This Tampa woman says she has to ‘starve’ herself just to ‘survive’ in the US — why she’s not alone
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it's a free country, you can be as dumb as you want.
Agreed, and you ideally live with those choices.
Unfortunately, a lot of people proceed to blame society, or capitalism, or whatever group they want to loot. The people who sacrificed and made smart choices are demonized, and expected to bail them out.
...and the state ultimately wins at everyone's expense. They get to tax more, they get to spend more, they get more control. The problem is never fixed, and the answer is always more state intervention. Nice racket they have going.
Another individual jumping on the "I can't survive on this salary" bandwagon on social media.
She has to starve herself just to survive, but has a $600/month car payment. Who knows what else she spends her money on. Poor life choices isn't a valid reason for 'starving' or struggling in America.
Unless someone states who s/he voted for, I don't think such assumptions are warranted (this applies to anyone assuming s/he knows who a complete stranger voted for). Unless she stated she voted for Biden, I don't think you can say there is "no doubt." She may have voted for someone else, or perhaps she didn't vote at all.
The rock band RUSH said it first in the song Freewill : "If you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice".
The rock band RUSH said it first in the song Freewill : "If you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice".
It's very true. If you see someone being harmed, and you refuse to get involved, you are allowing the person to be harmed. You chose the side of the person who was hurting someone.
600 car note is not much of a car, its kinda cheap car, and if you had it before the economy went south, its not like you can sell it for enough to just pay it off, you got to have a dependable car, and that not cheap
You are correct. Depending on her credit score, how much she has borrowed in the past, or not borrowed, how much she had to put down on the car, where she is in the country...all of that affects the monthly payments.
Quote:
Originally Posted by 1AngryTaxPayer
It's not if you have an ego to feed. Plenty of cheaper reliable models.
Seriously, car dealers are charging ridiculous amounts these days. That $600 a month isn't going to be a KIA, but it's not going to be a luxury car.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Arcenal813
You can buy a decent used car cash for about $5,000. I just did. I’m a six figure earner, but I like to spend my money elsewhere, as having flashy toys does nothing to improve my quality of life.
I've done the used car thing my entire life until 2020. I ended up spending more money fixing the used car than I would have had I got a new car. The only used car that ended up saving me a ton of money was my 2004 KIA Rio. The only reason it was available was because it had been repossessed, and I got it from the repo business for under blue book value. There had only been one owner, and I got it in 2006. It was not $5000 or under.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Volobjectitarian
Just configured a brand new, decently tricked out 2024 Honda Accord EX, and NerdWallet says my payment with only $3k down, for 60 months at 5% APR, the payment is $603.
With my current trade in and credit score, it would be more like $300 for that same car.
That is a car that is enjoyable and dependable to the tune of 10-15 years, and I'd say pretty freaking nice.
Or do you qualify/grade cars differently than I do?
You're going off of YOUR credit score and having a trade in. We don't know what hers is, and again, it does depend on where you live, in addition to all of that other stuff. So, no, $600 for a car payment does NOT mean she has some luxury car.
In the end, I don't understand why everyone is harping on the car payment. Did you all miss the part that she has $2500 LEFT OVER AFTER the car payment AND the rent?
Yes, she CAN afford that car. No, she is NOT struggling. No, she is in no danger of starving.
I've done the used car thing my entire life until 2020. I ended up spending more money fixing the used car than I would have had I got a new car. The only used car that ended up saving me a ton of money was my 2004 KIA Rio. The only reason it was available was because it had been repossessed, and I got it from the repo business for under blue book value. There had only been one owner, and I got it in 2006. It was not $5000 or under.
Most recently, I bought a 2016 Nissan Altima with 140,000 miles for $5,000. It currently has over 200,000 miles. I have not had a single issue with it, and the only expenses have been typical maintenance.
I've had a mix of used and "new" cars for the past 20 years. Most used cars I've had were purchased for $5,000 or under, looked decent, and ran up to near 300,000 miles.
It's your money. I'd never shell out that for a freakin piece of iron with an engine. I learned that living at the beach is a waste on a nice car unless you have a locked garage both at home and your destination. The transients/tweekers are gonna break in or someone is gonna trash it with their beater car or a shopping cart. Not worth it.
I just bought the first new car in my life… anAWD Prius, with a payment of $550. No trade it, but a down payment over 10k. Still the biggest car payment in my life, but i can afford it (Not a work truck, but I do use it daily for work). Still kept my old car, a 17 year old Escape with 192k miles in it. Mostly use it for deep snow and to haul trash. No tweakers have broken into either car, although I DO keep them garaged at home. After driving the Prius for weeks at a time, whenever I have to use the Escape, it feels like I’m in the stoneage… even though I added a touchscreen radio to the Escape last year. LOL.
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