What money habits keep you poor?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Getting married and having children really clipped my income/career progression. I know a lot of people who pull it off successfully but I did not. Throw in some bad luck (children's health) and we never managed to get ahead of the curve.

My only positive trait has been that I am cheap as the day is long. I would have comfortably quit working years ago if I was single.

How did marrying, except for having kids, hurt your income progression?

She convinced me to move to a high cost of living area (DC!) where I made less money and manufacturing jobs were few. We had kids after two years and were soon on the treadmill of PPD, less ability to put in long hours at work and the general exhaustion of young children. I never got back on track.

One error was to vastly underestimate how much of my time and energy would get sucked into family life. Like I said; other people pull this off successfully.
Another was to think I would someday make more money than I did. My income peaked in the low $90s sometime around my 40th birthday.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not being paid enough.


- a teacher

Wrong profession

[Anonymous]

Choosing to go out-of-network for multiple family members to get adequate ongoing mental health care (psychiatrist, group therapy, individual therapy, etc.)

Worth it and life-saving for us, but so expensive

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:anyone making 100k is poor

Depends where you live & your household size

And your age

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Beer

Welcome, Your Honor! Pretty cool to have a Justice on DCUM

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Being too frugal that I don't value my own time and mental stamina despite having more than enough income to outsource most work / labor.

this habit kept you stupid, not poor

Lol. Okay, pauper. Comment from the sidelines.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Divorce
working in a dead end job
marrying the wrong person
starting over at 47
unable to save due to debt

This sounds very personal.

And divorce, marrying the wrong person and starting over at 47, all sound the same.

[Anonymous]

Not carrying insurance.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Children

I see many people make the mistake of overspending on their children. I understand they want their kids to have a certain type of childhood, but what looks like a middle class lifestyle costs so much more than it used to.

+1. We did this. Private school starting in Kindergarten. Our kids do expensive sports, and we have allowed multiple private lessons per week, in addition to travel teams, etc. Also, we felt we had to give them sleepaway camp, ski vacations, etc. Then, we kept the "nanny" as a housekeeper when our kids were teens, just to make sure someone was at the house to supervise, make snacks, and try to keep the kids off of screens. Now we are confronting how much we spent over the years. We have a small house and modest vehicles, but live in a nice neighborhood. We don't have a big net worth at all, but we're fine to work as long as we can, as we like working.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Children

I see many people make the mistake of overspending on their children. I understand they want their kids to have a certain type of childhood, but what looks like a middle class lifestyle costs so much more than it used to.

+1. We did this. Private school starting in Kindergarten. Our kids do expensive sports, and we have allowed multiple private lessons per week, in addition to travel teams, etc. Also, we felt we had to give them sleepaway camp, ski vacations, etc. Then, we kept the "nanny" as a housekeeper when our kids were teens, just to make sure someone was at the house to supervise, make snacks, and try to keep the kids off of screens. Now we are confronting how much we spent over the years. We have a small house and modest vehicles, but live in a nice neighborhood. We don't have a big net worth at all, but we're fine to work as long as we can, as we like working.

What is your age, HHI and NW? This is basically my plan and I wonder if we will regret it. Currently 37/41 with $600k HHI and $2m NW + $1m home equity

[Anonymous]

My kid was telling me the other day that the poor kids in school have all got $100 or $200 trainers, while many of the rich kids are wearing $45 sneakers.

Not of course a main reason that poor people stay poor, but poor choices on conspicuous consumption is not always irrelevant either.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kid was telling me the other day that the poor kids in school have all got $100 or $200 trainers, while many of the rich kids are wearing $45 sneakers.

Not of course a main reason that poor people stay poor, but poor choices on conspicuous consumption is not always irrelevant either.

When you can never attain the big thing (house, neighborhood, full college tuition) you splurge on the small thing (sneakers, phone, clothes, maybe ever a more expensive car).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid was telling me the other day that the poor kids in school have all got $100 or $200 trainers, while many of the rich kids are wearing $45 sneakers.

Not of course a main reason that poor people stay poor, but poor choices on conspicuous consumption is not always irrelevant either.

When you can never attain the big thing (house, neighborhood, full college tuition) you splurge on the small thing (sneakers, phone, clothes, maybe ever a more expensive car).

High school friend of mine has lower HHI, both kids at private school on financial aid, small house with a big mortgage. But every bite of food for the family will come from Whole Foods. So that’s covered at least!

[Anonymous]

...Enabling and supporting impoverished parents

...my SIL was "forced" to buy a new car because her Mother totaled her car and "couldn't" afford a new car so had to take her daughter's car. SIL can't afford a new car either.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid was telling me the other day that the poor kids in school have all got $100 or $200 trainers, while many of the rich kids are wearing $45 sneakers.

Not of course a main reason that poor people stay poor, but poor choices on conspicuous consumption is not always irrelevant either.

When you can never attain the big thing (house, neighborhood, full college tuition) you splurge on the small thing (sneakers, phone, clothes, maybe ever a more expensive car).

+1. Rich, even just MC people can’t fathom what it is like to NOT be able to save for the big things.