How do people afford this stuff??

Whoever did that was right on the money.

 

Yup, he is a CFO of a very large corp. I am forever grateful.

 

Literally and figuratively.

 

Haha. Yeah its funny how many cash people we got around here.

Personally I racked up a little too much credit card debt it college. I'm slowly paying it down, so all my mods are definitely cash mods. I don't go too crazy because I'm also trying to save up for a house. I should probably sock away even more, but working on my truck keeps me sane.

 

My school district in Northern VA made a finance class a graduation requirement in 2009ish. Made me happy as a now finance professional. So many simple, but poor choices made by people I know.

I love Utah, but Cedar Rapids has been a pretty great place the few times I have been there. I've heard good things about parts of Arkansas too.

 

Cedar Rapids has gone down hill fast. It has a lot problems from Chicago

 

Illinois ruining all kinds of stuff.

 

I know so many people driving new cars ever couple of years. Even if they are in fact, paying them off before getting something new, they're bleeding money that they could be investing.

 

Your mistaken then. Below is an older article but I've seen more recent ones that claim the same thing. I don't believe everything I read but I've been around long enough to believe this is probably close to the mark.

https://www.fool.com/investing/2016/09/25/how-much-does-the-average-american-have-in-their-s.aspx

 

No credit card debt here, I just sell drugs

 

And now my favorite saying which is applicable in so many ways in this thread

"To each their own"

 

I wish houses were that cheap here, $200 is like my average water bill. Houses where I live start at like $550K for 1000sf and we are out of the city. I often think of moving somewhere else as I could make roughly the same money I do now anywhere in the country.

 

OP - I don't mod and could careless about it, but this mod shit is folks hobby. My hobby I ski. I ski race, and coach on the side. Sometimes my wife does not like how I spend on new race skis and boots almost yearly. Then, I need ski w/ family ski boots, and coaching ski boots. I coach because I love making kiddos better and faster skiers, but it also helps big time with tickets an such. Anyhoo, much like modding, I find AWESOME deals on Ebay and other outlets as such.

 

If you live in a part of the country where the cost of living is cheap and you have a roommate to split expenses with, then you probably have extra cash lying around at the end of the month. If you're like me and you make decent money but you live in an expensive part of the country and pay for everything yourself (and have been laid off a couple of times) well then you can only dream about having extra cash lying around at the end of the month.

 

You're responding with an average American comment. That does not apply in any way to the my previous post. There are plenty of people who are well above the average, which was my point.

 

I actually do believe that's probably true for some people on here, but no one that would actually type it out and post it online, haha.

edit: It's like that one drug dealer that got busted for using Venmo with his clientele because they typed out the drug transactions in detail in the mandatory "what is this money for" section.

 

It all depends. I only put down 10% when I bought my house in 2009 and had to pay PMI for the first 7 years, but the value of my house has risen 40% since I bought it which more than makes up for whatever money I pissed away from not putting down 20%.

 

$1132/sq feet here. $313 water bill / per month.

 

All these guys with builds also don't own their rigs

 

I have always felt extremely strongly about financial education and I've looked into ways I can provide financial education to people but I have yet to find a good option. I've worked in investment management my whole career and I've worked with private individuals and large corporations/pension plans. Honestly it baffles me that people are so focused on how much money they make but they couldn't be bothered to spend an hour learning how to manage their money properly. People spend so much time and effort to earn a living and then I feel like the vast majority squander their money away because they don't understand their investments/401k or interest rates or how credit cards actually work.

If someone can think of a way for me to provide personal financial education to people and monetize it in a way that those that need it most can afford it and I can still make a living let me know. I don't want to manage their money but I do want to help them to make better decision and to have better conversations with their financial advisors if they choose to hire one. I don't really want to charge a % of assets since I'm just providing and it's tough to do a pay per session model since the people that need the help the most can't afford much and I wouldn't want them to have to pay much since part of my whole philosophy is understanding and limiting your expenses/management fees/interest you pay etc. but I'd still need to be able to make a living (unless I only do this part-time). I would love it if an organization like USAA (don't work there but I have them as my insurance carrier) would create a role that allows me to provide financial education to their members without the pressure to sell their products.