10-09-2008, 03:45 PM
We may or may not be overtaxed. I believe that is beside the point. For 90% of the population, the following holds true:
It's not how much money you make (net or gross), but it's how much money you spend that determines your financial well being.
I watched a segment of Oprah with my wife yesterday. They had two families on there. One made about $95,000 per year and had 2 kids. The other made $49,000 a year, and had 4 kids. One of them had $79,000 in savings. The other was on the brink of financial collapse. Do you know which was which?
The family that made $49,000 was the one that had the $79,000 in savings. They lived within their means, carefully budgeted, were creative in how they could save money, and lived debt free. They still did plenty together as a family, went to the beach often, did lots of fun stuff that didn't cost lots of money.
The family that made $95,000 actually was really suffering. They used to make 40% more than that, but the wife had lost her job, so suddenly they were (only) making 95k with her husband's salary. They had several credit cards, spent all kinds of money eating out all the time, buying department store clothes, etc. They were suddenly facing the possibility of losing their home and racking up serious credit card debt.
The show had the first family help the second one learn how to budget and spend responsibly so that their $ out were not more than their $ in. They actually shaved $2000 per month out of the spending of this family!
Yes, the government also can be a huge waster of money -- our tax dollars -- but unless you're below the poverty line and can't even meet basic needs, most often it's your own fault if you're not financially sound.
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It's not how much money you make (net or gross), but it's how much money you spend that determines your financial well being.
I watched a segment of Oprah with my wife yesterday. They had two families on there. One made about $95,000 per year and had 2 kids. The other made $49,000 a year, and had 4 kids. One of them had $79,000 in savings. The other was on the brink of financial collapse. Do you know which was which?
The family that made $49,000 was the one that had the $79,000 in savings. They lived within their means, carefully budgeted, were creative in how they could save money, and lived debt free. They still did plenty together as a family, went to the beach often, did lots of fun stuff that didn't cost lots of money.
The family that made $95,000 actually was really suffering. They used to make 40% more than that, but the wife had lost her job, so suddenly they were (only) making 95k with her husband's salary. They had several credit cards, spent all kinds of money eating out all the time, buying department store clothes, etc. They were suddenly facing the possibility of losing their home and racking up serious credit card debt.
The show had the first family help the second one learn how to budget and spend responsibly so that their $ out were not more than their $ in. They actually shaved $2000 per month out of the spending of this family!
Yes, the government also can be a huge waster of money -- our tax dollars -- but unless you're below the poverty line and can't even meet basic needs, most often it's your own fault if you're not financially sound.
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