What YM sins have you committed?

[trytofindbalance]

Hey Firebird "I guess we're doing okay though... we're here, aren't we?! " EXACTLY

[Deleted]

Wow Dark Honor... Sucks!
And I thought my family was the only one full of crazies

[reader79]

Nah - we all have crazies (or are crazy.) I'm currently not allowed to see my nephew due to some BS my soon-to-be former BIL mentioned in court. I can't wait for the investigation to be over.

[trytofindbalance]

I think the best part about this thread is that is shows that everyone, even very financially minded people, make mistakes or financial decisions based on their current life circumstances. I know that I have a plan and although I really try hard to follow it, sometimes it's just not possible, because life gets in the way. I also know that "different strokes for different folks" is a true statement and that there is isn't always one right way to do things. We're all individuals with different tolerance for risk, debt, acceptable savings and spending rates.

I love reading these threads because I've learned a lot from some of the posters and I've gotten some valuable food for thought...it doesn't necessarily mean that I'm going to take all of the advise I read here, as some of it is just not applicable to my circumstances. I'm also a bit nosy by nature, so I like to hear what others are doing and how they are doing it.

We all have different incomes, live in different areas and have different family situations so one size does not fit all. We all come here for advise and I certainly appreciate the responses I have gotten to my threads. I'm just happy to see everyone joking about their sins and I'm hoping that maybe this thread will make some of the posters a little more tolerant of other people's decisions.

[thyme4change]

I think the best part about this thread is that is shows that everyone, even very financially minded people, make mistakes or financial decisions based on their current life circumstances.

Or even that saving money all the time isn't mandatory. Why do we go through so much to have money if we just die with it sitting in our bank account? I mean, I want to be as secure as the next guy, but I don't want to live in squalor my whole life to do so. I keep a lot of things simple, so I can be ridiculous on other things.

[Sum Dum Gai]

ETA: Sorry to hear about your brother's current situation also Sounds like there's a lot of different things going on. Are you guys close?

Eh.. it's his own fault for being a moron. We're somewhat close, but don't talk that often. Whenever he decides to pull his head out of his ass I'll be here, but until then I maintain my distance a bit.

[craig]

I did not have a fully funded retirement, a 2 year emergency fund and a college fund before having DD


Kudos to you for doing this. In my opinion kids are more important than anything you listed above that some think should come before kids.

[trytofindbalance]

"Or even that saving money all the time isn't mandatory. Why do we go through so much to have money if we just die with it sitting in our bank account? I mean, I want to be as secure as the next guy, but I don't want to live in squalor my whole life to do so. I keep a lot of things simple, so I can be ridiculous on other things. "

Thyme4change, I couldn't have said it better myself. That's why I chose the name trytofindbalance. I'm always struggling with balance between living for now and saving for the future. I'm more of a saver and I've been known to be a bit neurotic about it and my DH is a more of a live for today kind of guy. We're working hard on finding that balance...it's not always easy, but we're both making concessions so the other feels more comfortable. I too will keep costs down in certain areas so I can splurge in others...it's all about what's important to that particular person and I think that, that is the key. My friends know that it is rare that I'm going to accept an invitation to an Atlantic City Girls Night Out, it just seems ridiculous to me to spend $1000 on a weekend for myself, but I might spend that money on a getaway with my DH. So to each his own. I'm also going to make sure to eat in most of the time, instead of dropping tons of money eating out 3 or 4 times a week, so can pay board for my horse. It's all about using our limited resources to fund the things that are most important to us in our life. That being said, one of those important things for me is putting ample money away for our future, while enjoying today.

[trytofindbalance]

I also think that sometimes people get caught up in savings amounts and percentages. They're determined to save 50% of their gross income, while living in squalor. Not my idea of a good time. It seems a bit obsessive and it seems as if it's sacrificing and scrimping just for the sake of saving, without even really having a plan beyond watching the numbers jump up. I can understand the exhilaration of watching those savings numbers climb, but to what end? I see people canceling cable, virtually their own source of entertainment, so they can save an additional $40 a month, not because they aren't saving now (I'm not talking about people in financial distress) but because they want to save every single penny beyond a meager existence. Why?

[NomoreDramaQ1015]

Well with my grandmother she grew up in a very very poor household. She's terrified of ever going back to that so she saves the majority of her money. It is what makes her happy and what she needs to feel secure. When she goes well make sure to stick a copy of her bank balance in her casket.

I should add my grandma doesn't live in squalor, but I personally find the idea of work and home, work and home to be really boring.

[bean29]

We also committed the YM sin of buying Universal life.

Part of the reason we did it b/c DH was "buying" his qualifications for his job. But I knew my Dad was uninsurable and it was possible that would happen to one of us in the future. Last year when one of DH's Term policies renewed they required a physican and upped the insurance rate from less than $100/month to over $500.00. Mighty glad we had a UL in addition to some term for him.

We finance our cars, but we own 4 cars right now and 3 are free and clear.

We did put 20% down on our house. We took a HELOC on house 1 to buy a rental. Took a heloc on rental 1 to buy a second rental. Sold rental 2 to put DP on house 2 sold house 2 and rental 1 and bought house 3. One rental property is technically upside down b/c we cashed out the equity to buy DH's current business location. The location is a winner. We are holding the first business property at a monthly loss with the lower commercial section vacant b/c we plan to reopen it as a buisness soon.

Yeah, we rented to relatives and had them live in Rental 1 for 4 months without paying rent. They finally moved out into a house they bought from her parents for $10,000 then remodelled. The house is now in forclosure. (And they never paid the parents to our understanding). We are tenatively planning to rent MIL's duplex to them with first/last/security agreement. But as soon as they miss a rent payment they will get a 5 day notice. I learned my lesson last time.

We have no savings for kids college education, but the business is growing...I think we will be ok. We are in our Mid 40's and have ~25 years left on our mortgage. DH seriously says he can't see himself retiring.

We had student loans, but paid them off before we had kids. I am thankful that DH and I went to college right out of HS. Tuition was much lower then. Even my Private College was only about $8,000/yr in the mid 80's.

I cashed out my 401K to buy our first house. I quit my first FT job 1 month short of vesting in a profit sharing, and I may have had pension rights on that job too, not sure.

[lynnerself]

My sins:
1.I have loaned money to co-workers.
2. I have bought new cars on loans.
3. I have paid for college for 2 kids pretty much where ever they wanted and for any major.
4. I do not have a budget, nor keep track of my spending.
5.I do not balance my check book, ever.
6.I bought annuity/life insurance from a firm that gave a financial advise class.
7.I buy a latte every morning and generally eat lunch out.

In my defense:
1.Co workers paid back loans and were very appreciative.
2.Cars were owned for 10 to 18 years.
3.Kids got good grades, graduated, are doing well and have no debt.
4.Saving is automatic and net worth is increasing.
5.I have never bounced a check, not has the bank made an error.
6. The annuity earned a guaranteed 5% during all of the down time of the market.
7. I can afford it!

[Sum Dum Gai]

Wow, lots of you with three, four, and five cars. I'm assuming two main daily drivers, one for each spouse. What are the others? Toy haulers? Project cars?

[honeybunny66]

What haven't I done? But it's all in the learning process ... either I'll be okay in old age or somebody will be supporting me. Know what it is to be poor and also know what it is to be considered well-off. Can go either way but would rather well-off.

[gsbrq]

Apr 14, 2011 15:20:28 GMT -5 trytofindbalance said:

I also think that sometimes people get caught up in savings amounts and percentages. They're determined to save 50% of their gross income, while living in squalor. Not my idea of a good time. It seems a bit obsessive and it seems as if it's sacrificing and scrimping just for the sake of saving, without even really having a plan beyond watching the numbers jump up. I can understand the exhilaration of watching those savings numbers climb, but to what end? I see people canceling cable, virtually their own source of entertainment, so they can save an additional $40 a month, not because they aren't saving now (I'm not talking about people in financial distress) but because they want to save every single penny beyond a meager existence. Why?

Cancelling your cable isn't so tragic, IMO; I imagine most people would live richer lives without it.

And people who save "obsessively" often have good reason to do so. I get your point, and I think this is kind of a fun thread b/c YM can get a bit "preachy" sometimes, but I rarely see folks saving to the point that it seems in any way detrimental to their well-being.

[lurkyloo]

Dark: We have six cars, five of which cost 8K or less. The exception is DH's Corvette, which he primarily uses for track days. I have a six-year-old Focus which is my "nice" car and a 20-year-old Corolla that's our go-to car for dirty jobs (like carting bags of composted steer manure home from the garden store or wet sandy puppy home from the beach). DH has three cars that are each 18-21 years old; the two 18-year-olds are his daily drivers (gosh, that sounds dirty!) The 21-year-old car snapped its timing chain three years ago and is currently nonfunctional; he's periodically done work on it or had work done trying to get it fixed, but it's pretty low priority.

The reason we can get away with such old cars is that he's an excellent mechanic and enjoys working on them--but that's also why we keep so many on hand; have to maximize the chances of having two working cars at any one time! Actually, a few years ago (back when we were a five-car family) all three of his older cars were out of commission--first a large rock on PCH tore out the underside of one, then the timing belt snapped on the other, and finally the third overheated to the extent that something or other actually melted. He drove a rental car for a few weeks rather than drive the Corvette to work...

They're also all manual transmission cars; when his family comes out to visit we have to get a rental if they want to drive themselves anywhere!

[Deleted]

One more... we ordered Chinese food today because we were too tired to cook

[resolution]

Apr 14, 2011 17:11:44 GMT -5 Sum Dum Gai said:

Wow, lots of you with three, four, and five cars. I'm assuming two main daily drivers, one for each spouse. What are the others? Toy haulers? Project cars?

We had two cars and a truck for two drivers. The truck was to haul lumber and other large materials for house and carpentry projects. We bought the truck from a friend when his dad died and they were trying to liqidate his assets (sin). About a year later we gave one of the cars away to another friend (sin) since the truck was just as good for commuting as the car was.

[happyscooter]

Cashed in my pension and profit sharing when I left my company.

[CarolinaKat]

Apr 14, 2011 23:37:39 GMT -5 lurkyloo said:

The reason we can get away with such old cars is that he's an excellent mechanic and enjoys working on them--but that's also why we keep so many on hand; have to maximize the chances of having two working cars at any one time!

My Parents are like this.... 2 fully restored classics, 1 in restoration progress, 1 truck, 1 minvan, 1 convertible coupe and 1 convertable sedan. Dad's worried that I only have 1 car!!!! (which is an '07 Civic) He keeps trying to get me to get a 'beater' truck or Jeep in case I need it.

ETA: Their youngest car is the sedan which is a '98 I think??

[bean29]

Dark,

We do have three drivers in our family. Our 4th car is a truck used to haul lumber for DH to finish the basement and make occasional runs to the . He decided that since we use it so little and his Dad also had a truck for the same purpose, he sold his Dad's truck to his brother and we "Share" our truck with the in-laws. It is at my house right now...I really would prefer it live at their house.

[tundrated]

My sins:

1- Took out student loans to help pay tuition. (Paid Off!)
2- Lived with DW before we were married and had a joint account.
3- Purchased house with DW before we were married and did 100% financing.
4- Sold my paid for compact car and bought a brand new toy hauling truck.
5- Only put about 3k in my Roth IRA each year.
6- We eat out and go to Starbucks at least once a week.
7- Used a Heloc loan to pay for the legal fees on my daughters adoption (Worth every cent).
8- I have satellite TV.
9- I have a fancy smartphone.
10- We don't use coupons very often.
11- I spend too much money on my cycling hobby.
12- We go on nice vacations at least once every year or two.
13- We have given money to family members.

[Firebird]

9- I have a fancy smartphone.

"Sin" to you as "oxygen" is to Firebird.

[ontrack]

If you get the right plan, smartphones aren't that expensive. DF and I each have an iphone, share 700 mins/mo (and have about 3000 rollover minutes), each have 200 texts/mo, and each have the 200 GB data plan. It is only $110/mo together, which I don't think is too bad, except perhaps in YM land where we're all supposed to have Trac phones that cost us $15/year.

[strider]

Apr 15, 2011 10:11:55 GMT -5 Firebird said:

9- I have a fancy smartphone.

"Sin" to you as "oxygen" is to Firebird.

I sync my personal phone to my work email. It's very nice and useful. My job is way easier with it. It's also great for road trips, fast access to phone books, maps, and anything else you can think of.

[Deleted]

Apr 15, 2011 10:11:55 GMT -5 Firebird said:

9- I have a fancy smartphone.

"Sin" to you as "oxygen" is to Firebird.

I have a blackberry and my wife has an iphone (I am thinking about going to an iphone next year also).

We LOVE LOVE our smartphones... Yes flame away.

[Firebird]

DF and I are closer to our respective phones than we are to each other ;D No flames here.

[Sum Dum Gai]

I'm actually thinking about dropping data from my plan and going back to a dumb phone. I hardly ever use my smart phone for anything but making calls, texting, an alarm clock, and a calender. It comes in handy once in a while for navigation, but I use that so rarely that I'm thinking it's not worth the money. My wife on the other hand... man oh man, that woman gets every pennies worth from her data plan.

[Sum Dum Gai]

Engineering, accounting, and nursing. Duh. The only three professions on the planet that make decent money. The rest of us are just burger flippers, welfare queens, and the other assorted dregs of society.

[NomoreDramaQ1015]

Then if you are talking to WCP the only approved job is running your own business. Even engineers, accoutants and nurses are losers because they have not figured out how to stop working for the man.