noharleyyet
Well-known member
Credit cards are like low dividend Ponzi for people with good secretarial skills.
What age to be a millionaire?
- Thread starter grizzly_
- Start date
rjthehunter
Well-known member
Yes, all the not so bright people are paying us financially organized people who in turn go out and talk up how good credit cards are to recruit more users! It's brilliant!
noharleyyet
Well-known member
...until you miss...or tardy pay.
Elkmagnet
Well-known member
Not enough room on the CC for either.
rjthehunter
Well-known member
Auto Pay! Then if I don't have cell service, it still gets paid!
What is a "Professional School Degree"?Absolutely.
but for every person that didn't that makes 250k there are far more than 1000 that won't break 80k.
A top 1% college grad makes $470k a top 1% HS grad makes $200,006
View attachment 317121
Income by Education: Average, Median, Top One % in the US
See income by education achievement in America in 2025. How much more college degree helps earn over high school, or versus dropouts.dqydj.com
View attachment 317119
Research Summary: Education and Lifetime Earnings
Social Security Administration Research, Statistics, and Policy Analysiswww.ssa.gov
View attachment 317120
COE - Annual Earnings by Educational Attainment
Presents text and figures that describe statistical findings on an education-related topic.nces.ed.gov
noharleyyet
Well-known member
This is a good subject but a few points IMO to clarify.
Not all college degrees are equal. Get a dumb degree you can't pay for it! Get a good degree that gets you a good paying job, that's worth it. No college isn't required, there's other paths to success, even in a field that "requires" a degree. But the degree more easily opens options
$1m ain't that much. At $100k you will make $1m every 10 years. Many times those higher paying jobs comes with options to help you move ahead, things like 401k with matching money.
My wife and I went the college route, we met in college, both have multiple college engineering degrees, both had high paying jobs. We were married 3 years both working before we had kids. Sad part was daycare. Between cost (first son born in 1990) , my wife gave up her high paying engineering job , took a job at the daycare. Between free daycare and taxes it was about a financial breakeven. Sad.
We taught our kids early. Bust your ass in school. While nothing is given to you, good high school grades open options for college. Good college grades, in a good area, open options for your first job. After that it's 100% on your work history.
Wife and I also had a financial discussion about 20 years ago. I am as cheap as they come. We decided Between living like hermits and retiring at 50, go wild and maybe never retire, or bank on one fun family vacation a year and possibly retire early. Everything in moderation! We went middle of the road, maxed out any 401k matching we could, as money and salary grew we invested outside work, both for us and for college for kids. It worked. Retired at 58, both work part time now at "fun" jobs. Have 2 sons with college degrees, wifes and jobs. Both are college debt free. Both own houses
One son is a teacher, married to an OT and has 2 kids. His daycare is $2k a month. They prioritize family yi.e over immediate money.
Other son is a biotechnology guy, married to a biotechnology girl. They don't want kids, there cash flow is different, they go on cooler vacations and will very likely hit that millionaire thing earlier.
If either wanted college for a dumb degree we would have suggested something in the trades, that's a non college great path through life
All about choices. I am 1 of 4 kids. Only one with a college degree, only one retired
, or able to retire. One sibling is in the same career as me, but no college, despite him being 3 years older I am further along the career growth due to college. Other 2 siblings went different paths. All had the same options starting out. You are at the mercy of your choices in life
Not all college degrees are equal. Get a dumb degree you can't pay for it! Get a good degree that gets you a good paying job, that's worth it. No college isn't required, there's other paths to success, even in a field that "requires" a degree. But the degree more easily opens options
$1m ain't that much. At $100k you will make $1m every 10 years. Many times those higher paying jobs comes with options to help you move ahead, things like 401k with matching money.
My wife and I went the college route, we met in college, both have multiple college engineering degrees, both had high paying jobs. We were married 3 years both working before we had kids. Sad part was daycare. Between cost (first son born in 1990) , my wife gave up her high paying engineering job , took a job at the daycare. Between free daycare and taxes it was about a financial breakeven. Sad.
We taught our kids early. Bust your ass in school. While nothing is given to you, good high school grades open options for college. Good college grades, in a good area, open options for your first job. After that it's 100% on your work history.
Wife and I also had a financial discussion about 20 years ago. I am as cheap as they come. We decided Between living like hermits and retiring at 50, go wild and maybe never retire, or bank on one fun family vacation a year and possibly retire early. Everything in moderation! We went middle of the road, maxed out any 401k matching we could, as money and salary grew we invested outside work, both for us and for college for kids. It worked. Retired at 58, both work part time now at "fun" jobs. Have 2 sons with college degrees, wifes and jobs. Both are college debt free. Both own houses
One son is a teacher, married to an OT and has 2 kids. His daycare is $2k a month. They prioritize family yi.e over immediate money.
Other son is a biotechnology guy, married to a biotechnology girl. They don't want kids, there cash flow is different, they go on cooler vacations and will very likely hit that millionaire thing earlier.
If either wanted college for a dumb degree we would have suggested something in the trades, that's a non college great path through life
All about choices. I am 1 of 4 kids. Only one with a college degree, only one retired
, or able to retire. One sibling is in the same career as me, but no college, despite him being 3 years older I am further along the career growth due to college. Other 2 siblings went different paths. All had the same options starting out. You are at the mercy of your choices in life
SAJ-99
Well-known member
How about measuring all of them...and versus something relevant, and also large, like disposable income?
Elkmagnet
Well-known member
To be serious for a second you guys might be sick at what is driving the home refinancing industry right now.
People are refinancing 2-4% home loans to7-8.5% in order to pay off very large CC debt. That and divorce is literally carrying the industry in our area and still the national CC debt went from 900 billion last fall to 1.3 trillion now.
People are refinancing 2-4% home loans to7-8.5% in order to pay off very large CC debt. That and divorce is literally carrying the industry in our area and still the national CC debt went from 900 billion last fall to 1.3 trillion now.
Elkmagnet
Well-known member
You have to consider that people are not paying 9% interest on that balance anymore they are paying 20-33% on it now.
No better idea than to make unsecured debt secured against your house…
What’s worse is the number of people who try to clear debt that way didn’t do anything to change habits so when they run those cards back up they don’t have a fall back plan, now they have a bigger house payment and double the debt
Brittany Chukarman
Well-known member
Worked for me.
SAJ-99
Well-known member
Ok,like this below? Seems your 9% is a bit off.
Look, the credit card thing surprised me a bit too. Mostly because the press loves big numbers with lots of zeros and people complain ALOT. Add those together and it generally clouds our perspective.
I’ve had three conversations with people with good credit tell me they never pay for airfare by using CCs to earn points. They pay off the cards every month. Demographics of the people are similar and I believe they are paying off the cards.
I don’t use CCs so I was a little stunned. Am I missing a perk I should chase or to hell with CCs? I haven’t run out to get a perk CC yet nor had the conversation with my wife.
FairWeather
Well-known member
All I’ll throw in here is not to write off the military as an option for young people. It’s not just HS diploma vs College degree vs Trade School. One can spend a few years figuring out life before choosing which route to go, or make a career out of it.
I’m garbage at school. Always have been. I love learning, but hate sitting in class and doing homework. I had to repeat a lot of classes in college. Without the GI Bill, I never would have made it through.
I’m garbage at school. Always have been. I love learning, but hate sitting in class and doing homework. I had to repeat a lot of classes in college. Without the GI Bill, I never would have made it through.
Elkmagnet
Well-known member
Did you not just post two graphs that show people are paying twice the % of their disposable income on CC interest in 2023 vs 2013?
I'm confused on what your argument is?
noharleyyet
Well-known member
Why not just reclassify it as student loan debt?
seeth07
Well-known member
If you have the discipline to always pay every penny off each month, you are missing out.
Look here for a few ideas.
Credit Card Suggestion
Anyone here have any recommendations for credit Cards that they like? A little info on the situation....my wife and I are debt free, we pay cash for almost everything, but I have a CC (cabelas, yes i know its not great) that I've had for 12 years. I use it monthly for fuel and that's it. I...
www.hunttalk.com
I don’t use CCs either so I’m not much help but I know “airline miles” are or have been a CC reward for some cards. I think some do have some stringent use cases but it definitely exists. There’s a reason so many miles earned go unclaimed https://www.cbsnews.com/amp/news/ai...etting-harder-to-redeem-frequent-flyer-miles/
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