One of the wonderful things about America is that it is a very free country. Maybe not quite as free as it was at some other point but people living in the good ole USA have more rights, protections and freedom to do what they please than in just about every other country in the world.
So often people back themselves into a corner in terms of lifestyle and the resulting debt/ expenses. They have to live in this kind of house, drive this type of vehicle (or even a vehicle at all), charge stuff they can't afford and whatever. The result is that they are in an uncomfortable situation. These folks often turn around and blame everybody but themselves for their circumstances. It is a big picture version of eating a big mac and extra jumbo fries with a large milkshake for lunch every day and blaming other people for why you are fat.
If you don't like the amount of money you can make then get a degree or some certification or skill to become more valuable to an employer or customer. It is a lot more productive than whining. If you do not want a mortgage then find some kind of alternate housing you can afford to pay cash for. Maybe get a little piece of land paid for free and clear. Hate the idea of an HOA then don't buy a house in one. If zoning restrictions in your current location prevent this kind of action and you really still want to do it then MOVE to somewhere you can do what you want. If you want to home school your kids then move to a home school friendly area. Don't like the tax laws in your state? Move to a different one. Don't like your city/ states gun laws? Vote with your feet. If you want to be able to shoot an AK-47 from the front porch naked at 3 in the morning then start in a state that is cool with the AK-47 and then find a place with no nearby neighbors. If you don't want to deal with car insurance, registration and such then don't have a car. Live within biking/ walking range or public transport routes to the places you need to go. Maybe arrange to go to Costco with a cool neighbor who has a big van every month or two. If you don't want a credit card then don't have one. Don't like debt; too easy simply do not borrow money from anybody. If you hate paying taxes then make conscious (legal of course) choices to limit your tax liability. This is checkers, not chess. Simply make choices to not be involved in things you don't want to be involved with and to be in the situation you want to be in.
Of course because this is simple doesn't mean it is easy. Just like dieting or household budgets knowing what you should do and easy implimentation are very different things. Every decision has second and third order effects. You might like some parts of an area (family, work, recreation, etc) and hate the restrictive laws. Not having a vehicle sucks but you don't need insurance or vehicle inspections. Living in a nice house is more spacious and comfortable than a travel trailer or a shack/ tent. Generally places where you can buy a piece of land for the price of a decent pistol and do whatever you want on it kind of suck. They are far from jobs, may not have water or are otherwise undesirable. Hence the name junk land.
The thing is that you have to make a choice as to what is more important. Often nice places to live where there are plenty of good jobs and fun things to do have expensive housing costs. So either move to a place where you can afford to live comfortably or stay where you are and gripe about the rent/ mortgage/ taxes.
The old saying about construction comes to mind; a job can be done fast, cheap and right but you only get to pick two of them. Inevitably there are difficult choices and compromises to be made on all fronts (housing, location, work, vehicles, debt, tax and gun laws, zoning, etc).
The important word in that last paragraph is CHOICES. I'm not telling you that you must do anything (though it would be nice if you clicked on one of our ads and suggested the blog to a friend;) but am telling you that you can choose. The real interesting part is that this stuff can snowball big time. If you don't need to make a big rent/ mortgage payment then maybe you can quit that horrible job. You could then try a business idea that has been in your head for awhile. If you don't need to impress people at that fancy job then maybe an older paid off vehicle (or no vehicle at all) will work just fine. With all that time you aren't at work all kinds of things could be done.
Take some responsibility and ownership over your life. Figure out what is really important to you. Think outside the box and focus on what is important to you and your family, not the Johnson's, or anybody else. Make the inevitable hard choices and create the kind of life that you really want to have.
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4 comments:
I am taking your words to heart. This year my debt will be focused on and not much else.
What you seem to be speaking of is path depenency.
The choices you made in the past, will affect the choices you have available today. The choices you make today, will affect the choices you have open to you in the future, etc...
In general, people today have far fewer social constraints placed on them than in the past. From a legal point of view, we are more limited, but from a social and cultural context we are much more free. So long as your current choices do not intertangle you with the somewhat larger formal legal system of today, you will be much freer to do what you want.
As a single male, you could have one or more single female roomates, but you can't deal drugs.
From an economic point of view, if you adjust for inflation and borrowing, the Western Economies started stagnating somewhere in the early 1970s. They didn't die, but the options were not what they were in the post WW2 period. So long as you can avoid the sense of entitlement which makes you believe that you should have the economic oportunity that the post WW2 genration had, it is not much of a problem. The boomers did have the entitlement attitude and pretty much borrowed their way to opportunity. Since the barn door seems to finally have shut on that route to prosperity, we will probably not guarentee that hard work, education, etc. will lead to prosperity.
Another option for increasing your income is to discretely network your business contacts to find something else that pays better. Always keep your ear to the ground and your mind open to alternate opportunities. Don't do anything stupid but don't pass the chance to take a job a bit different than you're used to, or that would require you to stretch your capabilities. Probably you aren't working to your full capacity anyway. And never, ever ride a dead horse or dead end job into the ground. When things start looking shakey, most likely they are, so plan ahead to get ahead.
You should never, ever be in position to wonder what you'd do next if the current job went tango-uniform. Network relentlessly. I'm not looking for a job nor do I expect to be needing to look for one anytime soon, but right off the top of my head, I can think of five places I could go to work tomorrow if the current job pulled my plug. And so should you.
From the topic(s) and the tone, I get the feeling you have to work out issues for a lot of junior enlisted folks.
I'm pretty lucky - all the enlisted I supervise either have a degree (a few with masters), or will have one shortly, and are pretty squared away. Already lost a couple to commissioning.
Moving... a great thing to do sometimes. I see some people who can't find a job - in their town - and it goes on for weeks, months, even longer. Around 1980 (I was just a grade school kid), my dad lost his job. Times were tough. He found a job on an oil rig a couple states away until something at home was available. He did whatever had to be done. I didn't realize what a good role model I had until much later.
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