Do you have $400 cash or in the bank?
 

Click here to find out what % of Americans do not:

Is that actually Hillary Clinton?

I believe so.

Kansas sux teh penis?

That's ****ing abhorrent. $400 won't fix a car anymore.

I might consider buying some of these people, but I think it would be an unwise investment.

Would

Record setting job growth and an amazing economy will do that for you.

Half of my news feed today is people blowing up about overcharges from the area energy provider. Many of them received "adjusted" or "estimated" electric bills for $600-800. I know for certain that quite a few of them wouldn't be able to pay that much extra.

Even when times are tough a person can be fiscally responsible in their spending and put even $20/week away to build that much of a cushion.

If not....do what I do and find a weekend hustle to make extra cash. I've got a great job and still find ways to try to average $100/Saturday. That's an extra $5k/year if you follow through and there is something every person can do for that(legally too).

My hometown screwed up payroll somehow so the town employees weren't going to be paid on Friday, per normal, but rather on the Monday immediately after. I do not exaggerate when I say that the town employees went COMPLETELY ****ING BALLISTIC.

I'm very glad I'm not in such a financial position as to have my life ruined if I get paid three days later than I was expecting. Ye gods, that is awful.

Lease/option.

Hips are too narrow; it's a fake.

something like 49% of Americans have nothing saved for retirement either. scary!

I'm the only one without $400 sitting around? CP posters Obv do have the best jobs, hottest wives and biggest d*cks but folks, nearly 1/2 of Americans are in that boat.

Better, I suppose, but I bet the residuals are still awful.

u sers Clark?

I have more than that tucked in my nightstand drawer for emergencies

How old are you?

And dont sweat it, BRC would loan you the $ just to brag about it in 40 or 50 threads.

41

proof that no matter how much someone makes, Most will spend it all

Shiiiiiiiiiiiiit. I had a property tax increase (**** you, Rahm) that added that much, per month, to my mortgage.

I can see how that is problematic for them.

I have 2 large payments autow/draw on every payday. Depending on where I'm shuffling what or what I've been doing, that might be enough to clean me out(temporarily) and cause a problem. It's not that I wouldn't have the funds, it's where I have those funds distributed.

I prepare more than 400 tax returns annually, 90% of those from individuals who live a middle-to-upper class lifestyle. I would guess that around 50% of those clients seem horrified when I tell them that they owe $300-1000 in taxes, often wondering where they will come up with that money. It amazes me to see some clients make the kind of money they do and still live paycheck-to-paycheck.

The poll seems pretty accurate based on my small sample-size.

Why do have your property tax included in your mortgage? Are they giving you a discount on the money they are "holding" for you to pay your tax bill?

The property tax is paid out of my escrow. Is that not ideal?

Do you really want to vote 'NO' on this poll and let very one know you are dirt poor?

Personally, I vote "no" on all poles, but I respect your orientation.

Exactly. If we asked about penis size, Lake Wobegon would kick in here and everyone would be 2 standard deviations big

I am afraid to answer because Hillary/Obama may be seeing this.

It's not ideal if you have the discipline to use the money to make more money instead of giving to the lending institution so they can make money with it before paying it out.

Good to know. Our property tax is paid in 3 installments throughout the year, so I doubt I could make much extra off it to make it worth remembering to pay it every 4 months.

The fact that almost half do not have 400.00 in case of an emergency is scary. How many of those spend 400 a month on phone plans, tv, internet, hair extensions, crap.

I write two checks to Los Angeles County each year for property tax, in April and November.

I'd prefer to have my money available to me and not sitting in an escrow account doing nothing.

To be fair, it's early in the month. I get paid once a month and it's the last day of each month. Hit me up the last week of each month and I am drinking natty ice and eating like a college student.

There is absolutely no way 47% of American's don't have $400 either in the bank or cash to pay for an emergency. No freaking way.

Maybe like 15% I would believe. Hell, even when I was a freshman in college I had $400 that I could use for emergency for FFS.

My escrow pays for property tax AND my home owner's premium. I just couldn't be bothered paying them myself. I've never given it a second thought (or a first one until now).

Wal-Mart used to track disposable income by the amount of sales in their stores. They call it the Burn Rate. Depending on the time of the week, month, they would offer discounts on certain items that people could afford.

I'm guessing this is accurate. There are a ton of people that use credit cards with no intention of ever paying the balance in full.

11 years ago I would live paycheck to paycheck as a young private in the Army with a wife and a baby..as a few years went by and I was always deployed or training I wasn't spending money but was always broke..no savings or anything

Few more years go by and I get rid of the wife..money is always in my account and I got a pretty good amount in a savings and 2 more savings accounts where both kids have money for college

Moral of the story is..don't have a wife

I haven't been without $400 extra bucks since high school.

Barely.

Work has been a little slow so I've been making less, and putting more towards my 401k and paying off some credit cards. Plus i just got like $1000 worth of dental work done and have spent a little too much on going out and having fun.

If worse comes to worst, i can always ask my parents to loan me money in case of an emergency (I'm 31, I've borrowed less than $400 from my parents in my life) sell a gun, or dip into my 401k (i think i have like 22k in that thing)

Do you know how many people live in poverty? Coupled with people who live paycheck to paycheck because they cant manage money Im surprised its not higher than 47%.

Wow. I have separate accounts for Homeowner's, Earthquake, Auto and Umbrella policies, all of which are deducted each month from my bank account.

There have been times in the past in which I've changed insurers due to deals and lower rates and I've been with Allstate for about a decade now.

When your insurance is wrapped up in an escrow account, is it still possible to get multi-policy deals and discounted rates?

Proving you've been out of touch since at least April 2006

It's really not enough for me to get worked up about, to be honest. Yes, everything else (life, cars, etc.) is discount bundled and I pay that every month (obviously).

That's what I have as "emergency money", a credit card with $5K avail. I doubt I'll have an emergency more costly than that. I've put every penny extra into my 401 and paying down my mortgage. I don't have any cash and almost nothing in the checking most days

I do.

I have enough in a scenario (without dipping into my 401k) that if for some reason that I don't have a job/lose my job due to restructuring, etc., that I have a 6-8 month window in terms of savings, more or less.

No major credit card debt. Only major debt I have is a car loan. Other than that, that's all I have. (excluding your normal cell, electric, water, basic bills.)

Hoping that scenario never happens, of course.

Same.

That's fair. Out here, designations change so it's best that I take care of it myself.

At one point, no one would insure any of the homes in our neighborhood so I had to use an out of state insurer. But around 2007 or so, with all of the new construction happening, we went from being a "Fire Zone" to not being a fire zone, so insurers like State Farm, Farmer's and Allstate began doing business in our neighborhood.

Before that, I had like three or four different insurance companies and it was a PITA.

If you didn't, you could probably score an extra 25 cents in interest income annually if you put it in a savings account.

Think what you could do with that extra 25 cents. Of course, that 25 cents would be taxed, so keep in mind that is a gross amount, not net.

I would go insane if I lived that way.

I dropped half that much drinking last night.

This has nothing to do with nothing, but I've been meaning to ask you whether you've ever worked with Mark Isham. An old Group 87 album was one of my favorite obscure pieces of vinyl decades ago, then I started seeing his name all over in the credits of stuff I was catching on video. Made sense to me that he'd end up there. The Group 87 album was very "visual," if that description doesn't sound like nonsense. What I mean is that I could easily imagine the scenes that he might have meant to paint with his music.

Yes.
:rolleyes:

Why are you rolling your eyes? It was a legit question. I've owned my home for 14 years and have never put insurance or property tax in an escrow account.

...says guy who asked if you can still get a multi-policy discount if your premium is paid though your mortgage escrow.

**** off, you worthless old hag

Not shocking at all that your low rent ass would only earn .25 cents on your property tax per year.

I've never worked with Mark but I've heard that he's an interesting guy

Heh, even the guy who wrote the article doesn't have $400.

I get paid once a month as well. It was pretty tough to get used to. Especially when you hit a weird month that lands just wrong and you're going just at 5 weeks since a paycheck...

There are $60,000 dollar millionaires everywhere.

Is anyone surprised?

Let's see. Dude with your credentials tells me someone is "an interesting guy," I'm imagining an agoraphobic genius who fills his socks with Vaseline and keeps pieces of the cousin he had a crush on in his freezer.

He's a Scientologist

I saw that in his bio. I've never (as far as I know) had the opportunity to get to speak with one of those folks. After spending a little time on xenu.net, I assume it could be a trip.

It wouldn't surprise me if a lot of young people don't have it. But if you're over 30 and don't you have some serious life problems.

And he's not just a casual guy, he's really highly involved.

Hey, to each is own. Billy Sheehan's a Scientologist and he's one of the coolest guys, ever.

Its called an impound account.

Its convienient because you pay it monthly...instead of bi annually.

For example, with a regular account you might have to pay 2000$ every 6 months...and save up for that 2000$ (4000 per year)

with an impound account they just add 300$&change per month month or so to your mortgage every month. (4000 per year)

Its just a choice you make at the time you buy, and you can also undo it or do an impound as needed.

I personally like holding onto my money and just paying bi annually but i completely understand the decision to go impound and pay monthly because there are times when I am like "holy shit , property tax is due in 2 months!!!" and freak out


tl/dr

Monthly payment versus 6 month all at once

Oh, and there's a big difference between borrowing or selling something and not being able to come up with money at all. Not sure it's really fair to lump those two groups together.

Interesting. I never knew about these accounts until today, as I chose to pay out of pocket.

But I just read that Impounds are required on FHA loans, VA loans, and USDA loans. For conventional loans, impounds are generally required if you put less than 20% down.

I've never had any of those types of loans, so I had no idea about the requirements.

I think my property tax bill is paid once a year. I think the insurance premium is the same. I should probably pay more attention, but meh.

yah thats true...

and some of them might impound just for the 1st year..and REQUIRE you have an impound for the 1st year....etc..

An impound isnt bad...

The older I get the less I care about controlling every penny of my money at all times LOL , I actually might use more impounds in the future for convenience and planning sake...especially considering you really cant earn crap with money in the bank anyway these days...so why bother....LOL...


GET OFF MY LAWNN!!!!

ahh yah then i mean you COULD consider an impound for your needs..especially if:

1) saving up for the big once a year payment is a hassle
2) you arent moving any time soon so you wont need to mess with it
3) you arent going to change insurance providers

you might be stoked on an impound to just do it all monthly instead of saving up over a year...or not...

I guess it all depends on how much of a control freak you are LOL...or how much planning and saving you wanna do...

LMAO

Yeah, back in the day, 4% interest on short term CD's through Orange were common, so it made more financial sense to pay twice a year for us (our property tax is quite exorbitant).

There's probably not much benefit right now but if the Fed ever raises interest rates again, it'll be an option.

one other thign too is sometimes you can get a discount (or at least not take a hit) if you use an impound.

For example I got a loan once that had a 1/4 or 1/8 point discount for using an impound account...I could've opted out (I was way over 20% principal) but basically they paid me not to. So if you're doing a refi or purchase it might not hurt to ask if there is a discount.

Thanks! I've got a 3.6% on a jumbo, so I don't know if I'll ever be able to beat that but if so, I'll definitely ask! :)

Denver and Arapahoe Counties collect 2X/year.

I dont know how big your jumbo is...but they have changed the rules and added around 100K to it (maybe more)

Jumbos used to start at around 450,000 and now I think depending on zip code you might not have to get a jumbo unless youre over 520k or maybe even more. (into the 6's ?)

I dunno how close you are to being under the jumbo amount but one strategy you could look into would be getting BARELY under the jumbo amount , even by 1 K....then refi to a conventional loan which should be better rate.

I dunno tho a 3.6% on a jumbo sounds awesome if its 30/f

if youre 15/f you could probably shave a point off that if you could go under the jumbo amount.

Just brainstorming, you probably al;ready thought of this, but im throwing it out there

I don't live in either.

We had a $5k repair bill for a busted sewer pipe under our foundation in our bathroom. We charged the repair (to get the rewards) and paid it off in full at the end of that month from our savings. Are you saying you don't have a few thousand dollars sitting somewhere for easy access for an unexpected repair? You'd charge it and pay interest on it?

Yes I do. Thank you for asking.