Tell if this is smart or not

[dieselpower]

I have had some friends to tell me that what I am doing is not smart. I work 50 hours a week but I pay me bills like I am working 40 hours a week. The other 10 hours I take a little bit for me and put the rest in an IRA. I do this because I remembered when my uncle worked at Delphi, he would work 50-70 hours a week and when the overtime stopped he was in big trouble finanicially. Their thing is the more you make the more government will take so I should use the 10 hours of pay instead of pocketing it. I have been doing this for 2 years and I have put away some serious money even in this troubled stock market. I think I am doing right ( I know 2 minds are sometimes better than 1) but I hear this everytime we are together that I should use that money. I don't know if it is jeolosy or mean spirited I would like to know from a few more people.

[Useless]

Dieselpower;

What other people think does not matter in the least. If more people had the discipline to do what you are doing, then we would not be scratcing our heads, confroned with the economic problems that we are currently facing.

The key to true wealth and prosperity is by treating your paycheck as the SEED of your labors not as the FRUIT of them. The more seeds you eat, the fewer seeds you have to plant. The fewer seeds you have to plant, the smaller your future harvest will be.

There are clear Spiritual considerations here as well. While I am not a Christian, I do believe what The Bible tells us in The Book of Genesis;

"By the sweat of your brow shall you sew your seed, and in sorrow shall you eat of it."

What does that mean to me?? It means that you will work for seed, and when you eat your seed, you will cost yourself the hopes and benefits of a future harvest. Now, obvioulsly, we all eat part of our seeds; we need food, clothing, shelter, transportation, insurance, and we have other costs of living as well. While those things are necessary, the fact is that with every dollar we spend, we have fewer seeds to sew. So now, the more fundamental issue becomes choosing between those things we truly need, those things we merely desire, and most importantly, the discipline and wisdom to distinguish the differences between the two. It's easy to fall into the trap of justifying our wants by confusing them with needs.

When you look at the economic meltdowns we are facing in the housing and financial markets, people want to blame Wall St., Washington, D.C., the politicians, the financial institutions,..... in reality, people are balming everyone but themselves. We, as a society, caused many of these problems by spending money we did not have on things we did not need. We demanded the lowest price for the things we bought, mindless of the high cost of the lowest price.

Now, our collective chickens are coming home to roost, the worst is yet to come, and we have fooled ourselves into believing that the solutions will be found by electing a new Republican President, or a new Democrat president, or an Independent candidate to lead the nation. In the end, we want quick, easy, painless solutions to complex problems which have grown and festered, and been ignored for many years. These problems did not creep up overnight. The handwritting has been on the wall for years. In truth, these problems will not be solved quickly, easily, painlessly, or without unfortunate outcomes. In short, we are pi$$in' in the wind, turning to others for solutions that are really within ourselves, both as individuals, and as a society.

With every dollar you spend, you are surrendering control of a part of your life to others. With every dollar you invest, you are gaining more control over your life and opening more options for your future. think about it; people without cash are people without options. People without options have little or no control over their lives, and are controlled by others. People who have little or no control over their lives are often resentful of those who do. You should not allow them to dictate anything to you. Why would you allow someone who's financial life does not work to dictate a game plan to you?? What your uncle thinks should not matter to you at all. You are building. If he resents that, then that is his problem.

People who hold loser's attitudes, who are down and out because of their attitudes and their poor choices in life, and sabotge their lives, tend to want to spread their poisons to sabotage others, to drag other down to their level, and resent those who refuse to be dragged down by them. Don't allow them to do it to you.

As far as the notion of worrying about paying more in taxes because you earn more, that is nothing but a loser's refrain. Personally, I pay more in income taxes each year than the first year driver will gross in his first year of driving. My grumbles about taxation are not with what I pay in taxes, but rather how inefficiently and inappropriately those dollare are spent. Add to that, your IRA contributions are tax deductible, unless you are investing in a Roth IRA. Quite interestingly, Roth IRS's are excellent investment tools, because while the contributions are not tax deductible, the returns they produce are tax free, providing they meet withdrawl qualifications.

So stop worrying, keep building, and when people criticize you for building, or resent you for the control you are gaining over your life and what for you are building, remember something very important.

"Every day that goes by just forces me to add one more name to the list of people who can just kiss my ass" !!

Looking at this, I can see that I've gotten back on my soap box, but this matter extends far beyond saving and investing a little money, and there are reasons why I preach about this as I do. The true issues here are ones of perspectives, and making the right choices in life.

Statistically, I should be one of those people who are down and out, on the outside looking in. Growing up with what I grew up with, I should be homeless, or in prison, strung out on drugs or alcohol, or dead, with several children born to several different women, all needing child support and the love of a father, with none of them getting any of the things, the support, the care, or most importantly, the love that they need. Statistically, that's where people like me tend to wind up. Statistically, that's also how the poisons spread.

Through the Grace of The Highest Power, I was Blessed with working for some very good people who saw potential in me; they demanded a lot of me, and taught me to demand the best from myself, people who inspired me to beat the odds, and to build. None of that could have happened if they had not given me the capacity to discover that I could be more that what I was. The many gifts they gave me were not in the form of paychecks..... I earned those. The gifts were the insight and inspiriation as to what to do with the money I had earned, and discovering the person thast I wanted to be.

Through all of that, I eventually started a small business from an empty bedroom in a rented house, and later sold it for over 400 times my original investment; for me, that proved to be just the beginning. I've also created several hundred previously non-existent jobs. I now have the honor and the privillege of being able to reach out, and to help others.

So I offer my perspectives to you with the hope that they will not only help you, but also inspire you, and perhaps others as well, to start building, to keep building, and to never stop building. The true issues here extend far beyond money alone.

Congratulations to you, and keep building!!

[BIG JEEP on 44's]

Dieselpower;

There are clear Spiritual considerations here as well. While I am not a Christian, I do believe what The Bible tells us in The Book of Genesis;

"By the sweat of your brow shall you sew your seed, and in sorrow shall you eat of it."

What does that mean to me?? It means that you will work for seed, and when you eat your seed, you will cost yourself the hopes and benefits of a future harvest.

Sounds a little fruity to me...NO man should be ingesting seed be it his or others... :wink:

[Cluggy619]

I have had some friends to tell me that what I am doing is not smart. I work 50 hours a week but I pay me bills like I am working 40 hours a week. The other 10 hours I take a little bit for me and put the rest in an IRA. I do this because I remembered when my uncle worked at Delphi, he would work 50-70 hours a week and when the overtime stopped he was in big trouble finanicially. Their thing is the more you make the more government will take so I should use the 10 hours of pay instead of pocketing it. I have been doing this for 2 years and I have put away some serious money even in this troubled stock market. I think I am doing right ( I know 2 minds are sometimes better than 1) but I hear this everytime we are together that I should use that money. I don't know if it is jeolosy or mean spirited I would like to know from a few more people.

Ignore your friends. Your doing the right thing if you're happy with the results.

And in this line of business that we are in, it NEVER hurts to money aside for a rainy day.

Good luck.

[repete]

your doing good, but did you mean your saveing for a rainy day or for retirement or both? Just be advised that if you need some of that money that's in the IRA you will be penelized for early withdrawl so you might want to build a large savings account up and then every year transfer a large amount in your IRA in addition to smaller weekly deposits

[GMAN]

Good post, Useless. Dieselpower, if more people saved and sacrificed in their early years, they would be much better off later in life. You never get ahead by spending everything you make. Don't pay any attention to those who scoff at you for wanting to put money aside. It is always much better to live below your means.

[vavega]

congratulations dieselpower on your perserverence and dedication to saving, 8) it's hard to do in this spend, spend, spend world we live in. that being said, it might not be a

smart thing to do

it all depends on your circumstances. don't get me wrong, it's alway's smart to save, i save a lot too, but it's important to structure your different types of savings to pay the least amount of taxes, to make the most of your money and to make it work for you. it might be that's what your friends are referring to.



there are a whole host of factors that come into play, information that you don't provide us. things like.... how old are you? are you fully funded in a 401k at work? what kind of ira do you have your money in?

a general guideline for saving is

a. have 3 to 6 months salary in a liquid account for emergencies. say if you lose your job and need to pay your rent, mortgage, etc. don't touch it unless it's a true emergency. having one of these provides piece of mind as useless says. it buys you time to make good decisions if something does happen.

b. a fund for a purpose. say you want to buy a car, put your down payment money here. or furniture. any other big ticket item that if you were to put on a credit card, you'd be paying interest, and a long time to get rid of it.

c. your 401 k at work. most companies have them. the minimum you should put in is whatever you need to get the company match. that afterall is free money. concentrate on that so you won't have to worry about retirement.

d. once you can put the maximum amount in your 401k, currently $15,500 @ year, then if you have any leftover, :shock: a roth ira. while it doesn't give you a tax deduction now, any gains you make can be withdrawn tax free if you hold it for at least 5 years and you're over 59 1/2.

[dieselpower]

I am fully invested in my company 401k and I have my own savings account with my local bank. I also have a roth IRA and I trying to learn how to invest in stocks. I have bought numerous books about the stock market and I am currently talking with a investment company about potential investments. I am 37 my kids are 19 and 17 one in college other one at home but he has a job my wife is fully invested in her retiremnt plan (teacher retirement). I do not have credit card bills or other debt. The only debt is our mortgage and I have my personal truck payment. We have been able to put a lot of money without affecting our other bills. I pay myself at the end of the week. If I spend any money through out the week I don't get paid at the end of the week because I have spent that money for the week. My old man tells me I have short arms and deep pockets meaning I am tight on a dollar. I only carry 50 cents to work with me everday and most of the time I don't spend it. I was just shocked when my friends told me I was wrong for saving that money.

[Snowman7]

Keep saving and dont discuss your finances with them. Its none of their business anyway and they are foolish to tell you to spend it...unless you want to buy all of us at CAD something, then its OK. :P

[Useless]

I only carry 50 cents to work with me everday and most of the time I don't spend it. I was just shocked when my friends told me I was wrong for saving that money.

Dieselpower;

You carry only 50 cents in your pocket??

After reading your last post, I have concluded that you are obsessed with money. This is NOT a good thing. Being financially responsible is one thing; being a skin flint is another.

GREED is one of those seven deadly sins. You are obviously consumed by money and greed. This is damaging you spiritually.

Your only hope for Salvation and Redemption is for you to seperate yourself from this Money God that you are enslaved to.

Therefore, You should immediately close your savings account, cash our of your 401K and your Roth IRA, and send all of your money to:

"The Faith In Eternal Profits Televangelist Ministry".

BTW, I'm the pastor, and I PROMISE you that I will treat your money......errrr.....better mke that your "Love Offering" ......EXACTLY as if it were my own!!

[dieselpower]

Man the last post sound just like my friends. Just because someone put himself on a budget I am greedy and money hungry. Now greedy is big corportion presidents who takes chunks of money to resign only to leave the little worker scratching his head. I am making sure I can continue living my life when I retire like I am living now. I do not see the reason to carry much more money to work because I know I may spend it only slowing my progress to retire a little early. I am glad you talk about christ and his word but I am not greedy by no means. I give hefty to the local United Way and I will buy a person in need a dinner if they really need it. Before I started saving my money I would spend spend and spend and I was broke before next pay period so thats when I made this life changing decision. I even teach my kids about having great credit and having a surplus of money just in case something happens. I just want to live a comfortable life after retirement so that I want have to find a second job to make ends meet you can understand that right?

[Roadhog]

I'm a bit of a tight wad myself. I'm always looking for the sales, and even generally ask for an additional 10% discount, and often get it too. But I do have my weaknesses, and spend my money foolishly on certain things.
Guitars...I suffer G.A.S. (gear acquisition syndrome) :P

I have several theories I've tried lived by. One is to not buy anything on credit. If I wanted something, I got the money together first to buy it, or I just did not have it. I know the importance of having good credit though, for those times you may need it. So, I use a credit card regularly, but it gets automatically paid in full with each billing by direct Banking. That keeps my credit score above 850.
I did just recently buy a new '08 Honda Civic and financed half of the 24k at 1.9%...couldn't resist that...and crunched the numbers enough to figure that was a good idea, with the high price of gas. The car gets 40mpg.

Try not to pay full price. Like I mentioned...I always haggle the cost down. Money talks the loudest. I learned that, and it works. I won't beat a person that is desperate to sell something down though. I kinda have my limits, to how much I'll seek to drive a price down. I walk away from more purchases, than I accept. Many times, I simply walk away to "think about it" and the next day, I have a much clearer view of it all.

Lastly, the methods of savings I do is kinda Biblical. I got the notions anyway from the Bibles teachings on tithe. As a kid, I use to save my money up for something, and learned my money would burn a hole in my pocket. I'd come up with something I felt I really needed, just because I had the money. Later to find out, I didn't need something as bad as I thought I did. It always killed me to sell something, I rarely made use of, for less money.
So...what I ended up doing is realizing I needed to have a savings I never touched. I came up with that 10% theory, that I could get by without ever missing 10% of my income or savings. So, I began putting 10% of anything I made into an account, which later began to diversify, and grow in other nest egg baskets.

I wasn't always religious about it though. Lots of times, I did not stick the 10% away. Some times I even cashed in some of my precious...my precious.
I'm so screwed up...but at least I'm not broke too.

[vavega]

i believe useless was being facetious, it's just hard to tell sometimes :P

now that we know more of the circumstances, i vote that they're envious, you've managed to do something that they haven't.

[Skywalker]

dieselpower.... Keep doing what you are doing. Tell your "friends" to get a life. Misery loves company....and they want to pull you into the morass of financial instability that they dwell in. Save as much as you can. Personally, I'm not much on anything that has to do with the stock market... I tend to prefer putting money into "conservative" types of things that produce income.... But its your money and your savings.... not being smart with you...because I am not big on giving financial advice.... just saying be careful where you put it.... But "CONGRATULATIONS" for being mature enough and bright enough to look toward the future and preparing for your retirement!!

You can use this calculator to figure what you can have after saving... you put in the amounts and it tells you the numbers:

http://www.bloomberg.com/invest/calc...s/savings.html

One thing you might consider....if you are talking to "Investment" people.... Before you spend a dime on stock..... ask them: SHOW ME YOUR PORTFOLIO! If they won't or babble about you not being "qualified" to assess their portfolio.....RUN, RUN...far away as fast as you can!! Because there's a good chance they own ZERO stocks....but are more than happy to play with your money and charge you a commission for playing with it. Right now, in my opinion...is not a good time to invest in the market.....but then that's just my "opinion".... 8)

[Useless]

Man the last post sound just like my friends. Just because someone put himself on a budget I am greedy and money hungry. Now greedy is big corportion presidents who takes chunks of money to resign only to leave the little worker scratching his head. I am making sure I can continue living my life when I retire like I am living now. I do not see the reason to carry much more money to work because I know I may spend it only slowing my progress to retire a little early. I am glad you talk about christ and his word but I am not greedy by no means. I give hefty to the local United Way and I will buy a person in need a dinner if they really need it. Before I started saving my money I would spend spend and spend and I was broke before next pay period so thats when I made this life changing decision. I even teach my kids about having great credit and having a surplus of money just in case something happens. I just want to live a comfortable life after retirement so that I want have to find a second job to make ends meet you can understand that right?


"Useless" Wrote:

Therefore, You should immediately close your savings account, cash our of your 401K and your Roth IRA, and send all of your money to:

"The Faith In Eternal Profits Televangelist Ministry".

BTW, I'm the pastor, and I PROMISE you that I will treat your money......errrr.....better make that your "Love Offering" ......EXACTLY as if it were my own!!
___________

Dieselpower ;

Lighten Up, Dude!!

:shock: :shock:

My last reply to you was a joke!!

[dieselpower]

my bad useless I didn't mean to sound bitter. After reading all the posts I feel better about what I am doing with my money. Thank you all very very much.