"100% of people who do not save money do not have any!"--Dave Ramsey
 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x9ueaxf75SU

I enjoyed watching several Dave Ramsey rants today. Some people said it was "unchristian" to use the word stupid.

K

People objected to him yelling.

K.

Reaction videos are quite popular nowadays. I tune into the Dave Ramsey Rants, not the Dave Ramsey Calmly and Rationally Discusses Destructive Spending Habits.

Of course, I cannot mention Dave without pointing out errors. He said that no member of the government ever gave you money.

What about the Obama stimulus checks? Someone sent me money...

He said nurse practitioners make at most $80 - $90,000.

Sure--to start:
https://ecomodder.com/forum/attachme...1&d=1565815587

I think he almost always gives great advice. Does it matter that in my forty years on Planet Dirt I received one $500 check?

Not really.

Does it matter that he only gave the starting pay?

The caller's spouse wanted to quit her job making $60,000 a year to become a nurse practitioner. She did not have a nursing background, so she would lose money for six years before being eligible for jobs that paid $30,000 a year more. How much does an NP program cost? "Online programs run somewhere in between costing $400-$800 per credit ultimately averaging about $22,500 for a nurse practitioner degree."

Keep in mind, you need a BSN first. "The average cost to complete a four-year BSN program in the U.S. ranges from $40,000 to more than $200,000. The disparity there reflects the huge variety of available options."

How is the average a huge range? That is like saying the average family on Earth has 1 - 5 children.

"The average cost of online RN to BSN programs ranges from as little as $25,000 to as high as $80,000."

"The average human has 5 to 16 fingers." Also, they do not say how much it costs to get an RN. Is the average between $15,000 to $120,000? Then the two figures align.

It looks like the least it would cost for six years of nursing school would be over $60,000. Since she could not work full-time and study full-time, she would lose over $420,000. If she makes $90,000 the seventh year she is still out $330,000, so it would take eleven years to break even. If this is a regular part of your balanced twenty-year plan, and she makes $125,000 in year twenty, she would make an extra $1,085,000.

However, they already have substantial debt, so of course he told them to pay off their current debt before going back to school.

I wonder how many of his callers have terrible luck and how many have terrible decision-making abilities.

Some people can earn a X value and spent X plus 20% and go in debt.

If you raise their income 500% they will once again spent more than what they can afford.

Some people born to make sh...

Sure I don't speak about people with true difficult, like for health service and decent home. I speak about people which grave always desire to have more than what they have or can buy.

People always talk about people who win the lottery, go bankrupt, and sometimes commit suicide. I keep entering Publisher's Clearinghouse. Their highest payout is a couple hundred thousand a year.

That shouldn't make me too sad. :)

If you won lottery :

1- Don't tell anyone, or they will ask you money or demand you to spent (with them), or even charge you to do things or call you a Scrooge or idiot if you don't spent it a lot.

2- Keep in mind that money don't last forever if not invested.

3- Remamber that you need a master plan about investment, and how much you can spent in a way to keep it in standart for life and future. Try to think like you was a boss and the month needs was like a employer salary.

4- Don't start to buy very expensive things, cause it will make people suspect of you.

5- If possible, move away from where you live, maybe even change from city, if you have no family or strong connections.

6- If people find out you got rich, be prepared to do not trust people anylonger, cause you will no longer know who likes you, since a lot of people will only have eyes for your money.

7- Clean your room and add a writing desk to it. I took this one a bit from uncle Jordan. ;-)

I won $10 from Reader's Digest. Put it in my savings...... till bad times took all my money. Just figgered out, that means I lost the Reader's Digest winnings, too. Sounds about average for lots of people.
Still trying to understand how "don'T rump" is so poor, that he had to white wash the ill-gotten gains from russian oligarchs, who stole money from "legitimate" russian wealth builders.

I didn't know Robert Jordan was your uncle! Is that how Jordan writes?

A woman I kow had about 2,5 to 2,7 times the minimum wage as salary, despite the husband lost the job. Her kids was grow-up no longer living with her. She was a nice person, good behavior, calm, humble in talking.
But she had not a own home, and had to pay rent, despite had work for long time. She said that couldn't save money to buy a home or ground to built a home. Anyway we found out why she couldn't, despite had not a so terrible income. She used to buy expensible eletronic devices, smartphones more expensible than the ones used by many people who hired her, and used to got to restaurants with her husband and post photos on Instagram about the dinner.

I imagine they didn't saved money even when her husband still had the job, despite he earned less than she.

I am glad that you survived emotionally.

https://ecomodder.com/forum/attachme...1&d=1565837474

I have never found out anything like how often this is paid and if you can get a lump sum. Sometimes they say "Forever," which means I could leave something for a niece or nephew, which I am sure would be great for their relationship.

People always say if you win money the government takes half. The highest tax rate is 37%, so let's say you get paid weekly, as the ad indicates, but we have also establishes that advertisers lie.

So, say I win, and my cash on hand goes from $6 to $3,156.

Week:
1. Pay down my student loans.
2. Make another payment.
3. Pay off my student loans. It would take 10% longer because I pay tithing. Pay an actual repair shop to fix one of my cars.
4. You know what? Let's be silly. There is a house down the street that may have been similar to Mom's before someone converted the garage to a bedroom. They are currently asking $170,000. Let's say that is a fair price if they include closing costs. 3.5% of that is $5,947.
5. Save for 3.5% down.
6. Get approved for a loan and make an offer.
7. I recently read that it can take 30 - 45 days for paperwork to buy a house. 20% is $33,980. That would take 11 weeks. Save my winnings until I can move in and then pay everything until I have 20% and get off mortgage insurance. Ask the guys at Church to help me move, do it on my own, and say "Thanks for showing up, but I already finished. Do any of you want pizza and donuts?"

Hopefully I can convince Mom to move down the street so we can repaint the interior, make repairs, and replace the flooring. Would Mom want to remodel the kitchen? I think it would look great if I just cleaned the cabinets, but the bathroom cabinets should probably be replaced.

Once Mom's house is fixed up, move back, put up the second house for rent, and look for a third?

The one thing is that house should have an awesome view of fireworks, so I would actually want a clause that we are allowed to watch the show there, and that we will bring pizza and soda of their choosing.

I think it would be hilarious to have my Civic engine and transmission remanufactured and a competent body shop fix the body and repaint.

Could I afford a new car? Absolutely. Would it frustrate people that I spent it on my Civic?

Absolutely! :D

Oh right. Mom always says she wants me to buy her a new car if I won Publisher's Clearinghouse, so there you go, I would buy a new car--for Mom.

I am sure that at some point I would purchase a new car and maybe not something conservative. Oh well.

Anyway, this is an exercise in futility, I doubt I will ever win anything. I need to make my own future happen and take care of things right now.

I refer about (uncle) Jordan Peterson. It's a joke I always make, since he is very plemic. :D

On Brazil taxes it's about 50% if you sum all the government took in every production line until reach consumer plus direct government tax of citizens.

We have a thing called FGTS, and it values less than the inflation and people only can get it in special circunstances of after years of work or lost job. It's a tax to workers and no one can scape.
Many people want to end that, and others demand to be at least corrected as inflation.

The problem is that if government could remove all taxes, lets just imagine to understand, and cut services, the people would earn double but most of them could not manage save anything. They would spent with better cars, clothes, eletronics devices, and would still not save for heath care, to have a own home, to pay a school for kids or for when they get very old.
They would scr...up and point the finger to the system and call themselves victms.

Is povert between blacks just racism? No genetic involved about desire to spent and don't save?
A research, if I heard right, said that most black kids prefers to get 1 lollypop today nthan get 2 lollypops if wait tomorrow, while white kids mostly prefers get 2 tomorrow.

It's another word we use to mean foolish. Sure, it's misuse of the word, but we all know what it means.

*marking this for my armchair psychology theory

Well if you're pointing out mistakes...

It was the Bush administration that sent $600 checks to most adults. Obama's administration sent checks to those on SS and some veterans, but the stimulus was $400 per person, and wasn't distributed, but instead not collected from payroll taxes.

One evaluation of these 2 stimulus strategies said that though the Bush stimulus costs more to mail checks and takes longer for people to get the money, it spurred spending more because it felt like free money, whereas having less taken from a paycheck doesn't feel like free money.

All that said, the point that the government has never given money is correct. The government doesn't produce wealth, they confiscate it. They might distribute others confiscated money, or "print" money which devalues the wealth others have saved, but it clearly isn't a "member of government sending [their] money".

In the right ballpark. Depends on which market and other factors. Specializing makes a lot more. Family medicine that's about right, and that's what most do.

He could have been more precise, but the point wasn't to be precise. This isn't a lecture of NP pay grades.

There's online programs? That estimate seems way low to me. My wife's tuition alone was $10k per quarter, $80k for the 2 year program. Not only do you need a 4 year degree, but it should be a science degree involving courses in biology. Then you need lots of volunteer work and experience caring for people to have a pretty low chance of being accepted into a program, which has a $50 application fee each program. If you pass the paper application, you then have to interview in person, which might be a flight across the country for a couple days... with the probability of ultimately being rejected.

That's where I disagree with Ramsey. Occupation isn't concerned only with financial outcomes, and if the caller would be more satisfied as an NP, that's what they should do, and the sooner the better.

Finding the right career has a lot to do with finding the optimal challenge for ones skills, ability, and personality. You want something right at the brink of your capabilities, otherwise it isn't interesting. NPs have higher intelligence than average, so probably the first thing for the caller is to find out if intellectual abilities aligns with the job.

I had a conversation with my wife recently about how PA (practically same as NP) suited her well and optimally challenged her. She's smarter than average, but the job of PA is about at the limit of her natural intelligence. She'd probably be in over her head as an MD, and she agrees.

When terrible luck is consistent, that's an indication that it's probably terrible decision making abilities.

Then again, fate determines our genetics and environment in which we develop, so in some sense everything is luck.

The highest federal tax rate is 37%, but that doesn't factor in local taxes and other ways in which we are taxed indirectly.

Closing on a house can take 30 days or less if everyone stays on top of it. PMI usually has a minimum period, like 2 years. Then there's rules about how to remove PMI that varies from having to purchase an appraisal, to requiring more than 20% equity... each one can be different so read the fine print.

VA loans are generally better and might have advantages in PMI and other terms.

I like that strategy. Isn't that the one that messed Dave up in the first place?

I'm renting rooms to individuals in my house. I stipulate that I have a room and may stay there anytime I want. So far that's been once.

*marked for armchair psychology.

I probably wouldn't buy a new car for myself no matter how wealthy I became. Likewise, mom wouldn't ever receive a new car from me either. She'd be happy with a sensible used one in good condition.

Most agreeable thing you've said to date.

*Evidence that your priority is not to learn and understand, but to be entertained, especially at the frustration and disappointment of others.

I appreciate your detailed response, but it is 0140, and I promised myself that I would get to bed at a reasonable time last night. I still have a PM to which I want to try to finish responding.

Eh. We have long felt that I had Asperger's. One psychologist suggested it, but said the label would not help me. Years ago I took out two women who asked if I had been diagnosed with Asperger's.

Is it expected or unexpected to ask people if they had been diagnosed with things while on a date with them?

When I was a substitute I said "Stupid" to a kindergarten class and they gasped.

It is not a bad word, but I decided I did not need to say it.

I watch Dave Ramsey clips whether or not they specify being a rant, just if the topic interests me.

I wonder why I attributed Bush's actions to President Obama, but then again, why do I say Bush and President Obama (one was my commander-in-chief. That should be capitalized, shouldn't it?)

I am sure that starting NP pay varies wildly by state, just like every other field.

My sister earned her BSN through NAU and her NP through Grand Canyon University. Both programs were on-line and required her traveling to Flagstaff to take tests.

My understanding is that NPs have far more hands-on experience than PAs.

As my math showed, there was a long ROI on switching. I am not going to calculate different scenarios, although I wonder if she could have tried to advance in her current field.

People should enjoy their jobs. Otherwise they would be like the Walmart cashier that was clearly unhappy to be there.

I should have said "What a coincidence! I don't want to be here, either!"

Okay, I found the video, which took a surprisingly long time to find, especially considering that I basically wrote out the title.

The caller specified his wife would need to quit her job to go back to school. The specific point is that they already owe $150,000 in debt: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ajXUaZ5bvls

I have looked into PMI (once again I should be working on projects instead of researching things I may or may not pursue months or years from now). I did not see anything about a minimum period, but I am sure a great deal of information was forgone. It is supposed to automatically dropped off once you only owe 78% of what it is worth, so you are supposed to be able to get out faster if your property gains value, although that would indicate it could take indefinitely to get out if your property loses enough value.

My sister bought her first house in 2006 and she bragged that it gained enough value for her to get out of mortgage insurance within months, so I guess there is not a minimum duration in Arizona.

According to Graham Stephan (or Meet Kevin), Dave was buying houses with ninety-day loans, and he kept renewing the loans until someone bought the bank and refused to renew. Dave seemed to confirm that in one of the videos that I watched on Wednesday.

By the way, someone asked Dave how to successfully flip and Dave told him to make sure he could turn a profit besides his hourly pay, otherwise just remodel for someone else.

You reserve one room in your house?

Mom and my sister have never liked my Civic. There are some dents and the paint has seen better days, but I honestly believe they dislike my car just because I like it, but nobody needs me to list my evidence for that theory.

I like my Civic and want to keep her as long as I can. I want to fix everything possible.

Mom goes back and forth between saying she wants a new car and she wants a 2017 Camry. She prefers that one's Predator mouth, but I cannot get the images to load right now, although both look absurdly big.

I do not know that any of Ramsey's rants are directed at anyone. The video I linked in #1 was him talking to the audience, not calling a specific person.

I do not have any idea how that would cause frustration and disappointment of others.

As I wrote before, people enjoy reaction videos. Here is one of Graham Stephen's father driving Graham's Tesla for the first time: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j0lvdLO8lYo

Here is one of a baby: https://ecomodder.com/forum/attachme...1&d=1565861859

Then, of course, there are the jump-scare reaction videos, which are considered cheap.

Okay. It is 0240 and I am concluding this masterpiece of words and stuff.

My sister has been renting since they moved back from Oregon last year. They were doing everything they could to save up for a down payment, but it seems like they burned out quickly.

They put in an offer on a nice house the other day and were accepted. Their move-in date is supposed to be seven weeks from then, so that is how long it [may] take. It is a bigger house and even with mortgage insurance, it will be slightly cheaper. They will be responsible for their own repairs, but it does not seem like their landlord believes in repairing his own house.

Hey! You guys knew that I drove Army trucks for eight years, right?! Before that I drove a school bus for five and a half years.

She already said she is driving the moving truck herself, despite once hitting a fence, and getting a moving truck stuck another time.

That is about as many mistakes as I made in 13.5 years.

I saw a broken down HMMWV on I-84 the other day and thought of Xist. What are the common problems?

I did answer this elsewhere, right? I drove HMMWVs far less than other vehicles, but ChrisFix discussed this when he bought his monster.

In the last Dave Ramsey video that I watched he yelled at a woman that took a vacation while just starting to pay off her huge debts. That was fun and all, but I really enjoyed this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-OuXy_h8Qb4

A divorced mom called in because she had a credit card with what Dave calls "American Distress" and they were harassing her. They worked out a plan and he assured her that nothing they said about her was true, she was a good mom that got behind in her finances taking care of her kids, but in five years this would be a story she shares with other single moms in similar situations.

I once heard about videos related to minimalist life style. I imagine, before watch the videos, that it was about live in nature if possible, similar to hippie, with the least as possible, get donated clothes or used, just food and a room to live, since I had watched some tv reportage about people living like that.

But I found it was nothing like that, but it was about adminstration and priorities. For example, they showed how people can get better if concentrate their money in what they needed more and for what they needed less they would take the most simple things. For example, they do not get expensive mobile phone, neither expensive cars or pricy clothes/glasses/watches, unles they work needed something advanced. The money they saved, cuttin the unnecessary things, was invested in professional enhancement and laisure, trips, enjoy life instead of lose time trying to show people they was happy or wealth.

But people don't respect such people, but think they are fools or cheapskate.
I saw many things like the following : Begger getting more money if askig money for beer than if asking money for a sick daughter or for food. On internet a guy goet a lot of money after request help to buy his beer supply. He got so much that he decided to donated the extra portion. The beer company decided to donate a wholle lotta after found he donated to a hospital, so they gave hin some money and beer supply free, and a lot to the hspital, or something like that.
But after a reporter founbd of twittes of hin, with political incorretc posts, from his teens, he lost the gift hw would get. And the TV reprter that brought his pass and f... hin, was found to have even more political incorrect posts in his twitter, with even hate posts.

A woman asked money to help her overcome a terrible date thata was supposed traumatic for her, and where she lost a lot of money. She got donatins.

What will be next? Someone ask hep to rent a Mercedes to get a pretty girl that believes he is rich???

I think the donators project thenselves in cases like that...

Sites like Mr. Money Mustache are dedicated to the concepts you mentioned concerning living frugally and well below your means. The thing is, people are either savers or spenders. I've always naturally lived below my means because I'd rather have opportunity (money in the bank) than the latest widget or to be seen as trendy.

As I say, spend money on things you use often and enjoy the most. I generally buy 1 or 2 generations old technology which is vastly cheaper. Much of the depreciation has occurred by then.

I don't get ban culture. Who cares what people said when they were kids. Further, how in the world is generalized bigotry worse than actually being hateful towards individuals? If someone said that 1/4 Japanese are the worst people on Earth, why would I care? Now if someone struck me in the face because they hate me personally, that matters. Words matter, but actions matter more. Donating over a million is a true testament of character and goodwill.

I live fairly minimalistic in the way stated above. I drive old cars that I buy cash, I generally buy clothes at the thrift store, or on occasion at farm supply stores when they are on sale (I'll gladly pay $20 for a wrangler or carharrt shirt on sale because I know they will last, but there's no way I'd pay the same for "fashion" brands.) I also reused a lot of things that others would throw away. It is through this type of lifestyle that I was able to support a family of 4 (then 5, now 6) on a single income. I've come a long ways in terms of income in the last 4 years, and in fact even in the last year, but we are now ~2 weeks from closing on a fairly nice house that by all rights someone with my income 'can't' afford.

I also bought a couple mobile homes a few years back (one of which I currently live in), both I got for around $8000. I put a little money into both and expect to sell them for at least 20k.

I actually funnel as much of my spending through credit cards as I can. Why spend actual cash at the pump or the grocery store when for the same price I can get rewards points too? It bakes a discount into (almost) everything I already have to spend money on.

Peace of mind. Most of my friends and relatives have had either their credit card or debit card hacked at one time or another. In my world it is worth the extra 2 or 3% to pay cash and never have to worry about it. Even if the credit card company gives you back whatever money you got scammed for you still have to waste your time to get the ball rolling, cancel the old card, get a new card and worry about what other information about your personal life has been hacked. I gave up credit cards years ago just for those reasons. As of this time I've never been hacked.
JJ

Peace of mind isn't worth that much to me, especially when it adds up to so much. These days the CC companies are pretty good at stopping unauthorized charges due to the algorithms they are running. The hassle of an unauthorized charge is like 3 minutes on the phone and waiting 3 days for a new card.

I paid my wife's tuition on a CC because they offered no discount for paying cash. 2% of $10k is $200... four times per year. An extra $800 a year is peace of mind to me.

My Hondas are twenty years old. I do my own maintenance. I purchase inexpensive clothing infrequently and then wear it as long as I can. I cannot tell you the last time that I took a vacation, I just spend time with my family.

https://ecomodder.com/forum/attachme...1&d=1570637246

I can get points or whatever by using a credit card. The millennials on YouTube that I watch always say to never use debit, always credit. If someone steals your debit card number your money is tied up until it gets sorted out, but if they steal your credit card number, it is the bank's money.

I would rather just use my debit card than need to remember to make my payment.

Someone stole my checkbook and the bank said to just monitor my account. When something happened I let them know immediately and they arrested a woman. I do not have any idea what happened with the case, but they took care of my account. I have almost never had much money in my account, but it was only a minor inconvenience.

First of all, this is the year 2000; you don't have to remember anything. Ask Google to remind you, or put a reminder in your calendar, or whatever you do to be reminded of important things.

Second, credit card payments are automatically drawn from my checking account for the full statement amount. No need to even remember to pay it. The whole thing is on autopilot, and I've never paid a dime in interest.

You've yet to disclose (perhaps you haven't even added it up yourself) your regular monthly expenses. Income might be a problem, but where money is spent is usually a bigger problem, especially when a single (no dependants) person in relatively good health doesn't have money. I've said it before, but I could work a minimum wage job and have an increasing amount in the bank each month (when I was single). I know "poor" single people that make $40k and have $250/mo rent. They claim to be good with money, but spending $100/mo on a cell phone plan isn't something a person with no money should be doing.

I have good news and bad news.
 

I find myself in unfamiliar territory. The balances in my checking and savings accounts continue to grow. I will soon need to decide what to do with it. I am not too fond of my Bank of America account, it pays 0.01% interest and has a minimum balance of $500. Navy Federal is twenty-five times as good, it pays 0.25% and the minimum balance is $20. I forget why I opened the account in the first place, but then they offered me a credit card with 0% APR for 12 months and 0 balance transfer fees. While vastly better than Bank of America, the interest is still negligible.

I started using the account when I got my second job and 100% of my negligible pay goes straight into it. I could earn at least 2% in a money market account or another savings account, or theoretically slightly more than 5% in a high-yield checking account, but I might earn $20 with it, after jumping through all kinds of hoops.

I am just making sure that I will have the funds available to pay taxes. I checked my student loans and they were below $5,300, at a little over 3%.

I actually have more than enough to pay them off, but Bank of America would fine me for falling below my minimum balance, and would I exclusively use my credit card until I am paid again?

I looked at my loans and I only had two left. The one with a higher interest rate was a little over $700, so I paid it off, and when that clears I will owe about $4,600.

If life cooperates I should be able to pay off my student loans within a month.

The bad news is that Navy Federal charged me interest. It was less than $3, one day's worth, but my payments were on-time. The 0% APR was not supposed to run out after four months!

If they do not square this away I will look for another 0% introductory card, ideally with zero balance transfer fees, but hopefully I will be able to pay off that debt within a year.

That just leaves my debt to society? :)

I wouldn't drain your account to that point just to save a few bucks on interest. Wait another month or two before paying off the student loans and keep your emergency fund healthy (or whatever you want to call that savings account).

Have you looked into opening an account at a credit union? They usually have fewer/no fees and less BS like high minimums for savings accounts. Also look into USAA. I got a card from USAA with 0% APR for 18 months to help lessen the blow of replacing my Camry's hybrid battery.

Not using cards with rewards is silly. I "earn" a few hundred a year in rewards buying stuff I would buy anyway and paying it off every month. The only reason not to (besides not qualifying) is if the temptation of credit cards is too much.

I generally pay my CC every week. On payday, money gets dropped into my account, and at some point in the week I'll log in to my credit card and pay it. It's a lot safer to use than a debit card and I get points. I'm already buying the groceries, gas and whatnot. Might as well have some of that money redirected to helping me out with something else I was already going to do.

Silly is right up my alley! :)

Between Dave Ramsey and everyone else, everybody says that I am wrong! Sweet! :)

I have a credit card with USAA. I transferred my balance when the introductory rate ended.

How are USAA reward checking account rates? I wouldn't bother with rate chasing unless you're starting to amass a good amount of cash...just looked up USAA and it's a garbage rate; 0.01%. Highest rates are about 2.5% these days. That's disappointing as they usually have the best rates for borrowers.

I don't think it's necessarily a bad idea to pay off debt first and shrink cash on hand, as a credit card can still bail you out if necessary, or friends/family. 3% interest is nothing though, so I wouldn't be in too big a hurry to pay that off.

When I got the credit card I kept looking at my student loans. I would pay $185 in interest over the next year. I could have paid off with my student loans and paid down my total debt by another $185, but that made my spider-sense tingle.

I think that focusing on 3% could be considered min-maxing, but while my income was flat, I did not know what else to do.

RedPoint wanted to go over the specifics of my finances. That sounds boring, but I will get to it.

I'm a problem solver by nature, perhaps because I'm terribly curious how things work.

Some people share their problems simply to be heard, and others share them to brainstorm a solution. I'm always assuming we need a solution, since that's the perfect compliment to a problem.

The video games I was most interested in were RTS: Warcraft II, Command & Conquer, tower defense games, etc. Optimizing resources is fun to me.

Xist- what games did/do you play?

Video games? Me? How dare you? Oh wait.

https://ecomodder.com/forum/attachme...1&d=1570684157

I play World of Warcraft.

This is Xist of Sen'Jin. That is the name of his tribe. They honor him for outstanding achievement in the field of killing their enemies. Or something. I got that years ago. He is 111. The current level max is 120. I have four 120s, but I really only play one. I kept telling myself that I would not level more characters until I had upgraded heirlooms and could fly. I can now spend [lots of] gold to upgrade heirlooms so that I can level faster. They unlocked flying on June 25th, but it is a whole odyssey. Supposedly the serious players unlocked it in four or five days. Allegedly a casual player can complete it in three or four weeks.

It has been over fifteen weeks and I hope to finally have it within a couple more. I try to not do anything in-game that does not lead to flying, but I often go a few days or a week without working on it.

I have played for thirteen years, with several breaks, and I calculated some months ago that I had paid a couple of thousand for the original game, subscriptions, and expansion packs. $20 + $15 a month + $50 every two years. The latest expansion pack came out August 14th of last year and I believe that I paid for it with gold. I have usually been able to pay for my monthly subscription with gold, too.

When I figured out how much money I spent on the game I also estimated (the best that I could) how much I would have earned working minimum wage for the same amount of time, although that was irrelevant the three years that I was Active Duty.

I would have earned something like $40,000.

If you figure $3,333.33 a year and maybe an average wage of $8 hourly, that works out to 416.6 hours annually or 13.7 hours a week.

I had planned on discussing my cashflow while I ate dinner, but talking about some game took up all of the time that I allotted. I really need to finish my progress reports, but let's throw out some numbers.

I have averaged $2,187.70 a month since 06/20/2018 at my first job. I have worked my second job for two months and am authorized 20 hours a week, but there are plenty of holidays, and this week is fall break. If I worked twenty hours a week for two consecutive weeks I would take home $654.70. Just doubling that wouldn't really account for holidays. Oh well. Call it $1,309.41 a month, which would work out to $11,784.71 for nine months, while my main job would be $26,252.40 for 12 months, totaling a whopping $38,037.11 per anum.

I pay Mom $350 a month for my small bedroom. When I first moved here I paid $250 a month from my other paycheck to cover her great cooking, but I could not support that.

I eat Quaker Oats from the 42-ounce canister ($3.88 at Walmart) with milk and a tablespoon of PBfit peanut butter powder (32oz for $10 at Big Lots). Milk varies in price and Mom buys that for me, but Safeway charges $2.69 for 64oz. I get 11 servings of oatmeal, 142 servings of peanut butter powder, and 6 servings of milk per container, so if I bought my own dairy, each breakfast would cost 87¢.

Is that close enough to rice and beans? :)

I eat leftovers for lunch and usually make sandwiches when I am at school. Mom makes dinner five nights a week. Thursday nights I make a value-sized Voilà ($9.48) and Fridays, since Little Caesar's killed Extra Most Bestest Stuffed Crust, I heat up a Sam's Choice Stuffed Crust ($5.98). Mom always asks how much it cost and reimburses me.

I guarantee you that I spend far more than $26.14 a month on food. From time to time I order a double Whopper through the app for $3 and I enjoy a burrito from time to time. Bank of America says that I average $179 a month at restaurants, but I spent $419.24 last December alone, which skews things. I had many dates that month. The other 11 months I averaged $157.07, which includes about $40 for our pizza Friday, for which Mom reimbursed me.

She eats one slice. My brother eats one slice. I eventually eat the rest. Why is it so important for her to pay for it? She also pays me back whenever I buy food for the three of us.

Fast food expenditures in the last 30 days:
09/11 $3.24 double Whopper
09/12 $7.57 for two croissant sandwiches, two biscuit sandwiches, and two small tater tots. That was my breakfast and my lunch.
09/13 $3.24 double Whopper
09/16 $3.24 double Whopper
09/18 $27.17 I met someone for dinner at Sonic (her choice).
09/24 $7.57 for two croissant sandwiches, two biscuit sandwiches, and two small tater tots.
10/07 $7.19 burrito

That totals $59.22.

Too much!

The rest of the purchases were for myself and my brother, if not all three of us, although I did try out Burger King's new[er] breakfast sandwiches.

It says that I average $284.14 for groceries, but I do not know how much of that was for the family (or for how much I was reimbursed).

Mom has sent me $371 over the past 30 days, but that includes the chest freezer, which was a little over $200.

My brother asks to go to the store most days. On Tuesday and Friday he usually just wants the local paper, which is about $1. However, he may indicate that he needs body wash, shaving cream, or over-the-counter medicine.

Mom usually says that he is right.

I regularly take him to the dollar store and he will purchase something from their limited selection of toys. His Social Security covers all of his expenses, so Mom isn't paying for all of this stuff.

If you take the 11-month average, I spend $157.07 on fast food, $284.14 on groceries, and it says that I average $364 on "All Shopping and Entertainment." The only entertainment in there is World of Warcraft. The rest is Dollar General, Family Dollar, Big Lots, Dollar Tree, and Amazon.

My Amazon purchases for the last 30 days were:
A charging cable ($8.49)
A white noise machine ($19.99)--they put in a vent connecting my speech corner with the classroom of the teacher that shushed me when workers put in a door and yelled at my kids when the dispatcher and lunch ladies made noise. I hoped that it would cut down on noise going back and forth.
I was mistaken.
A bluetooth keyboard ($19.99)--so I could use my phone more effectively at work. I do not have dependable computer access, so I use my phone.
A shredder ($32.45)--works great!
Heli-Coils and extra inserts for my Civic ($32.70)
A distributor for my Accord ($160.27)

That was $273.89 in 30 days, but before that I went twenty-four days without using Amazon.

This is taking way too long. I will just list BofAs categories and averages.
Home and Utilities $189 average (Harbor Freight, Lowe's, and $38 for my brother)
Transportation $171 (gas and parts)
Personal and Family Care $10 (a dating site)
Health $116 (taking my brother to CVS)
Insurance $123 ($90 for auto and $22 for life)
Travel $19 (often U-Haul)
Cash, Checks, and Miscellaneous $424.33 ($49 for my storage locker, $74 for Mom's stuff, which she reimburses, my professional license, and rent)
Giving $0!
Business Expenses $0 (not true!)
Education: My minimum balance was $89.50, but I paid more than that whenever possible. It didn't get down to $4,600 on its own!
Finance: $172 credit cards and taxes (I paid $995 for last year on top of what the district deducted)
Uncategorized: $69.50 for my cell phone. I usually do not watch videos on my phone. I do not know what else would use up much data, although I have not been able to connect to the home wifi recently.

Yeah, I used 1.12 gigabytes in the last 30 days. I am on my sister's account, which is supposed to save me money, but when she said that we needed to get unlimited data, I did not see the point in arguing. With my military discount it cost an extra $10 per line, but since her bored kids were using all of the data and not me, it was unfair of her to raise the price.

You argue with her!

This town is not big enough for two cell phone carriers. Verizon's cheapest plan is $55 a month before taxes and fees, although it comes with two gigabytes, which should be plenty. Arizona has 19.21% in taxes on cell phones

Supposedly I could go solo for $65.57 monthly.

Cut down on your restaurant expenses, that's the easiest one. If you don't use a lot of data, look into straight talk through Walmart. They have three plans last I checked, you get 5 GB for $35/month, 15 for $45, or unlimited for $55. From what you said you could get by with the $35 plan, and it runs on Verizon towers.

The rest of you expenses don't look too bad. Until a year ago I was supporting a family of five (then six) on less income than you make, and not much more now.

Another thought: shop around for your car insurance, and pay it six months at a time. I pay a little over $600/ year for a 94 f150, 96 Camry, and 07 odyssey for just liability, and I don't think full coverage would be worthwhile on your Honda's.

I only had collision aside from renting the car. Comprehensive would cost another $67.82 for my Accord. Oh well. I will ask how much it would cost semiannually compared to semimonthly. I easily found the option on their website, but it did not show any prices.

Tom's Guide rated Straight Talk the lowest in its comparison: https://www.tomsguide.com/us/best-ph...w-3066-10.html

The Verizon plan that works out to $65.57 a month is actually a $35 plan, but they charge $20 for having a smart phone. I looked up taxes and fees and people were just citing a couple of dollars a month, but that was many years ago. I am sure that it would be 19.21% on $35, so it would total $41.72. My concern has always been that cell phone companies prioritize their customers over people using their network and coverage isn't great out here, so I am more likely to have difficulty if my twenty-year-old car breaks down between clients.

I'm not sure what metrics they used to rated straight talk lowest, however where I live if you aren't in a city, you can count on having no reception at all unless you are on verizon. I actually got better service with straight talk than I ever did with verizon. Now I'm on Cricket which runs on AT&T towers. I have a little worse reception than I did with straight talk, but for a family plan it costs about half as much, so it's worth it for me.

I had Cricket in 2002. I called it "Unlimited dropped calls."

I do not miss that.

Well it has been 17 years since then. I can't speak to their service in 2002, but as of right now I would say it's at least 98% as good as verizon or straight talk coverage, at least in my area.

Feeling secure costs money, or you could just accept less security and save money. Things like paying for a "premium" cell carrier, or life insurance (should be called death insurance). You're young enough that you should be paying that $22/mo for you to live.

Auto insurance is something that should be shopped for periodically since companies have rate creep (what they call customer loyalty "discounts"). By shop, I mean spend 30 minutes to get a rate quote from 3 different companies online. Go with legal minimum liability coverage and pay the 6th months primum rather than their financing scheme (monthly).

MVNOs are the way to go for cell phone service. Sure, your data might not be prioritized as high as someone else's, but voice always has priority, and texts will go through since they consume essentially no data. Paying more for cell service just to have higher priority is silly unless you're POTUS or or something. At least take an old phone and try a month on an MVNO to see how well it performs while retaining your current plan. Month to month pricing makes it low commitment.

EDIT:

Found this list of Verizon MVNOs:


CREDO Mobile
GreatCall
Net10
Pix Wireless
Page Plus
Red Pocket
Straight Talk
Total
TracFone
Twigby
US Mobile

Looking at coverage maps, Verizon really owns it in Show Low. That said, Google Fi utilizes both Sprint and T-mobile networks. Would the combination of both approach the coverage of Verizon? Google Fi is $20/mo unlimited talk/text, and $1 per 100MB of data.

$40k is a good annual income, especially if rent is ~$350. That's what I was making when I had $400 all-inclusive rent, and that income allowed me to save enough to purchase a house with 20% down, pay for a wedding in cash, pay off the wife's CC and student loans in cash, pay for her $10k quarterly tuition in cash, and put a downpayment on another house.

Paying cheap rent allowed me to save for a home purchase, and renting out rooms allowed me to own the house for almost free (and now it turns a modest profit).

I ate out for every workday lunch, but limited myself to $2-$3. That was about $40/mo.

As far as I know, we do not have any Sprint or T-Mobile towers. I tried to find maps, but I found a site of people complaining they could not use anyone but Verizon up here. That is partially how we got the Rodeo–Chediski Fire. A lady was trespassing, got lost, used up her battery trying to call 911, started a signal fire, and a news helicopter rescued her, but fanned the flames out of control. Twelve years later she was fined $1,650 and a judge ruled that she owed the local tribe $57,000,000.

Eighteen months ago USAA charged me $47 twice a month. Now they charge me $45 bimonthly.

Is that acceptable rate creep?

USAA is the most ethical credit union I've done business with, so it wouldn't surprise me if their definition of "valuing your loyalty" is actually beneficial to you. That said, I don't know if anything else changed such as changes in your policy, changes in the way actuaries calculate risk, citations dropping off your record, your age pushing you into a lower risk group, etc.

The reason I mention insurance is that I pay something like ~$800/yr to insure 2 cars and a truck. $90/mo at your age is steep unless there are other factors such as insurance claims or citations that haven't dropped off yet. $22/mo for life seems like a lot for someone of your youth (and I assume health). You're not going to die, so it's just free money for the insurance company.

It's difficult to assign blame when fires go out of control. They are a natural occurrence in nature and typically happen frequently enough to make them relatively tame. Now that we disallow fires to burn, we've increased the severity when they do. AGW zealots would say global warming is to blame, and therefore Big Oil is 2000% responsible, plus offer the CEOs scalps to the tribe.