There’s been much ballyhoo lately about cost of living and affordability in media lately (deservedly so, imo) but I’m curious how hard it is for those of us who are a little more capable than normies (we like to think).
Feel free to be somewhat vague. Not asking anyone to doxx themselves. I’ll start.
In my mid-thirties. Married, two kids. Combined income is just under 100k. We live in a low cost of living area which has helped us a lot. We were able to buy a house in ‘21 with a 15 year mortgage and it feels like we got on the last lifeboat off the Titanic. We’ve been able to build about a 200k net worth, about half of which is home equity.
Day to day expenses are getting tougher, however. We’ve never had a car payment but our older kid has started school and that has put a strain on us since he goes to a private Christian school. I’ve worked in education and I consider sending a kid to public school to be akin to child abuse.
It feels harder and harder to save and invest. Just making ends meet with two kids in this red state feels like a Herculean task. Wondering if anyone else feels the same way.
Pretty good, actually. Been preparing since 2004, and now I've effectively secured food, shelter, water and electricity. Also, the anons back on 4chan/IRC correctly predicted the 2008 crash and I'm glad I followed their advice.
Been helping others slip away from the bankers' death-grip since 2014 too. Not only it's profitable, I make friends for life.
Good for you, most encouraging response here. We had to abandon our original prep spot but just closed on some acreage a few weeks ago.
This sounds pretty cool, can you elaborate? I've been dealing with lenders and finance people a lot lately. The mortgage brokers just want your money, unfortunately, as do financial advisors ("invest in my mutual!") What else is out there to help people be more financially savvy, besides being Dave Ramsey?
Sure. See, the bankers forgot what they were supposed to be - lending money to create wealth. Like you said, it's all "big profits now for me, fuck everything else!"
They could charge a crushing 10~15% (or more) monthly interest, then tell you how to run your business if you borrowed a mere 50,000$ to start a business with. Me, I offer an alternate solution. Instead of lifelong debt to banks and educational institutions, I offer loans with a one-time fee and digital books respectively.
Let's say a small family wants to borrow 50,000$ to start a small business and agrees to pay it in 2 years. We meet up, and I look over their business plan. If it looks good, I give them some advice pro bono, then lend them the 50,000$. Then, I help them grow. They pay off the 2084$/month, then at the end of the full payment and clearing the debt completely, add in a small fee - maybe 300$ or so.
That's it. No banks, no tax, no feds and no cuts for greedy bureaucrats.
Same for people who want to learn. I get them some books/ebooks, some self-learning guides, and provide the means to let them study and learn at their own pace. For this, I charge less than a dollar per person. (((College))) gets cut out of the deal. What both these services actually get me is something far more valuable.
Networking and contacts. The rural chicken farm I invested in back in 2020 after the chinavirus bioterror attack (and worked part time at) when they first started up now sends me a dozen or so eggs every week for no charge.