Hubs made it home. Yeah! Two of our neighbors were on the flight with him. One was coming back from a vacation in another state, and the other one was coming for their annual Summer vacation. With only two flights coming in and out of our airport, this isn’t the first time Hubs has known other passengers. Now if we could figure out how to coordinate these schedules and carpool, it would save someone some driving! Haha.
We are having a good week. Good friends of ours (Jan and Peter) have a couple of friends up for a vacation, and we’ve been doing a lot with the group. Thankfully it hasn’t been anything that cost us extra money: mostly fishing (for the guys), meals, and chit chat. Jan has on past occasion mentioned how broke these friends of theirs are and based on some of the things the friend has said; she is likely spot-on. Although I wasn’t sure what to say to the friend, I think I might talk to Jan about this later. I wonder if these friends would be receptive to hearing about Dave Ramsey? Obviously, I don’t know them well enough to say. Jan and Peter took the Financial Peace University course several years ago, so they are familiar with the plan.
Speaking of having debt in your later years, I’ve been following a thread on a Facebook group about this very topic. The person wanted to know if that given her age of over 55, whether or not it was too late for her. As of right now, this thread has over 700 comments! What I found interesting (and sad) is how many of these comments are from others starting later in life. I’ve always known we weren’t alone in our journey. I only wish that there were more blogs about it! I think of a big part of why there isn’t is money (and especially debt!) being such a taboo subject with our generation. I mean really, who wants to trumpet their past failures for the world to read? But, as I often say, being in debt in your later years sucks but that doesn’t need to be the last chapter!
Earlier this week we heard from our claims adjuster. Considering that this deck collapsed in February, this is taking far too long to settle. The latest is that the contractor of cheaper of the two bids we received was willing to go down by $300. He hadn’t heard from the other company. He also said that his estimate was $1,000 less but that given the closeness of the two bids, our insurance would likely approve the cheaper of the two (less the $300). It is ridiculous how long this is taking.
Our debt snowball remains on hold for a bit. I must admit, it seems strange seeing the extra money in our account as I’ve become so programmed to sending it off to debt! Thankfully this is only a short pause until we get past all the irregularities in our budget.
I was absolutely taught as a child not to talk about money, not even within my own family. I wonder how that started. What was it in the 20th Century that had folks thinking money was a taboo subject?
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I wish more people would talk about money. It shouldn’t be such a taboo, especially with our generation.
Thinking further about your claim, the few claims I have made have been handled differently. I get an amount to spend and that is what I have and find my own contractor.
It may have to do over our type of coverage. Our insurance is for replacement value, so even though the deck is 30+ years old, the company has to cover the cost.
It’s so scary to hear about people in their later years engulfed in debt. I wonder how they will be able to live in their 70s and 80s. I jut hope that instead of avoiding or paying down debt that they were shoveling money into their retirement accounts.
I can only hope that they are adding to their retirement. That is the one area we aren’t “totally Dave”. We haven’t stopped investing.
I think there are MANY more of us than we think there are – we always think we are one of the only ones who have debt at a time WE feel we should be betting ready for retirement and enjoying our life!!! You never EVER talked about money in our house – it was an unspoken subject like sex. I knew NOTHING about money when I moved out (now, granted I was 16, but still….) and started off by making many, many poor choices…heck, I still do sometimes!!!
We are not on a pause, but reimbursing since we had some plumbing issues with the kitchen sink and had to pay a plumber to come out and do some work. I’m sure new houses have their problems too, but our house was built in the 50’s and we are finding out that a LOT of things that are required now weren’t required then and are LITERALLY paying the price!!! I talk about money with my kids all the time – I’m sure they are sick of hearing me “preach” but I don’t want them to end up like us…although I have a feeling I may be too late and they may have to learn this on their own. They saw us got get payday loans and then head out for dinner….we were terrible role models then – I’m hoping they will do as I SAY, not as we DID!!!!
I have my knee replacement surgery in the beginning of August so at least I won’t be in any condition to spend money – can’t go anywhere for awhile and will be so drugged up I won’t even be able to get on Amazon…..on second thought, I better have dh take my computer away while I’m on pain killers – when I’m on cold meds I always seem to feel the need to cut my bangs, on major pain kills I may feel the need to buy a car on-line 🙂
I think talking about our finances is yet another way we can help future generations. I also feel it can help others in our own age bracket know there is a better way of handling money. Debt sucks and it isn’t something any of us should retire with!
Good job cash flowing your repairs. I do agree that older homes tend to need more TLC. Always something!
I hope all goes well with your knee replacement. Don’t go buying anything you’ll regret later!
I was never taught about money. We never talked about it. It would have been rude to do so was what my mom would say. We talk to the kids about money all the time. We do a budget with them. My son is buying his first car. He has been saying up for it for years. It is used but in great shape. Hubby and my son have been looking for months. They put a deposit down the other day. He is so excited. No loan in this house. Our oldest got engaged recently. She paid off her stupid debt(student loans) earlier this year. They want a small wedding next year. They are saving for a down payment on a house currently. I think it is never too late to improve your financial situation.
Sounds like you did a GREAT job!!!!
You’ve done well teaching your kids how to handle money! I’m sure your son is super excited about buying his new (to him) set of wheels! Well done!
No shame in pausing the snowball. I am in pause mode myself until I reach my goal for cash flowing school. I should be able to restart the snowball in October.
I think doing so is better than miscalculating and then needing to take on more debt. Once I see what Hubs next check is, I should be able to send a little something extra to the darned furnace.
Isn’t it funny that money is such a sorry subject. I grew up with money tight all the time, but we were never supposed to say that. We kept it all a secret and had to appear affluent. My mother was so proud and did not want people to know if we were struggling. So stupid. I was taught nothing about money and bot have I mad every mistake in the book at least twice. Here we are Hub’s close to 70 and me in my early 60’s and we are just climbing out. I hate it. Learning new habits and being happy with what I have are very hard lessons for me. But we are doing it and things will be and are much brighter.
I have never understood why so much secrecy with the topic. No wonder we all think our neighbors are doing better than ourselves. Truth is that there are a lot of people our age struggling financially. I hope the next generation is better prepared.