Keeping up with the jones

[disneysteve]

One area where I really question what is happening is housing. I know what I earn and how much my house cost. I see developments in my area with homes selling for 600K, 700K and more and I can't imagine who the heck is buying these things, but they all get sold. My income puts me in the top 10% of wage earners in this country and I couldn't afford the prices these homes are going for. Are there really that many people around who make that much more than me? Or are there just a lot of people taking out insanely large mortgages?

[LivingAlmostLarge]

Nope the point is I was chastized on another board for admitting to enjoying getting my nails done. I do enjoy it and I think it's a luxury I like. But to immediately judge and say that all women who are getting their nails done are in debt, like to spend money, made me wonder? Do you just make automatic assumptions about people and their spending habits?

How do you really know what their net worth really is? I mean I'm terribly jealous of a lady with 6 kids who looks affluent, because rather than think they are in debt, I'm more likely to think "man they make bank to afford that many kids."

But how many people categorize others as being debt, broke and keeping up with the Jonese if they admit to buying new cars, eating out, and enjoying traveling?

[Joan.of.the.Arch]

LivingAtLarge, are you simply asking how common it might be that people think you have poor money management skills if you do things like get manicures, drive a new car, eat out, and travel?

I think that would be pretty uncommon. I don't imagine many people think about your finances at all. They have other things on thier mind. When you participate in forums such as this, you are among people who specificly have personal finances on their minds, at least while they are reading the forum. Most people probably never give your finances a thought. There's no need to feel judged, generally.

[disneysteve]

Originally Posted by LivingAlmostLarge

Nope the point is I was chastized on another board for admitting to enjoying getting my nails done. I do enjoy it and I think it's a luxury I like.

But how many people categorize others as being debt, broke and keeping up with the Jonese if they admit to buying new cars, eating out, and enjoying traveling?

On another board I'm very active on, disboards.com, there are very often threads by people asking for help and advice with their financial situation. They go on to discuss how much debt they have, trouble making payments, you know the story. But their post carries their sig with a list showing that they've made 5 trips to Disney World in the past 4 years and they have a ticker counting down the time until their next trip. Those are the folks who just don't get it. Then they get all offended when someone suggests that maybe they wouldn't be so deep in debt if they stopped taking so many vacations, and ask if they've cancelled the upcoming trip.

If you enjoy getting your nails done and you've got the money to do it, go right ahead. We all have our luxuries. Ours is travel. In 2005, we spent nearly 10% of our gross income on travel. Could we have done something more practical with the money? Of course. But we also put 26% of our gross into savings. We have no debt other than our mortgage (which is pretty modest in today's terms). We pay our CC bills in full. We have a 529 for our daughter. All of our obligations are met. With what's left, we choose to travel. Doesn't make us rich. Also doesn't make us irresponsible.

[I'm going to win]

I work with John Q Public and my office has a very nice view of the parking lot and cash register, I like to keep an eye on my stuff. Well anyway it always makes me wonder what people are thinking when they stop by to pick a bat or baseball glove, go to the counter to pay for said item pull out CC and and the bells and whistles go off and DECLINED. Pull out another card and samething. I watch them leave climb, into a $50K SUV thing and off to the bank ATM back in 5 minutes with cash. Now if I can't pay $300.00 on the credit card maybe Johnny can do without the bat for awhile. The other thing that seems to be common among the DECLINED NSF group is a fair number of them work for the goverment. Is this why they can't live within thier means? and am I talking about customers or the goverment. I think it's inner changable.