shape
carat
color
clarity

Do you know anyone living like it's 2005 (on credit)?

janinegirly

Ideal_Rock
Joined
Sep 21, 2006
Messages
3,689
I have a "friend" who continues to max out cc's (finds no - interest cards to pass loans to), takes out multiple loans (to buy furniture, new car,etc), continues to buy properties with less than 20% and maxed out credit. I don't really get it, I thought banks were cracking down on this? Is it possible to still live like this (assuming you don't mind living with debt?).

I'm just curious, it's also possible they are exaggerating - but mostly it's so different from my finacial style that I'm having a hard time understanding the motive and more importantly the method since from everything I read, easy credit is done.
 

Black Jade

Brilliant_Rock
Joined
Aug 21, 2008
Messages
1,242
I think they've made it harder to do but its still possible.
AT least as long as you have a job.
Not to push any buttons but you know there are definitely people who can't afford the diamonds they are buying onhere. Every once in a while you hear somebody mention something that makes it clear that they are crediting/financing-- and you don't know what else in place, that is, do they have any savings, or any financial cushion.
If you are determined to be financially irresponsible the gov't or banks can't really stop you--you will find a way. Most people now know that this is unwise but there are those who still haven't 'got' it.
I'd just make sure that you were being wise and forget about your friend, her comeuppance is coming, unfortunately for her. It's never pretty to see, but you can't do anything about it.
 

iota15

Brilliant_Rock
Joined
Mar 19, 2010
Messages
1,278
If you have good credit and a steady good income, places will still lend you money. She may have a lot of outstanding credit, but she always pays off the minimum or keeps up with payments. She may have a fantastic credit rating - possibly even better than your cr if you don't really use credit.

The problem is when your outstanding credit/minimum payments begins to weigh too heavily on your stream of income. The minimum payments are truly dismally small. Sometimes you can borrow $1800 for a sofa, only to pay say, $20 bucks a month.It will take FOREVER to pay off that sofa at $20 a month.

But if you accumulate enough debt and don't know when to stop, $20 bucks here and $20 bucks there start to add up. Again, if you don't know when to stop or slow down in time, you end up balancing a house of cards. Any emergency - loss of job, strike, etc. - can also push you over the edge.

I'm in favour of living within your means. There's no shame in NOT driving the latest sports car, or carrying the latest LV/Hermes. If you do, good for you. We all get to decide how to spend our money and what we value (savings, our priorities, luxuries, etc.). I don't tell people how to spend/not to spend their cash/debt - not unless they ask (and well, with good friends, I might try to push them gently toward the more fiscally responsible direction).

It's your cash/debt/house of cards. I don't think they're better because they have things they financed with A LOT of credit - in fact, personally I think a little less of them with each new outrageously expensive purchase.
 

iota15

Brilliant_Rock
Joined
Mar 19, 2010
Messages
1,278
I will add this though - there's "good credit" and there's "bad credit". I believe that sometimes, prudent use of credit for investment purposes is "good credit". It can help you invest in more than you could otherwise. If used prudently and wisely, I believe it can magnify your savings.

Now, I don't know if your friend's properties are a good investment or not, and whether she has the ability to carry that much debt. In some places where property prices are still rising, you could say she made a decent investment. I don't know...
 

Tanzigrrl

Brilliant_Rock
Joined
Sep 17, 2010
Messages
744
Oh yes, credit cards companies are more than happy to offer you a new card! There was a period, I would estimate it being somewhere between the winter of 2008 to about the spring of 2009, when it was much harder to get credit (I'm speaking solely about credit card companies here). There was all this talk about cracking down and not offering so much credit, existing credit cards slashed their credit limits in half in some cases, and then ... it all started back up again by 2010. Do I know anyone personally living on credit? Yes, I do. Several friends of mine are working 2 jobs just to make ends meet and even things like groceries sometimes end up going on credit cards. One friend said to me the other day, "I work this job and then I work my night job and then I pay as much as I can on my credit card only to clear enough space to put all of it - and then some - back on my card by the end of the month." It's really like Sisyphus pushing that rock.
 

Dreamer_D

Super_Ideal_Rock
Joined
Dec 16, 2007
Messages
25,234
I think they are cracking down on people who are not good financial "bets", but it seems if you have a stable job and good credit history, they still load on the credit!

DH and I have very good credit and recently were shocked at how easy the banks just throw loans at you! We wanted to open a large (to us) line of credit for various reasons (that we did not plan to carry a balance on) and were amazed at how quickly they approved us. We were tempted to ask for more and more just to see how far they would go :rolleyes: . Seems insane to me, I could never live and be at all comfortable with the amount of debt load that the banks seem to think is acceptable.

That said, I think very few people live the ideal -- no debt, 6mo savings etc etc. I have a couple friends like that, and it amazes me. I am sure I know people like your friends, janine, but they don't talk about it. I only have 3-5 friends with whom I discuss financial issues. The rest are not close enough. For all I know, they are drowning in it!

On the flip side, the people I know who are living the financial "dream" of no debt really work at it, and frankly, it is a tough life. No frills, no vacations, no eating out, nothing. It may be the best way to go, but it is not easy!
 

HollyS

Ideal_Rock
Joined
Jul 18, 2007
Messages
6,105
Was 2005 a good year? Was anyone living it up in 2005?

Sure, I know plenty of people who will "think about it tomorrow" instead of focusing on eliminating debt. But I would use the 80s as the touchstone for excess. But, then, I was already an adult in the 80s. :bigsmile: Ah, the scary photos I could show you . . .
 

MichelleCarmen

Super_Ideal_Rock
Joined
Feb 8, 2003
Messages
15,880
Someone I know recently bought a house with 0% down. I have NO idea how they pulled that off.
 

princesss

Ideal_Rock
Joined
Mar 18, 2007
Messages
8,035
Yes I do, and I absolutely cannot talk finances with her because of it. Her SIL constantly makes semi-snide comments about the fact that they have to have the biggest TV/newest camera/a new car every year and always charge it, and she comes to me all upset about it and I just have to bite my tongue and let her get it out, even though I agree with her SIL (in content but not delivery). Her logic (and I use that word loosely) is that if they have to save up to pay for something, then they're putting money aside each month for it anyways, so if they put it on credit, they can put a little towards it each month and get to enjoy whatever it is they wanted to buy this month WHILE they pay for it. It boggles my mind how much they're willing to pay in interest on some of these items, because with how long it'll take them to pay them off it'll easily be twice the price that their toy of the week retails for! I'm of the save slowly and pay cash mentality, and really can't wrap my head around this. Would I love to have the newest, nicest, shiniest toys? Absolutely. But my student loans stress me out enough, I can't imagine adding frivolous consumer debt to that!
 

Haven

Super_Ideal_Rock
Joined
Feb 15, 2007
Messages
13,166
HollyS|1304016428|2907196 said:
Was 2005 a good year? Was anyone living it up in 2005?

Sure, I know plenty of people who will "think about it tomorrow" instead of focusing on eliminating debt. But I would use the 80s as the touchstone for excess. But, then, I was already an adult in the 80s. :bigsmile: Ah, the scary photos I could show you . . .
worthless_thread_wo_pics.gif
 

Haven

Super_Ideal_Rock
Joined
Feb 15, 2007
Messages
13,166
I don't *really* know how our friends finance their lifestyles, but if I had to guess, I'd guess that some of them still live partially on credit.

I think you never really know how others live, to be honest. DH and I are committed to a debt-free lifestyle, but I bet some of our friends would be shocked to hear it. We enjoy some big frills such as my nice diamond ring and our summer vacations, but we forgo a lot of small frills in order to save for the biggies. We do have a mortgage on our home and some school loans left, so technically we have some debt, but we definitely don't accumulate any more debt, ever, and we're working hard to pay the school loans and the mortgage off very early. I think we look like we live a cushy life, and the reality is that we do. We're just very careful not to waste big money on tiny frills, and that makes all the difference.

Whenever DH and I are revisiting our financial goals I'm reminded of a training session I attended for peer mediators in high school. The trainer was trying to illustrate the importance of priorities in life (remember, I was in high school!) and did so by doing this:
He set a large cylindrical glass container on a table next to three tubs. The first contained gravel rocks, the second contained medium-sized rocks, and the third contained very large rocks. He asked us which should go in first.
Most of the kids said "the gravel!" Of course, he tried that and it didn't work. We learned that we must make room for the largest rocks first, THEN the medium-sized rocks, and then the gravel can fit into whatever open spaces are left. That's how I think about spending our money--we have to make sure we have enough for our biggest priorities first (ours include travel and outdoor activities) before we can spend it on the less important things (these would be things like Starbucks Coffee or random new clothes for us.) I think the problem for many people is that they don't know what they *really* want, so they waste their money on things that they see other people purchasing.
 

janinegirly

Ideal_Rock
Joined
Sep 21, 2006
Messages
3,689
Thanks for all the feedback! Interesting how easy it still is to obtain loans, cc's,etc. Well this particular friend lives expensively (rent, maids, spa visits, designer clothes/shoes). I don't know her salary, but I can guess the range and I'm assuming it's not phenomenol based on all the credit that is being utilized. I understand that everyone has debt, but we're talking big purchases beyond one's budget (luxuries - mulitple homes with minimum down), and using these purchases to leverage other purchases or taking lines of credit on them. Transfering debt to credit cards that are low interest or no interest, no retirement savings of any kind. It's crazy to me, but then I started to wonder if a person could care less about wise financial advice, and isn't affected by worry / conscience on this topic, then can they pull it off? Yes you'd be paying more in the long run, but what if you dont care in order to have it now rather than possibly never. My logical, rational side says it catches up and you pay in the long run ..but maybe it doesn't for some if you can hold onto your job.

PS I would never share my opinion with this friend btw, it's her business. It does bother me, but I don't say a word. This is a nice outlet though!
 

iota15

Brilliant_Rock
Joined
Mar 19, 2010
Messages
1,278
My area (or well country) hasn't really been hit as hard by the recession, so I still have a few friends (who I believe unwisely) spend on credit and lots of it. We all graduated together with similar family backgrounds, so all of our incomes are similar. I wonder sometimes too whether they can keep this up forever. Who knows? Perhaps.

Perhaps the multiple houses will pay off for them eventually, and provide a cushy retirement income for them. Maybe they know and expect to receive an inheritance at some point that will cover their elderly years and maybe some debt.

I have to do what works for me though. We have no consumer debt and I intend to keep it that way.
 

Black Jade

Brilliant_Rock
Joined
Aug 21, 2008
Messages
1,242
Dreamer_D|1304016427|2907195 said:
I
That said, I think very few people live the ideal -- no debt, 6mo savings etc etc. I have a couple friends like that, and it amazes me... the people I know who are living the financial "dream" of no debt really work at it, and frankly, it is a tough life. No frills, no vacations, no eating out, nothing. It may be the best way to go, but it is not easy!

Actually, we have no debt, more than 6 months savings etc. etc. (I'm not sure exactly what the etcs here mean). It's not a tough life at all. I don't know what you consider frills, but we always go on vacations, a couple a year and we definitely eat out. (not every night) but we do eat out. Furthermore, most of our close friends are in the same position we are in (its easy to hang out with them when they think the same financially) and I think it may be rare--but is far from impossible or uncomfortable.

Twenty years ago we were not in this position and my husband made a good middle class salary (I've always worked either part time or been a SAHM). But we had debt, including credit card debt and we found we were in the position where we had just bought a new home and once we made the mortgage payment, we could not buy groceries or pay other bills until the middle of the month. This was in the early 90's. We got very organized and my husband began reading Rick Edelman and people like that (later we did Crown Financial). There were maybe four or five no-frills years but it was worth it. We learned how to budget, how to save, how to plan for the future and how not to get into debt again. Nobody is born knowing these things and they are not taught in school, of course--but there are other ways to learn them. Some of the things we did might sound dumb. I stopped watching a lot of tv because the commercials make you want things you don't need and I dropped friends who could not understand why I didn't go shopping along with them just for fun and who encouraged me to spend money that was not in the plan. We made sure we did everything TOGETHER. A couple cannot get into this position if there is one partner who doesn't really want to and keeps thinking of the money as 'my money vs. spouse's money, instead of OUR money'.

Not lecturing, just giving my experience. I am not against having stuff (wouldn't be on a diamond board if I were) and not holier-than-thou--being in debt is not a crime, but not being in debt is sure much more comfortable.
 

Dancing Fire

Super_Ideal_Rock
Premium
Joined
Apr 3, 2004
Messages
33,852
Tanzigrrl|1304016205|2907193 said:
Oh yes, credit cards companies are more than happy to offer you a new card! There was a period, I would estimate it being somewhere between the winter of 2008 to about the spring of 2009, when it was much harder to get credit (I'm speaking solely about credit card companies here). There was all this talk about cracking down and not offering so much credit, existing credit cards slashed their credit limits in half in some cases, and then ... it all started back up again by 2010. Do I know anyone personally living on credit? Yes, I do. Several friends of mine are working 2 jobs just to make ends meet and even things like groceries sometimes end up going on credit cards. One friend said to me the other day, "I work this job and then I work my night job and then I pay as much as I can on my credit card only to clear enough space to put all of it - and then some - back on my card by the end of the month." It's really like Sisyphus pushing that rock.
yeah,it had stopped for awhile but for the past 6 months i've been receiving a lot of those 0% offers from CC companies again. i just trash them as soon as i receive em.
 

Dancing Fire

Super_Ideal_Rock
Premium
Joined
Apr 3, 2004
Messages
33,852
janinegirly|1304022882|2907276 said:
Thanks for all the feedback! Interesting how easy it still is to obtain loans, cc's,etc. Well this particular friend lives expensively (rent, maids, spa visits, designer clothes/shoes). I don't know her salary, but I can guess the range and I'm assuming it's not phenomenol based on all the credit that is being utilized. I understand that everyone has debt, but we're talking big purchases beyond one's budget (luxuries - mulitple homes with minimum down), and using these purchases to leverage other purchases or taking lines of credit on them. Transfering debt to credit cards that are low interest or no interest, no retirement savings of any kind. It's crazy to me, but then I started to wonder if a person could care less about wise financial advice, and isn't affected by worry / conscience on this topic, then can they pull it off? Yes you'd be paying more in the long run, but what if you dont care in order to have it now rather than possibly never. My logical, rational side says it catches up and you pay in the long run ..but maybe it doesn't for some if you can hold onto your job.

PS I would never share my opinion with this friend btw, it's her business. It does bother me, but I don't say a word. This is a nice outlet though!
i payoff my mortgage in 2004 but now i am paying for my neighbor's defaulted mortgage with my tax dollars... :angryfire:
 

Dreamer_D

Super_Ideal_Rock
Joined
Dec 16, 2007
Messages
25,234
Black Jade|1304029198|2907379 said:
Dreamer_D|1304016427|2907195 said:
I
That said, I think very few people live the ideal -- no debt, 6mo savings etc etc. I have a couple friends like that, and it amazes me... the people I know who are living the financial "dream" of no debt really work at it, and frankly, it is a tough life. No frills, no vacations, no eating out, nothing. It may be the best way to go, but it is not easy!

Actually, we have no debt, more than 6 months savings etc. etc. (I'm not sure exactly what the etcs here mean).

The etc etc refers to whatever financial situation you think is ideal -- like double down on the morgage each month, perhaps. People vary in the exact scenerio they think is ideal. And my friends make a lot of sacrifices to have their ideal financial life-- which entails no car loan, no home repair loan, double down the mortgage, large % in savings each month. Its tough to maintain that lifestyle when you spent the last 10 years in school and have two kids in daycare and live in a very expensive housing market. Like you describe your no frills years. We are budgeters extraordinaire, but we have a car loan and we have a small loan from some home repairs. When we have no kids in the house and have been out of school for 20 years, I am sure it will be different.
 

monarch64

Super_Ideal_Rock
Premium
Joined
Aug 12, 2005
Messages
19,199
I really don't think we know anyone who's currently living that lifestyle (credit-based, etc.) If they are, they hide it well.

It does NOT surpise me that people out there are still doing that. Credit is way easier to obtain now, and I hear about lots of folks who are still making the same or less incomes but buying a shi!ton of STUFF (not my friends, mine you). Although we don't spend face-to-face time with friends who are still in that rut, we have FB friends who are still bragging about high-dollar purchases and we hear nothing about salary increases, just more stuff, more kids, more cars, etc. 2 plus 2 equals....yeah.

I went through the whole heyday of the early 2000's and lived it up myself. Lesson learned. I refuse to file BK, and have taken serious hits with no one to bail me out (parents, ummmm, NO, even though they could've) instead I have lived VERY frugally and have done everything I possibly can to pay off debt and have changed my entire lifestyle. You know? I actually like it, and feel better about myself. It turns out, I don't NEED a lot of the stuff I thought I did. It's actually been a very satisfying ride. (But then again, I don't have children yet, so I guess I learned my lesson at the right time?) Kind of babbling here, but for once I am proud of my situation and happy that I have obtained some things without using c/c's and we're closing on a house soon with a large down payment and the means to make the mortgage payment plus everything else every month, with enough left over to live. More than I can say for 2005, when I had bags and clothes galore with no end to my debt in sight. :praise:
 

tyty333

Super_Ideal_Rock
Premium
Joined
Dec 17, 2008
Messages
27,196
I dont know anyone who lives like that. Everyone I know is pretty conservative and has decent jobs (luckily). However,
I was talking to a Dad during my DD's horse back riding class who said his house is in foreclosure. Hasnt paid the mortgage in
6 months yet I find it odd that they can still afford $30/hour horse back riding lessons. If we ever hit hard times or thought
my DH's job was in jeopardy the horse back riding lessons would be one of the first things to go (even though DD loves them).

Who knows, maybe the lessons are a gift from a grandparent or somebody. I didnt have the nerve to ask who was paying
for them and I guess its none of my business anyway.
 

Miss Sparkly

Brilliant_Rock
Joined
Jan 2, 2010
Messages
1,664
MC|1304016584|2907199 said:
Someone I know recently bought a house with 0% down. I have NO idea how they pulled that off.

I bought a $160,000 (this is the median house) with 0% down when I was 20 (I'm 24) years old :shock: It was so easy, the lender wanted it, the appraiser wanted it, the Realtor wanted it and within a month of finding the house it was mine. Sadly, two years later my idiotic decision caught up with me when job cuts came rolling around. I was also working for a national bank that was lending at 120% LTV on homes. They continued to loan at 120% LTV up until 2009. Now there's a HUGE shocker!
 

Black Jade

Brilliant_Rock
Joined
Aug 21, 2008
Messages
1,242
Dreamer_D|1304037264|2907510 said:
Black Jade|1304029198|2907379 said:
Dreamer_D|1304016427|2907195 said:
I
That said, I think very few people live the ideal -- no debt, 6mo savings etc etc. I have a couple friends like that, and it amazes me... the people I know who are living the financial "dream" of no debt really work at it, and frankly, it is a tough life. No frills, no vacations, no eating out, nothing. It may be the best way to go, but it is not easy!

Actually, we have no debt, more than 6 months savings etc. etc. (I'm not sure exactly what the etcs here mean).

The etc etc refers to whatever financial situation you think is ideal -- like double down on the morgage each month, perhaps. People vary in the exact scenerio they think is ideal. And my friends make a lot of sacrifices to have their ideal financial life-- which entails no car loan, no home repair loan, double down the mortgage, large % in savings each month. Its tough to maintain that lifestyle when you spent the last 10 years in school and have two kids in daycare and live in a very expensive housing market. Like you describe your no frills years. We are budgeters extraordinaire, but we have a car loan and we have a small loan from some home repairs. When we have no kids in the house and have been out of school for 20 years, I am sure it will be different.

Hang in there, it's worth it just in peace of mind.
And you do want to do it NOW because expenses go up actually as life goes on and kids get older, not down. Two kids in daycare is expensive (one reason I was a SAHM for the first ten years after we had kids was because we crunched the numbers and found we'd be actually LOSING money if I went to work--but this is different for everyone) but its nothing, let me tell you to two kids in college at the same time. Which we went through about five years ago. However, we knew this was coming and we had saved and got one boy through a very expensive college debt free (we paid everything, no one would give us loans) --unfortunately the other was a rebellious type and did not stay in long, but we could have afforded it if he had. We still have one more, coming up in two years and have planned for that.
You have loan from home repairs now but eventually you can manage so that you have that cushion so that you don't have to take out loans for these reasons. It took us awhile to manage this but at this point we are in the position where if we have a bunch of repairs all at once (which we have had several times--AC, expensive car repair AND needed a new washing machine all in a two month period), the money was there and we didn't have to stress. The thing is, to have a budget with certain sums of money earmarked for certain things that you never TOUCH for anything else other than the earmarked purpose. It takes a little time to set this up but can definitely be done. You tend to know, say, that your refrigerator is X years old and they only tend to last so many years and so you can plan for it. And a general emergency fund is good for those unforeseen events that happen to everyone. But I read that you already are a budgetaire extraordinaire so this will work out for you, I am sure.
We do some things that might appear to others as cheap but work well for us. We never buy a brand new car (we always buy cars one years old), we pay as much down as possible and we keep the cars as long as they run, so we don't have car loans. We do have a mortgage but its very low at this point (and there's some kind of tax write off you get that makes it worth it). I save money wherever I can--I'm getting into couponing now. We always research everything--like, we definitely take vacations but look around for the good deals on airfares, hotel, etc. We are always reading up to see where we can make changes and refinements that work even better. WE have everything we want in terms of nice tvs, cable, good internet service and so on but my hubby has often done the black Friday stand in line thing to get the tvs and we shop around in terms of what is a good deal for cable, etc.
And we budget for EVERYTHING, not only the obvious. My husband gave me a really spectacular gift in 2008 for a special birthday, $10,000 diamond earrings (there's a thread on them somewhere on P'scope) and he gave it to me just after the financial market crashed that September, but he had been planning and earmarking money for this (behind my back) for some time and since it was all planned out and in a separate place and he had budgeted for all our other needs, he went ahead with it in spite of the market crash, even though we had lost $$$. (He also figured that the market would go up again eventually if he did not panic, which as we all know, it did). So its not like we just live clipping coupons and eating tuna fish or whatever the stereotype for frugal people is. And this is definitely not just us. A good friend who operates in the same way financially just had her 25th wedding anniversary. Even though her hubby is in real estate and the market is not great in this area, AND they have three kids going away to college in September and some medical bills, AND had a car crash the day before they went away for their anniv which required expensive repairs to their car, he had been saving for some time to get her a special present, and when they went on their little getaway,to the place where they met 25 years ago, he took her into the jewelry store where they had bought engagement ring and told her to pick out what she wanted. Thinking of all their financial issues, she chose a little pair of swarovski crystal earrings. He said, no, the other counter--and bought her a really magnificent ruby and diamond bracelet AND a matching pair of ruby/diamond earrings. Because he had the money for that earmarked and saved. (He also got her the swarovski earrings--which were about $15--but very pretty).
I think that is extra romantic because she got that and it was not on credit and she does not have to worry about the other bills. And my earrings were the same. The cash was all there for that. ANd from the way you sound, I think you will be in this kind of position within the next few years. Kudos to you and good luck and do feel encouraged.
 

Dandi

Ideal_Rock
Premium
Joined
Jan 9, 2006
Messages
6,652
I don't know anyone who lives on credit, so if they do, they keep it quiet! :bigsmile: That said there are few people I am comfortable with having a discussion on the topic, although I must admit I am very curious about some of our peers. Most of them are the same age as us, with 2-3 kids, who regularly go on fabulous holidays for the whole family, build large new houses, own 2 brand new cars, and are usually on one income, so roughly about half of what DH and I earn combined, or even less. DH and I live comfortably - we have absolutely no debt besides our mortgage which we pay at 3 x the required rate, we have invesments, own our cars outright and have no student debt. We both live off our credit cards but pay the balance off in full at the end of each month, and can both squirrel away decent amounts of our pays for 'stuff' - usually car racing equipment for DH and pretty shinies for me :rodent: We holiday once or twice a year, usually overseas.

All that said, I think I'd freak if I knew we were paying car loans, splashing out on holidays and contributing to student loans while paying down a mortgage... all on one wage. I just can't fathom how these guys do it! The prospect of having children concerns me purely form a financial point of view, even though we know DH's wage would sustain us just fine.

Or maybe I'm just a terrible stress-head, who knows :cheeky:
 

House Cat

Ideal_Rock
Premium
Joined
Feb 22, 2009
Messages
4,602
MC|1304016584|2907199 said:
Someone I know recently bought a house with 0% down. I have NO idea how they pulled that off.
They probably did it with a VA loan.
 

House Cat

Ideal_Rock
Premium
Joined
Feb 22, 2009
Messages
4,602
I wonder why another person's financial situation would bother you? Will this person put you on the spot and ask to borrow money in the future? Do they mooch off of you? Why is their money situation any of your business at all? If someone is choosing to live on credit, how is that affecting your life in any way?


These questions aren't rhetorical. I am honestly asking. My friends financial situations aren't my business, unless they make them my business. I just don't see why this would bother a person so much.
 

Black Jade

Brilliant_Rock
Joined
Aug 21, 2008
Messages
1,242
JUst by the way--
the 1980's were very excessive but the country actually was prosperous back then. People had made big money on things like real estate (my mother did) and oil and so forth. They were spending after the 1970's which had had the first oil crisis, the first bad spike in gold (and silver and diamonds) a joblessness crisis and bad inflation. they were relieved (though there WAS a lot of excess)'

However in the 1980's things were NOT fueled by easy credit because easy credt was not yet available.
the crazy easy credit was totally a late 1990's, 2000's things. there were lots of warnings but almost no one paid attention
 

ksinger

Ideal_Rock
Premium
Joined
Jan 30, 2008
Messages
5,083
Ha! Got a windfall this week, and so in 2 months' time, we will have thrown over 10,000 additional dollars towards our mortgage principal. SWEEEEEET! Take that, lendor!! PTHHHHBBTTTTT!! Can we have it paid off in 3 more years? That's the goal. Hope we can swing it. :appl:

So no, we're not living like 2005, but then we didn't live like 2005 in 2005 either, so not much has changed. I don't personally know anyone who IS living like that either.
 

janinegirly

Ideal_Rock
Joined
Sep 21, 2006
Messages
3,689
House Cat|1304172037|2908562 said:
I wonder why another person's financial situation would bother you? Will this person put you on the spot and ask to borrow money in the future? Do they mooch off of you? Why is their money situation any of your business at all? If someone is choosing to live on credit, how is that affecting your life in any way?


These questions aren't rhetorical. I am honestly asking. My friends financial situations aren't my business, unless they make them my business. I just don't see why this would bother a person so much.


Who said it bothered me "so much." The crux of my question is whether this is even possible in the current environment. Does it bother me to see some people flaunt and exaggerate when the truth is apparent, sure. Do I go and make judgemental comments to them. No. Human nature is interconnected and a big part of why people choose to live beyond their means (and then flaunt it) isn't only about themselves, it's about how it appears on the outside and about seeking some gratification from that (perception which these days counts for more than reality). I think it's a worthwhile topic but if you feel otherwise or can't relate, that's is your business.
 

janinegirly

Ideal_Rock
Joined
Sep 21, 2006
Messages
3,689
ksinger|1304174756|2908574 said:
Ha! Got a windfall this week, and so in 2 months' time, we will have thrown over 10,000 additional dollars towards our mortgage principal. SWEEEEEET! Take that, lendor!! PTHHHHBBTTTTT!! Can we have it paid off in 3 more years? That's the goal. Hope we can swing it. :appl:

So no, we're not living like 2005, but then we didn't live like 2005 in 2005 either, so not much has changed. I don't personally know anyone who IS living like that either.

That's fantastic! I think it's a personal financial philosophy and therefore you stay true to that in the booms and the dips (and therefore should be less affected in the dips).
 

JewelFreak

Ideal_Rock
Joined
Sep 3, 2009
Messages
7,768
We didn't in 2005, which is why we don't have to now. I don't know anyone I'm aware of who is, but if they are, it's a sure way to end up in the mess many people are presently in.

--- Laurie
 

Dancing Fire

Super_Ideal_Rock
Premium
Joined
Apr 3, 2004
Messages
33,852
House Cat|1304172037|2908562 said:
I wonder why another person's financial situation would bother you? Will this person put you on the spot and ask to borrow money in the future? Do they mooch off of you? Why is their money situation any of your business at all? If someone is choosing to live on credit, how is that affecting your life in any way?


These questions aren't rhetorical. I am honestly asking. My friends financial situations aren't my business, unless they make them my business. I just don't see why this would bother a person so much.

i'll tell you why it bothers me.there are a few friends whom i loaned money to about 12-15 yrs ago.today they all live in a bigger,more expensive home than mine and drive around in expensive cars,so did they pay me back??...HECK NO.. :!: :angryfire: :angryfire:
 
Be a part of the community Get 3 HCA Results
Top