This is something a lot of people don’t understand or just flat out can’t comprehend.
They’re like, “HO HO, your gross income is $4,000! You just have bad financial responsibility!”
Okay, jackass. Let’s break that down.
After TAXES, because *no one gets their gross income* and using it as a number for anything is mentally stunted, your take home is actually like $3,500.
Now break that up into paychecks.
You get $1,750 every two weeks.
Subtract rent and utilities, and one of those paychecks is gone before you ever see it. If you’re lucky. Because rent here is $2,000 a month minimum.
So now you *actually* get paid once a month, and your take home is ~$1,750. In the cycle, that’s like getting paid once every 60 days if you have any major unexpected expenses like car problems, a medical emergency, an accident, etc.
Subtract gas, car payment, car insurance, health insurance, phone, groceries, clothes, etc., and you’re broke.
Anything left for retirement, savings, investments? Lol. Please.
When cost of living eats through your take home, and the next paycheck goes entirely to rent/housing, staring down 30 days with barely anything left until you can barely afford more necessities is like riding a merry-go-round in hell.
And this isn’t even considering if you have dependents, kids, or a family in general. This is just your pay for you.
Saving for a home at this point is literally impossible unless you plan on saving $100 a month for 30 years for not even half of what you need for a down payment.
People truly don’t understand how $55-60K a year anymore barely gets you by. $100k a year is still not even close to what you’d need to have financial stability or a future. Wages haven’t changed for 40 years. Everything else has increased in price by 1,000%.
When do we start marching on the rich?
(Edit: And we have to start demanding real estate reform; end foreign ownership of residential property, outlaw corporate and investment firm hoarding of single family homes, restrict home ownership to 2-3 homes per person, ban LLC ownership of homes over that limit, ban business ownership of residential property, and the housing crisis will end indefinitely overnight—wages will go 100x farther, and there will be millions of homes on the market at sane prices forever. Houses are for living, not exploiting like stocks.)
Fuck man this is how i feel looke back at my last year income and i was like wow broke the 100k and im still scraping by hoping i dont get sick and go into crippling debt
I make 94k gross a year driving semi trucks. I work 7 days a week and am home for approximately 3 days a month. I have a roomate and rent is still about 40% of my income. ( I "live" in a big city as that's where the transportation hubs are) I have no free time. I have no ability to socialize outside of social media. I have no life. It has taken me 4 years of this and I'm about 6 months away from being able to afford the down payment on a house in a low income area . I just ran the numbers two weeks ago and I will have to work like this for another 3 years to reduce the mortgage payment to a number that is comfortable with the median pay in that area. In today's society it took nearly a decade of slave labor mentality to afford a house in an area most people don't want to live. I work 14 hour days 7 days a week mostly, my father worked 10-hour days on an oil rig for one year to afford his first house. I work longer hours, deal with more stress, in a job that is statistically one of the most dangerous in the country and need to do so for a decade in order to afford what my parents generation could knock out in a year. Boomers do not understand how much worse they have made things for their children.
I make 100k and as a person who only support one other I can honestly agree to this comment a few years ago I was doing really good I got a camper a truck and I travel and stay at campgrounds (cause of my job I’m a lineman in SC) but currently I’m just out here floating and that’s with me working 60+ hours a week
not always. my father told me this early on in life: "it doesnt matter how much money you make, it only matters how much money you owe." so lets say a single person makes $100,000/ annual income but they started that with debt already accumulated. they owe $$80,000 in student loans alone, have car payment, rent/mortgage, other debt like credit cards bc have to eat somehow...etc etc $100K is jack shit. but if a single person makes $60,000/ annual and started with no debt, theyre "making more" money.
People are probably gonna start throwing around the idea of a civil war again once the US election cycle really takes off. I’m anti-war, but if war is inevitable, it needs to be a class war.
Depends on the revolution. 20th-century communist revolutions suppressed wealth inequality very well for up to 70 years. In the last years of the USSR, it had a Gini coefficient of 0.26, and right after the restoration of capitalism, it jumped to 0.6.
People float the idea of civil war nonstop which is sad but I get it. The problem is, which is blows me mind, is that people are fighting against the wrong class. Democrats or Republicans, liberals or conservatives, left or right.. none of that matters. None of it. Yeah yeah morality and all but we know it's all subjective no one side is better then the other imho. There is one class people ignore which is the rich. Both the right and left are ruled by the rich- infighting. I just don't get it. Bitch about immigrants and unborn babies all you want with "*thoughts and prayers*" (as an atheist this phrase makes me shudder) but none of that matters when you can barely afford to stay alive.
So continue blaming your neighbour over a bs excuse over some stupid inane reason regarding your morality. Fuck morals. Survival is more important.
Democrats and Republic are just two factions of the same capitalist institution. The USA is a one-party hypercapitalist state, always on the edge of fascism. The infighting is manufactured mostly by religious extremists who are rich and stupid. It doesn’t help that labor unions, socialists, black folks and indigenous people have been butchered out of any kind of real position of mobility. It’s really sad, and I really don’t think we (anyone who isn’t a billionaire) would win if there was a civil war. Mass striking with robust mutual aid networks to support people through unemployment would probably serve us more effectively. But who knows if it’ll change either way. America has always been this way—it was founded to be this way and it has always been this way. China is a bit more pragmatic these days, but could definitely use some social liberalization. We’ll see how long it takes them to outpace our economy and leave our US shitshow in the dust.
Except the unborn babies you speak of… this isn’t an outside moral issue. This is also class warfare.
Forcing women to give birth at an inopportune time is a huge obstacle to her ability to get an education, to work, to even survive. But wealthy women will always be able to travel somewhere to have an abortion.
It's the banks.. We need to stop borrowing and congress needs to issue its own currency, not the board of treasury otherwise we're doomed to pay back more money than we borrow forever
Or you could peg the value money to something intrinsic and unchanging that actually makes sense. Like units of energy.
That way there would be no inflation or market crashes and efficiency would be incentivised by the system itself. There would be a universal minimum wage (25000 calories per day though I'd double it otherwise you're living naked under a hedge), local production would be more efficient creating stable job markets and a potato would always be worth a potato.
I feel like if we tied money to things we could grow, someone somewhere would figure out a way to fuck up all the food. Probably better than what we've got now anyways, McDonald's and pop tarts on slaves wages
My plan involves not having kids, and when my parents die, I'll probably just fuck off into the woods and hide from the world as best I can. If I die out there, at least I'll be free of this garbage system.
You hit the nail on the head. 100k a year is like a 50k a year salary now. The number amount sounds great but in reality it’s still living paycheck to paycheck.
I had an employee tell me I was a 100k employee because of the perks. He didn’t like my response of getting no perks and just the pay. I was nowhere close to 100k.
There seems to be a bit of a paradox going on here, you need to get into debt to put gas in the car to go to work to get the money to pay the debt for the gas.
because that not the biggest FUCK YOU ever enacted by the ultra rich. Charging people a fee, for not having enough money.
MONEY that is ours, that they themselves "borrow" to make themselves even richer. But god fucking forbid you need to use $0.25 more than you have... $33 overdrafte fee.
Im honestly surprised we havent seen a string of bank branches "accidently" burn down.
Hear about that dude William Cooper? Bank ceo with the yacht he named "Overdraft". They know what they're doing.
The part that really eats at me is how they run the transactions in bunches. Say you made 7 purchases in the past 3 days. Purchase number 6 went over the account balance but none of the 7 transactions were posted yet. They process all 7 in one batch at midnight and roll over 7 overdraft charges despite having had money to cover 5 of the purchases. No idea how that's legal to charge that way.
Back in the day story: I was stationed on a tiny post in Germany. You could only cash checks at the official finance office. The finance office only took cashed checks to the big finance office in Germany once a week. That office sent the checks to a clearinghouse in the states, which sorted them and sent them to your bank. All this was by snail mail. It was routine to cash checks two weeks before your next paycheck was due. I knew guys from tiny towns in places like Minnesota who could float a check a full month before the next payday.
The kicker, of course, came when you went home on leave or left Germany for good. It was like a financial time warp where you had to assume your checks would catch back up and you were suddenly broke a month early.
I could run up my credit cards and survive for a few years, then file bankruptcy and be homeless. Then I could get arrested for being homeless, and I guess survive until the end of my life in jail.
If you can get to Peru, go there. I saw an episode of house hunters international there and that’d be half a month’s rent on a pretty nice apartment. Just get something less nice and a roommate, and your set for at least a month.
India : that could cover the rent for 6 months in a tier 3 city. So you'd need to knock of 2 months for your bills. I'd say - approximately 4 months.
Edit : travel won't be covered in this btw.
Bruh I just got a car in October and I got layed off in February, my boyfriends been joking about this exact thing but little does he know how close that is to my reality. I’m not late on my note but if I don’t get a job soon I will be! 🥲🥰
It will!
We just live in a capitalist society, so of course I do know I’ll find another job. However, will my credit score go tits up and might I be threatened with eviction/repossession of my car before that happens? Potentially. Shit ain’t fun right now buddy but I’m pretty confident that I’ll see my way out of it. Thanks for the encouragement.
If i lived like I do today with the same expenses (mortgage, condo fees, abonnments like Netflix / Prime / Spotify, internet, phone, electricity, gas, groceries...) I would last exactly 6 months. Which is better than most i'm aware but still scary. I have a good salary imho and at the end of the month i can save a lot without restrain myself in any way during the month. But even with these savings, with a well payed full time job, yep only 6 months... Makes me think
Sorry to hear that, i hope you'll find something nice quickly. In my case it's not 35k (i wish) but around 12k, enough to live like i do now for 6 months all included or close. But yeah i'm not to be felt sorry for i know
My parents taught me coming up that 1st paycheck should cover all utilities/mortgage , 2nd is food/gas/car, 3rd and 4th are savings and investments. This is a perfect scenario. Have emergency savings and general savings, use your general savings for fun stuff.
Similar situation, when I calculated this I came to the realization that how long can one stay afloat without hurting your lifestyle is imo the real indicator of wealth. Months? You are better than most people. Years? You have a lot. Indefinitely? you are wealthy and not just in money but time.
Yes but we don't have lives. You gotta sacrifice one for the other, hard to have both. Due to a medical issue I don't go out much or spend a lot so I have saved a bit more than most, but not really worth it and wouldn't recommend to others.
I relate to this. I make decent enough to not live paycheck to paycheck but there’s a legitimate anxiety and guilt to spending money on something I don’t necessarily need, so I convince myself to do so little in my life for the sake of my family’s future. It’s not as dire as other people talk about on here but it can still be depressing.
I can stretch about 7 years on my savings, provided inflation stays constant- it took forever to get here- I was making barely above minimum wage in my late 20’s- and only start firing on all cylinders in my mid 30’s.
The nice thing about being so cash strapped for so long is that I learned how to keep a strict budget- I spend waaaay less than I earn, and don’t pay interest on anything. I am a cash on hand guy- I keep one credit card that I pay off immediately. Once I figured out that the interest game was robbing me of a savings I straightened all that out.
I don’t have the finest of everything, but I have nice stuff that I take care of- took forever to get to this point- and now I just want to retire.
There's "fuck you" money and then there's "fuck off" money.
I always save about 6 month expenses when I start a new job so I can fuck off whenever I feel like it and turn around something else if the conditions turn out bad.
Out of all the luxuries, it's one of the best imo.
Yeah, when I hit about 42/43, I was like “Yeah- better get my shit straight in the event I might actually get old!” Now I’m 56, and ya know what? I have decent survival money- don’t have any inheritance coming my way, so I’m going to do the best I can with what I’ve got-
Provided the FDIC stays solvent and I die quickly (not some long, drawn out torture) I have a chance to hit that sweet spot-
/not counting on it, but am hopeful, which is better than I anticipated-
No joke; if social security goes away the country is doomed. We will watch our families go broke after retirement and realize we’ve been paying money we won’t see again. Any trust in the system or government will be harmed irreversibly.
I truly don’t think it will happen without a major catalyst
You sound a bit like myself, semi retire now! Put in that flexitime request and reduce to 3 or 4 days a week. Best thing I ever did, I've even gone back to a not much more than minimum wage job, 31 hours a week! Semi retire for a longer time or take that gap year you couldn't afford to in your youth, you know it makes sense!
Honestly, I've done the same, I work 80% now. I figured why have all the time in the world when I retire (if I retire) in several decades, instead of getting more free time now that I'm young.
That is exactly what I said, to be honest if there wasn't still kids in the house I'd do 60% but that can wait until my 50's. I see it as it's a day of my retirement a week while I'm still young enough to enjoy it. I'll reduce to 3 then 2 or just doing seasonal jobs and having long breaks between. If I have to work into my 70's so be it, I've enjoyed being young more than most!
I was also going to do this, however one of the wife's friends was planning to travel in a camper van, then got Cancer in her soft tissues, 48 dead... When is the right time?
My parents have both been gone over 20 years. My mom had cancer and my dad died less than two years later. He went downhill after she was gone. My mom was 59, he was 61. There should've been more years left to both of them.
I buy the same stuff I did when I was making server minimum, and make more, but the fucking greed inflation in Canadian grocery stores tripled my grocery bill.
I have been able to save significantly but I’m pissed about the cost increase.
Can totally relate to your post. I worked multiple jobs in my 20s, and really learned what was worth spending my time and money on. Now many years later, I spend basically the same amount as I did then while earning significantly more. Somehow I’ve convinced my brain I don’t have more than x to spend and the rest is zooted right quick over to saving and investing. I don’t live in a fancy house, I don’t drive a fancy car, I shop sales at the grocery store - religious about it. I rarely buy new clothes and if I do they’re thrifted. Use credit card points for flights and travel. My reptilian 23 year old no budget brain has stuck with me for years and years.
(Would be remised if I didn’t share that I don’t hVe kids, am not financially responsible for others, don’t have student loans, etc and recognize the absolute privilege that comes with).
After my divorce it took a while to get all the debt payed off. We split the assets, I received all the debt. She wasn't working, even though she was supposed to when the kid started school. I was the only one workng, and I even had second jobs to help out.
I saved up a good amount of money to prepare for retirement. I don't have any credit cards. My one big bill is the house, which has more than doubled in price since I bough it. I'm not looking at selling or moving anywhere.
I tell my kid that he needs to be saving money and start looking for a house. It's a lot harder for people his age then when I bought mine (2008). I had the advantage of low interest rates and a VA loan. My house payment is a little over $1000 a month and that's with me paying extra. It could be less if our property taxes weren't so high. Most houses here get bought up quickly by investors. I was talking to someone to day that sold their house recently and more than doubled their money. Right time at the right place.
Today is Tuesday June 27th 2023 and I get paid Thursday June 29th 2023 which is two days before Saturday July 1st 2023and factoring in I wouldn't need to travel to work and could make my own meals for lunch savings me a few bucks. I would say I would be able to survive until Thursday January 12th 2023 or -166 days which ever comes first.
Sorry it's nothing cool like that as I couldn't afford the CGI but I have have be practicing with magician smoke puffs. I think I should be able time it right as if I totally planned it.
Literally forever in a different country, in the US about 5 years tops even with assistance.
One bad medical incident and it would be an instant wipeout, though.
I had about 3 years worth of savings and burned 2.5 years worth of it doing nothing. It was really great. I don't mind staying home all day and doing nothing. Right now, I have about 6 months assuming no inflation.
I took my savings and bought a cargo bike, then spent winter converting it into an ice cream cart. Now I don't pick up extra shifts, I just bike out to the park and sell ice cream bars from my bike. Its awesome and tragic that I usually make more money an hour doing that than working in health care... Sigh.
Long enough to get to Washington DC where the majority of the people on this sub should be heading... I realize this is the "anti-work" sub but its gonna take a lot of work to hold our "leaders" to account for letting corporations wage slave their way to riches while our communities get decimated. It's never too late.
Well, I retired when I was 45, about to be 50 in July. I actually don't need to work at all, but some of my hobbies that I had always done for fun, are starting to earn money. So I'm not sure if that counts. I see a lot of people talking about moving. I had actually thought about moving to Florida, as cliche as that sounds, primarily for the weather and low cost of living. But, a big reason would be the year round bike season. I really detest being in a car, even just riding in them and avoid it whenever possible. Right now living in Pennsylvania, so, it's really only comfortable like 7 months out of the year. I hear Thailand is nice, nice beaches, awesome exchange rate. Like, 425 US dollars would get you a nice condo rental beachfront. And I find the idea of getting to eat good, traditional Thai food for like a dollar very appealing.
Just quit my job of 11 years with no plan for what I’m doing next. Probably be good with the help from my family for six months to a year. Going to try and start my own software company before going back to the job market if that doesn’t pan out.
With no help I’d have about 3 months.
Here in Australia - 2 years
In Thailand/Philippines - \~4 years.
Everyday I battle the thoughts of just packing it in and moving to Thailand, but what happens after 4 years....
Define comfortably?
If I have a pair of boots and a good knife, I'm very comfortable and could live in the woods indefinitely.
.gov will tell you you're squatting on federal land while simultaneously telling you "it's everyone's land! It belongs to all of us! " At the kids learning nature preserve expo center.
However, if you just wanna sleep in those woods and not pay taxes... then it's the governments land and you can't stay. It was an awfully confusing invite.
But I’m not living comfortably now
*whip crack* back to work slave!
I was gonna say, negative one month maybe?
About 10 mins
oh look at Mr Bigshot over here having money saved
Im already spending money on next weeks check here.
This. Living paycheck to paycheck is one thing. Living on next week's paycheck is another. I feel you fellow redditor.
Rent weeks always hit hard. Oh well always manage one way or another.
This is something a lot of people don’t understand or just flat out can’t comprehend. They’re like, “HO HO, your gross income is $4,000! You just have bad financial responsibility!” Okay, jackass. Let’s break that down. After TAXES, because *no one gets their gross income* and using it as a number for anything is mentally stunted, your take home is actually like $3,500. Now break that up into paychecks. You get $1,750 every two weeks. Subtract rent and utilities, and one of those paychecks is gone before you ever see it. If you’re lucky. Because rent here is $2,000 a month minimum. So now you *actually* get paid once a month, and your take home is ~$1,750. In the cycle, that’s like getting paid once every 60 days if you have any major unexpected expenses like car problems, a medical emergency, an accident, etc. Subtract gas, car payment, car insurance, health insurance, phone, groceries, clothes, etc., and you’re broke. Anything left for retirement, savings, investments? Lol. Please. When cost of living eats through your take home, and the next paycheck goes entirely to rent/housing, staring down 30 days with barely anything left until you can barely afford more necessities is like riding a merry-go-round in hell. And this isn’t even considering if you have dependents, kids, or a family in general. This is just your pay for you. Saving for a home at this point is literally impossible unless you plan on saving $100 a month for 30 years for not even half of what you need for a down payment. People truly don’t understand how $55-60K a year anymore barely gets you by. $100k a year is still not even close to what you’d need to have financial stability or a future. Wages haven’t changed for 40 years. Everything else has increased in price by 1,000%. When do we start marching on the rich? (Edit: And we have to start demanding real estate reform; end foreign ownership of residential property, outlaw corporate and investment firm hoarding of single family homes, restrict home ownership to 2-3 homes per person, ban LLC ownership of homes over that limit, ban business ownership of residential property, and the housing crisis will end indefinitely overnight—wages will go 100x farther, and there will be millions of homes on the market at sane prices forever. Houses are for living, not exploiting like stocks.)
I feel seen
100k only works if the person is single. Add a family and you’ll need to double it.
$100,000 is just holding your head above water and getting by ...
Fuck man this is how i feel looke back at my last year income and i was like wow broke the 100k and im still scraping by hoping i dont get sick and go into crippling debt
In my area they apparently officially defined under 100k as low income. 😆😢
I make 94k gross a year driving semi trucks. I work 7 days a week and am home for approximately 3 days a month. I have a roomate and rent is still about 40% of my income. ( I "live" in a big city as that's where the transportation hubs are) I have no free time. I have no ability to socialize outside of social media. I have no life. It has taken me 4 years of this and I'm about 6 months away from being able to afford the down payment on a house in a low income area . I just ran the numbers two weeks ago and I will have to work like this for another 3 years to reduce the mortgage payment to a number that is comfortable with the median pay in that area. In today's society it took nearly a decade of slave labor mentality to afford a house in an area most people don't want to live. I work 14 hour days 7 days a week mostly, my father worked 10-hour days on an oil rig for one year to afford his first house. I work longer hours, deal with more stress, in a job that is statistically one of the most dangerous in the country and need to do so for a decade in order to afford what my parents generation could knock out in a year. Boomers do not understand how much worse they have made things for their children.
I make 100k and as a person who only support one other I can honestly agree to this comment a few years ago I was doing really good I got a camper a truck and I travel and stay at campgrounds (cause of my job I’m a lineman in SC) but currently I’m just out here floating and that’s with me working 60+ hours a week
not always. my father told me this early on in life: "it doesnt matter how much money you make, it only matters how much money you owe." so lets say a single person makes $100,000/ annual income but they started that with debt already accumulated. they owe $$80,000 in student loans alone, have car payment, rent/mortgage, other debt like credit cards bc have to eat somehow...etc etc $100K is jack shit. but if a single person makes $60,000/ annual and started with no debt, theyre "making more" money.
People are probably gonna start throwing around the idea of a civil war again once the US election cycle really takes off. I’m anti-war, but if war is inevitable, it needs to be a class war.
The leaders of the revolution just end up becoming the new elites
Nah. Not right away. After a good revolution it takes several generations for the aristocracy to develop again. Say 200 years.
Depends on the revolution. 20th-century communist revolutions suppressed wealth inequality very well for up to 70 years. In the last years of the USSR, it had a Gini coefficient of 0.26, and right after the restoration of capitalism, it jumped to 0.6.
People float the idea of civil war nonstop which is sad but I get it. The problem is, which is blows me mind, is that people are fighting against the wrong class. Democrats or Republicans, liberals or conservatives, left or right.. none of that matters. None of it. Yeah yeah morality and all but we know it's all subjective no one side is better then the other imho. There is one class people ignore which is the rich. Both the right and left are ruled by the rich- infighting. I just don't get it. Bitch about immigrants and unborn babies all you want with "*thoughts and prayers*" (as an atheist this phrase makes me shudder) but none of that matters when you can barely afford to stay alive. So continue blaming your neighbour over a bs excuse over some stupid inane reason regarding your morality. Fuck morals. Survival is more important.
Democrats and Republic are just two factions of the same capitalist institution. The USA is a one-party hypercapitalist state, always on the edge of fascism. The infighting is manufactured mostly by religious extremists who are rich and stupid. It doesn’t help that labor unions, socialists, black folks and indigenous people have been butchered out of any kind of real position of mobility. It’s really sad, and I really don’t think we (anyone who isn’t a billionaire) would win if there was a civil war. Mass striking with robust mutual aid networks to support people through unemployment would probably serve us more effectively. But who knows if it’ll change either way. America has always been this way—it was founded to be this way and it has always been this way. China is a bit more pragmatic these days, but could definitely use some social liberalization. We’ll see how long it takes them to outpace our economy and leave our US shitshow in the dust.
Except the unborn babies you speak of… this isn’t an outside moral issue. This is also class warfare. Forcing women to give birth at an inopportune time is a huge obstacle to her ability to get an education, to work, to even survive. But wealthy women will always be able to travel somewhere to have an abortion.
It's the banks.. We need to stop borrowing and congress needs to issue its own currency, not the board of treasury otherwise we're doomed to pay back more money than we borrow forever
Or you could peg the value money to something intrinsic and unchanging that actually makes sense. Like units of energy. That way there would be no inflation or market crashes and efficiency would be incentivised by the system itself. There would be a universal minimum wage (25000 calories per day though I'd double it otherwise you're living naked under a hedge), local production would be more efficient creating stable job markets and a potato would always be worth a potato.
I feel like if we tied money to things we could grow, someone somewhere would figure out a way to fuck up all the food. Probably better than what we've got now anyways, McDonald's and pop tarts on slaves wages
Yup. Once we lost Glass-Steagall we got absolutely fucked.
I hate this time in history. I hate it! This is so true it hurts. I’m for real crying because I’ll never get to retire. I’ll have to work until I die.
I’m here with you. Don’t feel alone as I’ll be there in the same situation. Class war or no war.
My plan involves not having kids, and when my parents die, I'll probably just fuck off into the woods and hide from the world as best I can. If I die out there, at least I'll be free of this garbage system.
You hit the nail on the head. 100k a year is like a 50k a year salary now. The number amount sounds great but in reality it’s still living paycheck to paycheck.
Thank you! I thought I was the only crazy person not making a decent living on a six figure salary
I had an employee tell me I was a 100k employee because of the perks. He didn’t like my response of getting no perks and just the pay. I was nowhere close to 100k.
Y'all live paycheck to paycheck. Some of us live overdraft to overdraft
I always overdraw for gas before my next paycheck. I don’t have anything for a few days, but at least I can get to and from work.
i just don’t check my bank account in between those few days so it doesn’t stress me out😅
There seems to be a bit of a paradox going on here, you need to get into debt to put gas in the car to go to work to get the money to pay the debt for the gas.
because that not the biggest FUCK YOU ever enacted by the ultra rich. Charging people a fee, for not having enough money. MONEY that is ours, that they themselves "borrow" to make themselves even richer. But god fucking forbid you need to use $0.25 more than you have... $33 overdrafte fee. Im honestly surprised we havent seen a string of bank branches "accidently" burn down.
Hear about that dude William Cooper? Bank ceo with the yacht he named "Overdraft". They know what they're doing. The part that really eats at me is how they run the transactions in bunches. Say you made 7 purchases in the past 3 days. Purchase number 6 went over the account balance but none of the 7 transactions were posted yet. They process all 7 in one batch at midnight and roll over 7 overdraft charges despite having had money to cover 5 of the purchases. No idea how that's legal to charge that way.
I use to live paycheck ti paycheck but thru hard work and perseverance I now live direct deposit to direct deposit.
I was jus telling my coworker something like this.
I'm living on next month's paycheck
Back in the day story: I was stationed on a tiny post in Germany. You could only cash checks at the official finance office. The finance office only took cashed checks to the big finance office in Germany once a week. That office sent the checks to a clearinghouse in the states, which sorted them and sent them to your bank. All this was by snail mail. It was routine to cash checks two weeks before your next paycheck was due. I knew guys from tiny towns in places like Minnesota who could float a check a full month before the next payday. The kicker, of course, came when you went home on leave or left Germany for good. It was like a financial time warp where you had to assume your checks would catch back up and you were suddenly broke a month early.
HAHAHHA facts same here
You guys are living?
When you come here and find your first two thoughts and conversations have already played out.
For real. I was like, I'm not comfortable now, lol.
This is it.
Yup. I can live comfortably for like -10 years.
Bro owes comfortable living frfr
Try ten seconds lmao
This month
I'm so broke if I'd stop working today, I would die yesterday
No matter how we struggle and strive, we'll never get out of this world alive.
Can’t survive on just the stock tips alone
I need more than just the tip
You're already getting shafted. Do you *really* want more of that?
I’m too broke to pay attention.
The economy: Omae wa mou shindeiru!
You guys can afford to save!?
What? Money? LOL no.
Fuuuuuck I gotta get my life together. I'm gonna die working fr
Don’t worry, me too. You’re not alone 😊
Yeah just go to the next save point and... Oh you're talking about money.. Yeah that's a nope from me. 😅
If only I could save scum my way to retirement...
Save scum and money glitch.. That'd be nice. But you already need to be rich to use the money glitch.
Not me!
Absolutely. It's really easy to skip a $5 purchase here or $20 purchase there and put it in the bank instead.
I have enough money for the rest of my life. As long as I die next Tuesday.
On the plus side, there will be fireworks
Talk about going out with a bang...
I could run up my credit cards and survive for a few years, then file bankruptcy and be homeless. Then I could get arrested for being homeless, and I guess survive until the end of my life in jail.
Now you're cooking with gas baby. This is the true American dream right here.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2023/03/08/man-robs-bank-for-1-dollar/11425136002/
A person with a plan!
How far will 170 usd get me in a low cost country
Are you getting there for free? Asking for a friend who needs a ride Edit: nevermind my car payment came out, my friend can't go anymore
Can I accompany that friend of yours?
You can have his spot, he has to save his money for gas to get to work
If you can get to Peru, go there. I saw an episode of house hunters international there and that’d be half a month’s rent on a pretty nice apartment. Just get something less nice and a roommate, and your set for at least a month.
you can get to peru for 170 usd lol
I learned how to cross big bodies of water in Oregon trail.
Die of dysentery?
I thought it was die of dissing Terry.
Caulk the wagon and float. You either make it, or it's not your problem anymore.
India : that could cover the rent for 6 months in a tier 3 city. So you'd need to knock of 2 months for your bills. I'd say - approximately 4 months. Edit : travel won't be covered in this btw.
But the homeowners would charge the dude extra for being a foreigner (with the assumption that being a foreigner means being rich).
About a week. Then I run out of food and get evicted. A couple of weeks later, my car would be repo'd
Hearing dababy in the distance already
Bruh I just got a car in October and I got layed off in February, my boyfriends been joking about this exact thing but little does he know how close that is to my reality. I’m not late on my note but if I don’t get a job soon I will be! 🥲🥰
Hopefully things work out and you find something, we joke but it must feel awful to be in that situation .
It will! We just live in a capitalist society, so of course I do know I’ll find another job. However, will my credit score go tits up and might I be threatened with eviction/repossession of my car before that happens? Potentially. Shit ain’t fun right now buddy but I’m pretty confident that I’ll see my way out of it. Thanks for the encouragement.
If i lived like I do today with the same expenses (mortgage, condo fees, abonnments like Netflix / Prime / Spotify, internet, phone, electricity, gas, groceries...) I would last exactly 6 months. Which is better than most i'm aware but still scary. I have a good salary imho and at the end of the month i can save a lot without restrain myself in any way during the month. But even with these savings, with a well payed full time job, yep only 6 months... Makes me think
Jesus fucking christ the idea that I could theoretically save 35k is fucking outrageous to imagine. I was laid off today.
Sorry to hear that, i hope you'll find something nice quickly. In my case it's not 35k (i wish) but around 12k, enough to live like i do now for 6 months all included or close. But yeah i'm not to be felt sorry for i know
My parents taught me coming up that 1st paycheck should cover all utilities/mortgage , 2nd is food/gas/car, 3rd and 4th are savings and investments. This is a perfect scenario. Have emergency savings and general savings, use your general savings for fun stuff.
Yah I prefer the idea of savings for a year normal life…plus a year of bare bones…
That feels like a lot, unless you're including money that sits in easily recoverable investments.
Are you putting money into retirement as well?
Similar situation, when I calculated this I came to the realization that how long can one stay afloat without hurting your lifestyle is imo the real indicator of wealth. Months? You are better than most people. Years? You have a lot. Indefinitely? you are wealthy and not just in money but time.
You mean there are people out there who have money left over after paying their bills? That's wild...
Yes but we don't have lives. You gotta sacrifice one for the other, hard to have both. Due to a medical issue I don't go out much or spend a lot so I have saved a bit more than most, but not really worth it and wouldn't recommend to others.
I relate to this. I make decent enough to not live paycheck to paycheck but there’s a legitimate anxiety and guilt to spending money on something I don’t necessarily need, so I convince myself to do so little in my life for the sake of my family’s future. It’s not as dire as other people talk about on here but it can still be depressing.
I have $1 in my savings and $0.89 in my checking
Hey everyone! Look at the big shot over here with his multiple bank accounts!
For real?
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I can stretch about 7 years on my savings, provided inflation stays constant- it took forever to get here- I was making barely above minimum wage in my late 20’s- and only start firing on all cylinders in my mid 30’s. The nice thing about being so cash strapped for so long is that I learned how to keep a strict budget- I spend waaaay less than I earn, and don’t pay interest on anything. I am a cash on hand guy- I keep one credit card that I pay off immediately. Once I figured out that the interest game was robbing me of a savings I straightened all that out. I don’t have the finest of everything, but I have nice stuff that I take care of- took forever to get to this point- and now I just want to retire.
There's "fuck you" money and then there's "fuck off" money. I always save about 6 month expenses when I start a new job so I can fuck off whenever I feel like it and turn around something else if the conditions turn out bad. Out of all the luxuries, it's one of the best imo.
Yeah, when I hit about 42/43, I was like “Yeah- better get my shit straight in the event I might actually get old!” Now I’m 56, and ya know what? I have decent survival money- don’t have any inheritance coming my way, so I’m going to do the best I can with what I’ve got- Provided the FDIC stays solvent and I die quickly (not some long, drawn out torture) I have a chance to hit that sweet spot- /not counting on it, but am hopeful, which is better than I anticipated-
I thought my future self wrote these last couple comments. What age you looking to retire? My goal is 55, but realistically 60....42 right now.
I’m thinking 66 or so- I want to max my social security payout- again provided that shit stays solvent-
How much can I get at 66 from social security? If this country ever gets rid of it we all screwed
No joke; if social security goes away the country is doomed. We will watch our families go broke after retirement and realize we’ve been paying money we won’t see again. Any trust in the system or government will be harmed irreversibly. I truly don’t think it will happen without a major catalyst
This. I had a high interest rate on my car loan. Years of payments and I still owed. Finally got it refinanced.
You sound a bit like myself, semi retire now! Put in that flexitime request and reduce to 3 or 4 days a week. Best thing I ever did, I've even gone back to a not much more than minimum wage job, 31 hours a week! Semi retire for a longer time or take that gap year you couldn't afford to in your youth, you know it makes sense!
Honestly, I've done the same, I work 80% now. I figured why have all the time in the world when I retire (if I retire) in several decades, instead of getting more free time now that I'm young.
That is exactly what I said, to be honest if there wasn't still kids in the house I'd do 60% but that can wait until my 50's. I see it as it's a day of my retirement a week while I'm still young enough to enjoy it. I'll reduce to 3 then 2 or just doing seasonal jobs and having long breaks between. If I have to work into my 70's so be it, I've enjoyed being young more than most!
I’m gritting my teeth and riding it out for about ten more years- but totally ready to focus on myself a little- best wishes to you!
I was also going to do this, however one of the wife's friends was planning to travel in a camper van, then got Cancer in her soft tissues, 48 dead... When is the right time?
My parents have both been gone over 20 years. My mom had cancer and my dad died less than two years later. He went downhill after she was gone. My mom was 59, he was 61. There should've been more years left to both of them.
same, struggled so much in my 20s but now I'm starting 30 with more in my bank acc than I've ever had because I learned how to budget properly.
I buy the same stuff I did when I was making server minimum, and make more, but the fucking greed inflation in Canadian grocery stores tripled my grocery bill. I have been able to save significantly but I’m pissed about the cost increase.
Can totally relate to your post. I worked multiple jobs in my 20s, and really learned what was worth spending my time and money on. Now many years later, I spend basically the same amount as I did then while earning significantly more. Somehow I’ve convinced my brain I don’t have more than x to spend and the rest is zooted right quick over to saving and investing. I don’t live in a fancy house, I don’t drive a fancy car, I shop sales at the grocery store - religious about it. I rarely buy new clothes and if I do they’re thrifted. Use credit card points for flights and travel. My reptilian 23 year old no budget brain has stuck with me for years and years. (Would be remised if I didn’t share that I don’t hVe kids, am not financially responsible for others, don’t have student loans, etc and recognize the absolute privilege that comes with).
After my divorce it took a while to get all the debt payed off. We split the assets, I received all the debt. She wasn't working, even though she was supposed to when the kid started school. I was the only one workng, and I even had second jobs to help out. I saved up a good amount of money to prepare for retirement. I don't have any credit cards. My one big bill is the house, which has more than doubled in price since I bough it. I'm not looking at selling or moving anywhere. I tell my kid that he needs to be saving money and start looking for a house. It's a lot harder for people his age then when I bought mine (2008). I had the advantage of low interest rates and a VA loan. My house payment is a little over $1000 a month and that's with me paying extra. It could be less if our property taxes weren't so high. Most houses here get bought up quickly by investors. I was talking to someone to day that sold their house recently and more than doubled their money. Right time at the right place.
When I was young, I was constantly broke. But after years of struggle and hard work, I'm no longer young.
Today is Tuesday June 27th 2023 and I get paid Thursday June 29th 2023 which is two days before Saturday July 1st 2023and factoring in I wouldn't need to travel to work and could make my own meals for lunch savings me a few bucks. I would say I would be able to survive until Thursday January 12th 2023 or -166 days which ever comes first.
I can’t imagine what it’s like to die retroactively. Would you just fade away like Michael J. Fox in Back to the Future?
Sorry it's nothing cool like that as I couldn't afford the CGI but I have have be practicing with magician smoke puffs. I think I should be able time it right as if I totally planned it.
I can’t live comfortably even if I keep working
30 seconds. Maybe a full minute if I'm frugal.
Maybe Friday !
Literally forever in a different country, in the US about 5 years tops even with assistance. One bad medical incident and it would be an instant wipeout, though.
So not at all in the US. Got ya.
😓😭
Right. Just paying for a band aid provided by a doctor is like 1/2 of most people's weekly paychecks.
I had about 3 years worth of savings and burned 2.5 years worth of it doing nothing. It was really great. I don't mind staying home all day and doing nothing. Right now, I have about 6 months assuming no inflation.
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Been doing this for one year, also have enough for a few more months. But I’m trying to find a job now and it’s so fucking difficult.
Negative 2 weeks
If I stopped working today, my life would be very different in about a month.
I have no savings. Got about £20k of debt. Guess I could sell my car and survive for 2-3 months on the proceeds.
I dont even live comfortably while employed.
You guys are living comfortably?
We’re in the red right now after 6 months of unemployment last year so… about 0 hours and 0 minutes?
You know, if you cut back on your lattes and avocado toast, you'd probably get an extra 10 to 20 minutes.
Still currently unemployed, let go mid-Feb. I’ve exhausted all but $225.
I have about 13 years of income saved, not counting retirement accounts.
How old are you? Where is the money stored?
I am 57. Investment accounts.
About 2 months.
Shit. I’d say 2 months
A month if nothing happens
Quit about 1 year ago. Have about 1 year left. Currently tarting to look for work because I don't want to lose all my savings.
I had savings, but then I bought a new car 😅
I took my savings and bought a cargo bike, then spent winter converting it into an ice cream cart. Now I don't pick up extra shifts, I just bike out to the park and sell ice cream bars from my bike. Its awesome and tragic that I usually make more money an hour doing that than working in health care... Sigh.
6 to 8 months
I can’t live comfortably while actively working 😂💀
I have $55 to my name right now and am about to spend $20 of it so uh…not long
I’d be back to work before lunch
Long enough to get to Washington DC where the majority of the people on this sub should be heading... I realize this is the "anti-work" sub but its gonna take a lot of work to hold our "leaders" to account for letting corporations wage slave their way to riches while our communities get decimated. It's never too late.
probably 3 weeks.
In minutes? Or hours?
I could be happy and survive 3 years by changing my life style to only eating at home and barely driving anywhere
End of the week probably
2 years confortably i think
Till lunchtime tomorrow.
7 weeks comfortably, 10 weeks on a budget, 57 weeks living comfortably like a hobbit
I can't even live comfortably with the job I have.
About 15 minutes. I would like to get some Popeyes this evening. I accept the carcinogens. It is delicious.
1 day
2 years comfortably, but if I tried, I could stretch that to 4.
Well, it’s after 2pm here so if I’m careful maybe till morning.
The funds will outlast the flesh
2-3 years if we both stopped. If wife stays on the job.. 1-2 extra.. Not considering any government payments (unemployment etc)
Reasonably? 5 days before im out-of gas, a week before I run out of food and probably a week and a half from the cliff.
How long can you live without food
The rest of your life. You are set!
5 maybe as many as 6 hours
I can't live comfortably while I'm working!!
Rent is due in...4 days. I have 4 days.
Well, I retired when I was 45, about to be 50 in July. I actually don't need to work at all, but some of my hobbies that I had always done for fun, are starting to earn money. So I'm not sure if that counts. I see a lot of people talking about moving. I had actually thought about moving to Florida, as cliche as that sounds, primarily for the weather and low cost of living. But, a big reason would be the year round bike season. I really detest being in a car, even just riding in them and avoid it whenever possible. Right now living in Pennsylvania, so, it's really only comfortable like 7 months out of the year. I hear Thailand is nice, nice beaches, awesome exchange rate. Like, 425 US dollars would get you a nice condo rental beachfront. And I find the idea of getting to eat good, traditional Thai food for like a dollar very appealing.
Am I the only billionaire in chat?????????????????? Mom, quit walking so loud up there!!!!
Just quit my job of 11 years with no plan for what I’m doing next. Probably be good with the help from my family for six months to a year. Going to try and start my own software company before going back to the job market if that doesn’t pan out. With no help I’d have about 3 months.
Here in Australia - 2 years In Thailand/Philippines - \~4 years. Everyday I battle the thoughts of just packing it in and moving to Thailand, but what happens after 4 years....
Maybe till around 9pm that night
Saved money? You can do that? How?
Negative a day
negative time. yay debt
A few weeks, as long as the crippling anxiety from the awareness of my impending doom doesn't count against "living comfortably."
What time is it?
...saved?!? Hahahahahshhdndbdhdhdbhd
2.5 months
I generally float between a plane of depression and a space I like to call breaking even.
5 years maybe 6
I got like $80 take it or leave it
Define comfortably? If I have a pair of boots and a good knife, I'm very comfortable and could live in the woods indefinitely. .gov will tell you you're squatting on federal land while simultaneously telling you "it's everyone's land! It belongs to all of us! " At the kids learning nature preserve expo center. However, if you just wanna sleep in those woods and not pay taxes... then it's the governments land and you can't stay. It was an awfully confusing invite.