Convince me it's worth budgeting

[buildmybudget]

Actually, there are in fact times when it is too late.

And this should be the number one reason to use when trying to convince people of creating and staying on a budget.

When someone is 65, with no pot to piss in, nothing in retirement, $40,000+ in CC debt, no career, nothing, it is in fact too late...they have financial cancer and it is nearly always terminal.

I can see you are quite the optimist. And I'm certain you'll just reply and say you are a realist...but what do YOU say to those individuals with "terminal financial cancer?" Would you advise them to just give up? Saying that it can be, in fact, too late to turn things around IS reality sometimes...but that doesn't account for the amazing things we can do as people.

If your solution is to just give up, I think that says much more about you than any individuals financial situation.

[lovcom]

I can see you are quite the optimist. And I'm certain you'll just reply and say you are a realist...but what do YOU say to those individuals with "terminal financial cancer?" Would you advise them to just give up? Saying that it can be, in fact, too late to turn things around IS reality sometimes...but that doesn't account for the amazing things we can do as people.

If your solution is to just give up, I think that says much more about you than any individuals financial situation.

I'm not an optimist, nor a pessimist. You are right: I'm a realist.

To those with "financial cancer" I would prescribe palliative treatments, which will slow the cancer down but not cure it. For such folks, they have little money to budget, or if they do budget, the benefits would be negligible because after buying food, rent, utilities, the money is nearly all gone anyways.

And this "financial cancer" is a huge selling point to younger folks that still have time to plan and build wealth through budgeting.

Being young and off-budget is like smoking cigarettes. One out of ten smokers will get lung cancer.

I "scare" my young adult daughters into saving and budgeting by describing "financial cancer" and lets not kid anyone, those that have it have little hope.

[disneysteve]

Along the lines of what lovcom is saying, the last episode of Bank of Mom and Dad (available at hulu.com) showed a girl in debt and her parents took her to a soup kitchen to volunteer and speak with people there. It really opened her eyes to what could happen to her if she didn't clean up her act. She was only 22 so she's got plenty of time to fix the problems. For someone 40 years older, it could well be too late if debt far outweighs any possible income they could earn in their remaining working years. For those folks, the outlook is pretty bleak. I see it every day at work. I work in one of the poorest cities in the country and it isn't pretty.

[KTP]

I can see you are quite the optimist. And I'm certain you'll just reply and say you are a realist...but what do YOU say to those individuals with "terminal financial cancer?" Would you advise them to just give up? Saying that it can be, in fact, too late to turn things around IS reality sometimes...but that doesn't account for the amazing things we can do as people.

If your solution is to just give up, I think that says much more about you than any individuals financial situation.

They have little but one choice. File bankruptcy, hopefully move in with a kid if they have one, and try to collect SS while working as a Walmart greeter.

Unfortunately we are on the receiving end of this as we might have a parent in this situation soon. They are very very poor managing money and do not have any real time left to build up a retirement. We already sent them $5000 as a gift to help ends meet but I think they pissed it away pretty fast. Ah well, I keep the spare room clean...Obama can take care of their medical bills.

[snafu]

DH can't budget! His eyes would glaze over if I tried to talk about budgeting. I finally figured out he 'felt' deprived as a kid growing up in a middle class family who lived in a very wealthy district. His buddies were able to buy tickets to expensive sport and entertainment events etc. All it took was a name change to get DH on board. We operate on 'cash flow' which sounds more business-like, professional, and do-able.

For friends and colleagues who endlessly whine about money problems, I've suggested they develop a financial road map. After all... if you don't know where you're going...how do you expect to get to your destination. DSteve put it well...if you spend money on abc...there is no money for xyz.

I hosted a BBQ for some colleagues and because I was bored with their constant moaning about CC bills, I took a sheaf of $5. bills out of my pocket and let the wind blow them out of my hand, off the deck, into the yard. Two of the gals scrambled to retrieve the bills! When they brought them back I thanked them... and explained that paying interest on a CC was like letting the wind blow away your earnings. It's the only time I was ever able to make my point and see that the person 'got it!'

[KTP]

That sounds like the time when I rolled a $10 from my dad's wallet around each of the 5 or 6 smokes left in his pack. When I watched him pull one out then look at it with surprise I said "well, you are smoking away your retirement I just figured I would help you along a bit"

Funny, but didn't work, he still smokes and spends $2000 a year on cigs.