He’s (Bezos) the worst. His ex wife is so charitable and he just sits there with his billions not doing nearly as much as he could. I think she signed the giving pledge but he has not. Although I admit I am a SH too.
My husband would love you. I complain all the time about taxes, know they’re necessary and he thinks we are not taxed nearly enough.
Depending on how much data you use, that may not be the cheapest plan. There are MVNOs (resellers of the big four/three network services catering to price-sensitive or niche markets) like Ting, Google Fi, and Page Plus that could be less expensive for some mobile phone users.
Any toilet paper becomes that way during use, so why pay more than the minimum?
Buying cheap scratchy TP is the last place I’d try to save money. My neighbor used to do that. Then her mother ( who had been very active in the community ) died and she had so many people at the shiva she was running out. So I was tasked with getting her more from the “ shiva committee” Of course I bought her the “ good stuff”. Her husband and kids were like “this is life changing, NEVER buy that other stuff again!”
Tell me about it! I usually only buy Quilted Northern or Cottonelle but when everyone decided to make a run on TP the store only had one kind and my husband bought whatever it was. My daughters complained all summer about it. Meanwhile, they left for school and I couldn’t figure out why it kept feeling like we had the never ending roll of it. They come home for the semester at Thanksgiving and can’t believe that junk is still in the powder room. I say “I know! It’s taking forever to use it!”. We finally realize it’s because, I’m the only one using the TP in that bathroom because I’m living with 3 men and when they need TP they’re all smart enough to use their own bathroom not the powder room. Lol. I think we are truly on our last roll and then gone!
Kleenex is another thing I refuse to buy cheap. I’m not rubbing sandpaper on my nose.
Just had to lol. Our early Xmas present - on Xmas Eve we FINALLY used up all of the cheap toilet paper I bought during the pandemic. We all cheered. That stuff lasts forever!!! I confess I now have a 12 mega roll pack of Cottonelle in my attic (in addition to the usual stores) that will be my emergency reserve so I never have to worry again.
I’m not saving money on TP.
Why pay more than the minimum? Because my behind deserves it.
Haha, so funny. Forever is an understatement and no kidding. I still am shopping only curbside or online so now when it’s in stock I just buy the good kind. Not taking any of those chances again. It’s not like we’re never going to need TP.
Obviously no one is on a septic system. You never get used to scratchy TP. Ever.
I am on a septic system. I use Charmin, get my septic system pumped every other year, and have had no issues with the system. No one ply stuff for this girl.
As for how much is enough for retirement, I can say for a fact that I need far less than the vast majority of folks who post on this thread. I use a financial professional I trust. He helped us make decisions leading up to retirement, handles our investments, and gives us peace of mind. I realize many on this thread handle their own investments, and that’s great … but I need help with that.
How much IS enough? The amount that realistically works for your unique situation. I certainly will never be rich, but I never was, so I am fine with that. I have enough that even if things get tight, I can adjust and be okay. I know lots of people who would be thrilled to have what I have, and I know lots of people who probably would think I don’t have much. My life works for me. Everyone has to figure out what they “need” and go from there. For me, employing a financial professional to help me with that has been helpful.
Trickle down economics, which is obviously your preferred economic theory, has mad most of the citizens in the U.S. poorer. You say “The amounts are not relevant because it is important to them…”. Huh? If I earn $75k/year but have 1.5 million invested in retirement funds, I think we will all admit that’s much more important than a family earning $75k/year and having $5k invested. You also have no way of knowing the future of the markets so you have no way of standing by " The youngest are affected the most because they would not experience the same level of growth of the parents and older siblings. " 55% of americans are in the market now vs 67% in 2002. The number of citizens in the market is declining, not increasing, due to poor personal savings rates. The middle class has been shrinking for decades and this is but one metric to exemplify that issue.
I guess when I read "How much…: I thought numbers. Guess not eh?
Cricket. $100/month for 5 lines. 10gb data each line.
I find a financial advisor helpful toi. We found a company we liked some years ago. Wholeheartedly agree the amount is based on personal considerations.
Some of the things we wished for like saving for college and retirement are checked boxes.
Some are still what if’s.
Without going into personal detail my personal answer to how much do you need to retire is:
People get confused on this point. Corporations don’t pay taxes. They COLLECT them. Every credible study done on tax incidence demonstrates that increased corp taxes fall mainly on labor in the form of reduced wages, reduced capital investment, and higher prices.
An S corp with someone making say 2 million in services billed pays taxes. They don’t collect anything. Services are not taxed. You are thinking of corporations that make things. And some very complex corporates are set up in a particular way to take advantage or reduce taxes/liabilities. We’ve had a number of corporations, you cannot say anything broadly. Corporations can be tiny (one person) or multi-nationals. No economic theories apply to all corps. Neither do benefits/cost of taxation. If there was a magic panacea someone would have just created a single entity type and everyone would use that.
They don’t dutifully cut into their bottom line if it doesn’t make sense, they pass the added cost along.
That makes zero sense. They bill for their services. They cannot “pass the added costs along”
The services like any product have a value. Any business will charge as much as they can for their product or service. The idea that businesses can pass the added costs along is not economically viable. I’ve seen that before. For every increase in price/cost there is a corresponding decrease in sales. Basic economics.
Several things have happened the last couple of months which have changed the retirement picture a bit.
DH ended his career in Nov. The plan was to stay in until next Oct when we both are 65 (he turns 65 next June). Fortunately I work enough hours to pick up the health insurance - a very big out of pocket savings. He did have to get out of that work situation which was negatively affecting his health, but he is using his time on a technical hobby instead of focusing on getting some work satisfaction and bringing in income during the planned timeline.
DH can use his ECE degree/IT/Program Mgmt/ skills knowledge and abilities working contract/30 hours week/4 days a week. I told him Nov and Dec are a Sabbatical and he can return to a paid job situation in Jan. There is local work available - including similar work for a former boss at another company. He looks at how well the 401 K did this past year and is unmotivated to do paid work again due to seeing that amount. If we didn’t have projects to cash flow, or didn’t have grand-children, that would be one thing. I want to be able to spend some money in retirement on travel/travel expenses. When I complained about it being unfair that my work (RN in skilled care/rehab) pays half of what his career does at this point in life - he thinks it is OK if I want to stop and pay all the extra money for COBRA insurance. He is not thinking clearly - burning money in a ridiculous manner. How hard I have had to work for income returning to the job market (after raising the kids due to his work travel and leaving a career job when I didn’t want to but needed to with raising the kids) and how relatively low his income was in start up years and not enough on high payout years with kid expenses. If he didn’t have the minimalist mentality and some unmotivated family members he would not be this way. He had a bachelor uncle that lived cheaply to retire early, not even realizing that he couldn’t withdraw his retirement money w/o extra taxes before 59 1/2…and his bachelor uncle also didn’t have a wife guiding him on his health and had prostate cancer spread and died young from that.
The ONLY reason we have what we have in our nest egg is due to my financial savvy (two graduate business degrees, a dad who was a successful business man, my paying attention to investments/our cash flow, finding our financial guy and understanding it all long before H did, etc). Due to the 2nd wave of COVID, I am one of the last nurses to get COVID.
DH doesn’t understand how important these last months of high income are in our situation. “Don’t you want me to be happy?” He has been SPOILED, and now not holding up to the plan because he continues to act spoiled.
My blood is boiling. He has been busy with his hobby - so he fills his time with what he wants to do. I tell him it not only is not right to do what he is doing for our financial security, and not a good example for our DDs/SIL.
I guess he can live ‘cheaply’ to make up for the money he has left on the table. Not have his choice defer my decisions in retirement.
I had caught a flu virus at work weeks prior to Covid (yes I had the flu shot; I am sick of being sick). I cut back at work to get well until I tested positive for Covid. He caught a bit of the flu virus - he had symptoms in the other state but I had the flu for 7 days when he left home. If he caught Covid it was being with his dad who died of Covid in another state (he now tells me he has not had taste for food for a week - I had Covid while he was gone, testing negative the day he left). If he has Covid, he came home with it.
It is what it is. DH’s dad was not a good example on work ethic either, nor another brother of his.
I plan to remain strong, irritated but will remain strong.
Of course they pass the costs along, by charging more for the service. Corps don’t just dutifully munch tax increases, they either charge more, or cut costs in other ways, reduced capital investment, reduced wages, reduced hiring.
Its no different than the gas tax, the gas station collects the tax, they aren’t paying it.