Over half of millennials have less than $1,000 in savings

[Gasser64]

This thread makes me feel better.

Agreed.

But really, think about how many people you know, that just don't mix well with money. Its not cause they couldn't save, its because they just can't handle having any extra cash on hand. It just burns a hole in their pocket. Of course those people are on that list, but there might be some argument that they shouldn't be there. Cause that's by choice. If they had any sense, they wouldn't be on the list.

[Snatch Napkin]

You're missing one key part here. Sure, I had an Atari as a kid, and once or twice even a cool pair of kicks. However, I had to wait for a birthday/Christmas/etc. (and sometimes combined) to get something like that OR I had to bust my ass doing odd jobs to raise part or all of the money myself. I remember going to the department store and putting something on layaway. I would work hard to come up with more money to go there and pay down on it each week until it was mine. There's value in that.

I'm as guilty as the next guy at 'spoiling' my kids. My oldest is 12, and he has an XBOX One, my old laptop, all the sports gear he could ever need, my old iphone, etc. He also has chores around the house, makes outstanding grades, and works on other stuff as needed at our house, my parents, etc. He's active in community service projects, and doesn't sit around all day playing video games. He doesn't have an allowance either, and he saves his money to buy things he wants. He also saves far more than he spends.

My 8 year old isn't quite as adept at the saving money thing, but he's learning. He too is active in the community, sports, and school, and he doesn't receive an allowance either. The closest thing to an allowance my kids ever received were tokens I gave them weekly that represented time to spend watching TV, playing video games, etc. They received an 'allowance' of tokens specific to something on Sunday with no restrictions on how they spent them. If he had 2 hours of TV for the week and spent it all on Sunday, then he had none the rest of the week. Before long, my oldest was trading tokens that he didn't like as much (2 of them for 1 of something he wanted) and learning the value of 'currency'. It took about a year for him to begin to learn to budget, plan ahead, etc. using that system. My youngest is still learning.

The biggest problem I see is this entitlement and sense of must have immediately. I went to college because it was a necessary step to reach the career goals I chose when I was 16. I'm still working towards accomplishing them now that I'm 41. I have never felt that someone should give me a high paying job just because I have a degree nor to I feel like I should be able to have something I want immediately. Everything comes at a price and usually with a sacrifice. Too many people today don't understand that.

Fucking yes!!!

You're doing it right.

[kingjason]

A saw a gofund me account the other day for a guy that cleared well over 100k for probably over 20 years or more. He got released from work and I was like WTF.

I have a nice healthy chunk in retirement but I have fluctuated over the years from having zero debt to a lot of debt. I focused on zero debt and did a lot of car swapping and trading while the wife was in school. She finished school with zero debt and then I got a little out of hand. I will square up this year and put a bunch back. Stupid I know but sometimes I just say fuck it. No kids and no one to leave it to kind of leaves me reckless some times.

Plus I owe a little on cars and such but we bought a very reasonable house sort of off in the country. I love the people that are "debt free", but owe 250k plus on their house and have a 2000.00 house payment. Reading this thread and others like it though I really need to hunker down and put a better chunk in the bank. I have actually thought about selling everything I own (my toys) and starting over at zero plus some cash in the bank. Wifes new car is paid off so she would not be affected. Biggest thing I would like about it is it would give me the flexibility again to walk if I ever wanted to!

[line-em-up]

You're missing one key part here. Sure, I had an Atari as a kid, and once or twice even a cool pair of kicks. However, I had to wait for a birthday/Christmas/etc. (and sometimes combined) to get something like that OR I had to bust my ass doing odd jobs to raise part or all of the money myself. I remember going to the department store and putting something on layaway. I would work hard to come up with more money to go there and pay down on it each week until it was mine. There's value in that.

I'm as guilty as the next guy at 'spoiling' my kids. My oldest is 12, and he has an XBOX One, my old laptop, all the sports gear he could ever need, my old iphone, etc. He also has chores around the house, makes outstanding grades, and works on other stuff as needed at our house, my parents, etc. He's active in community service projects, and doesn't sit around all day playing video games. He doesn't have an allowance either, and he saves his money to buy things he wants. He also saves far more than he spends.

My 8 year old isn't quite as adept at the saving money thing, but he's learning. He too is active in the community, sports, and school, and he doesn't receive an allowance either. The closest thing to an allowance my kids ever received were tokens I gave them weekly that represented time to spend watching TV, playing video games, etc. They received an 'allowance' of tokens specific to something on Sunday with no restrictions on how they spent them. If he had 2 hours of TV for the week and spent it all on Sunday, then he had none the rest of the week. Before long, my oldest was trading tokens that he didn't like as much (2 of them for 1 of something he wanted) and learning the value of 'currency'. It took about a year for him to begin to learn to budget, plan ahead, etc. using that system. My youngest is still learning.

The biggest problem I see is this entitlement and sense of must have immediately. I went to college because it was a necessary step to reach the career goals I chose when I was 16. I'm still working towards accomplishing them now that I'm 41. I have never felt that someone should give me a high paying job just because I have a degree nor to I feel like I should be able to have something I want immediately. Everything comes at a price and usually with a sacrifice. Too many people today don't understand that.

Man, I am slacking. Thanks for some excellent guidance.

What kind of community service do they do?

[ram57ta]

Don't even get me started. While I do believe that a higher education is absolutely awesome, the whole social outlook on someone that doesn't have a college degree is dumbfounding... especially when that person has proven practical experience and success in their respective field.

Some fields (doctors, lawyers, engineers, etc.) are understandably in need of years and years of advanced specialized schooling, but most of the workforce is just silly about wanting a degree (not always field specific) over proven experience. I'm glad my son is getting both.

Thank you. I tried college...wasn't my thing. I don't do well in boring classroom environments studying things that will never have any impact on my life. I'm not doing as well as many of you on here....but I'm doing okay fixing crossing gates and testing batteries once a month for a railroad. I've worked with degreed coworkers in the past (several times) that couldn't change their shoelaces or change a flat tire...who took loans against their 401k's to buy furniture for their 1 bedroom apartment. A lot of college degrees are worthless.

[Tremor14]

I work with a literal fuck ton of engineer's. Being a design/build-design/assist firm, a lot of them are fresh out of college and i know those guys come in making about 2/3's what i make, and I am on the lower end of the totem pole.

I have mentioned it before but in my company there are like NO 40 year olds, i dunno what happened, but they are pulling guys like me (early 30s, trainable, goal oriented, family based) out of the field once they identify a potential candidate and trying to get us next to some of the 50-60 year olds to gain all their knowledge before they all retire in the next 4-5 years.

[juiceweezl]

Man, I am slacking. Thanks for some excellent guidance.

What kind of community service do they do?

Both kids play select baseball at a high level. I coach my 8 year old, but only for 1 more season. We do multiple service projects with his team throughout the year ranging from the hit-a-thon that we did for Keeper of The Game (raised over $4K for special needs athletes playing in Miracle League) to toy and food drives. My oldest also participates in the toy and food drives and he is usually there helping with the team stuff we do for the 8's. Our extended families also sponsor multiple angel tree kids as our gift to each other. Our sons are assigned items and have to use the money to get as much as they can for them while shopping.

Probably the best thing they do is assist with Miracle League. I would encourage anyone who needs a smile and great experience in your life to volunteer with Miracle League. It will not cost you a dime, and they'll even give you a volunteer t-shirt. We participated in football this past season, and both boys were buddies for players. That meant they were side by side with someone cheering them on, holding their hand, leading them around the field, etc. helping them to play. Seeing my sons who both play baseball at an incredibly high level (the oldest is probably one of the top 50 players in the country at his age seriously) work side by side in a game where no one cares about the score but instead that everyone scores is amazing. Each time they help, it's all they talk about for at least 3 days.

If you're close by, you can find out more about Frisco Miracle League here:

http://friscomiracleleague.org/

Here's a pic of my youngest, Lil Red, helping out. You can see how much fun he's having. He's in the purple shirt and hat (covering his red hair).



Beyond that, we help with Habitat for Humanity because my work is heavily involved. It's tough to find activities for little kids, but they can help on sod days or when they begin to clear a lot. We have also helped when our town (Prosper) has a work day to assist community members unable to do/pay for yard/house work. They both love to do the work and helping others, and I find sweat labor/equity is far better than handing over money. Plus, running a chain saw for hours takes me back to my youth.

[quikag]

Best thing my Dad ever did for me (besides always being available to talk and give advice) was give my brother and me an interest-free loan to buy some lawn equipment in 9th grade and my brother and I started a lawn business that grew to be quite successful. Managing customers, equipment, passing out flyers, doing books, etc. really gave us a work ethic. If we didn't want to die in the summer heat, we had to get up early and get going so we could try to finish by 3pm or so.

Rolling out of bed, knowing just you and your brother have to mow 20+ small to medium sized yards before ending for the day will teach some work ethic. Our record was 28 yards for just the two of us in one day. A 14 hour day and a lot of small Summerfields yards where we'd have like 5 in a row. We could do all 5 of them in like 45 minutes. We had really good Toro/Stihl/Echo commercial equipment so that helped a ton.

Anyway, making your kids EARN money, learn the value of it, open a savings account for them, teach them how to manage is huge to long-term financial success.

[juiceweezl]

Right. We are about to leave this apartment complex, but my daughter has been walking dogs. While it doesn't seem like much, she keeps up with an ever-changing schedule, gives each animal some quality time, cleans up after them during the walk, etc. She is home schooled, so her service is very advantageous to people that work during the day.

She totally thought of it on her own when she noticed just how many people in these apartments had dogs. The only role we have played was to give her permission. She made flyers all on her own and posted them in our common areas, with the apartment's permission. She also pitched her services to people that she saw out with their dogs. Too bad she is going to have to end it now. It really helped her grow and made her some money without really interfering with anything.

Did you sit her down, tell her how proud of her you were and how awesome she did all while asking her to lay her earnings out on the table so you can take 35% away because 'Murica???

I kid of course. That's awesome that she did that and that you guys instilled that core value to her. Congrats on being a great parent.

[slow99]

My kid isn't working yet. Top that shit.

[Roscoe]

My kid isn't working yet. Top that shit.

SVO's kids will never work.

[Tremor14]

My kid models and makes me money.

[Silverback]

My kid isn't working yet. Top that shit.

I don't have any kids... top that!

[crapstang]

I don't have any kids... top that!

It seems the small town people around my age or a couple years older than me are having babies or getting married....or getting married because babies lol.
I'm all good on that stuff