... My husband is in IT, what he studied 40 years ago is nothing like what he does today.
Yeah, I think that's typical. I'm a (recently retired) teacher, and when I was in college in the 1980s I certainly never thought I'd teach online courses. In fact, I had my first college degree before I ever touched a computer.
That's why it's important to know how to learn -- the world WILL change over the course of your career.
We're blessed to have the resources to pay for our kids' college--it helps that the three currently attending are going close and cheap. But, we require them to pay for their books and incidentals. These days, you can save a lot on books, renting, getting the subject matter online, etc. It's up to them if they want a cheap option or not. And of course, they're much more judicious in their spending, when it's their own money.
We did the same thing. We let them know well ahead of time what we'd pay (and it was absolutely the lion's share) and what they'd be managing on their own. They weren't overwhelmed with work, but they had some responsibility and built up some work history.
Wife was planning on waiting for the full Social Security but cancer has her wanting to retire and collect it early in January. The cushion of cash we saved will help that. Early Social Security draw means about $640 less per month.
We are going to take SS at 62. Why?
- We will need money to live on, and we have two choices: 1) Use SS money or 2) Withdraw money from our savings /investments.
- The savings /investments can be left to our children, so it makes sense to us to maintain those savings.
Totally yes, you can be financially independent with a bit of CC debt. I've taken a few months to pay things off before and eaten a few $$'s in charges but my 401k says I am financially independent. You can't make a blanket statement without knowing a persons level of debt.
You and I aren't going to agree on that.
I'll say again, you can't get ahead while you're paying off yesterday's goods.
If it the freezer died and must be replaced immediately - that’s an emergency. Take the money from your emergency fund and pay it back over the next 3 months. Not an emergency? Then save money for 3 months and then buy the freezer. Delayed gratification is a thing.
Financially independent people should not be paying credit card interest. What a waste of money.
We're far from poor, but when our refrigerator broke we bought a floor model (at a pretty good discount). When we decided we needed a separate freezer, we bought one off Craigslist for $40 -- it's been with us now about 15 years.
We also buy most of our clothing from Goodwill or ebay.
We are thrifty and live well below our means.
We did. They said since neither party was faulted/ticketed, it's like it never happened. So there's nothing they can do.
I suspect the poster has only liability insurance. This is a reasonable choice, but it's important to know what you're choosing -- I'm surprised how many people don't know this stuff:
- You probably have to have liability insurance. If you cause a wreck, it'll pay for the other person's car. But not yours.
- If your car isn't paid off or if the loss of your car would be a financial crisis for you, you probably have to have collison insurance as well. This would pay for your car regardless of who caused the wreck.
- Even if your car is paid off, you might want to keep collision. Depends upon your ability to pay for a fix or replacement.
- Don't forget uninsured motorist insurance -- you'd better have that! If someone who has no insurance causes a wreck, this'll pay for your car.
- You can also opt for some smaller options -- towing insurance and rental-car (in case yours is in the shop) are smaller add-ons.
We personally have only liability. Our cars aren't new, and we could replace them without undue stress. Our liability, of course, would pay for someone else's car if we caused a wreck.
