Fiscal policy: government versus personal

[bascule]

I'm somewhat curious how people's opinions of how the government should manage money compare to their personal lives.

 

How do you stack up?

 

Note that for the purposes of this poll, I'd like the term debt to refer to non-amortized debt without collateral. That means it doesn't apply to mortgages or vehicle loans which amortized and are for a singular, tangible piece of property. These types of "debts" can be thought of more as installment payments. However, it does refer to credit cards, lines-of-credit, etc. Student loans are a bit of a gray area... because a university can't repossess your education I'd say they should be considered a debt.

 

NOTE TO MODS: I botched the poll title, can you change it to "How do your beliefs about government fiscal policy compare to your personal life?"

Edited May 1, 2010 by bascule

[Mr Skeptic]

NOTE TO MODS: I botched the poll title, can you change it to "How do your beliefs about government fiscal policy compare to your personal life?"

 

Done. I also changed the poll to private, since I don't think people want to go telling everyone how much they earn. Is that OK?

[bascule]

Done. I also changed the poll to private, since I don't think people want to go telling everyone how much they earn. Is that OK?

 

I don't approve, but whatever. I like open polls. If you're embarrassed about your net worth nobody's forcing you to vote.

[ParanoiA]

Yeah, I certainly don't mind and I just assumed it was an open poll.

 

To be honest, all of my life has been paycheck to paycheck, living in debt. I followed the standard debt explosion of financing autos, credit cards, gizmos and hobby equipment..etc. Only recently have we got a handle on our debt psychology and forced ourselves to save, save, save. It's been the best thing to happen to us. I no longer live paycheck to paycheck, we have plenty of cushion for emergencies and I owe nothing to anyone. Not one dime.

 

However, we'll see how long it takes to save up what we need to start another business venture. This is the weakness of savings over borrowing.

[insane_alien]

i'm in the positive(even if you factor in what i owe in student loans.).

 

i'm also known to be pretty liberal with my spending. I usually get the first round in when i go to the pubs with my mates and pay more than my share for taxi's and the like. BUTI do keep my spending belowmy income most of the time. Not out of careful planning but simply because even with all the crap i spend money on it usually doesn't turn out to be as much as you'd think it would.

 

Maybe it's because I'm Scottish, some unconcious skinflint circuitry that keeps tabs of how much i'm spending and stops it when it gets too much.

[Mr Skeptic]

I don't approve, but whatever. I like open polls. If you're embarrassed about your net worth nobody's forcing you to vote.

 

That is, of course, the problem with open polls. If the answers have potential to be embarrassing, then having the poll open vs closed could affect the results significantly. On a closed poll people can say what they voted for if they wish to. In any case, said descriptions (like Paranoia's) are going to be far more accurate than the answer to a multiple choice question.

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My own current strategy is "a penny saved is a penny I don't need to earn"

[jackson33]

NOTE TO MODS: I botched the poll title, can you change it to "How do your beliefs about government fiscal policy compare to your personal life?" [/Quote]

 

bascule; I believe this was your desired end and would agree, it has an influence. The problem is in a one liner poll, one question, it's almost impossible to determine the comparison. For instance a 30 yo, with debt and little saved, can think the same way a 60 yo, with little or no debt and/or assets and $50,000 saved or invested. There are hundreds of observations (polls/surveys) that indicate affluent people tend to be conservative/Republican and less affluent tend to be Liberal/Democratic or likewise affiliations around the Industrialized world. I would also think and believe the majority of peoples acceptance of ideology, is based on experiences in life, particularly with in the family, they grew up in, or exposure to that ideology.

 

What surprises me to this point, is Fiscal Conservative and SMALL savings, less than 10k$ which I'd bet most everyone over 40 would/should be well over 10k$, today, or their not counting 401's or other retirement programs, even personal investments.

 

One other thing; To endorse a Federal Responsible Fiscal Policy of lack of it, would be based on their own practice (living with in their means), well practiced or not, IMO.

 

 

P; 99% or more of all people, start out as you feel you alone did. It's part of the American Dream, that what you accomplished CAN BE accomplished. I won't go into all the antidotal stories I've hear over the years of people that climbed that same ladder, only to lose it on some dream, then recover again and again.

[ParanoiA]

What surprises me to this point, is Fiscal Conservative and SMALL savings, less than 10k$ which I'd bet most everyone over 40 would/should be well over 10k$, today, or their not counting 401's or other retirement programs, even personal investments.

 

Oops, I did that. I didn't count my 401K, which would put me over 10K. I was thinking of accessible personal savings.

[Dudde]

I'm very fiscally liberal...I forgot when you add a girlfriend and 2 puppies, you have to change spending habits or your 5k in the bank turns into "OMFG ramen!"

 

not that I have anything against ramen

 

in the last few weeks or so I've become fiscally conservative due to some life changes, but still living paycheck to paycheck...

[iNow]

Bascule - When you created the thread, did you intend for us to include investments as part of savings, or were you referring specifically to cash accounts? I ask because that impacts the answer, and also because investments are often inherently volatile, risky, and could vanish in an instant, so don't immediately seem to fit into the "savings" bucket.

[bascule]

Bascule - When you created the thread, did you intend for us to include investments as part of savings, or were you referring specifically to cash accounts?

 

The end goal was net worth, but calculated in an uncomplicated way. Guess that didn't work out so well.

[Sisyphus]

Also, a fixed amount of savings doesn't tell you much. $10k in savings would be a lot for a 20 year old (many of whom have never worked a full time job), but nothing for a 50 year old who should have been saving for decades. Similarly, $10k in savings is a lot if you make $20k a year, and pathetic if you make $500k, etc.

 

There's also "in debt" but still far from living paycheck to paycheck, i.e. most people who have mortgages, make the necessary payments, and still steadily increase savings.

 

I don't know what would be a better single metric. How about: ratio of net worth increase to income? So, if you spend every penny of your paycheck, the ratio is 0, if you spend half each paycheck and save/invest the rest, it's 1/2, if you're sliding further into debt, the ratio is negative, and if you somehow manage not to spend anything, the ratio is 1, etc.

Edited May 2, 2010 by Sisyphus

[ecoli]

This poll is not specific enough, IMO. I have zero debt but not much savings. I've only been in the workforce for less than a year.

 

I'm also using this year to live it up a bit. I figure I have time to save money in grad school, when I'll be too busy to spend my stipend anyway.

[jryan]

So apparently there are only three fiscal liberals on this board and they all have $10k+ in the bank.

 

That's Stimulus money, I bet.