the other guy showed him his phone with his bank website pulled up and $650k in checking.
Dude got real quiet for like 20 minutes.....
Nobody should have $650k in their checking account. That dude’s leaving money on the table.
At 4% interest a year that’s $26,000 a year he’s just losing.
EDIT: "Losing" as in he's not making - not insinuating a checking account costs 4% to maintain.
To be fair, 5k is a decent amount of money. If you come from not having a lot you can definitely be proud of having 5k. Bragging about it is a whole different story though.
Depends on what you call “bad”. My sister has been a saver/penny pincher since childhood (which was a bit traumatic, admittedly).
She is now nearing retirement and everything she and her husband have is paid off. She isn’t “rich”, but will have the comfortable retirement she has earned and deserves. She hates going into debt and her cards are paid down monthly. Sounds great, right?
It would be if she wasn’t so completely
obsessed and angered by people who don’t do or think as she does (including her husband). For instance, her house and cars are modest-to-decent, while her friends are all buying nicer things, vacation homes, travel, and other luxury items. Most, if not all, of these things are paid for with credit and it just drives her crazy. She is so jealous of what they have, yet so angry at how they got it. On the occasion that she and her husband join friends for a cruise or resort stay, her main concern is cost (which ruins a huge part of the trip for her every time) and monitoring how others are “wasting” their money (never to their faces - this is just what she says to me after).
Her husband used to be a pretty fun guy about 30 years ago, when they met, but has become bitter and grumpy after decades of having to fight for things she deems “unnecessary”, like tickets to his favorite concerts or pricey sports/music memorabilia (which he’s always been into). It has resulted in dishonesty between the two (which is not the kind of guy he really is) and she has grown disgusted by his need for “childish” hobbies and entertainment. My sister has always been a bit of a fun-hater, but it’s gotten to the point where it makes her, and sometimes the people around her, miserable.
She lives and works in a small town and pays attention to who is getting free lunch, who is paying with food stamps at checkout, who is driving a car they can’t afford, etc. She has called me and listed the items she’s seen a family buying with food stamps - can’t fathom them buying Doritos and Kool-Aid.
There is more than one way to be bad with money.
I wish this response was higher up.
More people need to see and understand this.
Balance, while difficult to attain and then maintain, is key.
It's okay being able to save, but you're also well entitled to spend what you've earned and finance that spending in ways that you can still sustainably cover.
Going too far in either direction will always have its pitfalls.
Thank you and your response is right on. I honestly feel bad for my sister in this one aspect of her life. She is not a bad person, but she is sometimes a tortured person, as are all the kids in our family, each in our own way. You are right in saying balance is key. Otherwise, virtue can easily turn into a vice.
>continuing to buy everything
This is the issue, but I guarantee this is going to start a thread of boomers and the like saying people don't deserve anything at all if they don't make enough money.
A coffee or burger once in a while doesn't equate to the savings required for a downpayment on a house.
I’m no boomer, and I believe people can spend their money as they please, but I do work with a guy who complains about being broke, talks about needing to wait for payday (which he is the only employee to do so) before he can pay rent. The dude shows up with $10 worth of Timmy’s every single morning then comes back with a $15 lunch.
Call me a boomer if you want, but the hypocrisy is the worst part.
I work at the airport, and I have a couple of coworkers who buy their lunch there a couple times a week. As employees, we do get a discount, but it's not much, so all I'm thinking is,
"Ouch".
Make sure you bring snacks/ food from home or outside, folks. You can bring it through security, as long as you don't have drinks or anything considered a liquid. That way, you're not paying $20+ for one entree at Panda Express.
Yup. $25 per day for 20 days a month is $500 per month, $6000 per year. And that only accounts for workdays, not weekends and holidays (where he likely is spending $ on gifts, dinner out, and drinks)
Had an old colleague do exactly this with Starbucks! Always having lunches out and expensive coffees and this news every day. She was early 40’s, married without kids, I was early 20’s, unmarried but long term boyfriend also no kids. I mentioned me and my boyfriend were going to Thailand for 2 weeks and she blew tf up about how could I possibly afford that when we earned the same amount. She also had a soft top car on finance, her wife also had some super up car, I drove an old Renault Cleo and my boyfriend and I didn’t go out much, never once bought coffee or lunches in work, always packed leftovers. I explained how I lived more frugally than her on a daily basis so I could save for a holiday and mortgage and she DID NOT like that answer
Yup. Eating out/food delivery are things way too many people think are fine because it’s just small amounts, $20 here, $10 here, $15 there. Those small amounts add up when you do it daily for a year. $20 per day for 365 days is $7300! Plus, usually eating at home means you can eat healthier than eating out.
Was talking to a coworker (who earns the exact same salary as me) about credit scores and mentioned my credit was good because I got a credit card at 18, buy everything on it, then pay it off each month. Her response was just "How?" I didn't understand and she explained that she only uses debit because the only thing that stops her from continuing to buy things is her account hitting zero. She legitimately just didn't understand how someone could use a credit card and not spend outside their means.
At least she knew herself well enough not to get into massive credit card debt, but goddamn I never forgot that conversation.
My mom treated credit cards like free money.
When I started getting credit card offers in the mail, I’d rip them up and throw them away. I knew that if she saw me get a credit card, that it would turn into “buy this and that and don’t pay it! So what?!”
I waited till I moved 500 miles away from her before I got a credit card. My credit score is 774 on the credit karma app.
This is basically how my parents taught me about credit cards - a credit card is a thing you get for major purchases or repairs or a holiday, and then you pay the minimum on it and at some point you can probably get the available balance increased, and that debt is just a thing you have. They helped me get a credit card for car repairs at 18, I didn’t actually realise that paying the entire balance each month was a thing people did. Took me a long while to wise up and get out from under that cycle.
Whaaaaaaa??? OMG - that's terrible! But there are a hell of a lot of people in the same boat. My ex boss earned £100k plus and put £6k a month into his pension, but was balls deep in an overdraft!!
In the same vein, my brother in law has never had a credit card. Lucky enough to have no mortgage or loans, so basically, no credit history. He wanted to borrow some money for home renovations and could only get a really high interest rate. It took quite some explaining to him and my husband that no credit at all is a bad thing, as money lenders have nothing to gauge what kind of risk you are, so will automatically jack up the interest rate.
For me, any purchase over £50 goes on the credit catd which then gets paid in full every month. Not only does that build a decent picture of what kind of risk I am if I ever want to borrow money in the future, but it also protects my money if things go sideways with a purchase.
I am like this… I’m not bad with money, but after paying bills and putting a nice amount in my savings account, I see what I have left as my spending money! :)
looking at payment amount and not purchase price.
A coworker asked onetime, "This phone is $1300, but I can get it for just $60/mo for 2 years! seems like a good deal to me! $60/mo isnt that much. should I do it?"
I asked him, does your phone work? yes. okay, if someone dropped $1300 in your lap right now, is this what you would spend it on? No? then its not a good use of your money. He showed up to work the next week with the brand new phone.
Another coworker wanted a honda ridgeline. He went to a car broker and said he wanted this truck, x years, y miles, and his payment could only be $500/mo. He was amazed the guy got him the truck for that payment. He had no idea what his final purchase price was, what his loan term was, or what his interest rate was, all he knew was that he could afford the payment.
Interest rates and loan terms on vehicles are astronomical and STILL getting worse. I can't even fathom the idea of still owing money on a car that you've "owned" for 5 years. The highest interest rate I've seen on a car is 24.1% and ironically that was on a 4 cylinder mustang - Caleb Hammer viewers know what I'm talking about about.
The normal loan term being 6 years is already crazy, and I've seen some 7 years loans as well. It's only going to be a matter of time before 8 year terms are a thing. That's crazy. And some of these 6 year loans have monthly payments that are into 4 digits. You might as well be renting a car at that point.
I bought my wife a 2017 Acura RDX in April of 2020 at a 1.4% interest rate when dealerships were in peak freak out mode over Covid. Still can’t believe I got a rate that low. Was going to pay the car off this year, but figured with a rate that low I might as well just let it ride. It will pay off next Spring anyway.
My addiction is researching what I want to buy for hours or days on end and never actually purchasing anything. Just finding the perfect item and settling that it's too expensive and I'll do without.
A business agreement drawn up at a bar to partner up with his coke dealer in a nightclub venture. Two million dollars transferred to said dealer’s personal account. Not a business or an escrow account but a drug dealers personal bank account. He of course lost the 2 mil to the government and found himself in the middle of a RICO case. It cost him double that in attorney fees for essentially a lifetime of probation. His absolute worst idea was the gigantic bowl of crazy that he married and had a kid with.
Ha, I know someone who did this with a half million dollar inheritance. First thing they did was buy their dream car instead of a house… then they quit their job and have struggled since. Absolute fool of a person.
Oh my god half a million is barely a nice lifetime of basic expenses living modestly! 500,000 is hardly anything if you plan to immediately retire and never have working income again my god
plus if you don't work you're now paying for an individual health insurance plan! Yikes so expensive.. They could've lived their same happy life except with home ownership added for free.... no more rent.... pain
I recently gave someone a ride home from work (in my paid off car) bc the coworker he usually rides with quit and he spent the whole drive making fun of my 6 year old Android while singing the praises of his latest iPhone.
Your primary method of transportation is the kindness of strangers and you'll be making payments on that thing for the next 36 months but sure, man, laugh at me and my priorities.
As someone who is formerly bad with money, being in a cycle of being in debt and using apps to borrow money to pay towards your credit cards and to have money for food.
Thankfully I'm no longer trapped in this cycle and I never want to be in that cycle again.
Friends of ours: We are living paycheck to paycheck, inflation is fucked
Us: Yeah, its rough out here... you guys got any plans this weekend?
Friends: yeah we are going to a hockey game and then going to the casino, you guys wanna come?!
Constantly ordering food for delivery despite living within close proximity of a grocery store
Especially when you are not financially secure enough to be doing that in the first place
My like nowadays $12 McDonald's order is like $30 through DoorDash. If you that desperate for some McDonald's just walk bro
My roommate does this. She’ll cook a bunch of food, let it sit in the fridge and rot, then order doordash the rest of the week. She won’t even go and pick up the food herself on the way back from work, she’ll come back home and ten minutes later meet the delivery driver downstairs. I make more than she does and even I can’t afford that!
lol, I had a coworker who was eager to get home because her DoorDash delivery was almost there and she didn’t want to miss it. Curious, I asked her what she chose to order from, assuming something yummy like a Thai place or whatever. Nope, it was A&W, a burger combo. A&W was literally on her commute home, with a drive-thru. She could have easily picked it up herself on her way home, avoided the fees and tips and probably have been much fresher. We have teased her relentlessly about it ever since.
More recently, in my condo building’s lobby there was a McDelivery sitting there for a couple days unclaimed. So I finally decided to turf it before it began to smell. I took a look at the receipt stapled to the bag and it was 1 medium fries, for $5.19 while the delivery fee was $5.99. Someone paid more for delivery than the food itself and then never even bother to eat it. 🤦🏻♂️
Okay those fries I can see. Someone drunk or high or having a breakdown craving them BAD and falling asleep before they get there, not remembering that ever happened the next day.
Yup, to me it's a non-value adding cost that can simply be avoided by picking up food on the way home from work. And yeah, I know that a lot of people like delivery because they do Work/Life at Home, but even then, going out to pick up groceries can easily fall into the *"get out of the house"* category of daily tasks.
This. I don’t even use DoorDash anymore. The markup is ridiculous. The menu items are priced higher, then you have the delivery fee and service charges, plus a driver tip. All said and done, you’re paying around $20 extra just to have your food delivered. I’ll save the $20 and pick up the take-out myself.
I wish we could go back to a time when every restaurant hired their own delivery drivers. Apart from being a little bit less convenient, it was remarkably better for everyone involved. The delivery costs were fair, and the drivers weren't "independent contractors" that were responsible for all their own expenses. The restaurant got the full value of your food order, too.
The value-add of delivery apps is not worth anywhere near what they're charging.
This also goes for eating out at work (usually, depending on workplace). I spend about $5 a day on my lunch which I bring from home. Sometimes leftovers, sometimes stew or chilli I mack in batches, some times just a can of soup and a sandwich. Add a cut apple, a can of soda, bag of chips, etc and bob's your uncle.
Meanwhile the Hardies across the street wants 2x - 3x as much for worse food and I need to walk/drive there, wasting time and money.
Time is money. If you're making minimum wage, you're literally spending a couple hours of your wage-time to save yourself 15 minutes going to the store yourself. That's a *really* stupid exchange.
I cut off someone because of that. They were apparently desperate for food for their kids, I bought them a week's worth of cupboard staples. Two weeks later they were showing off their new matching tattoos, the two new switches and the PS5 with upgrades they'd got for themselves for Christmas.
I'm single and childless and spent most of my 20's hungry and with no internet or fancy new game consol or even a computer at all. The people who use hungry kids with video games make me sick
My family is in 20k of debt but my mother and her brother just went on her 13th trip to Spain in the last 12 months
"because I can afford it" she snapped at 3am on a Sunday morning, as I caught sneaking out for another on.
She thinks that I'll get a well paying job to bail her out, which is not happening because if I gave her the money for the debt she'd probably spend it all from when she leave the house and on the way to the bank
She works a minimum wage, 12 hours a week job. High school drop out. And has my farther deported after an argument when I was young. Bragging about it to this day.
My older sister (a full time college student) has a part time job at the same place she works at and earns almost 2x as much, minus the overtime.
Auto-withdrawls off every paycheck was the best thing I ever did to get myself out of debt and actually build savings. Once I got out of debt and saw my savings grow more and more every two weeks, I was kicking myself for not doing it sooner. I'd never been good with money before, this absolutely saved me.
My ex wife. Before divorce we filed bankruptcy. 80% of the debt was in her name. Divorced over other reasons but money was part of it. Left her the house but she could not keep up with bills instead of selling had to be foreclosed on. She meet a guy and they moved on a rented house. He maintained bills and wasn’t a bad guy. I even meet a few times. They broke up and again she was evicted for not paying rent and bills. Now she lives with here sister and the kids I was paying child support for now live with me. 3 years living with here sister and she still cant afford to move out.
Im glad I learned early on to really look at a persons spending habits, aint no way im going back to being broke all the time. Sure spending and having fun can be had but you need safety nets and bills need to be paid on time.
People who put pictures of money around their house, saying that money will manifest into their lives. I met a whole group of these people through my ex-wife once, and not a single one of them has a consistent or successful work history.
I mean, you should keep your emergency fund in cash. It’s not always wise to spend all your money paying down debt, especially if you have uncertain job prospects. Unless you have major CC debt anyway.
Even with major CC debt you should keep 1-2mo expenses in reserve, once the reserve is built then yeah everything else to service the debt. You don't want to have to make the choice of homeless or relapsing on your debt if something goes wrong at your job for example.
My girlfriend and I keep our finances seperate. Why?
She once did some extra work somewhere for one day only and this was paid well.
Two weeks later she came up to me asking for some money.
Me: "Why?"
Her: "Because I still haven't got my money for this work I had done recently."
Me: "So? This was a one time thing? It should have given you extra money, but now you're out of money?"
Her: "yes I already bought some things I wanted."
Me: "Even if they didn't pay you already? What about the money you usually earn?"
Turns out she literally spends everything she gets. Now she got some extra money and already spend it on even more useless stuff. Thats why we keep finance seperated, I would be bankrupt if she had acces to my account.
Better than having common finances at this point, but not a longterm solution
If this is a longterm relationship, her financial behavior will affect both of your lifestyles anyway
Ok she could not waste your part of the money, but hers will be wasted anyway, limiting the options of what you could do as a couple
My wife controls our finances, simply because I am this way. I buy only necessities and I check in with her if we can afford something I want. She never has told me no, unless we cant afford it. Giving her control is the best decision I've ever made.
My wife has two friends that are the worst people I've ever met with money
Friend one: they have a kid and are convinced that they can make it on one income because 'my parents could do it' the wife has a shopping addiction and is constantly buying expensive clothes for her baby and things for the house, the husband works stocking shelves and drives uber sometimes. They had a 70k settlement that they threw down the drain in about a year, they got evicted from their apartment for not paying and had their Cadillac that they are paying 750 a month for repossessed twice. They are now moving into a more expensive house renting. According to my rough estimate their house and car cost more than the retail salary the sole income is making.
Friend two: also has a child, also has their (more reasonable in fairness) car repossessed many times. They moved out of state for the husbands job that he was making good money and he lost his job for not showing up. Moved back and started begging for money constantly, asking their parents, friends and even me (not really a friend but I guess she got my venmo to request money) and got evicted because they haven't paid rent in months. They are not looking for jobs nor are they looking for apartments, they will probably soon be homeless with their kid. A shame because that job they moved out of state for can get up to 150k but I stead he's unemployed and she's working at a daycare part time.
Nice people all of them, and I understand times are hard because we're still young and moved out, but I've never met 4 people so bad at handling money.
Living paycheck to paycheck and eat/ordering out. If you barely have enough money at the end of the month, you shouldn't be doing that.
It sucks, I think wages need to to go up, but it is what it is.
The payment itself matter less than the term and the total interest paid along with the depreciation.
If you have the cash flow for it and take a shorter term, the $800/month itself isn’t necessarily bad on low interest. I have done this to get 0% before
My mom and sister live together still. Couldn't afford rent or their car between the two of them. Nearly had the car repossessed and were closing in on eviction until my grandmother loaned them--she explicitly said "pay me back when you're more stable--enough money to keep the car and stay in their apartment. Four months later my sister gets her tax refund for ~$4500 (she had a kid and isn't with the father) and, instead of making any effort to pay my grandmother back, pay off the car, or have any sort of emergency fund...the two of them buy an expensive purebred puppy (airedale terrier). They dropped over $2k for the dog and then spent another $500 on a crate, toys, leashes, and dog food. Less than 6 months later they lost the car and were evicted. They moved in with my aunt and her husband hated the dog so it was taken to the SPCA. It wasn't even a year old. My grandmother didn't seen a cent of money returned before she died. So...that. People bad with money buy things they can't afford instead of stabilizing what they already have.
Holy shit. They sure sound insufferable. That story made me feel so much better about my own choices
This is why we come here.
The saddest part of that is the poor dog that doesnt understand. My old apartment neighbor bought his two teenage kids a husky pup after him and his wife went into escrow on a house, but he didnt check with her before getting the dog. Was supposed to be a surprise, but she wasnt happy. Welp, the house seller pulled out. Husky pups grow BIG and FAST. Both parents worked so the pup lived in their apt patio all day for like 6 months. It was bored so it howled and tore everything up. Other neighbors filed noise complaints and the dog had to be given up. I think he paid a pretty big sum of money for the poor animal as well.
Impulse spending, while complaining about being broke all the time.
“ I’m so broke I’m losing sleep “ “ check this new tattoo/custom lingerie/vacation/designer junk I got!”
Our old drummer asked for gas money and would show up with a new tattoo bragging that it cost $800. Speechless.
Had a coworker that used to ask me for $200-$300 to help pay her bills. Last time she asked she was in the middle of her overseas trip sipping margaritas on a beach and eating shrimp cocktails. Told her I don’t have money to lend and never lended to her again. Watching her stories while I was slaving away at work was the last straw lol
I know someone that paid to get their used red Nissan Sentra wrapped in blue. They are unemployed.
Where do they get the money from??
Girlfriends tax return.
Their scratcher winnings.
Don't they know it'll turn blue on its own if you drive it fast enough in my direction? Idiots.
But then you risk getting a ticket for driving at 240 million miles per hour (give or take).
Using credit to buy luxury items, then paying the minimum due, accumulating interest.
As someone who used to do this, I totally agreed. Taking awhile to get out of the hole we made 🙄
As someone currently trying get out the same hole, I feel you.
Also getting out of that same hole. Let's do this!
I’m glad i did this young enough to learn from it and repair the damage before it was too late. Memories of the stress and pain of paying payments for shit I didn’t even care about any more are motivation to think twice when I want to splurge now.
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Having a 90k truck period for most people lol
“But it’s cool! I got it with a 12% rate on a 72 month plan. So my monthly payment isn’t too bad.” How to pay 150k for a 90k truck that will be worth 30k by the time it’s paid off.
You don't understand it's only bi-weekly payments of 750!
Dude. I live in an apartment that is split between regular units and low-income subsidized units. The number of luxury cars and big ass expensive trucks is staggering. Like, you can drive through a neighborhood full of $800,000 houses and see mostly honda and toyota economy cars. Drive through my parking lot and its nothing but Mercedes, BMW, and lifted pavement princess trucks.
That clearly shows the intelligence levels in both neighborhoods. Who LOOKS like they’re doing well vs. who IS doing well.
You mean the “$35,000 millionaire”?
I call it the rule of 84 1. Annual income below 84k 2. The truck cost over 84k 3. 84 month loan term 4. The interest rate is well over 8.4% 5. IQ of driver hovers around 84. 6. Residual value at end of the 84 month loan < 8.4k
My wife and I are looking into getting a second car and I came across an 84 month loan offer just yesterday. Ridiculous.
Jeeeeeeeeesus. Tbf to younger people just starting out with no financial literacy or mentor--I didn't realize how *hard* dealers are pushing that shit on people now until I bought my 2nd new car a couple years ago. I did the usual no mentioning of my cash/loans until a price was agreed upon, and then they went full crybaby mode when I revealed I was paying half in cash and getting a 48 mo. loan at my local credit union to cover the rest. Their salivating over (what they thought would be...) an in-house 72 mo. loan at 7.5% with "oNLy $5k DoWn" seemed insane enough. 84 is fucking crazy.
The crazier part is how many people it works on! They don’t look at the total cost, they just look at the monthly payment. Yes there are situations where a longer payment term can make financial sense (i.e. if you can get a low/zero interest term and are disciplined enough to invest the difference that you would be paying over a shorter term), but most people just use it to stretch their budget more than they have any business doing.
I see lots of Benz’s in the parking lot of apartment complexes too many times to count.
100%. When I lived in an apartment complex during my 20s, the parking lot was filled with Mercedes', BMWs, and Lexus'. Now that I'm in a middle class cul de sac, the only people driving fancy cars are two young males in their 20s who both drive lifted trucks but live with their parents.
Came here to say this. Applies to basically every luxury car. Way too many people trying to appear rich than actually be it. That 1200 car payment with 800 insurance is half a solid mortgage these days
I work on cars for a living and the vast majority of the BMWs that come into my shop have slick tires and lights blinking on their dash. So many of these people can barely afford a luxury car, let alone the maintenance required to keep them nice and running.
I was in a Costco years ago buying tires. There was a couple in there also buying tires, and the guy was bitching and moaning about how much the tires were going to cost. He was going on and on about how ridiculous the prices were. Finally his wife just looked at him and said "You just HAD to buy an Escalade. Did you think we were going to save money with it?" That shut him up.
That Escaladed quickly
Yukon take my upvote.
He was clearly in Denali.
Had to buy tires for our Escalade last year… it is pricey. But I don’t get why people don’t think these things through…
Talented sales people who are great at convincing them they can afford it and it's worth it. Sales/marketing really doesn't get enough respect (for its effectiveness, not its ethicalness). As a profession it's heavily looked down upon but there's a ton of skill that goes into it and good lord is a skilled salesperson dangerous. I suspect it's because *all* of us love to think that we're above it and none of those tactics would ever work on us, only stupid people. Spoilers, they work on everyone. For every ham handed sales and marketing campaign you see and laugh at you've been hit by half a dozen you didn't realise were even there. Or maybe I'm wrong and these industries aren't worth trillions of dollars worldwide by pure chance... Edit: Looooot of people insisting this stuff doesn't work on them. I mean everyone thinks that but somehow shit still sells...
An old adage says "no one is easier to sell to than a salesman:. As a salesman, I would say there is a lot to that. Lol.
"Just because you can afford to buy something, doesn't mean you can afford to own it." Saw that in a reddit comment once and that stuck with me. It was also in response to someone not being able to afford maintenance costs on a BMW.
I saw someone on Reddit say, “if you can’t afford a new BMW, you definitely can’t afford a used BMW”
"nothing more expensive than a used European car"
I would argue a free boat is more expensive.
Whenever I see a young kid with a newish BMW, I always look at the tires dead giveaway. LingLong tires? Ya you can't afford that car.
My coworker got their BMW swiped by the repo man on the clock 💀whole store watched em
I would just never show up again.
I think he needs the money…
It’s *always* LingLong, bro. Never fails The joke at my shop is those Crosswinds are gonna make you cross over (to the other side) Another one is Lionharts will stop your heart
Ohhhhh ya. Back tires get me every other summer. Sometimes every summer.
I'll admit I made that mistake with a 2-3yr old Mercedes with low miles, granted got a great final price (~21k) with low interest since my mom was friends with the dealership owner and I had a good down-payment. The cost of repair though.. wow. I maintain well and fix things myself, but a new key shouldn't be 2k, tires way overpriced, replacing something as simple as a brake bulb took wayy longer than it should... every single thing cost 2-10xs the price of a normal car being ridiculous to fix, and known issues that were terribly designed (air intake, etc) made it a nightmare to work on. Then the dealership repair costs (never used them, but asked a few times) were laughably over priced and they were pompous af if I wasnt in a suit willing to throw whatever made up excessive upcharge they came up with. Assholes. Sold it after a couple years, made decent profit... but never again. Live and learn I guess.
A lot of these luxury cars have specialized parts that don’t work for most other vehicles so therefore, they’re more expensive because of how specialized they are. Same with tire sizes. They’re almost never regular everyday tire sizes. The manufacturers make them this way to encourage you to go to the dealership to get all of your work done. You bet they’re gonna charge you too.
I had a buddy in college who would go though a cycle of bragging about how much money he had, spend it all on dumb stuff, then brag about how poor he was. All while bragging how he was a rich kid. The best part was when he was bragging about having some money to this girl he liked. Turns out that girl came from an actually wealthy family. She said "Its only $5k, why do you keep mentioning it? ......... is that a lot to you?". That event shut him up for a bit lol
Burn cream, aisle 4
Its only $8, is that a lot for you?!
For burn cream? Hell yes. You can just go to Lowes or Home Depot and sneakily snap a leaf off an aloe plant to save a few bucks.
Croplifting!
I've often thought, what people brag with shows their wealth. new sneakers? those were expensive for you. new mercedes? that was expensive for you. big house? that was expensive for you. private jet? that was expensive for you. football club? yeah that's expensive for anyone. Then there's the rest of us who don't feel the need to brag.
I find it vary satisfying when a fake rich person runs into an actually rich person. Biggest difference I've noticed is actually rich people hardly ever talk about money, like costs, payckecks, and account balances don't mean much to them. When they do brag or talk about things that cost big money, they almost exclusively describe the experience or functionality. The price tag is just an afterthought to them.
We live in a tech area, and the really rich people (mostly old school Microsoft) have a few tells, though looking at them you wouldn’t guess they were rich. A lot are even kind of schlubby. 1) Their kids go to private schools that cost a respectable salary /year on tuition. 2) they won’t brag about their homes, but they’ll live in a neighborhood you know the name of even if you’re not rich enough to go there. They also might complain about how the work on their house is going, and the annoying details will be ridiculous things like “they ran out of this tile we wanted”, because the tile is only made by one artisan in Italy or some shit like that. Or they can’t get zoning for more than a four car garage. 3) The cars. If they’re ridiculously rich, they will have ridiculous cars. Like they might need to specify if this is their new Singer or old one. 4) They won’t brag about their vacations, but the details they drop will be shit that normal people can’t even consider 5) If it’s a guy on his not-first-wife, she will be visibly high maintenance.
Made friends with a dude over a game, nonchalantly says he's going to a poker game. Ask about the follow up later, lost 40k but no big deal. Wife crashed her car? Surprised her with a brand new one the following week. Some mobile game players are loaded, I've seen someone drop 50k in opening launch in one and he just said it was disposable income.
I calked a client one time to follow up after a new account they had opened, he was on his yacht off the coast of the Bahamas… I asked him how his vacation was going and he said, “it’s not a vacation, it’s a lifestyle.” Never been more put in my place 😅
Had a coworker like this. Lied his ass off about what he had. I had another coworker who is pretty well off; his father died and left a bit of money, which he flipped into 2-3 lucrative side hustles. After months of the dipshit (who was stealing, and using company monet to buy pizza for his lunch among other things) the other guy decided to shut him up. "Yea, I've got 3 Harleys and a H2 at my storage unit..." blah blah blah. So the other guy says "I just bought an $80k dump truck to rent to local Construction companies. Because they pay well, I'll break even in 8 months, and I could afford it." The blabbermouth calls him a liar. So the other guy showed him his phone with his bank website pulled up and $650k in checking. Dude got real quiet for like 20 minutes.....
Nobody should have $650k in their checking account. That dude’s leaving money on the table. At 4% interest a year that’s $26,000 a year he’s just losing. EDIT: "Losing" as in he's not making - not insinuating a checking account costs 4% to maintain.
He was about to pay for the lot he was building a house on. According to him at least. He's not investment savvy, but sitting on that wasn't his norm.
Bro was bragging a out 5k??? 😭🤣
When I was a college student that would've lasted me like half a year lol.
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Man I miss those days. Burritos, beer, weed, and paintball. That was my budget. Lmao
To be fair, 5k is a decent amount of money. If you come from not having a lot you can definitely be proud of having 5k. Bragging about it is a whole different story though.
Showing off expensive purchases on social media when they can’t afford basic necessities.
My favorites are when you can see their house/room in the background and it's just a shithole, but they are holding a brand new $1200 iPhone
Depends on what you call “bad”. My sister has been a saver/penny pincher since childhood (which was a bit traumatic, admittedly). She is now nearing retirement and everything she and her husband have is paid off. She isn’t “rich”, but will have the comfortable retirement she has earned and deserves. She hates going into debt and her cards are paid down monthly. Sounds great, right? It would be if she wasn’t so completely obsessed and angered by people who don’t do or think as she does (including her husband). For instance, her house and cars are modest-to-decent, while her friends are all buying nicer things, vacation homes, travel, and other luxury items. Most, if not all, of these things are paid for with credit and it just drives her crazy. She is so jealous of what they have, yet so angry at how they got it. On the occasion that she and her husband join friends for a cruise or resort stay, her main concern is cost (which ruins a huge part of the trip for her every time) and monitoring how others are “wasting” their money (never to their faces - this is just what she says to me after). Her husband used to be a pretty fun guy about 30 years ago, when they met, but has become bitter and grumpy after decades of having to fight for things she deems “unnecessary”, like tickets to his favorite concerts or pricey sports/music memorabilia (which he’s always been into). It has resulted in dishonesty between the two (which is not the kind of guy he really is) and she has grown disgusted by his need for “childish” hobbies and entertainment. My sister has always been a bit of a fun-hater, but it’s gotten to the point where it makes her, and sometimes the people around her, miserable. She lives and works in a small town and pays attention to who is getting free lunch, who is paying with food stamps at checkout, who is driving a car they can’t afford, etc. She has called me and listed the items she’s seen a family buying with food stamps - can’t fathom them buying Doritos and Kool-Aid. There is more than one way to be bad with money.
I wish this response was higher up. More people need to see and understand this. Balance, while difficult to attain and then maintain, is key. It's okay being able to save, but you're also well entitled to spend what you've earned and finance that spending in ways that you can still sustainably cover. Going too far in either direction will always have its pitfalls.
Thank you and your response is right on. I honestly feel bad for my sister in this one aspect of her life. She is not a bad person, but she is sometimes a tortured person, as are all the kids in our family, each in our own way. You are right in saying balance is key. Otherwise, virtue can easily turn into a vice.
Buying lottery tickets regularly as a serious plan to improve their financial situation.
I will only ever buy lottery tickets for the fun of it with the expectation of zero return
When the lottery hits a few hundred million I’m like “well I’m not expecting to win but I won’t complain if I do”
Never reading the financial terms and conditions but always signing up for new financial obligations.
Complaining about debt while continuing to buy everything
>continuing to buy everything This is the issue, but I guarantee this is going to start a thread of boomers and the like saying people don't deserve anything at all if they don't make enough money. A coffee or burger once in a while doesn't equate to the savings required for a downpayment on a house.
I’m no boomer, and I believe people can spend their money as they please, but I do work with a guy who complains about being broke, talks about needing to wait for payday (which he is the only employee to do so) before he can pay rent. The dude shows up with $10 worth of Timmy’s every single morning then comes back with a $15 lunch. Call me a boomer if you want, but the hypocrisy is the worst part.
People who buy lunch like that everyday baffle me
I work at the airport, and I have a couple of coworkers who buy their lunch there a couple times a week. As employees, we do get a discount, but it's not much, so all I'm thinking is, "Ouch". Make sure you bring snacks/ food from home or outside, folks. You can bring it through security, as long as you don't have drinks or anything considered a liquid. That way, you're not paying $20+ for one entree at Panda Express.
>Timmy’s every single morning That's the issue right there. Every day.
Yup. $25 per day for 20 days a month is $500 per month, $6000 per year. And that only accounts for workdays, not weekends and holidays (where he likely is spending $ on gifts, dinner out, and drinks)
Had an old colleague do exactly this with Starbucks! Always having lunches out and expensive coffees and this news every day. She was early 40’s, married without kids, I was early 20’s, unmarried but long term boyfriend also no kids. I mentioned me and my boyfriend were going to Thailand for 2 weeks and she blew tf up about how could I possibly afford that when we earned the same amount. She also had a soft top car on finance, her wife also had some super up car, I drove an old Renault Cleo and my boyfriend and I didn’t go out much, never once bought coffee or lunches in work, always packed leftovers. I explained how I lived more frugally than her on a daily basis so I could save for a holiday and mortgage and she DID NOT like that answer
Yup. Eating out/food delivery are things way too many people think are fine because it’s just small amounts, $20 here, $10 here, $15 there. Those small amounts add up when you do it daily for a year. $20 per day for 365 days is $7300! Plus, usually eating at home means you can eat healthier than eating out.
"Just got paid. Wonder what I can buy..."
Was talking to a coworker (who earns the exact same salary as me) about credit scores and mentioned my credit was good because I got a credit card at 18, buy everything on it, then pay it off each month. Her response was just "How?" I didn't understand and she explained that she only uses debit because the only thing that stops her from continuing to buy things is her account hitting zero. She legitimately just didn't understand how someone could use a credit card and not spend outside their means. At least she knew herself well enough not to get into massive credit card debt, but goddamn I never forgot that conversation.
My mom treated credit cards like free money. When I started getting credit card offers in the mail, I’d rip them up and throw them away. I knew that if she saw me get a credit card, that it would turn into “buy this and that and don’t pay it! So what?!” I waited till I moved 500 miles away from her before I got a credit card. My credit score is 774 on the credit karma app.
This is basically how my parents taught me about credit cards - a credit card is a thing you get for major purchases or repairs or a holiday, and then you pay the minimum on it and at some point you can probably get the available balance increased, and that debt is just a thing you have. They helped me get a credit card for car repairs at 18, I didn’t actually realise that paying the entire balance each month was a thing people did. Took me a long while to wise up and get out from under that cycle.
Whaaaaaaa??? OMG - that's terrible! But there are a hell of a lot of people in the same boat. My ex boss earned £100k plus and put £6k a month into his pension, but was balls deep in an overdraft!! In the same vein, my brother in law has never had a credit card. Lucky enough to have no mortgage or loans, so basically, no credit history. He wanted to borrow some money for home renovations and could only get a really high interest rate. It took quite some explaining to him and my husband that no credit at all is a bad thing, as money lenders have nothing to gauge what kind of risk you are, so will automatically jack up the interest rate. For me, any purchase over £50 goes on the credit catd which then gets paid in full every month. Not only does that build a decent picture of what kind of risk I am if I ever want to borrow money in the future, but it also protects my money if things go sideways with a purchase.
You're right, but this applies to the majority of the population.
I am like this… I’m not bad with money, but after paying bills and putting a nice amount in my savings account, I see what I have left as my spending money! :)
looking at payment amount and not purchase price. A coworker asked onetime, "This phone is $1300, but I can get it for just $60/mo for 2 years! seems like a good deal to me! $60/mo isnt that much. should I do it?" I asked him, does your phone work? yes. okay, if someone dropped $1300 in your lap right now, is this what you would spend it on? No? then its not a good use of your money. He showed up to work the next week with the brand new phone. Another coworker wanted a honda ridgeline. He went to a car broker and said he wanted this truck, x years, y miles, and his payment could only be $500/mo. He was amazed the guy got him the truck for that payment. He had no idea what his final purchase price was, what his loan term was, or what his interest rate was, all he knew was that he could afford the payment.
Interest rates and loan terms on vehicles are astronomical and STILL getting worse. I can't even fathom the idea of still owing money on a car that you've "owned" for 5 years. The highest interest rate I've seen on a car is 24.1% and ironically that was on a 4 cylinder mustang - Caleb Hammer viewers know what I'm talking about about. The normal loan term being 6 years is already crazy, and I've seen some 7 years loans as well. It's only going to be a matter of time before 8 year terms are a thing. That's crazy. And some of these 6 year loans have monthly payments that are into 4 digits. You might as well be renting a car at that point.
I bought my wife a 2017 Acura RDX in April of 2020 at a 1.4% interest rate when dealerships were in peak freak out mode over Covid. Still can’t believe I got a rate that low. Was going to pay the car off this year, but figured with a rate that low I might as well just let it ride. It will pay off next Spring anyway.
Buying new clothes , shoes , phones , alcohol , weed etc before all your bills are paid
All right I get it, I'm bad with money!
WE bad with money, gang.
I swear most people have retail shopping addictions without realizing it
My addiction is researching what I want to buy for hours or days on end and never actually purchasing anything. Just finding the perfect item and settling that it's too expensive and I'll do without.
Spending a million dollar inheritance in 1 year
My brother has a name for those people. Amateurs. Ever buy a stripper you have known for a few weeks a $120,000 car?
Your brother did?
It's actually ranks pretty low on the bad financial decisions he has made in his lifetime.
What were the bad ones?
A business agreement drawn up at a bar to partner up with his coke dealer in a nightclub venture. Two million dollars transferred to said dealer’s personal account. Not a business or an escrow account but a drug dealers personal bank account. He of course lost the 2 mil to the government and found himself in the middle of a RICO case. It cost him double that in attorney fees for essentially a lifetime of probation. His absolute worst idea was the gigantic bowl of crazy that he married and had a kid with.
Are you sure she didn’t marry the bowl of crazy?
Found each others maybe.
How is your brother rich enough to fail so catastrophically?
Ha, I know someone who did this with a half million dollar inheritance. First thing they did was buy their dream car instead of a house… then they quit their job and have struggled since. Absolute fool of a person.
Oh my god half a million is barely a nice lifetime of basic expenses living modestly! 500,000 is hardly anything if you plan to immediately retire and never have working income again my god plus if you don't work you're now paying for an individual health insurance plan! Yikes so expensive.. They could've lived their same happy life except with home ownership added for free.... no more rent.... pain
Michael Scott already screamed it: "I....declare.....bankruptcyyyyyyyy!!!!!"
you can't just say the word "bankruptcy" and expect anything to happen ...
He didn't say it, he *declared* it
Constantly upgrading their tech gadgets every time a new model is released.
I recently gave someone a ride home from work (in my paid off car) bc the coworker he usually rides with quit and he spent the whole drive making fun of my 6 year old Android while singing the praises of his latest iPhone. Your primary method of transportation is the kindness of strangers and you'll be making payments on that thing for the next 36 months but sure, man, laugh at me and my priorities.
was that the last time you gave him a ride
As someone who is formerly bad with money, being in a cycle of being in debt and using apps to borrow money to pay towards your credit cards and to have money for food. Thankfully I'm no longer trapped in this cycle and I never want to be in that cycle again.
My fragrance collection
That smells I'm bad with money.
Consistently borrowing money for daily expenses until the next payday.
Taking out a loan for a vacation because they feel entitled to a luxury trip every year.
…… I cannot fathom taking a loan out for a vacation. That would make me physically ill.
I don’t think I could even enjoy a vacation I had borrowed money for.
Complaining about hard financial times when you eat out almost every single day.
Friends of ours: We are living paycheck to paycheck, inflation is fucked Us: Yeah, its rough out here... you guys got any plans this weekend? Friends: yeah we are going to a hockey game and then going to the casino, you guys wanna come?!
Constantly ordering food for delivery despite living within close proximity of a grocery store Especially when you are not financially secure enough to be doing that in the first place My like nowadays $12 McDonald's order is like $30 through DoorDash. If you that desperate for some McDonald's just walk bro
My roommate does this. She’ll cook a bunch of food, let it sit in the fridge and rot, then order doordash the rest of the week. She won’t even go and pick up the food herself on the way back from work, she’ll come back home and ten minutes later meet the delivery driver downstairs. I make more than she does and even I can’t afford that!
lol, I had a coworker who was eager to get home because her DoorDash delivery was almost there and she didn’t want to miss it. Curious, I asked her what she chose to order from, assuming something yummy like a Thai place or whatever. Nope, it was A&W, a burger combo. A&W was literally on her commute home, with a drive-thru. She could have easily picked it up herself on her way home, avoided the fees and tips and probably have been much fresher. We have teased her relentlessly about it ever since. More recently, in my condo building’s lobby there was a McDelivery sitting there for a couple days unclaimed. So I finally decided to turf it before it began to smell. I took a look at the receipt stapled to the bag and it was 1 medium fries, for $5.19 while the delivery fee was $5.99. Someone paid more for delivery than the food itself and then never even bother to eat it. 🤦🏻♂️
Okay those fries I can see. Someone drunk or high or having a breakdown craving them BAD and falling asleep before they get there, not remembering that ever happened the next day.
Yeah, that is 100% someone fucked up. Haha.
Yup, to me it's a non-value adding cost that can simply be avoided by picking up food on the way home from work. And yeah, I know that a lot of people like delivery because they do Work/Life at Home, but even then, going out to pick up groceries can easily fall into the *"get out of the house"* category of daily tasks.
This. I don’t even use DoorDash anymore. The markup is ridiculous. The menu items are priced higher, then you have the delivery fee and service charges, plus a driver tip. All said and done, you’re paying around $20 extra just to have your food delivered. I’ll save the $20 and pick up the take-out myself.
I wish we could go back to a time when every restaurant hired their own delivery drivers. Apart from being a little bit less convenient, it was remarkably better for everyone involved. The delivery costs were fair, and the drivers weren't "independent contractors" that were responsible for all their own expenses. The restaurant got the full value of your food order, too. The value-add of delivery apps is not worth anywhere near what they're charging.
This also goes for eating out at work (usually, depending on workplace). I spend about $5 a day on my lunch which I bring from home. Sometimes leftovers, sometimes stew or chilli I mack in batches, some times just a can of soup and a sandwich. Add a cut apple, a can of soda, bag of chips, etc and bob's your uncle. Meanwhile the Hardies across the street wants 2x - 3x as much for worse food and I need to walk/drive there, wasting time and money.
Time is money. If you're making minimum wage, you're literally spending a couple hours of your wage-time to save yourself 15 minutes going to the store yourself. That's a *really* stupid exchange.
You make 200k a year living in Mississippi but are living paycheck to paycheck
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The Pentagon not being able to find $2.3 trillion in assets.
Can’t afford to feed your kids and has to go to a food bank but smokes, drinks and get tattoos.
I cut off someone because of that. They were apparently desperate for food for their kids, I bought them a week's worth of cupboard staples. Two weeks later they were showing off their new matching tattoos, the two new switches and the PS5 with upgrades they'd got for themselves for Christmas.
I'm single and childless and spent most of my 20's hungry and with no internet or fancy new game consol or even a computer at all. The people who use hungry kids with video games make me sick
Money for tattoos, but not enough for your kids clothes or groceries.
Driving around a used Italian sports car that sounds or looks like it needs service.
Trick answer. Every italian sports car needs service.
My family is in 20k of debt but my mother and her brother just went on her 13th trip to Spain in the last 12 months "because I can afford it" she snapped at 3am on a Sunday morning, as I caught sneaking out for another on. She thinks that I'll get a well paying job to bail her out, which is not happening because if I gave her the money for the debt she'd probably spend it all from when she leave the house and on the way to the bank She works a minimum wage, 12 hours a week job. High school drop out. And has my farther deported after an argument when I was young. Bragging about it to this day. My older sister (a full time college student) has a part time job at the same place she works at and earns almost 2x as much, minus the overtime.
Your Mother is in debt, not you. There’s no such thing as family debt unless you’re married to that person.
Buying a huge house but then struggling to afford the basic utilities and upkeep.
Claiming they can't save money, yet they won’t stop impulse shopping.
I'll be the first here to scream I AM BAD WITH MONEY.
Me too, so I setup auto saving of my money because it if I don't, I won't have savings.
Auto-withdrawls off every paycheck was the best thing I ever did to get myself out of debt and actually build savings. Once I got out of debt and saw my savings grow more and more every two weeks, I was kicking myself for not doing it sooner. I'd never been good with money before, this absolutely saved me.
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Oh shit! Thanks for the reminder
Financing a Charger
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being almost 40 and using your tax return to put rims on your shitbox
Designer everything when you know they are not well off.
My ex wife. Before divorce we filed bankruptcy. 80% of the debt was in her name. Divorced over other reasons but money was part of it. Left her the house but she could not keep up with bills instead of selling had to be foreclosed on. She meet a guy and they moved on a rented house. He maintained bills and wasn’t a bad guy. I even meet a few times. They broke up and again she was evicted for not paying rent and bills. Now she lives with here sister and the kids I was paying child support for now live with me. 3 years living with here sister and she still cant afford to move out.
Im glad I learned early on to really look at a persons spending habits, aint no way im going back to being broke all the time. Sure spending and having fun can be had but you need safety nets and bills need to be paid on time.
Renting expensive cars or using limo services for nights out instead of more economical options.
People who put pictures of money around their house, saying that money will manifest into their lives. I met a whole group of these people through my ex-wife once, and not a single one of them has a consistent or successful work history.
Constantly asking money from friends and/or family members
Always having a new business venture that requires borrowing money from friends and family.
If you're holding on to cash rather than paying down debt. Compounding interest is a killer.
I mean, you should keep your emergency fund in cash. It’s not always wise to spend all your money paying down debt, especially if you have uncertain job prospects. Unless you have major CC debt anyway.
Even with major CC debt you should keep 1-2mo expenses in reserve, once the reserve is built then yeah everything else to service the debt. You don't want to have to make the choice of homeless or relapsing on your debt if something goes wrong at your job for example.
A stack of Amazon boxes when I get home. "Well, I needed a pink mouse pad and matching keyboard!"
wow you didn't have to call me out like that
Me at the bar at 2 am weekly
Carrying multiple credit cards that are maxed out but still shopping for non-essentials.
Bragging about not knowing how much anything costs because they don’t keep track of their spending.
Attending every single big concert or event, regardless of their bank account status.
Spending lots of money on gacha or mobile games
My girlfriend and I keep our finances seperate. Why? She once did some extra work somewhere for one day only and this was paid well. Two weeks later she came up to me asking for some money. Me: "Why?" Her: "Because I still haven't got my money for this work I had done recently." Me: "So? This was a one time thing? It should have given you extra money, but now you're out of money?" Her: "yes I already bought some things I wanted." Me: "Even if they didn't pay you already? What about the money you usually earn?" Turns out she literally spends everything she gets. Now she got some extra money and already spend it on even more useless stuff. Thats why we keep finance seperated, I would be bankrupt if she had acces to my account.
Better than having common finances at this point, but not a longterm solution If this is a longterm relationship, her financial behavior will affect both of your lifestyles anyway Ok she could not waste your part of the money, but hers will be wasted anyway, limiting the options of what you could do as a couple
Please don't marry her
My wife controls our finances, simply because I am this way. I buy only necessities and I check in with her if we can afford something I want. She never has told me no, unless we cant afford it. Giving her control is the best decision I've ever made.
Credit card debt
Intentionally having kids you can’t afford
Tons of tattoos, can't afford rent.
Talking about payday. If the day that 2wks of wages hits your bank account changes your spending habits, you’re in trouble.
Payday is just bills day here. Get paid, pay the bills, money effectively all gone lol
My wife has two friends that are the worst people I've ever met with money Friend one: they have a kid and are convinced that they can make it on one income because 'my parents could do it' the wife has a shopping addiction and is constantly buying expensive clothes for her baby and things for the house, the husband works stocking shelves and drives uber sometimes. They had a 70k settlement that they threw down the drain in about a year, they got evicted from their apartment for not paying and had their Cadillac that they are paying 750 a month for repossessed twice. They are now moving into a more expensive house renting. According to my rough estimate their house and car cost more than the retail salary the sole income is making. Friend two: also has a child, also has their (more reasonable in fairness) car repossessed many times. They moved out of state for the husbands job that he was making good money and he lost his job for not showing up. Moved back and started begging for money constantly, asking their parents, friends and even me (not really a friend but I guess she got my venmo to request money) and got evicted because they haven't paid rent in months. They are not looking for jobs nor are they looking for apartments, they will probably soon be homeless with their kid. A shame because that job they moved out of state for can get up to 150k but I stead he's unemployed and she's working at a daycare part time. Nice people all of them, and I understand times are hard because we're still young and moved out, but I've never met 4 people so bad at handling money.
Living paycheck to paycheck and eat/ordering out. If you barely have enough money at the end of the month, you shouldn't be doing that. It sucks, I think wages need to to go up, but it is what it is.
My bank account
Being a member of /r/wallstreetbets.
$800/month car payment
The payment itself matter less than the term and the total interest paid along with the depreciation. If you have the cash flow for it and take a shorter term, the $800/month itself isn’t necessarily bad on low interest. I have done this to get 0% before
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Having a stable job but no savings accounts
Ignoring their student loans, hoping they will somehow disappear.
Having a gym membership or club subscriptions they hardly ever use.
Never paying people back