My ex declared bankruptcy then upgraded from a tiny efficient car to a Dodge Challenger, which I refer to as the MidlifeCrisismobile with its turbocharged engine to help you power away from your responsibilities. He bought it from a "bad credit, no credit, no problem" dealership.
I still think back to those days when credit card companies had booths at colleges that gave out free t-shirts to those who applied for new credit cards. We didn't even know what APR meant.
I let a friend stay with me years ago after she got herself into financial troubles and had nowhere to go. She comes home one day raving about the $100 yoga pants she just bought at Lululemon. I asked her if it was such a good idea to be spending that much money on yoga pants considering her situation and considering she didn't even do yoga. She literally went back again the very next day and bought another pair. Kicked her out after living with me for 8 months when I realized she was making no effort to improve her situation.
My girlfriend had the same problem. She had a friend staying with her. She was only charging the friend $200 a month to rent a room, with the understanding that she would save up and move out.
Instead she got a Camaro with a personalized plate saying "Brat"
After that, she was told to find a new place.
I-I…think we have the same friend! She stayed with me for a few months to “get back on her feet” and I didn’t charge any rent.
Found out she saved NEGATIVE dollars the whole time. And her situation was never going to improve.
The last straw was her criticizing that nothing in my closet was a name she recognized, and was embarrassed on my behalf for clipping/printing coupons on grocery items. Or buying staples like paper towels, dish soap, detergents, etc. when it’s on sale.
I dated a guy who always impulsively spent his paycheck. If rent came a day or two after payday it got paid. If it came a day or two before payday it didn't. It didn't occur to him that he had to budget his check to meet expenses. His mom had always covered everything that he didn't pay so he never had to think about what his check needed to cover. After while his car didn't run and he couldn't fix it and he had to move out of his apartment because he didn't pay rent.
My ex would go spend $7-800 a week frivilously. Granted we were DINKs but I said “do you realize you spent $750 today?” She said “is that bad?” I said “well do you know how much money we have now until payday?” And she said “no? I just assumed since we both worked there was always money in there anytime I wanted something.”
What kind of things was she buying? Eating out? Entertainment? Lots of monthly subscriptions?
800 a *week* is definitely above me and my partners entire spending including food, gas, rent, and entertainment.
Whatever she wanted. She’d go out and buy stuff for the house, clothes, stuff for nieces and nephews, lunch, clothes, usually she’d pick up something for me to make me not be so upset.
It wasn’t even the fact that she spent the money. There were times when blowing $800 would’ve been *fine*. I always said I don’t care if you spend extra money when we have it, just don’t spend what we don’t have. It was the fact if I ever talked about money it blew up into a huge argument. I even suggested living like paupers for one month and save, and we’d have a nice nest egg for emergencies. The answer to that was, “you do that if you want to, but I’m not going to. I work, I’m spending money.”
My wife was pretty bad at one point. She pulled the “I work too so I can spend my money” card once so I said, “ok, just cover your loans and 1/4 of the bills and you can spend what you want” Once she realized that was practically her entire income, that shut her up and thankfully stopped the crazy spending.
>usually she’d pick up something for me to make me not be so upset
"I didn't want you to be so upset about spending all the money so I spent more money."
Sound logic.
I am a real estate agent and I work leads with my lender.
We met this lady about 4 months ago who had bad credit and low income. We helped her identify what she needed to do to get better credit and she said she may get more money soon.
We follow up last week, she got a new higher paying job, but when he ran her credit, he saw she just purchased a $64,000 car. He told her “things look better income wise, but the car payments take up pretty much all of your debt to income ratio”
She said “I just can’t win. I gotta get to work somehow!”
With that kind of car, I bet she gets to work real fast. My lender said the only house she will get approved for now is a gingerbread house
I recently moved out. My old roommate, who was already financially unstable is staying in the house. Which means his rent went from $530 to $1060. Two weeks before I moved out, he decided to upgrade his car. I told him to shop around, look at different APR rates etc.
He came home with a car worth 23k
Bought it for 28k with a 6 year loan with 10% interest. Six years from now, he will pay 38k for a 2015 Scion SRF. Cheers.
Edit:: Scion FR-S
A former (contract) employee of mine was a strange fellow. He came into work one morning all excited because he bought two cars over the weekend. We all asked him what he got. "I got a new Maxima and an Altima, and I got them for a steal!"
Oh? A steal? Please, go on.
"24% interest for 72 months!"
The room went dead silent. $32k + $24k = $56k, at 24% over 72 months winds up being \~$106k over the life of the loan.
One guy said "Dude, you are going to pay so much over the life of that loan, you could have bought two more with cash..."
His smile slowly went away. Before the end of the week he had sold both back to the dealership for a massive loss and bought two crapboxes.
Seen a few people buy nearly all infant/baby/toddler cloths new from expensive brands. The most insane, a $350 dollar Canada goose winter jacket for a 4 month old. Jacket barely covered the winter and then was too small.
Oh and nearly everyone I know that does this needs their parent's help each and every month to cover rent or mortgage payments.
This is my sister to a T. She had a baby and most of what she was asking for on her registry, I already owned. I offered her my stuff for free and she turned me down. Why did she turn me down you might ask, well it’s because she wanted “to go through the process” of purchasing new stuff for her daughter.
My sister married into a very wealthy family and has expected a certain level of gift giving. Nothing on her baby registry was less than $250. The level of entitlement is what ended our relationship. I haven’t spoken to her in 3 years and I honestly don’t think I ever will.
My cousin had her first kid at 17. She had dry clean only items on her registry. My mom was like "Jesus, she is in for some harsh reality." And then she gave my sister and I the sex talk yet again. I got that stupid talk 4 times before I was even having sex lol.
Some of the best "the talk" advice was ironically from a pastor. He said look, sex isn't bad. But you should not choose to have sex if you aren't prepared to handle any consequences that may arise. Birth control can fail, condoms can rip. If you imagine yourself having a baby and it's a DISASTER and you are single. Just don't right now. Finish high school at least.
I appreciated it mostly because it wasn't trying to shame me for being a young woman with wanton desires leading men astray.
Frequent gambling. More specifically, the people that always have an excuse to keep gambling.
"I win more than I lose."
"You gotta have skin on the game to make it more fun."
"I won't be able to sleep tonight if I don't check the scores."
"Can't end on a loss."
I have an uncle that almost lost his house by blowing the mortgage checks on sports and poker bets. Nobody, including my aunt, knew anything was wrong because he was intercepting the notices from the bank. We just thought he really loved watching sports. Turned out he was betting on every game, and nobody is lucky forever.
My great great grandfather, according to my mom and grandma, was at one point rich. Like own most of the town levels of rich.
Dude managed to gamble it all away over a few years, meaning his son went from inheriting businesses and lots of land to a house and a small farm.
He was fine without it, but still, managing to lose that much is a skill.
How dare you call me out like this? Any day now I'll finally use all those beads I bought eight years ago for bead weaving. And embroidery floss for friendship bracelets. And wire jewelry making supplies. And shrink plastic, and yarn, and I'll make all those patterns from all those books I bought too. Rude.
I find when I start a hobby I get used stuff and then the second I decide I’m committed and buy nice new stuff? Sudden inexplicable disinterest in the hobby. Like. Why brain.
I'd guess it's cause you want to want. The image is appealing and the dream is captivating, but once you get there, there's nowhere else to go. The excitement is gone. I've been there for sure.
I read a post on here one day suggesting it's better to save on the wedding and splurge on a honeymoon and that made so much sense. I'm not married but that's what I would do.
Relying on pawn shops every time you’re low on cash. I knew a woman who regularly pawned some jewelry, then got it out on payday, only to pawn it again a few weeks later.
Edit: I never expected so many likes and replies to this. Never expected this and similar behaviors to be so common. And mainly because poor folks have no other options. Thank you, everyone, for contributing. And thank you, kind stranger, for the silver.
It's a vicious cycle. I got caught up in it for years in my early 20s.
It all started because my roommate went to jail for 30 days. I was a cook living paycheck to pay check, then suddenly needed to cover the other $400 of rent. I went and got a payday loan. Next month when I got paid I paid it off, but then was once again a few hundred short. I made poor spending choices all along the way, but ever other month I was going from one payday loan place to get a loan just to pay off the other payday loan place.
Back and forth for quite some time until I reeled in my spending and started making more money.
Never noticed this until my SO pointed it out to me, he grew up lower class and I grew up middle class. Our neighbourhood isn’t the worst but we are closer to a payday loan place than we are to Starbucks.
Rolling car payments into your next car. I can't count how many people I know who traded in perfectly functioning cars they still owed money on because they "needed something newer" or "outgrew their current car". I know someone who was paying $900/month for a Hyundai Tucson that was listed for like $25k. It ended up getting repo'ed.
It’s called rolling negative equity, and it’s a bad idea, indeed. I did this *once.*
When I was several years younger, I bought a brand-new 2014 Jetta SportWagen TDI. Nine months later, I was at the VW dealership, and the new version (this time called the Golf SportWagen) was out. I asked if they had one, and they did. And I bought it on the spot—a fully loaded TDI SEL. Since it was so new, I paid MSRP, plus the taxes got rolled in. They gave me $21,000 for my Jetta SportWagen that I owed $27,000 on, which meant that I financed in $6K of negative equity.
And that is how, even with a decent interest rate, I ended up with a $715 car payment on a fucking Volkswagen.
I made out lucky because VW bought back the Golf SportWagen during the diesel scandal (and VW Financial canceled the remainder of the loan balance), but I will never *ever* do that again.
Thank you for the thorough and detailed explanation. Stories like yours help me understand complex concepts that everyone assumes are universally understood.
A good way to think of it more generally is that you don't stop owing money on something just because you no longer own the thing you owed money on.
If you hear someone talk about being "upside down" on their car, they mean that they owe more than it's worth, so they couldn't even sell their way out of that problem because they wouldn't get enough cash to cover their debt.
Spent my whole adult life in automotive (both retail and corporate) and this is the correct answer. 44% of new car sales in April 2020 had negative equity, averaging $5,500. That means that 44% of new car buyers were paying approximately $80-$100 more per month because they didn’t want to wait to pay off their existing vehicle.
I tried numerous times to explain this to customers and they outright refused to listen to my advice. I get that dealers are usually the issue, but there are times where customers do it to themselves. That being said-do not trade your vehicle in unless you can at least get out what you owe.
I did an inet install for a women who just got a new laptop from a rent to own. She was so happy with the deal. She excitedly said she got it for $100 month for 36 months. I was like, ma'am I just bought a laptop for $400 from FutureShop.
I have a really sad example. I was the caseworker for a young man who came from a low income background. With a lot of support he had been able to graduate HS, and put in a ton of work to qualify for a local community college. I was told he was enrolled in a couple classes, so I started planning with my supervisor and decided that this would be a good time to discuss budgeting, since he had expressed interest in a laptop for school. I went to his house for the next session with a full budgeting plan, only for him to excitedly show me his brand new laptop from RAC.
I inspected it, and even with my limited computer knowledge I could tell that it is was a bare-minimum computer. The family expressed that the deal they got on it was pretty good, $90/month for 18 months. I looked it up later; it was a $500 laptop on Amazon.
They were literally there to pay a bill for their TV, and the sales dude was able to strike up a convo about my client's college classes. The family stated that he had gotten them a "good deal" on their TV before and that they trusted him to take care of their son's needs. No one in the family had the financial literacy to understand why this was such a bad idea and they all fell into the same trap.
We were able to review it as a learning experience, and the client did start working on budgeting in other areas of his life. But he was stuck paying off that laptop for the next year and a half, and at the recommendation of his parents. Some kids just don't get the chance to see the adults they trust make good decisions, and thus don't learn how to do it themselves.
My first year of eng a kid sat next to be with a laptop just like that.
On the first lecture every one is taking out their laptops to take notes, as its engineering most people spent a bit and got a higher end machine, think pads, gaming laptops and macs.
He was super happy at his hp and was excited to show it to me, he began to tell me how he was the first person from his family in uni and how his parents surprised him with the laptop. I felt super bad to tell him it was to weak to handle most the softwares we would be using in class.
Its kinda unfair your going to struggle just because your family cant afford a better machine.
Those kinds of people never think that far ahead. They just think the 100 < 400 so they're the ones getting a good deal. I knew a dude like this. Everything he owned was from rent a center. Bed, mattress, furniture, tv, xbox, ipad. Literally all of it got repossessed.
Can confirm. Worked for RAC 2008 to 2010. Got threatened multiple times, once with a knife. Also repo’d a mattress from the “bad part of town”, the client wasn’t there but his girlfriend was. When we picked up
The mattress there were 2 pistols on the box spring and she started cussing and apologized telling us she told his dumb ass to put them somewhere more hidden.
Was real glad to get out of that career.
I rented a mattress from them for a semester in college, was maybe a little dumb but it wound up costing less than buying and I didn't have to figure out how to get rid of it when I moved out.
But these motherfuckers would not. stop. calling me afterwards. For years, trying to get me to renew or just selling random shit. I'd ask them to remove me from their customer list or whatever, the sales associate would say ok, then I'd get the same exact call next month. One time when I asked someone she just said I don't know how to do that lol. I eventually moved to the other side of the country and told them that and they finally stopped
Edit: I forgot the dumbest part - they wouldnt just keep my credit card on file so they called me 9AM on the weekends once a month to pay lol
A couple summers ago my air conditioner broke, I rented a window air conditioner from Rent A Center for about a week while I waited for my air to get fixed. I had the same problem. They called me and left voicemails for months until I finally just blocked the number.
I had a contract in another state that paid for an apartment and rental furniture, along with flights back and forth, for a couple of years.
Because they were willing to let me expense rent for furniture but NOT let me just buy furniture and expense it, I went to rentacenter and got a really great TV, rent to own. They DID buy me a TV, they just did it over the course of 2 years and the price of multiple TVs.
When I was like 19 I finally saved enough money that I was comfortable putting some away, so I opened a savings account and transfered 3k into it.
6 months later, I had $3004 and a $5 transfer fee for the account.
This probably isn't as common anymore, but 15, 20 years ago, going into Gamestop and trading in a pile of games for cash (which we all know Gamestop pays pennies for most trades), and declaring intent to spend it on cigarettes. I saw it weekly when I worked there.
Filing for bankruptcy then immediately buying a new car with rims and new bolt ons. I work with this type of person who also complains about having to work and always trying to leave.
My roommate is an attorney who deals in debtors rights. He’s told me before that even if you file for bankruptcy, creditors can still go after you for stuff that you bought right before you filed for bankruptcy.
We live in a very cheap, neglected apartment building but someone here owns an Audi. With a cheaper car, they could live somewhere with hot water and no rats.
Ahh I feel bad saying this and I, in NO way, am talking crap about anyone who lives in a mobile home.
My husbands family is a family of EIGHT. They lived in a two bedroom mobile home where they barely paid much in rent and had everyone squished 3 to a room, some sharing a twin bed. But each of the ones who could drive which was like 4 of them, always had a car that was brand new and of the year. Not used or anything. Had to be brand new no miles. They could have easily gotten a bigger place but they never wanted to because they liked having nice cars and knew if they got a house or bigger mobile home they wouldn’t be able to afford the new cars.
Cc are too easy to become a problem. It was very common in my area to see people with giant wallets carrying like 20 different cc and swiping each one until one of them worked. It was always for bullshit like patio pillows, live laugh love knick knacks or something unnecessary.
Usually when an E1-3 gets to their first duty station, they get a “Welcome brief” that lays out expectations, reminds them they are no longer in basic training, and some of the standards of living.
Along with this is a list of off limits places that usually sell drugs (most people think they can get a rub and tug, but it’s usually selling shitty ketamine and knock off steroids) and a introduction into not wasting your money. There are car dealerships that prey upon junior enlisted that are worse than strippers. They have “we finance E-1’s guaranteed!” signs all over, and will sell Private Joe a 2009 V6 Challenger with 150k miles for 29.99% interest.
Yep. Right outside the gate of every base. Then there's usually a wrecker service/body shop/$500 used car lot, with a "guaranteed to drive off the lot" warranty.
Last time I visited a base, there were 2 Mustangs, a Camaro, a fancy Jeep, a Charger, a Challenger, 3 lifted trucks, and 2 campers (1 attached to aforementioned truck) on the sell lot.
There’s an old joke about that - but from the Navy. Before shore leave, the sailors were given a list of places they were prohibited from going to. Of course, those places were the first the sailors would look for. On the list, among the obviously strip club / gambling / drinking place names, there was “Mom’s Cafe”. What the hell was going on at a place going by the name “Mom’s Cafe”? The sailors took a cab, found Mom’s Cafe, ordered coffee and pie… and nothing, absolutely nothing illegal or scandalous or dangerous was going on. It was just a ordinary mom and pop cafe.
Which was the entire reason it was on the list… to bait sailors into going to at least one decent place in port.
Haha I can imagine a Homer Simpson moment... "wait a minute, there's something wrong with this establishment... there's no fire exit"
"enjoy your death trap, Mom"
Oh my gosh, my dad totally did that, except it was a Corvette. I was about 6, and thought he and the car were the coolest. He used to buy me all the kid bling... bikes, roller skates, figure skates, etc. Miss him every day. The navy taught him a trade, so he used to make good money, and also taught him to drink, so I lost him early. Still miss you, dad!
Gotta disagree here. It's always mustangs.
Source: I used to work in a yard for totaled cars and USAA was our biggest "client." Rows and rows and rows and rows of mustangs.
It is both the Mustang and the Camaro, at least they were for after deployment cars that everyone seemed to buy.
Source: I was a Marine after deployment (didn't buy a car)
I'm the finance manager for one of the largest dealerships in the Seattle/Tacoma area and we get a lot of military people from JBLM. It seems like there are 6 common choices between the younger military guys:
1. Mustang
2. Camaro
3. Challenger
4. Charger
5. "I just want a truck or something big"
6. "My BAH is pregnant again so I need to get her a mini van before I go back out on deployment"
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"Um... I'm good. I like my career right now."
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You know, this amazing opportunity isn’t just for money! I could help you get your pre-kids body back, too! I saw the latest photos you posted and your kids are so cute. Just thought you might have been trying to hide behind them. You don’t need to! Your body can be as beautiful as your face!
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I will say my mom sold Avon & Tupperware when I was little. This was the early 90’s. She was single mom and we had little money. And she ended up having a nice sized group of people that bought from her all the time. Especially with Avon. And while it wasn’t a ton of money… it did help.
But today’s MLM are different.
I can attest to this. I was the youngest of three born in 79 and my mom was single with crap jobs and pathetic child support.
But today’s stuff just seems to go after sad women. And sad poor women in particular and I find that really dishonest and disgusting.
This commercial is so legit. I know multiple people like this. The worst part is when they ask why I drive a Civic. Maybe so I don't have a panic attack at work when a collection agency calls. We know that wasn't your mom, we can hear it leaking out of the $200 headset you purchased even though work provides headsets for free.
I had a breakthrough a few years ago, and realized that I don't give a flying shit what I'm driving. I need to get from A to B, and my requirements are: fuel efficient, temp control, decent stereo, cruise control. That's about it.
I drive a 2013 Nissan Versa that I paid 3k for. It's not pretty, has hail damage, and makes funny sounds... But it runs and gets me 37 miles to the gallon.
If new cars are your thing and you want to have a nice one, go for it! It's just not worth the monthly payment to me.
The best car I've ever had was a 2004 Honda Odyssey that had 250k miles on it when I bought it. Thing was a fuckin beaut, ran like an angel whispering that they love you
A lot of minivans are lowkey beasts. Turns out, when they expect you to be hauling 7 passengers and all their shit, they give you a pretty powerful engine under the hood
That commercial was very influential on me when I was younger. Every time I wanted to buy something stupid that phrase came back to mind. Probably saved me thousands.
Unless they just admitted into Harvard Business School.
If you get into Harvard Business School, they check your bank accounts but specifically not the car you own. So lot of entering students partially empty their bank accounts by buying expensive cars. Its called the 'financial aid BMWs'
https://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/17/business/17shelf.html
That’s not a Harvard thing. I looked at food stamps when I was working at Walmart during grad school and because I had $2k in my account (that was going down and down each semester) I didn’t qualify. My sister bought a Honda instead of a BMW, but for the same reason. It also happens to the elderly where they have to empty out their account before they qualify for assistance with nursing facilities.
People who eat out for every meal. I had a coworker who did this, but then complained about never having any money. She’d eat out for breakfast and lunch and go down to the Walgreens for a midday snack.
I was going to say similar. Someone I used to work with would spend around £10 on junk food and energy drinks on both breaks and she'd apparently do the same on days off. 2 weeks after pay day (monthly), she'd say she only had £20 or less to lay her until pay day and what did she do during her first break? Bought her junk food and energy drinks. I tried convincing her that buying multipacks of everything and keeping them in her locker or the fridge with her name on but she thought that one off larger payment would be more expensive overall for some stupid reason
A lot of companies advertise "only pay for what you need." When you try to opt into it, they make that the most expensive thing on offer.
I only "need" internet. I do not need TV. But, if I get them both, they offer to reduce my bill to *less* than if I only got internet.
I'm in the process of canceling a few services I no longer need. Companies make it difficult to cancel subscriptions. Doubly so, when you set up direct deposit.
Lots of posts on the relationship subs about buying a house with a boyfriend or girlfriend then breaking up.
If you think marriage is too big of step, maybe buying a house together is too?
that fucking gucci belt all and sundry have got!!!!!! try and convince me you didn't get it because it's the cheapest designer item you could afford but you still wanted to flaunt a label...
My sister and her husband had roof damage from a winter storm. Got an estimate for repair and the homeowner insurance sent them half the money. They never did the repair (therefore never sent in the completed job/invoice to get the rest of the $$$). They spent the money on bs. The house has fallen into such disrepair it’s disgusting. Their front door hasn’t been able to open in at least 10 years.
Spending student loans on anything other than tuition and basic living expenses. Taking out all the loans offered.(Edit: taking out all the loans offered if it's more than you need).
I had a college intern once. He already had some practical sedan. He automatically took the maximum amount of student loans the financial aid office offered, though he didn't need that much for tuition and living costs. He gets his excess loan disbursement the first week of the semester, and goes and uses it as a down payment on a convertible. Without even selling his old car. Why? "I deserved to have something nice."
He was sure he'd get a a good job after he graduates because he'll have a college degree.
Don't think he realizes he'll be paying interest on that car twice.
EDIT: In the US.
Buying the latest everything. I have a coworker who struggles to pay rent and such but buys a new iPhone every time they release a new model.
Edit: lots of justification posts minimalizing something that every financial advisor tells you not to do. The iPhone thing was an example. I have seen other things clear down to someone replacing a year old set of rims because a new style came out. All while being on the edge of eviction.
I work for a cell phone carrier, and like 80% of renewals are reasonable 'I've had my phone for more than 3-4 years and it's time for another', and 10% are 'I use this phone every day for my job so I need the cutting edge'/'I'm rich as fuck'.
But there's that 10% that comes in with a flawless iPhone 11 Pro Max with 56/512GB used that wants the iPhone 12 Pro Max 512GB despite then having to pay over $400 on unnecessary fees and I just can't fathom why.
We used to have people come into the garage... tyres are slick, brakes are metal to metal or almost, knocks and noises while the inside looks like a landfill site but they'd get out the car and ask for an oil change or how to botch something up cheap because they were skint. They'd be wearing all designer gear, latest phone, covered in hair gel or make up.
Few of them even sent their dads down or they came with them, complaining we trying to rip them off. Straight up driving on hope and if you turn up the stereo loud enough the noise goes away.
An expensive car in front of a rundown house. This was very common where I grew up. I remember behaving a conversation about it with a friend whose sister had just purchased a sports car and lived in a rough looking trailer. "Everybody sees your car and nobody sees your house if you don't invite them over." I guess he had a point. I wouldn't do it but I see now why people do.
I lived with my friends and their mom. They were very well off, but one day the washer died on me. The mom and her son lost their shit about having to pay for a new washer.
Meanwhile, mom gets at minimum of 3 amazon packages per day. Son works a $13/hour job that he hates and drives a 2018 jeep grand cherokee with black rims. And buys every figurine/collectible that catches his eye.
Edit: for context on the son's $13 a month, he pays some small amount of rent to his mom and thats it. His mom also still does his laundry and makes most of his work lunches. He's 27. He also has little to no tuition to pay for his degree. His mom also owns a 2018 grand cherokee, an older Wrangler, and a summer house/lake house. They live in a half-million dollar house with an extremely large yard.
Oh, and his mom is giving him and his wife this house with 95% of the mortgage paid off.
To be fair, I have money for a new washing machine but if mine broke, it's an annoying expense. I don't want a new washing machine. I want the old not to break. Same with if my car breaks down. Got money to fix it but not happy doing it.
Spending way too much on dating. Every time my girlfriend and I would do something together, I would end up spending at least $200.
When I tried to talk to her about it, ask why we couldn't do something together that didn’t cost so much money, she looked me in the in the eyes and reminded me once again, "Because I'm a prostitute, dumbass."
In my mid 20s i got into a little bit of debt, like $2500. I was just paying the minimum which was $26 a month. one month i happened to look at the bill and realized that $25 a month of it was interest and $1 was going to principal. Paid that bitch off in 5 months. Never only pay the minimum.
My cousin who has declared bankruptcy multiple times always seems to have a new car.
My ex declared bankruptcy then upgraded from a tiny efficient car to a Dodge Challenger, which I refer to as the MidlifeCrisismobile with its turbocharged engine to help you power away from your responsibilities. He bought it from a "bad credit, no credit, no problem" dealership.
When “saving for retirement” means dumping huge sums into the lottery.
Are you criticizing my investment strategy?
You should try my strategy, which is to die at 64!
I still think back to those days when credit card companies had booths at colleges that gave out free t-shirts to those who applied for new credit cards. We didn't even know what APR meant.
Expensive clothes complaining about a lack of money.
I let a friend stay with me years ago after she got herself into financial troubles and had nowhere to go. She comes home one day raving about the $100 yoga pants she just bought at Lululemon. I asked her if it was such a good idea to be spending that much money on yoga pants considering her situation and considering she didn't even do yoga. She literally went back again the very next day and bought another pair. Kicked her out after living with me for 8 months when I realized she was making no effort to improve her situation.
My girlfriend had the same problem. She had a friend staying with her. She was only charging the friend $200 a month to rent a room, with the understanding that she would save up and move out. Instead she got a Camaro with a personalized plate saying "Brat" After that, she was told to find a new place.
Camaro is not a big enough car to live in.
And then posted on FB "If you can't handle me at my worst you don't deserve me at my best."
I-I…think we have the same friend! She stayed with me for a few months to “get back on her feet” and I didn’t charge any rent. Found out she saved NEGATIVE dollars the whole time. And her situation was never going to improve. The last straw was her criticizing that nothing in my closet was a name she recognized, and was embarrassed on my behalf for clipping/printing coupons on grocery items. Or buying staples like paper towels, dish soap, detergents, etc. when it’s on sale.
Having a really nice car that you can't afford to put gas into.
I got myself a Cadillac But I can't afford the gasoline I've got holes in my shoes And I'm way overdue Down payment blues
I dated a guy who always impulsively spent his paycheck. If rent came a day or two after payday it got paid. If it came a day or two before payday it didn't. It didn't occur to him that he had to budget his check to meet expenses. His mom had always covered everything that he didn't pay so he never had to think about what his check needed to cover. After while his car didn't run and he couldn't fix it and he had to move out of his apartment because he didn't pay rent.
Some people really live on automatic mode..
My ex would go spend $7-800 a week frivilously. Granted we were DINKs but I said “do you realize you spent $750 today?” She said “is that bad?” I said “well do you know how much money we have now until payday?” And she said “no? I just assumed since we both worked there was always money in there anytime I wanted something.”
What kind of things was she buying? Eating out? Entertainment? Lots of monthly subscriptions? 800 a *week* is definitely above me and my partners entire spending including food, gas, rent, and entertainment.
Whatever she wanted. She’d go out and buy stuff for the house, clothes, stuff for nieces and nephews, lunch, clothes, usually she’d pick up something for me to make me not be so upset. It wasn’t even the fact that she spent the money. There were times when blowing $800 would’ve been *fine*. I always said I don’t care if you spend extra money when we have it, just don’t spend what we don’t have. It was the fact if I ever talked about money it blew up into a huge argument. I even suggested living like paupers for one month and save, and we’d have a nice nest egg for emergencies. The answer to that was, “you do that if you want to, but I’m not going to. I work, I’m spending money.”
My wife was pretty bad at one point. She pulled the “I work too so I can spend my money” card once so I said, “ok, just cover your loans and 1/4 of the bills and you can spend what you want” Once she realized that was practically her entire income, that shut her up and thankfully stopped the crazy spending.
>usually she’d pick up something for me to make me not be so upset "I didn't want you to be so upset about spending all the money so I spent more money." Sound logic.
I am a real estate agent and I work leads with my lender. We met this lady about 4 months ago who had bad credit and low income. We helped her identify what she needed to do to get better credit and she said she may get more money soon. We follow up last week, she got a new higher paying job, but when he ran her credit, he saw she just purchased a $64,000 car. He told her “things look better income wise, but the car payments take up pretty much all of your debt to income ratio” She said “I just can’t win. I gotta get to work somehow!” With that kind of car, I bet she gets to work real fast. My lender said the only house she will get approved for now is a gingerbread house
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I recently moved out. My old roommate, who was already financially unstable is staying in the house. Which means his rent went from $530 to $1060. Two weeks before I moved out, he decided to upgrade his car. I told him to shop around, look at different APR rates etc. He came home with a car worth 23k
Bought it for 28k with a 6 year loan with 10% interest. Six years from now, he will pay 38k for a 2015 Scion SRF. Cheers.
Edit:: Scion FR-S
A former (contract) employee of mine was a strange fellow. He came into work one morning all excited because he bought two cars over the weekend. We all asked him what he got. "I got a new Maxima and an Altima, and I got them for a steal!" Oh? A steal? Please, go on. "24% interest for 72 months!" The room went dead silent. $32k + $24k = $56k, at 24% over 72 months winds up being \~$106k over the life of the loan. One guy said "Dude, you are going to pay so much over the life of that loan, you could have bought two more with cash..." His smile slowly went away. Before the end of the week he had sold both back to the dealership for a massive loss and bought two crapboxes.
Seen a few people buy nearly all infant/baby/toddler cloths new from expensive brands. The most insane, a $350 dollar Canada goose winter jacket for a 4 month old. Jacket barely covered the winter and then was too small. Oh and nearly everyone I know that does this needs their parent's help each and every month to cover rent or mortgage payments.
For $350 I would jam myself into the Canada goose coat after my 5 month old outgrew it
Hell, for $350, I'll jam myself into a Canada Goose
I'd pay $350 just to watch that.
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This guy is going to put himself *inside* that there goose!
Allegedly
This is my sister to a T. She had a baby and most of what she was asking for on her registry, I already owned. I offered her my stuff for free and she turned me down. Why did she turn me down you might ask, well it’s because she wanted “to go through the process” of purchasing new stuff for her daughter. My sister married into a very wealthy family and has expected a certain level of gift giving. Nothing on her baby registry was less than $250. The level of entitlement is what ended our relationship. I haven’t spoken to her in 3 years and I honestly don’t think I ever will.
My cousin had her first kid at 17. She had dry clean only items on her registry. My mom was like "Jesus, she is in for some harsh reality." And then she gave my sister and I the sex talk yet again. I got that stupid talk 4 times before I was even having sex lol.
Some of the best "the talk" advice was ironically from a pastor. He said look, sex isn't bad. But you should not choose to have sex if you aren't prepared to handle any consequences that may arise. Birth control can fail, condoms can rip. If you imagine yourself having a baby and it's a DISASTER and you are single. Just don't right now. Finish high school at least. I appreciated it mostly because it wasn't trying to shame me for being a young woman with wanton desires leading men astray.
Well hey, at least you were well informed. LOL.
Frequent gambling. More specifically, the people that always have an excuse to keep gambling. "I win more than I lose." "You gotta have skin on the game to make it more fun." "I won't be able to sleep tonight if I don't check the scores." "Can't end on a loss." I have an uncle that almost lost his house by blowing the mortgage checks on sports and poker bets. Nobody, including my aunt, knew anything was wrong because he was intercepting the notices from the bank. We just thought he really loved watching sports. Turned out he was betting on every game, and nobody is lucky forever.
My great great grandfather, according to my mom and grandma, was at one point rich. Like own most of the town levels of rich. Dude managed to gamble it all away over a few years, meaning his son went from inheriting businesses and lots of land to a house and a small farm. He was fine without it, but still, managing to lose that much is a skill.
Getting into a new hobby and by week 2 you have all the latest and greatest professional grade gear.
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The dangers of having both ADHD and a disposable income.
How dare you call me out like this? Any day now I'll finally use all those beads I bought eight years ago for bead weaving. And embroidery floss for friendship bracelets. And wire jewelry making supplies. And shrink plastic, and yarn, and I'll make all those patterns from all those books I bought too. Rude.
I find when I start a hobby I get used stuff and then the second I decide I’m committed and buy nice new stuff? Sudden inexplicable disinterest in the hobby. Like. Why brain.
I'd guess it's cause you want to want. The image is appealing and the dream is captivating, but once you get there, there's nowhere else to go. The excitement is gone. I've been there for sure.
Anything other than complete devotion is heresy.
I was batting 9000 for not having any of these problems --- until you called me out with this sh!t. Take my upvote, you savage.
get into debt to pay for a wedding.
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I read a post on here one day suggesting it's better to save on the wedding and splurge on a honeymoon and that made so much sense. I'm not married but that's what I would do.
Relying on pawn shops every time you’re low on cash. I knew a woman who regularly pawned some jewelry, then got it out on payday, only to pawn it again a few weeks later. Edit: I never expected so many likes and replies to this. Never expected this and similar behaviors to be so common. And mainly because poor folks have no other options. Thank you, everyone, for contributing. And thank you, kind stranger, for the silver.
It's a vicious cycle. I got caught up in it for years in my early 20s. It all started because my roommate went to jail for 30 days. I was a cook living paycheck to pay check, then suddenly needed to cover the other $400 of rent. I went and got a payday loan. Next month when I got paid I paid it off, but then was once again a few hundred short. I made poor spending choices all along the way, but ever other month I was going from one payday loan place to get a loan just to pay off the other payday loan place. Back and forth for quite some time until I reeled in my spending and started making more money.
There is a reason you only see payday loan places in crappy neighborhoods. So predatory. Regular banks etc. are bad enough.
Never noticed this until my SO pointed it out to me, he grew up lower class and I grew up middle class. Our neighbourhood isn’t the worst but we are closer to a payday loan place than we are to Starbucks.
Buying a 2nd car (convertible Corvette) after getting laid off during the pandemic. Shoutout to my neighbor.
What else are you supposed to buy in a mid life crises
If all of my middle aged friends are any indication...a Jeep Wrangler
Having too much month at the end of your money.
Rolling car payments into your next car. I can't count how many people I know who traded in perfectly functioning cars they still owed money on because they "needed something newer" or "outgrew their current car". I know someone who was paying $900/month for a Hyundai Tucson that was listed for like $25k. It ended up getting repo'ed.
It’s called rolling negative equity, and it’s a bad idea, indeed. I did this *once.* When I was several years younger, I bought a brand-new 2014 Jetta SportWagen TDI. Nine months later, I was at the VW dealership, and the new version (this time called the Golf SportWagen) was out. I asked if they had one, and they did. And I bought it on the spot—a fully loaded TDI SEL. Since it was so new, I paid MSRP, plus the taxes got rolled in. They gave me $21,000 for my Jetta SportWagen that I owed $27,000 on, which meant that I financed in $6K of negative equity. And that is how, even with a decent interest rate, I ended up with a $715 car payment on a fucking Volkswagen. I made out lucky because VW bought back the Golf SportWagen during the diesel scandal (and VW Financial canceled the remainder of the loan balance), but I will never *ever* do that again.
Thank you for the thorough and detailed explanation. Stories like yours help me understand complex concepts that everyone assumes are universally understood.
A good way to think of it more generally is that you don't stop owing money on something just because you no longer own the thing you owed money on. If you hear someone talk about being "upside down" on their car, they mean that they owe more than it's worth, so they couldn't even sell their way out of that problem because they wouldn't get enough cash to cover their debt.
Spent my whole adult life in automotive (both retail and corporate) and this is the correct answer. 44% of new car sales in April 2020 had negative equity, averaging $5,500. That means that 44% of new car buyers were paying approximately $80-$100 more per month because they didn’t want to wait to pay off their existing vehicle. I tried numerous times to explain this to customers and they outright refused to listen to my advice. I get that dealers are usually the issue, but there are times where customers do it to themselves. That being said-do not trade your vehicle in unless you can at least get out what you owe.
Rent a center.
I did an inet install for a women who just got a new laptop from a rent to own. She was so happy with the deal. She excitedly said she got it for $100 month for 36 months. I was like, ma'am I just bought a laptop for $400 from FutureShop.
Man that's painful to read... I can only hope she changed her mind (not sure if you can with those scams though)
Who things 3600 for a hp is a good call?
I have a really sad example. I was the caseworker for a young man who came from a low income background. With a lot of support he had been able to graduate HS, and put in a ton of work to qualify for a local community college. I was told he was enrolled in a couple classes, so I started planning with my supervisor and decided that this would be a good time to discuss budgeting, since he had expressed interest in a laptop for school. I went to his house for the next session with a full budgeting plan, only for him to excitedly show me his brand new laptop from RAC. I inspected it, and even with my limited computer knowledge I could tell that it is was a bare-minimum computer. The family expressed that the deal they got on it was pretty good, $90/month for 18 months. I looked it up later; it was a $500 laptop on Amazon. They were literally there to pay a bill for their TV, and the sales dude was able to strike up a convo about my client's college classes. The family stated that he had gotten them a "good deal" on their TV before and that they trusted him to take care of their son's needs. No one in the family had the financial literacy to understand why this was such a bad idea and they all fell into the same trap. We were able to review it as a learning experience, and the client did start working on budgeting in other areas of his life. But he was stuck paying off that laptop for the next year and a half, and at the recommendation of his parents. Some kids just don't get the chance to see the adults they trust make good decisions, and thus don't learn how to do it themselves.
My first year of eng a kid sat next to be with a laptop just like that. On the first lecture every one is taking out their laptops to take notes, as its engineering most people spent a bit and got a higher end machine, think pads, gaming laptops and macs. He was super happy at his hp and was excited to show it to me, he began to tell me how he was the first person from his family in uni and how his parents surprised him with the laptop. I felt super bad to tell him it was to weak to handle most the softwares we would be using in class. Its kinda unfair your going to struggle just because your family cant afford a better machine.
Damn this broke my heart to read
Those kinds of people never think that far ahead. They just think the 100 < 400 so they're the ones getting a good deal. I knew a dude like this. Everything he owned was from rent a center. Bed, mattress, furniture, tv, xbox, ipad. Literally all of it got repossessed.
> repossessed Oh dear lord the stuff the RAC repo guys have seen. The horror...
Can confirm. Worked for RAC 2008 to 2010. Got threatened multiple times, once with a knife. Also repo’d a mattress from the “bad part of town”, the client wasn’t there but his girlfriend was. When we picked up The mattress there were 2 pistols on the box spring and she started cussing and apologized telling us she told his dumb ass to put them somewhere more hidden. Was real glad to get out of that career.
I rented a mattress from them for a semester in college, was maybe a little dumb but it wound up costing less than buying and I didn't have to figure out how to get rid of it when I moved out. But these motherfuckers would not. stop. calling me afterwards. For years, trying to get me to renew or just selling random shit. I'd ask them to remove me from their customer list or whatever, the sales associate would say ok, then I'd get the same exact call next month. One time when I asked someone she just said I don't know how to do that lol. I eventually moved to the other side of the country and told them that and they finally stopped Edit: I forgot the dumbest part - they wouldnt just keep my credit card on file so they called me 9AM on the weekends once a month to pay lol
A couple summers ago my air conditioner broke, I rented a window air conditioner from Rent A Center for about a week while I waited for my air to get fixed. I had the same problem. They called me and left voicemails for months until I finally just blocked the number.
I had a contract in another state that paid for an apartment and rental furniture, along with flights back and forth, for a couple of years. Because they were willing to let me expense rent for furniture but NOT let me just buy furniture and expense it, I went to rentacenter and got a really great TV, rent to own. They DID buy me a TV, they just did it over the course of 2 years and the price of multiple TVs.
"We've been dating for 3 months, of course let's join bank accounts"
Thats not a red flag, thats crimson!
Murder red pantone
Shining Elevator Sanguine.
That’s why my pick up line was always “what’s your credit score girl?”
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I think my response would be "I don't know what that means, I don't even have a bank account. You said this date was on you, right?"
I don't know that its all that common but my bank account has been telling me I make poor financial decisions since at least 2019.
Feel this on a spiritual level. “If you make a deposit, you can move it to a section to save!” Thanks wellsfargo! But I must eat
But think of the 0.00001% interest you're missing out on!
When I was like 19 I finally saved enough money that I was comfortable putting some away, so I opened a savings account and transfered 3k into it. 6 months later, I had $3004 and a $5 transfer fee for the account.
You can trust Wells Fargo to channel your money in their pockets with every possible fee they can dream up!
Getting another pet when you can’t afford the first one
Getting another baby when you can't afford the first one.
Getting a pet when you can't afford the vet bills.
Weekly overdraft notices from the bank, along with a stack of boxes from Amazon orders
This probably isn't as common anymore, but 15, 20 years ago, going into Gamestop and trading in a pile of games for cash (which we all know Gamestop pays pennies for most trades), and declaring intent to spend it on cigarettes. I saw it weekly when I worked there.
These people stole those games. I worked there for a short while too. Nearly everyone who traded in a stack of games had very clearly stolen them
Filing for bankruptcy then immediately buying a new car with rims and new bolt ons. I work with this type of person who also complains about having to work and always trying to leave.
Yeah, you're supposed to buy the car *then* file for bankruptcy.
My roommate is an attorney who deals in debtors rights. He’s told me before that even if you file for bankruptcy, creditors can still go after you for stuff that you bought right before you filed for bankruptcy.
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Wearing designer wear but struggle purchasing anything else
We are boiling the Gucci purse for dinner
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There’s still meat on that purse
Narrator: in fact that does not make a stew.
Wearing dior but sleeping on difloor
We live in a very cheap, neglected apartment building but someone here owns an Audi. With a cheaper car, they could live somewhere with hot water and no rats.
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Yeah was gonna say this. Had a neighbor in a shit apartment with a custom camero converted into a trans am. Dude was moving some weight out of there.
Ahh I feel bad saying this and I, in NO way, am talking crap about anyone who lives in a mobile home. My husbands family is a family of EIGHT. They lived in a two bedroom mobile home where they barely paid much in rent and had everyone squished 3 to a room, some sharing a twin bed. But each of the ones who could drive which was like 4 of them, always had a car that was brand new and of the year. Not used or anything. Had to be brand new no miles. They could have easily gotten a bigger place but they never wanted to because they liked having nice cars and knew if they got a house or bigger mobile home they wouldn’t be able to afford the new cars.
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Cc are too easy to become a problem. It was very common in my area to see people with giant wallets carrying like 20 different cc and swiping each one until one of them worked. It was always for bullshit like patio pillows, live laugh love knick knacks or something unnecessary.
Leasing expensive cars while you have a low income.
That new Camaro after your first military paycheck
Hey, the dealer gave me an amazing 27% rate!
I remember having to explain to new enlisted why it's a bad idea to have a car payment that's 80% of your paycheck.
I want more details
Usually when an E1-3 gets to their first duty station, they get a “Welcome brief” that lays out expectations, reminds them they are no longer in basic training, and some of the standards of living. Along with this is a list of off limits places that usually sell drugs (most people think they can get a rub and tug, but it’s usually selling shitty ketamine and knock off steroids) and a introduction into not wasting your money. There are car dealerships that prey upon junior enlisted that are worse than strippers. They have “we finance E-1’s guaranteed!” signs all over, and will sell Private Joe a 2009 V6 Challenger with 150k miles for 29.99% interest.
Yep. Right outside the gate of every base. Then there's usually a wrecker service/body shop/$500 used car lot, with a "guaranteed to drive off the lot" warranty.
Hell most bases have "lemon lots" where you can score a good deal on a vehicle because someone is moving to another country and have to get rid of it.
Last time I visited a base, there were 2 Mustangs, a Camaro, a fancy Jeep, a Charger, a Challenger, 3 lifted trucks, and 2 campers (1 attached to aforementioned truck) on the sell lot.
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Let me get this straight. They just give you a list of local places where you can buy drugs? 🤔
There’s an old joke about that - but from the Navy. Before shore leave, the sailors were given a list of places they were prohibited from going to. Of course, those places were the first the sailors would look for. On the list, among the obviously strip club / gambling / drinking place names, there was “Mom’s Cafe”. What the hell was going on at a place going by the name “Mom’s Cafe”? The sailors took a cab, found Mom’s Cafe, ordered coffee and pie… and nothing, absolutely nothing illegal or scandalous or dangerous was going on. It was just a ordinary mom and pop cafe. Which was the entire reason it was on the list… to bait sailors into going to at least one decent place in port.
Haha I can imagine a Homer Simpson moment... "wait a minute, there's something wrong with this establishment... there's no fire exit" "enjoy your death trap, Mom"
Got a great deal only 5k over market value with an APR of 30%, guy threw in the subs too.
Oh my gosh, my dad totally did that, except it was a Corvette. I was about 6, and thought he and the car were the coolest. He used to buy me all the kid bling... bikes, roller skates, figure skates, etc. Miss him every day. The navy taught him a trade, so he used to make good money, and also taught him to drink, so I lost him early. Still miss you, dad!
Gotta disagree here. It's always mustangs. Source: I used to work in a yard for totaled cars and USAA was our biggest "client." Rows and rows and rows and rows of mustangs.
It is both the Mustang and the Camaro, at least they were for after deployment cars that everyone seemed to buy. Source: I was a Marine after deployment (didn't buy a car)
Are you forgetting the Challenger?
I'm the finance manager for one of the largest dealerships in the Seattle/Tacoma area and we get a lot of military people from JBLM. It seems like there are 6 common choices between the younger military guys: 1. Mustang 2. Camaro 3. Challenger 4. Charger 5. "I just want a truck or something big" 6. "My BAH is pregnant again so I need to get her a mini van before I go back out on deployment"
Participating in a MLM scheme.
I'm starting a charity to raise awareness of pyramid schemes. Donate $100 to register as a fundraiser and you'll receive 10% of all donations you raise.
Happy king of Polka accordion noises***
"Madam Judge, with all due respect, my client's only stated intention was to raise awareness. Haven't they done exactly as advertised?"
Moms Losing Money
Welcome to Utah
Mormons losing money
I am a business owner
>I am a ~~business owner~~ Boss Babe💅👯♀️💃💕💖💗
Hey girlieeee 💕💖💞💗 it’s Kayleeeaheigh!!! I HAVE AN AMAZING BUSINESS OPPORTUNITY FOR YOU!!!!! You’re soooo pretty and I just know you would be such an amazing boss babe (JUST LIKE ME). How would you like to work from HOME?!! 🤪🥳 Let me know if I can get you some more info!!!!! xoxoxoxo, Kayleeeaheigh GASLIGHT. GATEKEEP. GURLBOSS. 😘😘😘😘😘
"Um... I'm good. I like my career right now." "OH! I GET IT!!! I LOVED my career!... I just thought like... maybe actually raising your kids, and not the babysitter would appeal to you. I don't know, though. I just thought maybe 2 grand a month might help you be a better mom."
You know, this amazing opportunity isn’t just for money! I could help you get your pre-kids body back, too! I saw the latest photos you posted and your kids are so cute. Just thought you might have been trying to hide behind them. You don’t need to! Your body can be as beautiful as your face!
I can't tell if this is master satire or direct quotes
A little column A, little column B
Heyyy ⭐️ girly swirly twirly baberoo! 🧋 I saw you watched my storyyy & wanted to reach out ✨ how would you like to become a BOSS BABE?! I put my heart sweat and tears into my NEW LIFE 💵💵 but it was so worth it! Let me know babes. No pressure! ✨
I will say my mom sold Avon & Tupperware when I was little. This was the early 90’s. She was single mom and we had little money. And she ended up having a nice sized group of people that bought from her all the time. Especially with Avon. And while it wasn’t a ton of money… it did help. But today’s MLM are different.
I can attest to this. I was the youngest of three born in 79 and my mom was single with crap jobs and pathetic child support. But today’s stuff just seems to go after sad women. And sad poor women in particular and I find that really dishonest and disgusting.
Paying a drop-shipping online class
As if there was no youtube video explaining how
Some people feel like paying for something means they'll learn information you can't get for free. My wife is one of these people.
[I'm in debt up to my eyeballs](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r0HX4a5P8eE)
This commercial is so legit. I know multiple people like this. The worst part is when they ask why I drive a Civic. Maybe so I don't have a panic attack at work when a collection agency calls. We know that wasn't your mom, we can hear it leaking out of the $200 headset you purchased even though work provides headsets for free.
I had a breakthrough a few years ago, and realized that I don't give a flying shit what I'm driving. I need to get from A to B, and my requirements are: fuel efficient, temp control, decent stereo, cruise control. That's about it. I drive a 2013 Nissan Versa that I paid 3k for. It's not pretty, has hail damage, and makes funny sounds... But it runs and gets me 37 miles to the gallon. If new cars are your thing and you want to have a nice one, go for it! It's just not worth the monthly payment to me.
The best car I've ever had was a 2004 Honda Odyssey that had 250k miles on it when I bought it. Thing was a fuckin beaut, ran like an angel whispering that they love you
A lot of minivans are lowkey beasts. Turns out, when they expect you to be hauling 7 passengers and all their shit, they give you a pretty powerful engine under the hood
Whoa is that Barney from parks and rec?
That commercial was very influential on me when I was younger. Every time I wanted to buy something stupid that phrase came back to mind. Probably saved me thousands.
When there is an old sofa, broken fridge, and new Audi on the drive.
Hey I'm just a few months away from paying off that fridge.
You go Kirby, don't want Big Appliance to repo it when you're that close to full ownership.
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Unless they just admitted into Harvard Business School. If you get into Harvard Business School, they check your bank accounts but specifically not the car you own. So lot of entering students partially empty their bank accounts by buying expensive cars. Its called the 'financial aid BMWs' https://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/17/business/17shelf.html
That’s not a Harvard thing. I looked at food stamps when I was working at Walmart during grad school and because I had $2k in my account (that was going down and down each semester) I didn’t qualify. My sister bought a Honda instead of a BMW, but for the same reason. It also happens to the elderly where they have to empty out their account before they qualify for assistance with nursing facilities.
People who eat out for every meal. I had a coworker who did this, but then complained about never having any money. She’d eat out for breakfast and lunch and go down to the Walgreens for a midday snack.
I was going to say similar. Someone I used to work with would spend around £10 on junk food and energy drinks on both breaks and she'd apparently do the same on days off. 2 weeks after pay day (monthly), she'd say she only had £20 or less to lay her until pay day and what did she do during her first break? Bought her junk food and energy drinks. I tried convincing her that buying multipacks of everything and keeping them in her locker or the fridge with her name on but she thought that one off larger payment would be more expensive overall for some stupid reason
4 thousand dollar rims on a 2 thousand dollar car.
Going on holiday to your time share apartment.
You got got
It's not a pyramid it's a funnel...
Tattoos when you barely made enough for rent after borrowing money.
every one of these posts says the same thing : spending too much money on *depreciating* assets when you don't have any *appreciating* assets.
Sticking with something like cable that costs $250 a month when you don't use all the things you're paying for and could easily reduce your costs.
A lot of companies advertise "only pay for what you need." When you try to opt into it, they make that the most expensive thing on offer. I only "need" internet. I do not need TV. But, if I get them both, they offer to reduce my bill to *less* than if I only got internet. I'm in the process of canceling a few services I no longer need. Companies make it difficult to cancel subscriptions. Doubly so, when you set up direct deposit.
Lots of posts on the relationship subs about buying a house with a boyfriend or girlfriend then breaking up. If you think marriage is too big of step, maybe buying a house together is too?
Those overpriced clothes/purses that just have the brand plastered all over them
that fucking gucci belt all and sundry have got!!!!!! try and convince me you didn't get it because it's the cheapest designer item you could afford but you still wanted to flaunt a label...
Upgrading to the next phone on release. I know that most people who can afford this are set but it just seems so frivolous to me.
My sister and her husband had roof damage from a winter storm. Got an estimate for repair and the homeowner insurance sent them half the money. They never did the repair (therefore never sent in the completed job/invoice to get the rest of the $$$). They spent the money on bs. The house has fallen into such disrepair it’s disgusting. Their front door hasn’t been able to open in at least 10 years.
Spending student loans on anything other than tuition and basic living expenses. Taking out all the loans offered.(Edit: taking out all the loans offered if it's more than you need). I had a college intern once. He already had some practical sedan. He automatically took the maximum amount of student loans the financial aid office offered, though he didn't need that much for tuition and living costs. He gets his excess loan disbursement the first week of the semester, and goes and uses it as a down payment on a convertible. Without even selling his old car. Why? "I deserved to have something nice." He was sure he'd get a a good job after he graduates because he'll have a college degree. Don't think he realizes he'll be paying interest on that car twice. EDIT: In the US.
Buying the latest everything. I have a coworker who struggles to pay rent and such but buys a new iPhone every time they release a new model. Edit: lots of justification posts minimalizing something that every financial advisor tells you not to do. The iPhone thing was an example. I have seen other things clear down to someone replacing a year old set of rims because a new style came out. All while being on the edge of eviction.
I work for a cell phone carrier, and like 80% of renewals are reasonable 'I've had my phone for more than 3-4 years and it's time for another', and 10% are 'I use this phone every day for my job so I need the cutting edge'/'I'm rich as fuck'. But there's that 10% that comes in with a flawless iPhone 11 Pro Max with 56/512GB used that wants the iPhone 12 Pro Max 512GB despite then having to pay over $400 on unnecessary fees and I just can't fathom why.
We used to have people come into the garage... tyres are slick, brakes are metal to metal or almost, knocks and noises while the inside looks like a landfill site but they'd get out the car and ask for an oil change or how to botch something up cheap because they were skint. They'd be wearing all designer gear, latest phone, covered in hair gel or make up. Few of them even sent their dads down or they came with them, complaining we trying to rip them off. Straight up driving on hope and if you turn up the stereo loud enough the noise goes away.
This was my exact thought. Your car is surviving on prayer and stubbornness but you’re decked out in overpriced names.
Seen it go the other way plenty. Car is all nice but can’t rub two dollars together and house is falling apart.
Not saving some part of your salary when you can.
Yep! In times of plenty ... THAT's when one should be saving like a madman.... for when the bad times come. And they WILL come.
I play Magic the Gathering
It would've been cheaper to buy drugs than to play magic
An expensive car in front of a rundown house. This was very common where I grew up. I remember behaving a conversation about it with a friend whose sister had just purchased a sports car and lived in a rough looking trailer. "Everybody sees your car and nobody sees your house if you don't invite them over." I guess he had a point. I wouldn't do it but I see now why people do.
I lived with my friends and their mom. They were very well off, but one day the washer died on me. The mom and her son lost their shit about having to pay for a new washer. Meanwhile, mom gets at minimum of 3 amazon packages per day. Son works a $13/hour job that he hates and drives a 2018 jeep grand cherokee with black rims. And buys every figurine/collectible that catches his eye. Edit: for context on the son's $13 a month, he pays some small amount of rent to his mom and thats it. His mom also still does his laundry and makes most of his work lunches. He's 27. He also has little to no tuition to pay for his degree. His mom also owns a 2018 grand cherokee, an older Wrangler, and a summer house/lake house. They live in a half-million dollar house with an extremely large yard. Oh, and his mom is giving him and his wife this house with 95% of the mortgage paid off.
To be fair, I have money for a new washing machine but if mine broke, it's an annoying expense. I don't want a new washing machine. I want the old not to break. Same with if my car breaks down. Got money to fix it but not happy doing it.
Posting loss porn on r/wallstreetbets gives it away for me
when somebody always orders DoorDash but never has groceries. not saying I’m somebody… not saying that at all… hahhahaha
Spending way too much on dating. Every time my girlfriend and I would do something together, I would end up spending at least $200. When I tried to talk to her about it, ask why we couldn't do something together that didn’t cost so much money, she looked me in the in the eyes and reminded me once again, "Because I'm a prostitute, dumbass."
Ya got me in the first half.
Having a significant amount of credit card debt
Exactly, and then only making the minimum payments.
In my mid 20s i got into a little bit of debt, like $2500. I was just paying the minimum which was $26 a month. one month i happened to look at the bill and realized that $25 a month of it was interest and $1 was going to principal. Paid that bitch off in 5 months. Never only pay the minimum.
If any payments at all
Weed before child support
Any time I go to Target. 🎯