Debtors Lifestyle

It seems that the current fad is to buy, buy, buy. Everywhere there are houses that are bigger – though the yards are smaller, and often non-existent. Did you know that here in Charlotte we have townhomes that sell for hundreds of thousands of dollars? Cars these days are either monstrous SUVs or pricey models from the upscale division of normal car manufacturers. Heck, even the normal cars see ever-increasing sticker prices.

My wife and I often talk about things like this and wonder just how people can afford such luxuries. With the huge houses come huge mortgage payments. With the gigantic vehicles come equally large loan payments – though presumably insurance would be cheaper since you can’t get hurt in one of those behemoths. Too bad the gas costs will increase so much as to make it a less than worthwhile tradeoff. With upscale cars comes upscale insurance. You can always lease to get a more affordable payment, but then you own nothing at the end of your term and have to put out still more money.

We make a decent salary, have a low mortgage payment and all of our cars are paid off. We have no debt other than the mortgage, but we still end each month only able to save a small portion of what we earn. Is everyone else up to their eyeballs in debt or do we actually make comparably little? I dunno. We’re happy with where we are, but really – do we need to get some higher paying jobs? With our income and our lifestyle, you’d think we’d be sitting pretty. Maybe we’re just doing something really badly.