Quote: People don't know how to handle money.   We don't teach it in the schools.   Personal finance should be taught in high school.    I see lots of middle-class people living paycheck to paycheck just wasting money left and right, neglecting their own safety net.   For a country that supposedly has a "shrinking middle class" we sure have a lot of people who waste their money at Starbucks.   We sure have a lot of people who drive nice cars.  It's a lot more than 1% of the population. 

 

There's no excuse for borrowing money to buy an expensive car.   I see commercials for companies like BMW which tout their financing options.   No one has any business buying a BMW if they have to finance it.   If you're borrowing money to buy a BMW or a Mercedes, that is a stupid choice. 

 

So many of these struggling middle class people are struggling because of their own personal choices.   I guarantee you, half of the people in this country have enough income that they could get rich if they had the discipline.   It just takes time and discipline. 

 

I have a lot of sympathy for truly poor people, and I think we should help them a lot more than we do.   But I have a lot less sympathy for the mass of people who have good jobs and cannot get ahead because they make stupid choices and don't know how to handle money. 

 

Very well put.   :thumbsup:

 

I remember a while back working with a guy that is the very example of this.  At the time (early 2000's) we were both earning roughly $65,000.00 per year.  I can remember him coming in to work at night (we worked the overnight shift) with a cup of Starbucks coffee and talking about him and his wife going out to a sushi bar for dinner.

 

However, he would also talk about getting utilities cut off for being late on his bill, talk about being behind on car payments, etc.  He also talked about "floating" and eventually bouncing checks.  Now the company that we were working for at the time offered medical insurance, and it wasn't exactly "cheap" but it was reasonable, especially for a family.  Instead, he opted out of the insurance plan, and when he and his wife decided to have a baby, they used medicaid.

 

I remember him talking about getting a pretty good sized tax "refund" and rather than catching up on his bills or putting money in the bank, he went out and got a new gaming PC.

 

He used to drive his other three children to and from school in Mandarin from the Westside because it was "a better" school (read "white" school).

 

His actions eventually cost him his job because we were required to maintain a security clearance, and part of that clearance involves having a good credit history.

 

The point is, he was trying to live an "upper class" lifestyle on his middle class income.  Rather than save or invest part of his earnings he spent recklessly to "fit in".

 

One thing that I find kind of ironic.  Prior to him getting fired and losing his job I do remember that he had a John Kerry bumper sticker on his car.

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