Guess what? Millennials still don't have money

Browsing yahoo news today and saw This article

Hmm. this is interesting.... 

I just found out millennials are in my age group but This is what I see around me in my age group. New cars big houses college educated neighbors with kids. They have to have money right? I mean they show it off like there's no tomorrow. 

According to the article not likely . 

Nearly  3/4 have less than a thousand? 

Older millennials are not much better.

Who are the 33% who have nothing?

Why?

Still shocking to me that I made the top 15%

Why are these numbers so bad? In my not so humble oppinion, because we are always in a competition with our neighbors. Who of us went black Friday shopping? How many of us went further in debt doing that? How many of us were talked into buying that brand new car or truck? How many of us just had to have that vacation, furniture, House, Electronics, or ATV.

We have this "pay for it later" attitude. We feel rich from our possessions yet as with the example above most of us don't even have a thousand dollars!?

Total national numbers with all age groups is still horrible.

It is not an income problem!

It is not a job problem!

It is a money management problem!

Did you know that an average American spends over 280,000 dollars in interest in his or her lifetime?

Did you know the average car payment is 479 dolllars add monthly car insuranse and your looking at paying 550 a month.

That's 6600 dollars a year.

Did you know that the Averge credit card debt per household is around 15 grand? Average monthly payment is 627 dollars a month! that's over 7500 a year!!

It's not a money problem.

It's a money management problem!

Get rid of the car loans, credit card debt. Stop taking vacations you can't afford!

Because guess what?

Slowly more and more if us are fuguring it out and we are not going to be there to help when you fall. Nope we will be there to buy up your mistakes at a fraction of what they are worth. 

Live within your means or your wants and needs will control you.

November's "I can't afford it award winner"

Totally dropped the ball again.

K. There is a few updates from the last time I wrote an " I can't afford it award". Basically Facebook has blocked my way of finding more information on one's personal life that sometimes contradicts the advertisement. Fortunately I was able to find a few things about this month's winner before that happened.

November's winner of the "I can't afford it award" goes to...
This add.

I've write several times that you need to be careful that your needs don't reach to far into your wants. A reliable car is a need. Unfortunately SO many people fall into this trap that a new car with an affordable 400 dollar car payment is their reliable need of transportation. Then you realize your insurance goes up and your state screws you over in registration every year.  Oh and on top of all of this your income goes down have an unexpected medical emergency or lose your job and your affordable payment becomes unaffordable. You fall behind on your payments and the repo guy takes it the day before your job interview! So your reliable car still works...... BUT your finances are not Reliable.
Leasing a vehicle is WORSE! How people fall for this piece of shiz program I'll never understand! You pay the same car payment to RENT a car? You give up so many rights. You have to insure a vehicle you do not own!!! I have very little sympathy for anyone who falls for this! 
This particular person is a young mom who needs a car. Now she needs to get out of the responsibility of a lease! They trap you into thinking it's a great deal. Most financial advisor will let you know they're not.

K alot more to get to during this Christmas season including December's "I can't afford it award". 2016's "I can't afford it award" a few more penny pincher segments on what not to buy and of course if I have time I need to rant on charities.

Avoid Disneyland (penny pincher segment)

So to get started on things to avoid buying when you have no disposable income. Which in my opinion is having any debt with the exception of a home loan says you should not have any disposable income. I would like to share my thoughts from yesterday while I was sitting next to the bear river run in California Adventure.

 Anybody who knows that area knows that is the entrance to the Grand California Hotel. I got to say while I was staring at the entrance watching all of these people entering and leaving the park I was a little jealous. I had two thoughts while sitting there one I might be in that stage in my life where certain luxuries are affordable and worth it. So at least for now every other Disneyland trip will INCLUDE a stay at a Disneyland hotel and two the question came up HOW? How can these people, some young, some old, afford a 400 dollar a night room?

The national wage average is around 50000 a year. That is roughly after taxes and insurance 650 bucks a week or 3300 a month. Average car payment is 479 average student loan payment 280 average rent/mortgage 1350 Average phone bill 71 per person average food bill for a family of 4  800 average monthly car insurance 88 average credit card payment 159 Add that all together that's a grand total of 3577!! meaning an average family cannot even afford an average lifestyle without suplimentation. So again how? Now obviously there are legitimate reasons how such as rich parents putting the trip on a credit card or actually having some hardcore saving skills but not every person staying there can legitimately say they can afford it. They found a way to pay for it but let's be honest they cannot afford it without going into debt which means as I have said it before the risk of relying on social services you and I contribute to.

This brings me to my first PENNY PINCHER "Avoid Buying" segment.

Avoid Disneyland Vacations.

I know....I hear you. Your probably saying, "Are you kidding me!?.....No..... way.."

You have no student loan debt no credit card debt you don't ask your parents for loans and your car is paid off right??

You mean No??

Then at least hear my arguments. The penny pincher segment is to help those who desperately legitimately want to get out of debt and have control of their financial lives.

So why avoid Disneyland Vacations?

#1 Price.
My total vacation was close to 3 grand. That included a crammed room 3 miles away for 5 nights, Disneyland 1 park 4 day passes, gas food and very few souvenirs.
A Disneyland hotel stay would be double that.

#2 Overpriced Souvineers. I understand your going to pay more inside a park. I get that but seriously a pair of mouse ears is 23.99. I bought 3 for a whopping total of 77 and some change. That.....is.....gouging!
I know I know. That's Disneyland for you and you don't have to buy it but remember this segment is for those in debt with no disposable income and what to avoid so you can have MORE disposable income.

#3 Large crouds.
If I am going into debt for something you better believe I want a deal. So here's your deal with Disneyland. You will wake up happy arive there excited and by the time your in the park you might be angry and frustrated. Why? Large cowds. Busses dropping off groups of children. Who crowd up the lines. Locals who have season passes who treat the park like it's a public park. Inconsiderate drivers cutting you off.

That's worth going further into debt on top of debt on top of other debt to experience that?

#4 LOCALS!!
I wish Disneyland would get rid of the annual pass and it's because of the locals. They crowd the lines take up space and have you ever got a good seat at the parade? Chances are a LOCAL annual pass holder beat you to it. They know all the ins and outs. They come for the parade and shows and leave. There are even Locals who will hire out for 20 an hour reserve your spots in line and take care of your fast passes. Disney PLEASE get rid of the annual pass.
Lastly
#5 your a 4th class citizen at Disneyland.

"But Disneyland treats everyone fairly"

Really? 1st class citizens are those who do pay for it. These our your people who stay at the Disneyland resorts or pay extra to get a guide. Getting a guide gets you straight access to the front of the lines, Hotel guest enjoy a private entrance to the park, staying on site (need a nap with all that fun? No problem just walk to your hotel). and other perks that I would need to look further into. 2nd class citizens our your true disabled people and your fakers. Yes there are fakers. They receive special treatment too. Front of the line passes for them and all of they're family and friends. 3rd class citizens are the annual season holders. Perks include 10% off dining and going to disneyland almost any time you want. One lady we talked to was on her 29th time that year. 4th class citizen is everyone else. What do you get? besides fast passes NOTHING. no discounts no line skipping. To me that is unfair. We pay the most yet get nothing in return.

So again avoid Disneyland.


Unless you can upgrade your citizenship.

And be debt free and have some savings!

Is it worth it to be a penny pincher

I've wanted to write my thoughts on this. Is it worth it to be a penny pincher?

It's funny when things were going great in my life such as after taxes or even before my first kid was born I relaxed on pinching my pennies. We would eat out 6 days a week buy clothes hit the road almost every weekend pay extra payments on the car. My wife would get her hair and nails done buy dog food pay vet bills and would not even think twice about doing all of that. We had no kids and those were needs to a young married couple. As we got older our credit cards were eventually maxed out, income went down children were born and it finally caught up to us. I don't know if robbing my child's piggy bank to pay for groceries asking for an extension on our rent or a home refinance program made me feel worst but they all eventually made me realize that something needed to change. If I was going to be independent  (and through my parents choice of not helping me I had nobody) I needed to change. I needed to find out how finances work why mine were not working and through alot of hard work, rearranging my debts finding out how to control debts and most of all inspiration from non other than my heavenly Father I did find ways to save. I stopped spending money I didn't have, I made more, saved a TON, and became with the exception of our house DEBT FREE. I am currently at Disneyland fully paid for vacations using no debt and EARNING and SAVING money while here. So yes it is always worth it to find savings. DO NOT STOP PINCHING YOUR PENNIES!

In my next few blog entries I will explain what to avoid buying and why. If I had known this info, no joke, I would have close to 80 GRAND in my account from savings interest and cash back rewards.

Why I WILL NOT donate to Primary Children's Hospital

Went to panda express today. My meal came to 16.03. The lady asked me if I wanted to round up to 17 and donate .97 cents to Primary Children's Hospital. I said no thanks.

Why?

Glad you asked?

Actually chances are your going to click that back button because this isn't

"What you were looking for"

I'll speed up my post so you can get to that back button faster.

First Panda Express is a corporation I try to avoid but my wife likes it so I go every once in a great while. They are also very greedy trying to keep all profits they can and even cutting expenses so low 1995s contractors cannot live with what they are willing to pay. I know. I used to be one of panda's delivery guys. I don't trust that company with any donations.

2nd primary children's hospital is through Intermountain healthcare. Intermountain healthcare is tax exempt because it is required to provide a service that is more than the value of taxes they would be paying. Millions of dollars worth and although they do that what they don't tell you is that if you have a good standing bill with them and can barely afford it they will tack on interest. Here they are promoting they are a charitable hospital yet only to those with more severe conditions. You could be making 6 figures a year and yet if you show them you cannot afford your bill they will write it off. If your child stays a week or less and you are sacrifice financial purchases all the time and all you want to do is responsibly pay your bills they will allow that.....with 8.99% interest.
Here's my question to PRIMARY CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL

WHERE DOES THE INTEREST GO?

 Does it go into the same charitable fund?
If it does. Your forcing me not only to take care of my bill but others too?

You are tax exempt!!

You received 80% of your overpriced medical bills and you need to tac on an additional 9% On the remaiming 20% I owe!

For what??

Until I get my answer I cannot feel right with donating.

Again I'll say this.

If it feels right to donate do, if it doesn't don't.
These are my and mine feelings not meant to pursuade yours.

Octobers winner

Some times not being able to aford something can be because of time.

You could be a multi millionaire and still not have enough time. Work, family life, maybe a life changing event such as having a baby can take up alot of your time. 

So for this month's "I can't afford it award" I have chosen this add I found on Facebook.

I have some strong feelings when it comes to pet ownership and since i too am out of time (being its a half hour from midnight.) I'll leave it at that.

Dont get a dog if you dont have time for it!

My in laws financial traps.

I knew it would eventually happen and it did.

This weekend.

So for years now I have warned of the dangers of overexerting your finances. Adding a car loan to your budget. Spending too much on vacations. Putting vacations on credit cards. Adding or upgrading your Internet and cable. Spending more than you are earning. Even leaving lights on or not trying to conserve resources that you pay for can catch up to you.
I have several times in the past brought up my in laws as examples of what not to do to your financial situation. Every time we went to visit they seemed superior to all of us "peasants" who could not afford what they could BARELY afford. 60 " flat screen t.v.s, Electric couches with cup holders, refrigerator with a computer built in, new Sinks installed, 2 newer cars (one bought on mothers day) with car loans and even a motion sensor trash can. Not to mention vacations to Vegas California Hawaii Georgia AND treating the "underprivileged" grandkids to an all expense paid vacation to Disneyland complete with 100 dollar gift cards to all 3. While my kids got by with sac lunches and minumul souvenirs. Not to mention we over drafted our bank account while on that trip.

Anyways

For years I would tell myself there would be a day where we would have more financial security than they do. Give it time and keep going. Some day they will be wanting our help. We on the other hand have not even asked for a loan but I have to give them credit. For the first 3 years of our marriage they did a good job at being, uhm whats the word, GRAND PARENTS. Buying our meals and taking us places but unfortunately they have lost their grandparent charm. I can arguably trace that to when they bought the first brand new car and when her daughter moved in.
So to get to my point, here we are. My family has increased in wealth through alot of sacrifice and good financial decisions and they decided to come visit.
We let them use our car we filled it up for them paid for a meal gave them a place to stay and even paid for entertainment! When they left I had to put more gas in the car to take them to the airport. In all I would say we spent around 150 dollars while they saved 250.

So what's my point...

Here it is. Close relatives who spend lavishly and buy things they cannot afford are going to expect you to help them when your times are good and theirs are not. They may even use the "we helped you" card (which they haven't) or the "we paid for you" that one time.

Don't let it work!!

Here are some tips to prevent yourself from being ripped off from your money hungry relatives who love to show off any artificial wealth they can.

1. Treating relatives to a meal is fine. It's also a nice gesture but don't expect them to do the same. Try at least doing it at the end of the vacation that way they don't expect you to pay again.

2. Going along with eating out, go Dutch or chose less expensive fast food places.

3. If your relatives mention they are on a budget take that as a red flag. They may be expecting you to pay for more (like mine did)

5. Unless you have smart financially secure family members coming to visit DO NOT offer your car as an alternative to a rental car. With a rental car they are responsible for gas with yours they are not and if you have relatives like I do they don't realize they should fill the tank to when they began their journey. My in laws left it empty before taking them to the airport. Which meant I filled it 1 and a half times. If they ask tell them your car needs repairs or its in the shop.

6. Do not disclose your wealth. If anything  tell them your struggling also. That way they expect less.

Lastly make note of all the times you "paid" for something just on case they try to make that argument. This is not only to stand up for yourself it's also to remind yourself.