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Originally Posted by nUcLeArEnVoY

I get that you should splurge if you have the disposable income, but I'm going to assume there is a generational gap between the two of us (maybe not, maybe you're aorund my age - I'm 36). My generation is very far behind on financial freedom (I'm a millenial), and today's affordability crisis kind of instills a sense of frugality among my agegroup. We are saddled with inflated school debt averaging $35,000 since that's what we were taught in gradeschool to do in order to achieve success (as we put on clown makeup); we are forced to rent since home ownership has been sequestered among the affluent almost exclusively; and the rents to which we are forced to adhere have skyrocketed this past couple years and leave very little additional room in your average budget to pay for utilities, groceries, or god forbid save money. I made 100k last year for the first time in my life and that used to be an aspirational income, but it doesn't really get you far, anymore. Our dollar doesn't bring us nearly as far as previous generation's, and so a sense of practicality takes precedent over splurging. I already splurged on my Trans Am back in 2020 when things were way different (it's amazing how much has changed in just a few years). I don't need to splurge on anything else, and if I have no practical application for a truck, then I'm not going to spend the extra money on something I don't need; especially when my agegroup feels disenfranchised from even buying a damn home.

And we do work hard. Very hard. lol The only reason I made 100k last year was because I put in around 200 hours of OT in the last 3 months of the year, and as an ER nurse getting berated and screamed at by drunk patients; having to explain to families that their loved one is circling the drain because the physician is too shy to do it themselves; and shortening my lifespan by willingly working night shift just for the extra $6.00/hr differential, I like to think I earn my keep and that I deserve to splurge as well... but I can't. At least not since a couple years ago when inflation spiraled out of control while wages, while they did indeed go up, still remain proportionately stagnant.

But I suppose for the same reasons listed above, taking my advice from my previous post may fall on deaf ears for a lot of the folks here who have the disposable income to drive something fun daily. Like I said, it's a generational difference in idealogy. I'll be the first to admit that a lot of my generation is very idiotic with their spending habits like spending thousands on luxury fashion that they show off in their TikToks and Instagram feeds, or even blowing 70k on an Audi when they bring home that same amount every year; but the majority of suffrage is in silence.

I'm 55.. almost 56. When I was close to your age(34/35/36) I was working at Firestone in Antioch CA as a service manager making about 46k a year. I was barely getting by (California bay area is expensive). Renting an old house for $1200 a month and my daily driver was a 76 chevy C10. When I was 36 I quit my job and started flipping cars out of my rented house. I had always flipped cars on the side as a hobby and for extra money. That snowballed and was able to open a used car lot a couple years later in the California central valley which is a lot cheaper place to live. I didn't buy my first house until I was 51... when I did .. I paid cash for it. My goal was to always be debt free. I hate owing anybody anything.

Point is... hard work pays off and it'll all come in due time. As time goes on... it is getting harder and harder for the average guy to get ahead. It took me a long time... and never thought I would.