Vice President Dick Cheney urged Americans Thursday to do a better job of saving and challenged policymakers to strengthen pensions and fix Social Security to help people in their golden years.
Funny, I thought we were supposed to shop ’til we dropped in order to bolster our economy. Now we are all supposed to be saving for our elder years.
The really stupid quote from the story is the following:
Too often, workers are living paycheck to paycheck and are not saving sufficiently, Cheney said.
People who live paycheck to paycheck aren’t doing it because they WANT to. He really doesn’t have a clue does he? How exactly is a family that lives paycheck to paycheck and is barely able to pay their bills and eat supposed to start investment accounts? I’d sure like an answer to that. If rich people are living paycheck to paycheck and not saving anything, that’s their own damn fault, but those aren’t the people I know … the ones who look forward to every payday so they can pay bills and buy groceries and maybe make it through another week. How exactly are they supposed to stop living that way and start saving? Hmmm?
He had probably just come from a meeting with his buddies in the finance sector who were concerned about the slowdown in cashflow. I often wonder how many people realize that Wall Street for many years now has been underwritten in the main, not by billionaire movers and shakers, but by ordinary folks contributing a couple hundred each month to their 401-K’s? Were it not for the skimming by brokers and CEO’s, the value of the market would easily be double the current eleven thousand.
I don’t know much at all about the market. The only thing I know is that once the bills are paid and the groceries bought, whatever is left over isn’t enough to “save” and tends to go to those unexpected little things we didn’t think of to get us through to the next paycheck. Before Lin got this new job, there was rarely any left over, so we were REALLY living paycheck to paycheck, and that just plain sucked.
Ahhh mmmmm. I can tell you this, most people do not work within a budget, and they do not live within their means. Most spend everything that comes in until nothing is left. Most people are pretty ignorant about investing, and about money matters in general. I would venture a guess if you really put your mind to it, and looked at every penny spent on stuff you wanted, vs. on stuff you needed, there will be a sizeable chunk of change left over. If you did that for 1 year you would probably be amazed at how much $$$ there is by years end. Of course a better way to save is reduce credit card spending and pay off high interest CC. But those are the choices, and choices are hard to make, but if you can’t make hard choices don’t complain in 5, 10, 15 years when you don’t have anything to show for it except a 15 year old stereo entertainment center. I can say this because for most of my working life I spent most of my money on crap that depreciated to nothing in a very short period of time. Then to compound matters I would buy newer crap on credit. This is a true fact at one time in my life not to many years ago, I was $55K in credit card debt. The good new is I paid most of them off, then canceled them, without ruining my credit. You lose your credit rating it takes 7 for the last missed payment to be removed from your credit report. If you file bankruptcy it takes 10 years for that to be removed from your credit report. Sure you can still get credit to buy a car or stereo entertainment center, but the interest rate will be 24%, 30% . 8O
You know, that’s a hell of an insultive thing for a man born into money to tell people. I’m one of those people who lives check-to-check and has never had a savings a day in my life. I also don’t own a home because I haven’t been able to yet – instead, I’m stuck wasting money down the toliet on rent. But I guess I should just live in my ten year old broken down car instead and put my rent money towards savings instead? :roll: Not everyone has outrageous debt – I don’t have a single credit card. Not one. Not everyone is spending more money then they make. Some people just don’t have enough coming in to keep on top (let alone get ahead) of what needs to go out. I don’t own a cell phone. I don’t own a fancy tv or a new computer, a pda, or any other modern “staple.” I don’t have a car payment. I have rent, water, power, car insurance (mandatory in FL), cable and phone. Toss in food and gas and that’s every last penny I own. Forget when things like my dental work came up leaving me stuck needing $2,000 in work. Forget if the car breaks down (and it’s so beyond it’s last legs I’m amazed it starts each day.) Forget if any one of a million things happen in life that you don’t plan for.
It’s easy when you have money to talk down to those who don’t. It’s easy when you are elite to shun those who’s backs you stand on.
MissyM,
I think car insurance is mandatory in every state, but you may be able to reduce the payment by changing carriers or eliminating some of your coverage. You are not going to save $1000′s doing this, but that isn’t the point, it is a starting point to see where else you can save money. Not knowing where you live, so you may not been able to take advantage of this suggestion, but the dental work may have been accomplished by having the procedures performed at a dental school for a fraction of the cost. Here is a fact most people don’t know, if you can afford rent, you can afford a home with the historical low interest rates there are today, and there are hundreds of programs (federal, state, county and city) that will assist you in buying a home, and in most cases the mortgage payment will be less than the rent payment. Here in NC there are programs for first time home buyers where the interest rate is 3%. This is just an example, when I lived in Baltimore the city sold these old dilapidated homes (there were 100′s of them) close to the Inner Harbor area for $1.00. All the owner had to do was refurbish the home and live in them for 5 years. The city even provided 100% of the money to do the refurbishing. You should apply for a credit card, not to spend it on crap like I did, but to have it on hand for emergency purchases. It sounds like you have a good credit rating, but you are just no using it to your benefit. A credit card looks good on your credit report, especially when you make and pay off the purchases. I am not suggesting this is you, but I think some people get so beaten down they lose all sense of achievement and self esteem.
I guess I have heard just about every argument why someone is poor, or how easy it is for the rich to act and say the things the do because the got money. Most rich people I personally know started from very humble beginnings, some never completed HS, and only a few went to college. The one thing they all shared was a good work ethic, meaning they would work at any job and usually had 2 jobs, and worked weekends. Then when they had accumulated enough money they took a chance and started their own businesses. This took years for them to accomplish, it didn’t happen over night. After they had their companies they has to successfully operate it and make it profitable. Now these rich people hire people to work for them. Some have worked for the same company for over 20 years using their skills and knowledge to make these companies profitable. But the sad fact is a number of them are right where they were 20 years ago, they are no better off. You have to ask yourself why is this. I think the answer is bad choices and fear. We know what bad choices can mean, but why fear. Truth is they fear that they can’t succeed in doing what they are already successfully doing for someone else. Odd isn’t it?
Jocko, kiss my ass. You don’t know anything and you are being an absolute jerk. Don’t make assumptions about situations when you don’t know what they are. Don’t tell someone they are overpaying on insurance for exampple, when you don’t even know what car, carrier or quote they got. Your assumption that people are stupid is insultive.
You can ride your little high horse off a cliff for all I care. I wasn’t speaking to you nor will I be after this. My comment was to Orb, so if you want to have a place to feel elistst and talk down to everyone else, do it on your own site. Otherwise, back off and shut up.