General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: $13.00 [View all]llmart
(15,536 posts)I carry a very small mortgage and my house payments are very low, so I'm in a bit better shape, but as I posted in another thread the other day, food has become a discretionary item. I pay my bills first, and those are just the basic bills such as electricity, phone, health insurance, car insurance, house insurance, heating bills, phone. I don't have cable (no loss there). My entertainment is all from my local library. I, too, get one new pair of walking shoes a year since I walk a lot and have bad feet. Worked hard all my life.
You can do everything right in your life and still end up like this. Take my word for it. I went to college. Graduated summa cum laude. You just never expect to end up living from hand to mouth especially since we were brainwashed to believe that we live in the best country in the world. Anyone who grew up in the 50's knows that.
The difference for our parents' generation was that if they had a job, and they were a decent employee, they had a job until they chose to retire and then they had a pension. Very few in my generation have pensions. We were told we would all be millionaires if we put money into our 401K's. I religiously contributed to 401ks but I'm no millionaire. However, I see young people who still fall for that line of crap. They truly think the stock market will make them rich in their old age. They are in for a huge shock.