How do you feel about debt?

[JeffKeryk]

I don't have a 4-year degree and I'll admit - it took longer and I had to work more/harder to get where I'm at, but I'm now a 3%'er or 2%'er, whatever the class warfare dolts want to say now, and I've done it on my own.

Work ethic is the single most important enabler of success. I'd say discipline, but I'm afraid I don't know the meaning of the word.
Congrats on your hard work. Well done! I was lucky, in Silicon Valley if you are willing to do the work, companies will help you through college. I got my 1st degree at 40 mostly paid for by the companies I worked for.

 

[wpod]

During periods of high inflation coupled with a stagnant market, a well purchased home with a low interest rate mortgage is a good thing. There are times where debt, even in large amounts, is a non issue.

I don't have any debt, own my home and cars/airplane, etc. I am concerned that my investments won't match inflation and the end result is a net loss of wealth. Right on the cusp of retirement. I expect a market correction, coupled with inflation in the near future, and I don't see any viable methods of wealth preservation.

Turn the stuff that costs you money into stuff that makes you money.

 

[billt460]

That's a sad state of affairs. I was raised by a mother who had a single income, my "father" was/is an alcoholic and left when I was about 9. I have little to no memory of him spending much time with me up to that point, so to say that he/his earnings were a positive contributing factor in our household income would be a lie.

I think my mother was making about $15k in the mid-80's, raising two rambunctious boys. IOW, we didn't have much other than a roof over our heads, food to eat and OTA TV and usually a POS vehicle I was embarrassed to be seen in. I say that I grew up dirt poor. We might have had a wooden or concrete floor beneath us, but that was about it as far as upgrades beyond that classification.

I have "worked" since I was about 9 years old. Either mowing/raking yards, taking out garbage/bringing in groceries for old neighbor ladies, to picking up empty Coke bottles to return to the store for refund.... in order to finance my needs/desires as a kid - fishing lures/line/etc., gas money for my 3.5hp B&G push mower, matchbox cars, etc.

I have become very jaded with my views today of how kids are raised and even how the 50 and under crowd has been raised by their parents. The reason why it is $80-100k for a basic 4-year degree from a state school, even in the southeast, is because **** near every single student has parents backing them, writing checks to cover 100% of the cost, or, as you say, they can secure a student loan for any amount. Then they go to college for 4, 6, 7 years and WON'T, not Don't, work a single hour during that period. They are out of college, most with a useless degree in something that no longer appeals to them and can't get a job to afford all the crap they want/need.

I don't have a 4-year degree and I'll admit - it took longer and I had to work more/harder to get where I'm at, but I'm now a 3%'er or 2%'er, whatever the class warfare dolts want to say now, and I've done it on my own.

I have a similar background. As does my wife. I'm an only child, and my father ran off and left my mother and I when I was 11. My mother worked 7 days a week for years. My father never paid a dime in child support.

My wife came from a home with an alcoholic father, (who was really a nice guy until he drank), and an idiot older sister, who was constantly favored over her. So when we met, we decided early on that this was going to be OUR time. We both had sacrificed enough due to circumstances provided to us by other people.

So the idea of us having a "big happy family" like we came from, more or less went over like a turd in a punchbowl. So we never had kids. We never really regretted it, (like so many told us we would). And today our lives are very comfortable, and uncomplicated because of our choice.

Others find comfort in a big family, and that's fine. But it's just not the lifestyle we wanted, because of the bumpy road we were forced to take. As they say, you can't choose your relatives.