Re: Do you live within your means?

Our only debt consists of 1 car loan (the other is paid off) and my law school loans.

We have no CC debt to speak of, but we use the cards each month -- we put a small amount on and pay that down (say $100 on a card with a $10,000 limit) so they report usage (but positively) to the credit bureaus.

We save approximately 50% of our take home pay. That does not include our contributions to our 401(k)s. We pretty much put in the max allowable amount in those every year.

Message edited 5/24/2007 10:02:40 AM.

Re: Do you live within your means?

I'll admit that we are paying off consider CC debt right now

last year was a bad year for us- we had about $35K in uncovered medical expenses and being that my DH was injuried- he was not working to his full capcity

I came into the marriage with debt from living in NYC right after college- to me it was worth it- but I could have skipped the highlights....

I am busting my but to pay it off and when it's done I will tell you how much it was- in the last 3 months I have paid off over $5K- we want to have it all gone with in the year

I still save money every month and contribute to a 401K- I am earning extra to pay off the debt- not taking it from my salary

I don't charge anything anymore- besides on Amex- which is to be paid in full- and I will NEVER use a credit card again- I am a different person now- it's annoying that I had to learn the hard way- but that's just me

Re: Do you live within your means?

Everytime this topic comes up, I always feel like the odd one out, because Yes, I have debt. Mixed in with the student loans and car loans is credit card debt.

I'm not struggling financially though. I work, I get paid, I pay my bills.

Re: Do you live within your means?

Re: Do you live within your means?

Re: Do you live within your means?

We try to - our constant expenses are well below our means (rent, gas, electric, phone, internet, cable).

But DH has a huge student loan that he is paying off and came into our marriage with some CC debt.

We are financially stable but I am trying to tighten up our budget so we can buy a house within the next two years.

Re: Do you live within your means?

This is another topic that I think is subjective.

If you have debt it doesn't mean you are not financially secure or that you don't live within your means.

Sometimes it pays to carry a certain amount of debt or you are invested in a diversified way that offsets interest payments. I have cc debt on 0% cards. I see no harm in carrying a modest amount on them.

I also think that no matter how much you have, you will always want more.

Financial security is relative. I think if I had millions in investments, a certain amount liquid in the bank and a funded retirement, I would feel financially secure. None of that is reality for me right now. It is a goal of mine though.

For now, we earn good salaries, save when we can, max our retirement savings and pay off low to moderate amounts of debt that make sense to us including car leases. We carry insurance to hedge against catastrophic issues.

In short, we are doing the best we can, but as this poll shows us, financial security is different for many people.

Re: Do you live within your means?

This thread also doesn't take into account that some debt is GOOD debt -- and mortgage debt isn't the only good debt.

Re: Do you live within your means?

Posted by MikesWife

Don't feel like the odd ball. I right there with you.

Re: Do you live within your means?

My CC were a COMPLETE MESS around $20.000. My husband paid them off for me..I have a visa now and I try my hardest to behave (within my means).It is nice not to have any CC debt

Message edited 5/24/2007 11:03:25 AM.

Re: Do you live within your means?

As of now we definitely live within our means. We are saving for a house and don't have a mortgage. If asked this question in a few months when we have a house my reply would be different...

We don't carry CC debt
We both have student loans and I have a car loan

Re: Do you live within your means?

No debt at all. Everything is paid when the bill comes. We also save a nice amount each month into the kids 529 accounts. We also have a nice savings account in case anything should ever happen where DH can't work or vice versa.

Our motto is (and sometimes I really don't like it ) is to live poorly, save richly.

Message edited 5/24/2007 11:04:47 AM.

Re: Do you live within your means?

Re: Do you live within your means?

Re: Do you live within your means?

I racked up debt but I am paying it off now. It wasn't from extravagant purchases but more like living day to day in college, especially when iw as hurt and couldn't work. Books and gas cost a lot. I paid down about $700 worth of CC debt this month, which is way more than the mimimum payment. I was also able to make purchases this month of things I needed...fixing my laptop, a new cellphone, a new DVD player, some other random stuff I didn't "NEED" and although my checking account is now almost empty I made all of those purchases with my debit card. I paid for it with money I already had. Since I started working I have not put a SINGLE item on a credit card. It has all come from my own account and I am proud of that. Of course I spent about $1000 on my cards before I started working because I needed a complete professioanl wardrobe...

But I hope to be debt free (aside from school loans) by the end of this year. I also have checks set aside from my birthday and some random gigs I've been doing to start a savings account.

So I'm nowhere near where some other people are, but I'm on the right track and I'm proud of that!

ETA: FH is another story. He's been in and out fo work and at first we continued that lfoiestyle even out of work putting everything on credit, but now he is making good money so I am hoping to try to reign him in and get him on a "no credit cards" plan!

Message edited 5/24/2007 11:54:14 AM.

Re: Do you live within your means?

I actually wanted to add that we don't live within our means - we live well beneath our means.

Re: Do you live within your means?

Re: Do you live within your means?

I have a decent amount of CC debt because I was foolish and in "love" and got taken advantage of by an ex. However now I am paying it off and saving so yes, I live within my means. I buy clothes when I need to or if there is a good sale.

Re: Do you live within your means?

I'm doing OK - I have about $1500 worth of school to pay off, but that's it. Well, beside the additional 5k I still need for the wedding....

but Rich...oh man, what a prize. I'm inheriting a car payment AND school loans with this marriage.

Re: Do you live within your means?

We have no debt and a nice amount in savings.

But, we could probably save more than we do- we're really not strict about our spending habits at all, though, we're also pretty cheap about most things anyway. We contribute a significant amount to the 401k though and save some each month, and that's w/ me only working part time, so i think we're in good shape.

Re: Do you live within your means?

Posted by MikesWife

Posted by Erin0602

Everytime this topic comes up, I always feel like the odd one out, because Yes, I have debt. Mixed in with the student loans and car loans is credit card debt.

I'm not struggling financially though. I work, I get paid, I pay my bills.

Don't feel like the odd ball. I right there with you.

Re: Do you live within your means?

We live well within our means. We both went through paying off substantial credit card debt. Now, I'm proud that we haven't used a card we couldn't pay off immediately in years.

We do have student loan debts that we are in no rush to pay off. They have very low interest rates on them.

Re: Do you live within your means?

Posted by SweetTooth

Posted by MikesWife

Posted by Erin0602

Everytime this topic comes up, I always feel like the odd one out, because Yes, I have debt. Mixed in with the student loans and car loans is credit card debt.

I'm not struggling financially though. I work, I get paid, I pay my bills.

Don't feel like the odd ball. I right there with you.

I don't think you are the odd one out, I just think the ones with the cc and other debt tend not to speak up as much as those without it.

I also don't think that having debt means you are not finacially stable. You can have debt and still manage to pay the bills AND save money.

Message edited 5/24/2007 2:22:13 PM.

Re: Do you live within your means?

I think we are typical Americans unfortunately...we own a home (mortgaged), owe on student loans, owe some CC debt...we have 2 cars and no kids yet so we go out to eat and to the movies....I think we SHOULD be living more stringently and we are trying....

Re: Do you live within your means?

I am very happy to say that as of tomorrow I will be debt free (aside from my student loan, but I don't count that).

We paid for some of our wedding and all of our honeymoon on my 0% interest credit card and it is now down to zero.

Aside from the wedding and honeymoon we live within our means and I will be adding a serious amount of money to our down payment for the house.