This! My wife and I had some good friends from hs over at our place and they were amazed at our house. So I got to talking to the husband and we started talking finances. They were making MORE than me, which shocked them. So we started talking about where they bought their home (they planned to do a fixer upper...but picked a horrible part outside of STL to do that in...literally down the street from the Michael Brown bullshit) and the vacations they took and all the ball games they had been going to. They were visiting a different state every month to follow the Cardinals...so hotel expense, food expense, travel expense, and stadium ticket expense. I told them if they want to have a nicer house (since they were getting ready to have kids at the time), they would have to stop going to all the ball games all over the US. Sadly...they didn't heed my advice. The wife also continued to wastefully spend money on a bunch of stupid shit so I really didn't feel sorry for them.
Now, I also have a doctorate (won't say it what...don't need shills/FBI trying to piece together my life here) and what I witnessed from my classmates was outrageously stupid. You could take out around $45k/yr (a little more iirc) for tuition and living expense (you really couldn't have a job since this was year round schooling, pretty much 7-5 in school each day, plus 5-14 tests per week after the 2nd week of class, plus weekend seminars to further your education). I wouldn't take the full amount after the first semester since I learned quickly that I didn't need that much and ended up paying for some of the schooling with the left over loan money from that first semester but these people around me were taking their extra money, throwing parties, going to the bar each night, or spending it on big HDTVs (at the time, a 45" was about $1200+) and entertainment units/surround sound and gaming units. If I went out, I'd always be a bit frugal...i.e. I wouldn't buy a bunch of drinks bc after 3 drinks, I could have bought a whole 1/5 or a 24 pack of beer. If I was going to drink, I typically did it at home where my money could go a lot further. They would tell me "What's another $2k at the end of this?" when...$2k x 4 years came out to about $20k plus the interest in accrued. So now those SAME MOTHER FUCKERS are supporting the democrat party, esp Bernie, wanting their student debt wiped out. When I would point out their stupidity, all of them would attack me. I told them I paid off all my debt within 3 years of graduating since I didn't accrue nearly as much as they did (about 1/5 to be a rough estimate...of just post grad, most had under grad debt and cc debt as well...where I worked and paid for my under grad in full before each semester).
In the end, most of them hate me and think I'm being selfish for not wanting their debts to be erased. They don't see the irony that people like me are the ones that will end up paying for their debt. Fuck em, fuck em all. I hope they enjoy paying $3k/mo bc of their student loans.
Yeah, I live in a small town and decided to buy a house with a 15 year mortgage as it was actually cheaper than paying rent every month with no return at the end. The only luxury I need is a nice desktop PC every five years or so. Everything else like my phone or car was purchased frugally and I hardly feel the need to travel.
It's not a glamorous lifestyle where I post cool social media photos every week, but I don't ever worry about my finances and I value that peace of mind.
This! My wife and I had some good friends from hs over at our place and they were amazed at our house. So I got to talking to the husband and we started talking finances. They were making MORE than me, which shocked them. So we started talking about where they bought their home (they planned to do a fixer upper...but picked a horrible part outside of STL to do that in...literally down the street from the Michael Brown bullshit) and the vacations they took and all the ball games they had been going to. They were visiting a different state every month to follow the Cardinals...so hotel expense, food expense, travel expense, and stadium ticket expense. I told them if they want to have a nicer house (since they were getting ready to have kids at the time), they would have to stop going to all the ball games all over the US. Sadly...they didn't heed my advice. The wife also continued to wastefully spend money on a bunch of stupid shit so I really didn't feel sorry for them.
Now, I also have a doctorate (won't say it what...don't need shills/FBI trying to piece together my life here) and what I witnessed from my classmates was outrageously stupid. You could take out around $45k/yr (a little more iirc) for tuition and living expense (you really couldn't have a job since this was year round schooling, pretty much 7-5 in school each day, plus 5-14 tests per week after the 2nd week of class, plus weekend seminars to further your education). I wouldn't take the full amount after the first semester since I learned quickly that I didn't need that much and ended up paying for some of the schooling with the left over loan money from that first semester but these people around me were taking their extra money, throwing parties, going to the bar each night, or spending it on big HDTVs (at the time, a 45" was about $1200+) and entertainment units/surround sound and gaming units. If I went out, I'd always be a bit frugal...i.e. I wouldn't buy a bunch of drinks bc after 3 drinks, I could have bought a whole 1/5 or a 24 pack of beer. If I was going to drink, I typically did it at home where my money could go a lot further. They would tell me "What's another $2k at the end of this?" when...$2k x 4 years came out to about $20k plus the interest in accrued. So now those SAME MOTHER FUCKERS are supporting the democrat party, esp Bernie, wanting their student debt wiped out. When I would point out their stupidity, all of them would attack me. I told them I paid off all my debt within 3 years of graduating since I didn't accrue nearly as much as they did (about 1/5 to be a rough estimate...of just post grad, most had under grad debt and cc debt as well...where I worked and paid for my under grad in full before each semester).
In the end, most of them hate me and think I'm being selfish for not wanting their debts to be erased. They don't see the irony that people like me are the ones that will end up paying for their debt. Fuck em, fuck em all. I hope they enjoy paying $3k/mo bc of their student loans.
Yeah, I live in a small town and decided to buy a house with a 15 year mortgage as it was actually cheaper than paying rent every month with no return at the end. The only luxury I need is a nice desktop PC every five years or so. Everything else like my phone or car was purchased frugally and I hardly feel the need to travel.
It's not a glamorous lifestyle where I post cool social media photos every week, but I don't ever worry about my finances and I value that peace of mind.