Prepping for a Lower Income (2 of 2)

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In part one of this article, we considered the financial tidal waves bearing down on us that will force millions to manage-down their present lifestyles.

It’s my view that due to compounding of debt, watering of money, and depletion of resources, there may be “no place to hide” and some argue. 

This morning, we talk about downsizing your lifestyle before it becomes a necessity – and this means while you still have a lot of good choices that can be made.  After headlines and charts, of course…

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35 thoughts on “Prepping for a Lower Income (2 of 2)”

  1. For young people, you have a great opportunity to retire comfortably if you max out your 401k or IRA contributions each year. Compound interest & dollar cost averaging will make you rich over time. Even if you can’t max out the contributions, something is better than nothing & you will be surprised how much you have at retirement. I would be in tough shape now financially if I hadn’t started an IRA in 1977, and the maximum contribution at that time was $750, which was a lot of money then.

    • Plus, if you save, you will have cash available to take advantage of opportunites. My best investment was in the early 1980’s, I bought an Apple computer. I think I paid $2,000 for it. But it made me realize that tech was the future & since I had IRA money, I could use it to invest in tech companies which I could understand & looked like they have a product & not a crazy idea. Never invest in anything you can’t understand.

      • George – Women is what young men spend their money on instead of saving. It is the best I could come up with.

      • Also, Don’t invest in women, men can’t understand them. We are oblivious to their subtilies.

      • women and children.. I was amazed when I found out what my children pay for daycare.. not to mention insurance for them.. then of course there are the sick days.. most employers don’t care whether or not your child is sick you have a job be there.. daycare you guarantee so many hours a week and pay for that not by the hour..if your are over.. ( no overtime here otherwise you pay the penalty) children are turned over to social services..) activities.. phew soft ball practice.. football .. then there are the other team sports each costs money.. not to mention clothing, food etc.. easily spend almost a half million on one child.. that isn’t including school.. if you can afford school.Many kids end up getting loans to pay for their schooling. in the end find out that the wages aren’t there.. my banker( who I have known since he was in school) was telling me he interviewed a young man when he asked what he was expecting the young man told him. what my banker told me was.. he couldn’t tell the kid that it was more money than what he made. the teller after expenses makes just over a dollar a week after daycare and travel expenses. the reason she still works there.. the insurance.
        so many wealthy people are just wealthy on paper.. I knew a woman her whole job was to go around and stage wealthy peoples homes so when they had company they appeared to have more than what they really did.. her biggest problem was getting paid from them..the smart azz in me had to say.. well you can come out and stage my house .. I won’t pay you either.. at the grocery store.. they would pull stunts so that they wouldn’t have to pay for their groceries..
        I have told the kids several times.. money should double every seven to ten years.. if you are a bottom feeder then buying huge amount of stocks isn’t for you .. buy savings bonds.. save money from the time you start to work till you are thirty.. then turn turn those over every time they come due you will have enough compounding periods to make your self a millionaire.
        if you are just wanting sex or a female companionship and no children.. then there are a ton of ladies.. all looking for the same thing.. shoot with what a half million college girls looking for a sugar daddy on the sugar daddy sites that should say a lot.. they are just looking to offset the cost of college tuition or books.. a five thousand dollar book bill will save them more than fifty thousand later on through the years.. so locate someone that just wants a part time friend and companion hang out.. that way she can continue on her career and you can without fear of having all the headaches and setbacks of raising a child. I bought the dream had kids young.. started working at 12 things that kids today cannot do..and during the highlight worked up to sixteen hours a day seven days a week.

      • consider mom and dad.. my wife was notified last night that she no longer had insurance. and the company hasn’t any money to pay bills or paychecks.the company is in default on utilities food supply vendors.
        families will have to either find a place. ( many facilities want cash up front for three months.. figure roughly just under thirty grand just to start.plus supplies, laundry etc. each has a price. everything is a business model) and this has hit several states with thousands of elderly. who gets hit for these expenses. the kids.
        I seen this happen during the early eighties .. a lab I was night supervisor to took us out to ask us what we thought.. he was thinking on expanding because things were going to good.. I said.. don’t do it..reaganomics was not a good thing and the deregulation of many needed resources would stop the average wage earner from spending. he did it anyway.. then the recession hit. he expanded to fast to soon the average wage earner stopped spending and then the juggling.. huge bills.. it shut him down.. for me I found out our insurance was worthless when a child fell and punctured their lung and heart and a specialist surgeon had to be sent in from another hospital a few hundred miles a way.. the bill was just shy a half million and I didn’t even make three dollars an hour.. I couldn’t buy a roll of toilet paper because of it..paychecks weren’t any good.. and supplies were not bought..this is the same thing.. now spread that out.. the average child is stuck with those expenses.. the reverse pyramid

    • A young person may not know what it feels like to “be rich” and so, they may not try to actually accomplish it. Just as I can play guitar but never played in a professional band touring the world, I may never play on stage – unless I “try to”. The first mover attempt is key. Kids even opening their own bank accounts these days is tough – even for a 20-something. Many act like they are 12 years old in some situations. Parenting may be one way to help but they are parented by friends and online aquaintences, so it goes deeper. Someone wanting to retire rich may have to actually become accidentally wealthy and not spend it all. Something like a lottery winner who puts everything into solid mutual funds and not world travel and gambling/drugs/etc.

      • When opportunity knocks, you have to answer the door. You have some very valid points. Stupid is running wild today.

  2. Watching various young people i know, with wildly varying levels of success, i have noticed a couple of themes.

    First is that it is easier to produce excuses than results. Much easier. Most take the easy way.

    Second, recall the Gom Jabar test from the “Dune” scifi series. The test taker put their hand in a box that would make them feel simulated pain, but knew there would be no actual damage. If they pulled their hand out, a poison needle would kill them. I have noticed that people who wouldn’t pass this test tend be failures and a burden to those around them.

    Then there are the people who choose to do most things the hard, slow way. Often this seems to be an energy issue. They must not get ahead, for some subconscious reason, so they spend their time and energy spinning their wheels in mud rather than driving on the Interstates.

    There are lots of remedies, like Transformational Breath®?, George’s positive thinking recordings, Emotion Code, binaural beats, EMDR, tapping, yoga, and more. But remember, excuses are so much easier.

    It’s difficult, bur we are learning to identify these traits, and extricate ourselves from entanglements with those who express them. Even children, after a point.

    New Rule: Don’t put more effort into helping someone than they will put into helping themselves. Corollary: learn the difference between trust and discernment – then use discernment.

    • “Watching various young people i know, with wildly varying levels of success, i have noticed a couple of themes.
      First is that it is easier to produce excuses than results. Much easier. Most take the easy way.”

      What is Success… is it the number on a sheet of paper that everyone sees as success..
      I seen myself as successful .. I don’t have any large numbers on a sheet of paper.. no gold to show for my labors.Everything I did scrimp and save ended up going to medical bills. I have a wonderful family children, grandchildren and great grandchildren. a variety of acquaintances I call friends.I have never been on a vacation.. when I was young I was driven worked day and night egg timer years I lived and breathed with an egg timer..
      the easy way.. we are taught that the person that has the most toys wins. this is what drives people. young professionals have so much in loans the wages aren’t really that good for the vast majority that they end up using plastic. then there is the stigma of I have this degree to be acceptable to my peers I have to drive a Cadillac Mercedes etc etc.. .to show I have this I need to get the next best toy.. I told my grandkids to live like a rich man. don’t spend a dime put it all away if the number is what you seek. don’t get married and have kids. if you want sex there are tons of ladies that are all to busy for a relationship to that want sex just as much. eat egg sandwhiches( the cheapest meal you can have besides ramen noodles).. they won’t though they will get plastic and go to town to compete with the smiths..

      • Doug: Our current culture is built on excuses — shifting blame, rather than accepting it. Check out any news story which involves carnage, either to people or to property. Within a day, the media-types will be a huffin’ and a sweatin’, not to provide comfort or remediation, but to affix blame.

        I’m an old fart. I don’t recognize the existence of the word “can’t.” When I need to accomplish something, I find a way (for you young’uns, this means I try something, usually fail, try, fail, try, etc., until I find some means to success.) When somebody gave me a job, they gave me an expected end result, and I found a way to reach that desired result. My solution wasn’t always elegant, but it always worked, and if it were a process, was always repeatable by others. This tenacity and problem-solving ability is lost on the two post-Boomer generations. I have hopes it returns with the current up-and-comers…

        Box: “Success” is a state of mind. It is stability and contentment. I know folks who live in crap houses, who’re successful, and folks who live in mansions and have brokerage accounts into the nine-figures, who’re not.

        IMO, you are successful, and I hope you can convey some of that state of mind to your progeny….

  5. Why do you need stock dividends? Isn’t buying the dips more lucrative and fun? When Trump went on a rampage with his self proclaimed arch nemesis Jeff Bezos, the stock took a 550 point dip. I immediately bought 50 additional shares. It has rebounded nicely and then some and well…you do the math . Did the same with Facebook. Bought the bad news and on the day that Zuckerberg nailed it in front of Congress…Boom… I am a chronic Tesla day trader as well. It has a lousy week…I buy in..it rebounds…I sell…and I do it all over again. Nvidia, Twitter, Boeing, Caterpillar and a few other are just as volatile. It really only takes a handful of bouncy tech and bio stocks to make a meaningful and lucrative side hustle from your real job. I only wish I had more time to play the put and call game …maybe George can put together a webinar for a nominal fee and give us some pointers. I’d pay at least $20 or more for that. Proceeds go to Ure Leisurely Retirement Fund.

    • One more stock…bad news hits Southwest again today. Wait two weeks for the bad news and sell off to settle and then buy. In the bigger scheme of things…Southwest is NOT going anywhere. But day traders will use this bad news to drive it down…which is a good thing for side hustle traders like me.

      • I suppose that can work, but many of us are busy for 16 hours a day and can’t day trade. We need something that requires less attention. Besides, it’s not fun for everyone – just money.

  6. G,

    I think you wrote a book, “How to live on $10,000 a year”.

    I can’t figure out how to do that.

    Annual property taxes = 3K.
    Annual car insurance = 2K.
    Annual property insurance = .6K ($600.00).

    That leaves $4,400 for living.

    • Move to lower tax are: Save $1,000+
      Sell car, take public transit, walk, bike, etc
      Have paid- off home and have liability only (self-insure – a gamble but that’s what insurance fundamentally is…) or get room mates
      It ain’t that hard…

    • Property tax: $280
      Car ins: $2100
      Property ins: $ 420

      The car insurance is so high because I’m insuring eight vehicles, including two commercial trucks and a trailer.

      There are MANY property tax exemptions available in most locales. No one will tell you what they are. You have to take it upon yourself to go to your County offices and find the list, then adjust your living so you can claim as many as practicable.

      Car insurance is based on your driving record, but also on the number of total claims in an area, claims against your insurer in that area, and total payout on claims. A large metropolitan area, like Greater L.A., may have as many as 22 different areas (or more), and at a given time, insurance in the Hills may be a lot cheaper than in Burbank. The claims numbers are adjusted quarterly. Live in a high-accident area, pay more — it is not “fair” or “unfair;” it is simple actuarial science.

      One of my favorite insurance “adjustments” is the “classic car.” Some States recognize “classics” at 20 years, some at 25, and some at 30. Put a “classic car” license plate on yer old ride and you immediately become eligible for “classic car insurance.” My two “classics” together, cost me less per year to insure than my Peoplenomics subscription, and that’s for $100 deductible, full coverage. They are not trailer queens, but I’m limited to driving them 2500 miles each, per year.

      If you can not make adjustments to your lifestyle and expenses sufficient to live on $10k, you are living in an undesirable place, irrespective of what your family, friends, or “The Joneses” tell you. I’m not saying anyone SHOULD live on $10k, but they should be able to, if necessary…

  7. Hi George,

    Forgive me if I’m wrong, but in your example re-kids making $21/hr each for 2000 hrs, their combined income would be 80+K, not 40. Obviously, there’s taxes, etc., but the number is much more viable.

    The house is still far too expensive. Better to buy something in the 150K range. Maybe a repo or foreclosure and some sweat equity.

    • My error – I hadn’t included all the college loans and credit cards…forgot to mention those but it’s the difference good catch!
      Sadly hit trulia and look at seattle prices

      • I just got a new, old neighbor. He’s Merchant Marine and works out of Oakland. They leased their house and moved to the coast three years ago. They just moved back. He told me he could live here and commute for considerably less than the CoL in the Bay Area, and the people here were a lot nicer.

        Back in the jobs vacuum which was the early ’80s, I had to “commute” several hundred miles to find work. I lived in a rundown flophouse with a bunch of other guys, for next to nothing, and came home every few weeks. ‘Cost me a fiancée but I survived, and was probably better off without her.

        The point is: “You find a way.” If CoL is too high, you live elsewhere or find an alternative living arrangement. If jobs are too few or pay is too low, you go to where they’re not, take a second job, or a third or a fourth, even. I worked three jobs one year, one full-time, while also going to college full-time for a term (BTW, not recommended. I went from “As” to “Cs” but I never had a dime of college debt…)

        Not a fan of SeaTac (or any big town), or their CoL. I’d live elsewhere, share a flophouse, or live in a ghetto and invest in some chain-link & cameras, and steel bars…

        Whatever happened to the old home-finance adage: “Spend a month’s salary on an engagement ring, three month’s on a car, and no more than two year’s salary on a house.”

    • Young and buying a house… I debate yes / no if you have kids then it’s pretty obvious you need one. If you don’t what’s the rush. Yes if your just starting out no kids. Stop honking about the party and hanging out. Forget the elaborate toys live modest. .. rent.. find a nice condo .. invest in a few good funds with a track record if your a bottom feeder working at seventy grand down then consider savings bonds. I just had this very discussion with my grandson. He doesn’t make much and he won’t while he’s in college. But with every paycheck buy a savings bond put a couple thousand away in bonds every year for ten years then buy a house have kids. Turn them over when they mature he’ll have ten compounding periods.
      A house has expenses where many of these expenses are included with a condo.

  8. This is in response to ECS’ comment, below:

    George – Women is what young men spend their money on instead of saving. It is the best I could come up with.
    ______________________________

    Meh, I mostly see kids investing in narcissism. I know SO MANY young women, whose evening entertainment is going over to their “friend’s” house (they have an inability to use the term “boyfriend”), then sitting and watching him play video games for hours, waiting on him hand-and-foot while hoping for a few minutes of intimacy while he “winds down” and before he passes out. Young men are different, but the same. They’ll do the same thing, but are much more likely to join in and game as well, than to just stand around and watch…

    I’m not talking 15yo kids here, I’m talking about guys and gals in their 20s, 30s, and sometimes in their 40s and into their 50s. It is beyond my ken. I don’t understand how someone could waste so much time gaming, and I REALLY don’t understand how someone could waste so much time, watching someone play video games.

  9. Samaritan Ministries, Liberty Health Share, etc. Has anyone on this site looked into them yet or know anyone who is a member???

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