Finance

[Jonn]

Couldn't agree with you more on that idea. That's why I choose sobriety and have been investing/saving every penny I otherwise would have spent on the drink. Over a year now and it's rather astonishing in retrospect looking at my finances then and now. I was never in debt, but I was never really saving, or thinking that I could. Now I have a budget with a running spreadsheet of all my financial transactions broken down into primary and sub categories so that I can always see how my budget is going. Been an eye opening experience. Sorry to ramble.

This isn't rambling.
Everyone starting off needs to create a budget.

 

[Jonn]

With that much money I'd be paying someone to wipe for me. lol. sorry for the crudeness. I'm 42 going on 12.

We are all adults children here.

 

[Neonatal RRT]

You should see what they do here, you have to pay tax on things you haven't sold but might make money on later. So you own a business and on paper its worth a lot of money. Then you have to pay tax on that money. Even if you don't have that money. So you have to sell pieces of the business just to pay the taxes. And that's how you ruin people, destroy the economy and chase entrepreneurs out of a country. Monkeys would run this place better than those who run it now. It's a shame.

I don't know what kind of mental and financial gymnastics has to occur. To be taxed on money and supposed "net worth" you don't actually have. None of it is realized until it is actually sold. Only then it becomes "gross income" that can be taxed.

You can say that Warren Buffet, Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk, Bill Gates, and the lot are "worth XXX billion", that they are some of the wealthiest people on Earth, but if a significant percentage is tied up in their investment portfolio, which is subject to all the ups/downs in the market, and could be wiped out in a horrible day on Wall Street, is that actual wealth? NO. It isn't real wealth. Should they be taxed on that? NO. The same goes for my retirement and Robinhood accounts. Are you going to tax people on unrealized wealth tied to the stock market? That could wipe out retirees and retail investors. That's madness.

 

[Jonn]

That's madness.

We here might also get that sort of madness.

 

[stevens]

Couldn't agree with you more on that idea. That's why I choose sobriety and have been investing/saving every penny I otherwise would have spent on the drink. Over a year now and it's rather astonishing in retrospect looking at my finances then and now. I was never in debt, but I was never really saving, or thinking that I could. Now I have a budget with a running spreadsheet of all my financial transactions broken down into primary and sub categories so that I can always see how my budget is going. Been an eye opening experience. Sorry to ramble.

I just calculated that in today's dollars I haven't spent $34,250 on the beer I haven't drunk, since 2007. Also I would be a lot less healthy if I spent that money on beer.

So it can be said, I paid for two motorcycles with beer.

 

[Misty Avich]

I wish I had money. I've forgotten what it's like to be able to walk into a store and buy something that isn't weekly groceries.

 

[Jonn]

You're right, there are common-sense financial things people should pay attention to. Especially young people.

This thread is most meant for the younger ppl.
Compound interest "stuff".

 

[mw2530]

Do many of us spend money on a ton of crap we don't NEED but WANT? Oh, yeah. Do we spend too much on automobiles, houses, recreational vehicles, lawn tractors, big screen TVs, computers, and so on? Oh, yeah. The poor and middle classes spend almost all of their income, by necessity or by mindset or by poor self-discipline, there are many reasons for this, and this is what drives economies. Can you get yourself out of financial holes? Many times, you can, but it is going to be painful. Can you make the right investments on your investment apps, like Robinhood and the like? Yes, you can. Doing it right now. Everything has risk, and you have to be OK with that risk, which is a mindset that you must have in order to invest.

And none of this crap provides happiness or fulfillment. In many cases, possessions can be burdens. At the same time, these things can be wonderful things, but sometimes people go crazy with their consumerism.

 

[Jonn]

And none of this crap provides happiness or fulfillment.

Being financially independent can reduce a lot of stress in someone's life.

 

[Outdated]

I was a spendthrift until I was in my 40s. I earnt good money but I always spent most of it. I had a phat time though. Then when I burnt out and ran away in to the bush I had nowhere to spend any money. I was receiving unemployment benefits but living in the scrub and hunting my own food. The bank account kept going up and up.

When I finally returned to civilisation I had learnt the lesson. Most people waste their money on convenience. My father's words came back to me - You can't live a white collar lifestyle on a blue collar income.

Want to live like royalty where someone else cooks and serves your meals for you? That's going to cost.

Take that a step further, buying preprepared food in a supermarket is slightly cheaper than buying take away but it's still expensive. Compare the price of a premade pizza base as opposed to a bag of flour that will make dozens of pizza bases.

Then there's the money siphons - the convenience of being able to buy snacks and cold drinks as you travel around in the city. $2 here, $5 there, before you know it you're broke and have nothing to show for it.

I'm probably the only pensioner in Australia that reckons we get paid plenty and there's no need for any increase. I manage to save $10K a year, something that seemed an impossible dream to me when I was working.

 

[thejuice]

I was a spendthrift until I was in my 40s. I earnt good money but I always spent most of it. I had a phat time though. Then when I burnt out and ran away in to the bush I had nowhere to spend any money. I was receiving unemployment benefits but living in the scrub and hunting my own food. The bank account kept going up and up.

When I finally returned to civilisation I had learnt the lesson. Most people waste their money on convenience. My father's words came back to me - You can't live a white collar lifestyle on a blue collar income.

Want to live like royalty where someone else cooks and serves your meals for you? That's going to cost.

Take that a step further, buying preprepared food in a supermarket is slightly cheaper than buying take away but it's still expensive. Compare the price of a premade pizza base as opposed to a bag of flour that will make dozens of pizza bases.

Then there's the money siphons - the convenience of being able to buy snacks and cold drinks as you travel around in the city. $2 here, $5 there, before you know it you're broke and have nothing to show for it.

I'm probably the only pensioner in Australia that reckons we get paid plenty and there's no need for any increase. I manage to save $10K a year, something that seemed an impossible dream to me when I was working.

Im still a miser, I cannot get in to the mindset that I have money i could spend if i wanted. Not a lot, but enough to buy more than just bare essentials.

 

[thejuice]

Warren Buffett: 10 Things Poor People Waste Money On​

MSN

I do need to make some fundamental changes to my life, the bottom of the hourglass is filling up.

500 pages a day! Feels like a flex. I do know one poster here who could probably achieve that. Hyperlexia i think its called. I have the opposite, Turtlelexia I could spend half an hour reading 4 pages and still not remember what i just read!

 

[Forest Cat]

To be taxed on money and supposed "net worth" you don't actually have. None of it is realized until it is actually sold. Only then it becomes "gross income" that can be taxed.

That sounds nice. They do it differently here. Some politicians seem to think that if a business is worth for example 50 million, then the owner has 50 million in cash in his office. And they want it.

 

[thejuice]

There are some common-sense things that improve a person's financial position.
Not everyone is going to become financially independent, however.

One of the first lessons I learnt about 32 years ago was not to by an expensive car and pay it off.
It was better to invest most of the money into something that would add to your financial position, and not depreciate.

There was a period where I would limit myself to spending $1 a day on food, so I could pay off my mortgage.
Of course, this assumes someone has regular employment.
Many on the spectrum don't, unfortunately.

What I have noticed, over the years, is that it is common for young ppl to live for today, and damn tomorrow.
"Eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die.".
I guess I was rather a-typical in this, when I was at that age.

When i first inherited money at 18 i spent it on beer and pizza. My brother on a new car when he had already inherited a car. Common sense isnt common.

"Eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die." I feel thats a Gladiator quote.. I was living that to the max!!


Its not just youth that is wasted on the young

 

[thejuice]

That's our tax code, and I don't think the wealthy decision-makers are going to change that in order for them to "pay their fair share".

Our society is so mean and economy so broken that i was living like a sober monk and still suffering. It was very annoying to hear the tabloidy argument that ignorant peasants spend all their money on fags and booze and scam benefits, when its our arrogant, impetuous, feudal overlords that created these overall conditions of deprevation.

 

[thejuice]

I don't know what kind of mental and financial gymnastics has to occur. To be taxed on money and supposed "net worth" you don't actually have. None of it is realized until it is actually sold. Only then it becomes "gross income" that can be taxed.

You can say that Warren Buffet, Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk, Bill Gates, and the lot are "worth XXX billion", that they are some of the wealthiest people on Earth, but if a significant percentage is tied up in their investment portfolio, which is subject to all the ups/downs in the market, and could be wiped out in a horrible day on Wall Street, is that actual wealth? NO. It isn't real wealth. Should they be taxed on that? NO. The same goes for my retirement and Robinhood accounts. Are you going to tax people on unrealized wealth tied to the stock market? That could wipe out retirees and retail investors. That's madness.

The policy of those that hate the rich, invention and creativity. Living and breathing resentment.

 

[Shamar]

Warren Buffett: 10 Things Poor People Waste Money On​

MSN

Sort of boils down to Dave Ramsey's advice, "The best way to save money is to not spend it." Obvious when you think about it, but it seems few people do.

 

[Forest Cat]

I was looking at expenses last night, electricity last month was $280. Food/household was $450. That's just two things on the budget and this is just for one person. Imagine a family of four. It's hard times. More difficult to save money now for most people.

 

[DrBadStrings]

I just calculated that in today's dollars I haven't spent $34,250 on the beer I haven't drunk, since 2007. Also I would be a lot less healthy if I spent that money on beer.

So it can be said, I paid for two motorcycles with beer.

In the last 13+ months of not drinking it's around the 10k mark for me in terms of savings directly not from drinking. I'm not ready yet, but soon enough I'll have the down payment I need to get my own home. Then every mortgage payment will be an investment in my future.

 

[Neonatal RRT]

That sounds nice. They do it differently here. Some politicians seem to think that if a business is worth for example 50 million, then the owner has 50 million in cash in his office. And they want it.

Politicians, at least in the US and the upper levels, Congress, Senate, and above, are heavy investors. I don't see them voting against their own interests, nor the wealthy contributors to their campaign funds.

In Norway, if the politicians are voting in policies like this, I have to suspect that they also have loopholes in the system in order for businesses to thrive. I have to believe many of these same politicians come from the business sector and are investors, themselves. Sometimes it's a money shuffle, "You pay me this much in taxes under this tax code, and I will give you an equal tax break under another tax code." In the end, "it all comes out in the wash" and they really aren't paying any more or less. The economy needs big business, a healthy GDP, etc. in order to maintain solvency as a country. If the tax codes are not pro-business, they either don't set up shop or they leave the country.

On the other hand, you could be right and they've totally screwed the pooch on this one and the country is going to suffer due to stupid policy.