Quote from: Audriux9 on December 04, 2012, 08:17:03 PM

Quote from: SgtSpike on December 04, 2012, 08:14:55 AM

I suppose I do not really see a way to live joblessly right now even if I wanted to, unless I wanted my family to be homeless. So it's not really an option.

Regardless, I know that I live much happier when I am not financially stressed. I also know that if I lived for today instead of tomorrow, I might enjoy it for a little bit, but then have to pay for it tenfold down the road. Been there, done that already. Now, I am focused on financial freedom. Paying off my remaining debts as quickly as possible, saving money into investments, etc. If I decided to enjoy myself "in my prime", I would very quickly imprison myself to working until whatever age at which social security would kick in. Instead, I am using my prime to provide for my family and better myself in terms of employability by gaining experience, as well as continuing to set myself up for an early retirement and living stress-free with regards to my finances.

I am very happy with this choice. I can see that you do not share the same sentiment, which is fine. Some people like to live for today without regards for tomorrow, and I suppose they will be the ones still working a minimum wage job when they are 70 years old, waiting for the social security to finally kick in. Wink

I see your point. But I also see how huge is money impact for you. You seem to be in a financial distress very deeply like most of the "normal" people. It also looks like you are not planning to change your values in a near future (money). It was your choice to take a mortgage, to have things, that you cannot afford now. Instead building it step by step, you have chosen to have it now, but pay higher price and have greater financial distress and liabilities.

Of course no one can blame people who have to obey the law and current financial system. You can't buy a house for your family by saving money in a pocket. But it is wrong system, that you have to take loan and then be full time slave for decades until you pay off and get a retirement.

I thought the main idea of Bitcoin, was at least partially to escape current monetary system based on DEBT. But it is also important to notice that only people can change this. Bitcoin itself won't bring any fair system, if majority of users base their values on current "wrong" financial system.

Actually I support Dank opinion that current financial system is going to collapse anytime soon if people change their way of thinking and understanding "money and debt".

I'm not in financial distress any more, but I certainly have been in the past. When my wife and I were newly married and both working, we had plenty of money, and we got into debt because of it (it's easy to tell yourself you'll pay it off when you clearly have the means to do so). Then, we bought a house (still within our realm of financial ability), and she switched jobs to something much lower paying (uh oh, trouble). Then we had a daughter, and she had to work fewer hours at this job (we're not believers in letting daycare raise your child). So, we had a lot of smaller debts that added up to a lot of payments we had to make every month, and not enough money to make those payments for a few months. I think we had 6 credit cards with balances on them, a car loan, a line of credit, etc. We've paid off all but one at this point, in about 1.5 years. And in that time, I switched jobs and am now paid several hundred a month more. So we're comfortable, for now. But I never want to take on more debt at any time in the future because of that experience. Housing and investments may be the only exception.

Yes, back then, I absolutely chose to have things now instead of planning for the future. I've been there, done that, and hated it. Which is exactly why I refuse to live that way any longer. Sure, I could live life "in my prime", not working and just doing whatever I feel like, but that doesn't properly support a family, it doesn't leave anything for my children, and it doesn't leave me feeling good about myself or my life. I cannot think of a more selfish ambition than living for oneself and only today, and I try to not be a selfish person.

I don't think the system is wrong. For one, people taking 30-year loans on houses are idiots (myself included). A 15 year loan ensures that a person buys only as much house as they can afford and pays it off quickly. Also, FHA is a scam (another mistake), as the required mortgage insurance eats away at money that could be paid towards principle. Finally, housing is a supply-demand marketplace. Of course everyone would love to own their own home, but homes are not free to build, and land is not limitless. Those resources and services must be paid for. Unfortunately, with expanding populations and needing to keep the planet sustainable, consumption of resources used for housing must be limited, which is done, in part, through regulating the logging industries. I suppose the only part of the housing "system" that I don't believe in is zoning rules and urban growth boundaries. People should be free to build what they want where they want, and the restrictions on those requirements do inflate housing prices.

Anyway, I suppose that your comment that the system has to change because it is unreasonable to expect people to slave away at loans for decades just reminds me of utopian dreamers who love to spout off ideals without any reasonable way of accomplishing them. Please correct me if I am wrong, and if you do have a way to magically reduce housing prices. Wink