26 March 2007
Paycheck to paycheck?
CNNMoney writes article about family living paycheck-to-paycheck on 150k salary, Eric punches self in face… are these events related?!
You’ve got to be kidding me.
In an an article from CNN Money last month, the woeful tale of a family living paycheck-to-paycheck on $150,000 was unleased upon the internets.
Such sympathy the reader feels for this family of 6 who is barely scraping by, as the writer describes how they’ve already cut so much. The pool membership (the horror!), the gourmet coffee (oh noes!), and the restaurant lunches (poor things), all gone.
It even discusses how they’re considering getting rid of their unlisted phone number, which is destroying them at a massive 3$ a month.
The article goes on, building a case of sympathy for this family, until you get toward the bottom of the page… and that’s where the fun starts, with quotes like:
“A closer look at the Schuetts’ finances reveals, for example, that a big chunk of their income is eaten up by two rental properties. Brian purchased them thinking they’d generate extra income, but he has yet to find tenants. Even when the properties are finally occupied, the area’s softening rental market probably won’t allow them to make enough to cover carrying costs.”
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“Last year, for instance, Brian’s parents gave the Schuetts a horse named Red for their kids to ride. They think it will cost a few hundred dollars a month to feed and care for the animal, and they’re willing to give up ballet lessons and gymnastics classes for the girls to pay for it.
The trade-off is worth it, says Brian, because ‘the kids so love having a horse.’”
So.. hold on a second. You’re telling me with a straight face, CNN Money, that you chose to do a story on a family “barely” getting by when they have 3 properties, two of which have no tenants… and they have a horse?!
I feel oddly qualified to rant about this horse as I currently rent a house on a horse farm, a small little cottage, really. I spoke to the owner of the farm, a good friend of mine, about how much the monthly upkeep on a horse is. He told me that if you include boarding, food, and veterinarian care, you’re looking at around $500/month. And that’s only as long as nothing goes wrong, such as illness or injury.
The rental properties are a no-brainer. Why you would buy the second property when you didn’t have a sustainable, profitable tenant in the first one? I guess this goes to further drive home the point that money is emotional in nature, not intellectual.
I’ve been considering this article for awhile, and the one thing I hadn’t noticed before really is amazing to me. The family has all these expenses, a horse for their four daughters, and then, this:
“…the Schuetts don’t have college funds for the girls yet either.”
So we have a horse for our daughters, who’s average age seems to be around 6, and no money set aside for college for them. So here in about 12 to 14 years when the first of four tuition payments start coming due, who’s gonna shoulder the debt? The horse?
I know I’m being kinda rude/mean about this. I understand what the writer tried to do with this, giving the reader practical ways to evaluate their expenses when money is tight. But this just wasn’t the right family to profile, it smacks of a gross lack of understanding about the plight of millions of American families, trying to raise families of similar sizes with a half or a third as much income.
4 Comments currently posted.
Amanda says:
Amanda says:
oh yeah, and you forgot this qoute from the page:
“We live from one paycheck to the next, we’re struggling to save and we never seem to have enough money TO DO ANYTHING FUN.”
CashMoneyJesus » The Grand Unified Theory of Lunch says:
[…] on about as a cost-cutting technique is taking your lunch to work. I mean, even the article about the poor family barely getting by on $150,000 mentions, “But she’s already slashed so many little luxuries - the gourmet coffee, the restaurant […]
Derek says:
OK, yeah, that’s just pathetic. Now it’s a given that $150k is a lot less is some parts of the country than others. But that article completely misses the point. That’s a case study of a family that is just making bad decisions. And with the “gift horse” from the parents, obviously there’s a family history of bad financial decisions. If my parents gave my children a horse, I’d refuse it, because (a) we couldn’t afford it and (b) even if we could, it’s not the right priority for the money. But perhaps I’m a little smarter financially because I grew up in a family where things like “I want a pony” were just outright dismissed.
If they’re struggling so much, sell the properties. Sheesh. With the kinds of bad decisions they’re making, they probably bought really nice homes to rent out but can’t find anyone who wants to pay rent high enough to cover it. That’s because people who could afford that rent would just buy a home, folks.
With the money they’re wasting on the properties and the horse, they could reintroduce gourmet coffee, restaurant lunches, AND the pool membership. And still have PLENTY to start college funds for the kids.
I dont think you were rude at all. What you said is the truth! It’s crazy- families in America’s thought process. Everyone seems to have been brainwashed to think that the life of money and wealth and having everything you want is the life you’re “supposed” to have or it’s due to you. Its quite sad. God forbid you not have a horse for the kids. The world might end.
amanda