Free ride, keep dreaming
Pinch pennies and save, welcome to the club
30 year mortgage, I paid mine off at age 60, many retirees still have a mortgage
Where did anyone get the idea a college degree guaranteed anything, anything at all? It’s all up to you, degree or not.
QUINNSCOMMENTARY 
In 1987 we bought our 1st and only home. My husband and I each contributed $5K for a $10K down payment. I was earning $20K. Our mortgage Interest rate was 8.95%. We managed to pay it off in 20 years, not 30. We stayed within our means and put the money we no longer needed for the mortgage towards our retirement.
LikeLike
“ It’s math. In an economy* with extreme income/wealth disparity”
Which math is that? Wealth is not a zero sum game, and as Richard said, no matter how much Gates or Bezos has, it does nothing to prevent you from making $$ and being successful.
LikeLike
Not me. I’m fine, no matter what Bezos does. But I am an individual. Individuals often move out of (or into) the lower income group, yet the income group itself exists sui generis. A given percentage of the population, comparatively undercompensated, changing only slowly over time, if at all, for better or worse. Most will stay in this income group from cradle to grave. Math.
If you taxed Bezos, Gates, and others at a 95 percent marginal rate, and redistributed the proceeds, it would increase income at the lowest level very little. I still think personal income tax should be much more progressive. I am middle income, I could be taxed more and still be better off than that lower income group. There are enough like me that a little from each of us could make a substantial increase in living standards for the poor.
When I was a pup, “Better dead than Red,” was a common expression. I asked Dad what that meant and, among other things, he said that in this country, if you work harder or smarter* you get to keep the rewards of your labor. He still couldn’t figure out how someone could work 10,000 times (or more, literally) harder than he does. To this day, neither can I.
*or luckier. I mean, Duh!
LikeLike
Bought a starter house no air conditioning lived in it for forty years 1300 sq feet raised two kids sent them to college and grad school worked 50 years in job I loved. Retired to 3600 sq foot condo with water view and cabin on lake up north never made over $100,000 but had a wife who saved like I did. So it can be done at any point just do what you say. Live within your means and save save. I have wanted to add this to your posts for a long time and now I have. RWW
LikeLike
Life cycle hypothesis.
People tend to even out consumption and savings over a lifetime; borrowing more when younger and income is lower. Saving more as income increases, then living off those savings in retirement, when there is no earned income.
https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRPwKmt5fFfSPtmewWKg2v5enmlMFUiYJIi8w&usqp=CAU
In theory… in real life, a lot of people will spend their whole life pinching pennies… AND in debt. And we’re not necessarily talking about lazy or dumb people.
Conservative says “I worked hard for everything I have.”
Liberal says “I worked hard for everything I have.”
“And I was lucky.”
LikeLike
In theory, yes, in practice not so much. The savings for many never seem to appear to an adequate degree while spending continues. The absence of uncontrollable misfortune is always a factor, but it’s far more than luck that determines one’s success or failure. It’s mostly actions taken or not and decisions made starting young in life.
LikeLike
“…but it’s far more than luck that determines one’s success or failure. It’s mostly actions taken or not and decisions made starting young in life.”
It’s math. In an economy* with extreme income/wealth disparity, it is orders of magnitude more difficult to prosper if born into the lower income groups. Possible? Yes. Likely?Hardly.
*But we don’t live in an economy. We live in a society.
LikeLike
Explain how the wealth of others inhibits opportunity, initiative or anything else hurting people wanting to succeed? Income and wealth disparity has been with every society forever. Clearly someone born into poverty has a tougher climb, but it has nothing to do with what Gates or Bezos or Musk have accumulated. In fact, I suggest what they have created that lead to their wealth has helped most Americans with not direct and indirect opportunities. Blaming inequality is just an excuse all too often.
LikeLike
Even that is relative. I have friends (and siblings) now retired who are still “pinching pennies” just like they did in their twenties, who consider themselves, if not prosperous, at least “successful”, merely because they don’t (usually) have to depend on their children or friends for support.
None of them has ever been accused of being lazy or stupid, or immoral.* My oldest sister (84) worked as a low paid bookkeeper her entire life until retirement at full SS age. Last I heard, she was worth at least two million dollars, as she and her farmer husband bought and sold farmland over the years. Lucky?
*? Although most of them, except the oldest, are avid Trump supporters. Go figure.
LikeLike
The wealth of others at the top is not so much the problem. It’s the dearth of those on the lower end. If a sizable percentage of the population is in constant hardship despite hard work, common sense, and even frugality, it is not sustainable. If a complex internal combustion engine does not supply sufficient lubrication and cooling to even the least significant components, the shiny topside will become worthless.
I think many of the entrepreneurs understand this. Enlightened Self Interest.
LikeLike
The constant existence of the poor percentage is not a constant existence of the same people. People move and out of poverty. As far as low income, but not poverty goes or even lower middle class a closer examination of spending habits is needed.
LikeLike
“The constant existence of the poor percentage is not a constant existence of the same people.”
To a very large extent, I think it is. Sure, individuals can move up, or down, but they are comparatively rare.
Dad worked as a farm hand about half his life, then a minimum wage factory worker till he retired with my stepmother on SS. When he passed, she couldn’t afford to live on one SS, so moved in with a daughter. A very typical low income life in the Midwest. Their saving grace was a large family. With nine kids, he never really went without necessities.
I have several sisters today living comfortably on SS only, “with a little help from their friends,” (meaning family, usually) Many others are not so fortunate.
Listen, I’m not knocking a frugal lifestyle or saving for retirement. I’m all for it. When I pass, my wife will have a pension and savings to live comfortably (barring WW III or some black swan event) We just downsized our house to save more money and house/yard work. I am glad we can leave something for the kids, rather than being a burden. Just saying, for millions of Americans this is not possible, through no fault of their own.
LikeLike
If they need 20 years of pinching pennies for a down payment, which could be anywhere from 3 to 20%. How do they think that they will ever pay off a mortgage in 30 years. Somehow, I managed to pay off my mortgage early after refinancing twice because mortgages went down from 10% to 6% all without a college degree. If these college graduates can’t figure out how to pay their bills, they should sue their colleges and get their money back for getting a poor education. Or may be they should have gone to classes other than “studies” majors.
The real issue is affordable housing and that is result of government policies, zoning, and NIMBY or Not In My Backyard, which is very complex.
LikeLike