people are MORANS sometimes... money stuff...

[bholdr]

so:

I manage an apartment building, which is really mostly a part time thing... i'm also a painter by trade and supplement my income with that and poker, I've never been even marginally well-to-do, even compared to my peers, but one thing i've always done is make sure that i have a few months living expenses in various bank accounts, investments, and cash.

on the other hand, every month, at least one of my tenants (35 units in the building) cannot pay their rent. they scramble all month long to avoid eviction, and when they finally do make the payment, they're screwed for the next month's rent. it's usually somethng like an injury, layoff, unexpected expense, etc..

and everytime, i think to my self... how the hell can they live like that?! living paycheck to paycheck is one of the stupidest things that a person can do: one little slip-up, say the company you work for goes under and cannot pay you, or you strain your back and cannot work for a couple weeks, and you're screwed; your credit is shot, your rental history is destroyed, you're out on the street; good luck ever getting another lease without a monster deposit (which, obviously, you don't have). what are you gonna do? call your parents? c'mon!

does anyone here live like this? it's so incredibly stupid, i'll understand if you don't want to share. personally, i can't sleep well at night without knowing that i have easy access to a reasonable sum of money (a few K)...

i guess i'll do a poll: (thoughts?)

[Yeti]

I think the results you get will be somewhat skewed.

[Sponger15SB]

How can you possibly be so ignorant?

For some people, living paycheck to paycheck is unavoidable for any number of legitament reasons.

[bholdr]

[ QUOTE ]

I think the results you get will be somewhat skewed.

[/ QUOTE ]

how so?

[SmileyEH]

[ QUOTE ]
How can you possibly be so ignorant?

For some people, living paycheck to paycheck is unavoidable for any number of legitament reasons.

[/ QUOTE ]

Definitely not true. If they are in an equilibrium situation (ie; steady job or welfare) there really is no excuse for not saving at all. Putting away just $50 or a $100 a month is not impossible for almost anyone I've described.

-SmileyEH

[Yeti]

I just meant because you're asking this on a message board where a healthy portion of regular posters do very well for themselves. Therefore, they probably have good self-control and financial awareness, with surplus money to tuck away and invest. It's a lot different to asking it randomly on the street.

Plus, a lot of people here are young and have no such responsibilities yet.

[bholdr]

[ QUOTE ]
How can you possibly be so ignorant?

For some people, living paycheck to paycheck is unavoidable for any number of legitament reasons.

[/ QUOTE ]

ignorant? i included a "i'm poor, get off my back, already." option. (it's 'legitimate' btw)

but, i do believe (and this is a total liberal bleeding heart talking here) that the vast majority of pepole living paycheck-to-paycheck are doing it because they are irresponsible with their money. i have been VERY poor, making less than 1k a month and renting my own place, but i STILL managed to save... it's not rocket science, you just buy cheaper things and don't waste money (or work more/harder).

the ignorant people are those that don't pay attention to their finances, and get themselves in situations where they 'have' to live paycheck to paycheck.

even at the worst case scenario, it should be possible to save 5-10% of your monthly income, and in a year, that's a month in the bank. i'm not talking about 'single mother high school dropouts on welfare', etc, of course.

[bholdr]

okay, but i was intrested in sampling this board, so my results will be very accurate.

i, too, would expect the general public to have a much different distribution of responses to a poll like this.

[Benal]

I don't know about you, but I'd rather live paycheck to paycheck than be a bum on the street.

[bholdr]

[ QUOTE ]
I don't know about you, but I'd rather live paycheck to paycheck than be a bum on the street.

[/ QUOTE ]

so? what's that supposed to mean?