i swear talking to my dad about things sometimes its like we're from two different planets

He seems to be astonished by how much I end up saving and how quickly I'm trying to pay down the house and car

7/13/2009 7:46:08 PM

Dave Ramsey would be proud.

7/13/2009 7:57:25 PM

I love listening to dave ramsey if for no other reason than to hear some of the dumb shit some people have done with they're money

though some people have valid reasons (medical etc.)

7/13/2009 7:59:46 PM

my dad is obsessed with Dave Ramsey

7/13/2009 8:39:14 PM

My granddad likes Clark Howard. He doesn't follow his advice, he just likes hearing it.

7/13/2009 8:50:30 PM

my dad was obsessed with clark howard until dave ramsey came along

7/13/2009 8:53:34 PM

My parents also make poor financial decisions (like my mom buying a fucking Jaguar last week) and don't seem to understand how I don't do the same.

7/13/2009 9:01:47 PM

lots of baby boomers have good advice...just because your dad doesn't make sound financial decisions, doesn't mean my parents don't (they make great decisions and have paid off everything on middle class salaries)

dave ramsey is mediocre at best...he just sounds intelligent because of the number of idiots that call in

7/13/2009 9:11:55 PM

add my mom to this shit

7/13/2009 9:13:56 PM

my dad, too, is a baby boomer and makes quality financial decisions.

7/13/2009 9:14:45 PM

Quote :

"i swear talking to my dad about things sometimes its like we're from two different planets He seems to be astonished by how much I end up saving and how quickly I'm trying to pay down the house and car"

I don't think this is a "baby boomer" thing. If anything, I think it's the post-baby-boomers that thought they should get everything now and pay for it later (or never.)

Dave Ramsey is a douche who screams common sense to the financially retarded. There, I said it.

[Edited on July 13, 2009 at 9:33 PM. Reason : l]

7/13/2009 9:32:40 PM

me trying to explain to my mother how putting a lot of money on a loan now means I have more of a nest egg when I'm 55 not less

7/31/2009 8:46:23 PM

I, too, have parents that make poor decisions. Then they complain about how they don't have any money (this really pissed me off when I was in undergrad, they'd give money to their church but not have a penny left for me) and then try to encourage me to piss away my money in the same fashion.

7/31/2009 8:53:37 PM

My parents actually give pretty sound financial advice. I'm in a mediocre spot financially right now because where I'm living you either spend $new_jersey on rent or drive a long ass distance to work (or you can do both if you don't want to live far out enough).

They keep telling me to save up all my money, etc etc but since I owe them about seven or eight grand that isn't really going to be possible until I get some promotions at work. I'm adding about 12% of my salary to a 401k-ish retirement plan (that includes the match) and will keep it that way until I either get a few raises, greatly reduce my expenses (lol), or pay off my parents.

If anything, I just keep bumping into misunderstandings about my expenses with them in financial conversations. I have no debt besides a bit of credit card debt and what I owe them (which they aren't charging interest on and don't have a deadline for repayment), so I can understand the confusion. I just thought I'd post and be the odd one out in this thread, lol.

7/31/2009 8:54:53 PM

That must be nice. A lot better than your parents owing you money and then claiming they never promised to pay it back.

7/31/2009 8:57:00 PM

Or you could just give it up.

It's not like they raised you or anything.

7/31/2009 9:16:32 PM

So it's normal for parents to try to crush their children's dreams and make it harder for them to succeed?

7/31/2009 9:44:49 PM

I said no such thing.

7/31/2009 9:46:44 PM

Quote :

"my dad is obsessed with Dave Ramsey"

7/31/2009 9:49:12 PM

Dave Ramsey would be a lot better without the Christian influence. I mean, honestly, how much money do people throw away on tithes and offering? I know I've seen the checks my parents write to the church, and that money could have been used in a much better way.

[Edited on July 31, 2009 at 9:53 PM. Reason : ]

7/31/2009 9:52:32 PM

Quote :

"I mean, honestly, how much money do people throw away on tithes and offering? I know I've seen the checks my parents write to the church, and that money could have been used in a much better way."

This is something you are better off not thinking about. It depresses me to think of the amount of money my parents have wasted trying to buy their ticket into heaven.

7/31/2009 10:00:54 PM

Quote :

"I mean, honestly, how much money do people throw away on tithes and offering?"

ummm, 10%?

7/31/2009 10:06:03 PM

10% before or after taxes? Do they make any donations to special causes on top of that? Yes, some people are so brainwashed they will give far more than 10% of their after tax income to these fear mongers so they can continue to be told what they should do with their lives.

7/31/2009 11:15:08 PM

Dave Ramsey is a huge douche, and you'd be much better served to follow the advice of numerous other people. I guess he's a whole helluva lot better than nothing for the ignorant masses, though.


...and yes, baby boomers do seem to be pretty piss-poor at personal finance. My dad used to be somewhat irresponsible, but not too bad. He's pretty decent now--had to learn to be smarter when my mom left and took half of everything, along with a couple grand per month in alimony. My mom used to be pretty frugal, but not too long before she left my dad, she went fucking berserk with spending money. Now that she's on her own, she still lives WAY beyond her means. I have probably double (maybe even triple) what she has in savings and investments. She does ridiculous things like lease Cadillacs, etc. She's finally starting to tighten up her finances in a few little ways, just out of necessity (she's in real estate, so not making much money other than alimony).

7/31/2009 11:35:10 PM

^ I have to admit, I liked Clark Howard better than I do Dave Ramsey. They took Clark Howard off WPTF, though.

7/31/2009 11:39:00 PM

people that are responsible with their money are annoying pussies

7/31/2009 11:42:40 PM

no we're not. being responsible with your money doesn't mean being boring or never splurging. It means setting a goal, figuring out what you need to be saving (as well as where/how to save it), then putting that away before you do anything else.

Once you do that, and pay bills, etc, you can do whatever you want with the rest. Fast cars, bar tabs, vacations, hookers & blow...doesn't matter--you saved first.

7/31/2009 11:45:31 PM

see, annoying as shit.

theres going to be a third world war before any of us are old enough to do anything, spend it while you got it

7/31/2009 11:47:28 PM

dude, i spend it like it's fucking cool.

i just save what i need to get rich first.

7/31/2009 11:50:56 PM

its not like my parents are terrible with the finances but they don't save enough and anytime I talk about paying down the house fast they react like I could be putting the money to better use elsewhere like you're guaranteed to make more money than you lose in interest

I mean if that was the case we should all be borrowing money to invest with

[Edited on July 31, 2009 at 11:53 PM. Reason : NOT]

7/31/2009 11:51:04 PM

people borrow money to invest with all the time. the most common form is buying stocks on margin, which is...well, maybe not routine or typical, but far from exotic.

additionally, paying down your mortgage quickly generally IS a bad idea.

Opportunity cost, my young padawan. Learn it. Embrace it.

7/31/2009 11:54:51 PM

^ not saying it doesn't happen certainly just that as an individual saving for like retirement or a nest egg that doesn't really make sense

7/31/2009 11:56:27 PM

yeah, i would say that the majority of people shouldn't be investing borrowed money. it can be a useful and totally viable option at your disposal, though.

However, most people should not be rapidly paying down mortgages. Put that shit into stocks/mutual funds.

[Edited on July 31, 2009 at 11:59 PM. Reason : ]

7/31/2009 11:59:27 PM

I was glad when i turned 18 moved out and stopped paying fucking tithes.

8/1/2009 12:14:15 PM

My mother is the stupidest person on the planet. Perfect example of why I hate churches.

So I called and asked if she still had my scrubs around or had given them away because my grad school funding got cut, I'm too sick to work full time, and I can't find a part time job related to my grad school coursework so working at a vet hospital seems like the best option. Her response "Hope you get the job!" They'd rather give their money to some fuck up with a bible than their own daughter they owe money to.

8/1/2009 3:48:08 PM

Sounds more like parental separation issues, they don't seem to care.

What are their occupations?

8/1/2009 4:14:58 PM

My mother devotes all her time to becoming more batshit crazy (aka doesn't have a job). My father is more normal and has a job, but goes along with whatever she wants because it's easier.

When I called my mother was bragging about how she was getting to go on vacation because my father was going to a conference and she gets to tag along too. Yeah, fine, whatever. Brag about your vacation to your daughter who has to use cow antibiotics because she can't afford to go to a doc that'll rx the human ones.

8/1/2009 4:37:04 PM

Nope, no bitterness here at all.

8/1/2009 4:38:07 PM

why should they not do what they want with their own money.

8/1/2009 4:38:49 PM

Because they owe me some and I need it?

Pay me back and after that they can go feed $100 bills to pigs for all I care, but to promise me they'd pay me back and then give money to their church while claiming they can't pay me back is a bit much. They could easily write me a check for the whole amount, they'd just rather give the money to strangers in the name of God.

I'm close to writing the church they go to and asking them to cut me a check, since paying off your debts is the "Christian" thing to do and my parents obviously need a little help with that.

8/1/2009 4:57:21 PM

Or you could just realize you can't force them to pay or harass them into it, and just accept that the money is gone.

Basically, act like an adult.

8/1/2009 4:58:56 PM

I realize that my parents burned me and violated my trust, but it doesn't hurt to try to get it back. I don't expect to get it, but it doesn't hurt to ask in a very convincing way.

8/1/2009 5:10:00 PM

8/1/2009 5:26:11 PM

I have come to realize that my parents gave me a ton of advice, some of which was good and much of which was horrible. The good advice they gave, they rarely followed themselves (like saving). And the horrible advice is well horrible.

8/1/2009 7:49:38 PM

Quote :

"mean, honestly, how much money do people throw away on tithes and offering? I know I've seen the checks my parents write to the church, and that money could have been used in a much better way."

Giving away/donating money is great for tax write-offs. It's not like all of it goes away. They just have less in taxes.

[Edited on August 1, 2009 at 9:36 PM. Reason : Dave Ramsey is ok by me.]

8/1/2009 9:36:29 PM

My parents always taught me to save save save. I've got 0 debt and so do my parents everything we have is b/c we have had the money to buy it.

8/1/2009 9:44:45 PM

Good story.

8/1/2009 9:49:55 PM

Quote :

"Giving away/donating money is great for tax write-offs. It's not like all of it goes away. They just have less in taxes."

Tax write-offs may be nice, but it's not the same as actually having spent the money on something worthwhile. And, while you could argue that some of the money from tithes/offerings goes to charitable causes, most of it goes towards day-to-day church operation. I don't think that's a good cause.

8/1/2009 9:59:05 PM

Quote :

"And, while you could argue that some of the money from tithes/offerings goes to charitable causes, most of it goes towards day-to-day church operation"

I don't think theres anything wrong supporting a church you attend, even for just the day to day stuff (hey even churches have to pay the light bills)

but people in debt shouldn't be givving away significant portions of they're money.

8/1/2009 10:43:51 PM

boom boom pow

8/1/2009 10:45:38 PM