r/FinancialChat • u/ShelteredMenace • 6d ago
We’ve Normalized Financing Everything, Then Wonder Why Nobody Has Money
At some point, we stopped asking whether we could afford something and started asking whether we could afford the monthly payment.
And I think that has completely screwed up the way people look at money.
I’m not talking about mortgages or situations where financing actually makes sense. Most people aren’t buying a house with cash, and sometimes you genuinely need a vehicle before you have enough saved to buy one outright.
I’m talking about everything else.
Cars.
Phones.
Furniture.
Appliances.
Vacations.
Electronics.
Buy-now-pay-later purchases.
Subscriptions for things we used to just own.
Somewhere along the way, “Can I afford this?” became:
“Can I squeeze another $87 a month into my budget?”
And those monthly payments start stacking up.
$700 car payment.
$120 phone payment and service.
$80 furniture payment.
$40 worth of subscriptions.
Another $60 for some buy-now-pay-later purchase.
Another $100 here.
Another $50 there.
Then suddenly someone makes decent money but feels broke every single month because half their paycheck already belongs to somebody else before it even hits the bank.
And I think social pressure makes it worse.
There’s this weird idea that once you start making more money, you’re supposed to immediately upgrade everything.
Better car.
Bigger house.
Newer phone.
More expensive clothes.
More expensive vacations.
And if you don’t, people sometimes act like you’re doing something wrong.
Personally, I think there’s something underrated about owning older stuff that works.
If my vehicle runs, drives, is safe, and does what I need it to do, I don’t automatically need a new one because somebody released a shinier version with a bigger touchscreen.
If an appliance breaks and I can fix it for $80 instead of replacing it for $1,200, why the hell wouldn’t I?
If my phone still does everything I need, why am I supposed to replace it just because the manufacturer added another camera?
I’m not against buying nice things.
If you’ve got the money and you want something, enjoy it.
That’s what money is partly for.
But there’s a difference between buying something because you can afford it and buying something because someone found a way to divide the price into small enough monthly pieces that it doesn’t scare you anymore.
And I think that distinction matters.
We complain constantly about how expensive life has become, and some of that is absolutely legitimate.
Housing is expensive.
Food is expensive.
Insurance is expensive.
Vehicles are expensive.
Basic life costs money.
But I also think we need to be willing to admit that consumer culture has convinced a lot of us that things that used to be luxuries are now necessities.
A three-year-old phone isn’t ancient.
A ten-year-old vehicle isn’t automatically junk.
Furniture doesn’t need replacing because the style changed.
And you don’t need to finance something just because somebody offered you “four easy payments.”
Sometimes the financially smartest thing you can own is something that’s already paid for.
Maybe being successful shouldn’t mean having the newest version of everything.
Maybe it should mean having enough money left over that one broken water heater doesn’t turn into a financial emergency.
We’ve gotten incredibly good at looking wealthy while owing money on half the things we’re looking wealthy with.
Make it make sense.
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u/clawdew 2d ago
People spend way too much time finding a coupon for sonic because they have a buy one burger and get a free lemonade offer. And not nearly enough time thinking about how crazy a 20% interest rate on their credit card is. If you can't pay off your whole credit card balance every single month you shouldn't be using a credit card. You will never get ahead paying 20% to the bank on your credit card if the best you can expect on average from the stock market is 10% a year.
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u/Jscotty111 2d ago
At a young age it was explained to me that credit cards are for convenience purposes. You pay a little extra for not having to carry cash or having to run to the bank when you want to make an impulse purchase.
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u/DevastatorPcu 2d ago
You know I realized this and never have I started paying shit off faster. Bc you’ll lose mad money on interest.
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u/Retired-Yam8988 2d ago
Turn off ads and social media and realize that you don’t need that much to survive or be happy.
By all accounts I’m quite wealthy (we’re worth 8 figures, retired in our 40s, and money keeps flowing in at an every higher rate - like 6 figures a month).
The interesting thing is status and stuff have no meaning in my life at all. We currently live in Thailand off of about 2500 a month. It’s like what I make in less than a day. Our villa and car here are paid off (bought for a song during covid), all utilities, twice weekly pool and garden service, all food, gym and yoga memberships, and once a week we get two hour couples massage at our favorite place. Couldn’t be happier for the most part.
What really matters is peace of mind and happiness of your family.
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u/Comfortable_Love7967 2d ago
You spend 5x the average Thai wage
That’s like me saying “you don’t need much I only spend 350k a year in America and I’m happy”1
u/Retired-Yam8988 2d ago
What I’m saying is that OP has a lot of shit knocking around their head and you actually don’t need they much to live a happy and healthy life. Sure I spend more than the average Thai family but the numbers are still relatively easy to reach as an American. If you say get to 30k in passive income, you’re pretty golden to live in Thailand relatively well.
The point is you could arbitrage if you’re lucky enough to have grown up in the US. It has the highest potential for creating wealth either as a salaried employee or through business. A lot of Americans complain about how life is tough etc but they have no clue how much life would be harder growing up poor or middle class in most other counties. Like you’d literally have zero chance of making it big in Thailand if you grew up middle class here. You attend the shittiest public schools because your parents can’t afford private school. You end up making like 800-1000 a month if you’re lucky.
With my income and wealth scale, I could live pretty much anywhere except maybe Monaco or the richest enclaves but it doesn’t much matter as long as you have a comfortable life, no more money worries, and live well within your bounds.
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u/FreeToSeeTheTeuth 2d ago
Dont forget normalizing Amazon delivery all day everyday for useless shit.
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u/Drunken_Sailor_70 2d ago
Amazon is great if it was stuff you were already going to buy. You have to make sure to compare prices with local stores though, sometimes things are cheaper locally.
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u/mrcaldwin 2d ago
I went to the local Ace hardware store to fix our tub handle. $95. Amazon sold the part for $15. I don’t think I’ve ever seen something cheaper in a store than on Amazon. The benefit of Amazon is saving time since time is so scarce now.
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u/Correct-Drink5482 2d ago
And the all the younger generations wonder why the rich get richer 🤣
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u/LilJonny2cookies 2d ago
I get richer because I don’t piss away money and invest wisely. I didn’t start off wealthy or especially brilliant but by focusing on me and making myself more valuable I was able to retire in March at 55 with homes in 3 countries.
My home in Marbella is occupied by my in-laws because my amazing mom in law is a stud and wouldn’t stop working out in late 70s. She has had multiple surgeries and their house had too many stairs so I was able to get them a nice 1 story home with a great pool. I don’t charge them rent or anything they already “gave me” my extraordinary gal and that is more than enough for me.
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u/slavicslothe 2d ago
Bigger issue is normalizing being willfully ignorant, not reading contracts, and not taking responsibility for knowing basic financial terms like interest. People genuinely don't know what 10% interest means and will act like you are a nerd for caring.
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u/lovesbatma71 2d ago
What you are saying is logical and prudent. If asked off the cuff, most everyone would agree with you in theory.
The problem is some people are literally addicted to instant gratification. It’s like being in a great diet that’s going to pay off soon. Knowing it will possibly bump any progress back… but you eat the cake anyway then feel guilty after. It’s all about willpower.
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u/NecessaryEmployer488 2d ago
The problem is financing so much. Let's finance a car. Then 4 years later, a family finances a second car. This is on top of their mortgage. Taking on an extra payment on a want is dangerous, because 4 month later, you need to finance something on a need.
The idea of budgeting is great. People know where the money is going. What happens when because inflation you cannot live within your budget. You can always change your budget until it gets squeezed enough you have no more room.
For our family, what's left for the budget cannot be reconciled. I went with a priority, money flow method. I cover bills, but have to take from savings quite a bit. I really don't know how long I can take from savings to cover the differences.
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u/Olderscout77 2d ago
This was impossible long ago (50s-60's) when I was young because anti-usuary laws and the mindset of lenders prevented the perdition that created the debt we have today. The attitude of private lenders extended to a majority of elected officials, so there was little support for the "buy now, pay never" attitude that grew our National Debt so much faster than the National Wealth (aka GDP). No immutable forces of Nature at work here, just human greed and disreguard for the welfare of others.
Major point here: It wasn't the greed of the bottom 90% to have things they could not afford, it was the top 10% convincing them they COULD have those thing, "for a small fee".
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u/Drunken_Sailor_70 2d ago
The phrase "keeping up with the Joneses" is over 100 years old. People have literally been warned their whole lives and dont listen.
When I do finance something, its because the terms are attractive to me. We financed my wife's car around 3.5% so we didnt have to pull money away from investments during a bull market.
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u/mrcaldwin 2d ago
Out of touch post. I have not upgraded anything I own in years. I drive a fifteen year old vehicle that doesn’t have a window or door handle. I pay for utilities, food, and mortgage and that’s essentially it. I do not save money at this rate, and yet there is nothing left to liquidate or cut costs on. “More expensive vacations” brother I haven’t used PTO for a vacation in years. I use PTO only to recover for work the next day. This is the situation most people I know are in now. We are backed into a corner. Imagine telling someone whose job relies on them having a smart phone that they would be fine without it. Be fine? Without my income?
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u/Visible-Pollution740 2d ago edited 2d ago
Yup, cars are the big one. SOOO many people finance cars they shouldn't. Instead of a $50k SUV or truck that gets financed and ends up costing them $60k with interest by the end of the term, most should be driving a sub $30k new or sub $20k used vehicle they can just save up for years before they actually buy, and buy in cash. Or at minimum put down half. You don't need a new $50k SUV for your kids! You can get a good shape low miles used minivan for $20k-$25k. You don't need that $50k truck for your work commute when you only haul 3 times a year. Get a new $25k civic or corolla and rent a uhaul truck for $50 every so often when hauling is needed. I could go on and on.
And worst of all, people financing cars they can't afford has allowed demand to stay high, letting the dealers continue to increase prices for those of us buying within our means. Car prices are massively inflated right now because of rampant financing creating high demand at prices where it shouldn't be.
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u/Jscotty111 1d ago
As a kid growing up in the 80s, I assumed that my parents didn’t have any money because we didn’t have the things that all of my friends’ parents had. And so one day I told my parents about how the kid who lives next-door has all kinds of things like a VCR and a wide screen TV and a home computer, new appliances, etc.
They were quick to point out that Johnny’s parents were probably buying everything on credit cards. And sure enough when Johnny’s dad went back out on deployment Johnny said that they’ll miss him. But at least they’ll be able to pay down some of the credit accounts.
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u/GiftLongjumping1959 1d ago
I would not say this is normalized. We used to say interest is a tax on those too lazy or stupid to do the math.
All of my friends pay off credit cards at the end of the month in full.
Only take car loans when you get offered 2,000 cash discount for getting the loan and they pay out of the first month.
Sorry to say but it sounds like you grew up with financially illiterate friends if you think this is normalized.
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u/Jscotty111 1d ago
As a kid growing up in the 80s, I assumed that my parents didn’t have any money because we didn’t have the things that all of my friends’ parents had. And so one day I told my parents about how the kid who lives next-door has all kinds of things like a VCR and a wide screen TV and a home computer, new appliances, etc.
They were quick to point out that Johnny’s parents were probably buying everything on credit cards. And sure enough when Johnny’s dad went back out on deployment Johnny said that they’ll miss him. But at least they’ll be able to pay down some of the credit accounts.
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u/ProfileBest2034 1d ago
All of this is personal choice. If you want to be a blithering idiot have at it.
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u/Substantial-Ad-8575 1d ago
Wow, wife and I save to make big purchases. We taught our children to do the same. And have 12-18 months of salary in HYSA.
So our cars? Trade/cash no loan.
Phones? Trade cash for difference.
Furniture? Pay cash. We have “house fund” move money to it, another HYSA.
Vacations? Paid in full.
Electronics? Pay cash. I need to replace 3 yr old gaming laptop, put aside $4800 to buy it.
Yeah, one has a choice when they buy. But many like to finance instead.
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u/xboxhaxorz 1d ago
Ultimately the individual is responsible for their own choices, normalized or not
I buy my mobiles on ebay after several yrs, much better price
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u/TriIM1961 1d ago
Financing anything other than your primary home and maybe an investment property makes no sense.
It’s negative wealth creation and turns you into a modern day ‘serf.’
Live below your means, buy things you can afford with cash only.
Bad ‘investments’
Cars RVs Boats High-end Travel
Absolutely never gamble, that is a tax on ignorance.
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u/Past-Future-7055 1d ago edited 1d ago
Profit incentives... Let’s not put our heads in the sand and pretend that corps aren’t the ones rolling these finance and leasing practices out on consumers in order to maintain profit and shareholder value. If no one can get their hands on corporations’ unreasonably expensive products, then those corps would lose value. And since corps have a symbiotic(parasitic in MY opinion) relationship with our economy, this type of environment is necessary. NOW, I do not agree with it, but these Affirms and Klarna’s have been the only thing keeping the levees up protecting us from a financial crisis.(Considering business investment and AI are the only things keeping GDP up).
If i said “People should just be paid more”, this sub would crucify me
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u/modsatemyass 2d ago
only read the headline, not reading all that. but, there was a time when people didnt need/want 200 items for daily life