The Money Mustache Community
Around the Internet => Antimustachian Wall of Shame and Comedy => Topic started by: Cujo on September 10, 2013, 09:04:50 AM
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A neighbor, talking to a group of people, about her sister and sister's husband (who are around 30 years old), who don't own a car and bike or take the subway everywhere. "They should grow up and buy a car already!"
The conversation ground to a screeching halt when I said I envied them and wished I could live without a car.
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Great story. I imagine people have said similar things about my husband and me (we are in our thirties and ride bikes to get around). So, I appreciate you sticking up for them! Like a lot of folks on this forum have cautioned, I try to be careful about criticizing consumerism, because it threatens people. But, if folks are living their lives simply and bucking mainstream consumer culture, I wont hesitate to say something positive about it.
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I'm a Gen-Y er, and I get older people telling me I need to "stop being so lazy" and get a car instead of riding my bicycle.
Yeah, I don't get it either. Must be a boomer thing.
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Yeah, I've noticed that older and more religious people often see (car ownership + mortgage + marriage with kids) as a point of entry to adulthood. Like if you don't have all that then you are just messing around, going through a phase, or failing to contribute to society. Maybe it's a matter of differing values.
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Huh! I am surprised by those attitudes. My mom envies me being able to take the bus to work, and wishes she could do it too.
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"stop being so lazy" and get a car instead of riding my bicycle.
Oh, the irony. :)
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Yeah, I've noticed that older and more religious people often see (car ownership + mortgage + marriage with kids) as a point of entry to adulthood. Like if you don't have all that then you are just messing around, going through a phase, or failing to contribute to society. Maybe it's a matter of differing values.
Yes, and you don't get to sit at the adult table at Thanksgiving until (car ownership + mortgage + marriage with kids)
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LOL adult table! Everyone knows the adult table is boring, anyways ;)
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Well, I am still at the kids' table due to no mortgage and no marriage with kids. LOL
I guess for some people there is just no room for anything other than car, mortgage, marriage, kids (and in that order :).
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I need to "stop being so lazy" and get a car instead of riding my bicycle.
Mind Blown.
How were the people making this statement able to survive for so many years?
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I'm a Gen-Y er, and I get older people telling me I need to "stop being so lazy" and get a car instead of riding my bicycle.
Yeah, I don't get it either. Must be a boomer thing.
My guess is that they think because you ride a bike, you must not be able to afford a car. Therefore you should work harder (stop being so lazy) to earn more money so you can buy a car. Because of course, if you can afford a luxury, you should buy it immediately.
No car here :)
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I've been told that I'm not an adult because I live in a flat because of a house.
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To me anyone who has adult responsibility is an adult. I suspect however most people think of adults as people who service debt like that is the societal and/or individual role an 'adult' plays.
Given that most people are debtors this makes sense. It is not the culture we should have but it is what it is.
The trick is to learn to disassociate "normal" from "good".
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i ought to stop referring to and thinking of myself as a non-adult. it's partially a defence of the fact i don't have a car, share a rented house, don't even have a normal job (self-employed), it goes on! Part of me does think that a proper adult owns a house, has a 'proper' job, runs a car and all those other things. Even though I know this is rubbish and I deliberately thought about all those assumptions before leaving uni (and setting up my non-student adult life).
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The trick is to learn to disassociate "normal" from "good".
Precisely. Too many people confuse the two.
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I'm a Gen-Y er, and I get older people telling me I need to "stop being so lazy" and get a car instead of riding my bicycle.
Yeah, I don't get it either. Must be a boomer thing.
My guess is that they think because you ride a bike, you must not be able to afford a car. Therefore you should work harder (stop being so lazy) to earn more money so you can buy a car. Because of course, if you can afford a luxury, you should buy it immediately.
No car here :)
What's really funny is that I do own a car (it's at my folks' property, because I can't be bothered with insurance/gas/etc) and I work more hours/week at physically demanding jobs than the people who are saying this to me.
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You own a car and store it someplace? Are you crazy? Sell it already!
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People think I'm insane when I mention that not driving was a great aspect of my study abroad trip. It was awesome. I could go grocery shopping, bar hopping, even to the airport with just a short walk/metro ride/bus ride.
They just kind of nod and say "Oh" as if walking is some sort of horrible European punishment.
Related: some older married friends of mine are already planning to buy an SUV for their family and they're not even pregnant yet. He drives a huge unnecessary truck and she drives a sporty 2 door. Call me crazy, but I think you should keep your coupe even with a fictional infant since it's not even paid off...
I guess getting older means buying a bigger vehicle you don't need!
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Of course you can never ever buy a car cheaper than the previous one.
It has to be larger, but maintain the same speed, so you need a bigger engine. You also need the same amount of driver assistance, since you forget how to drive.
At a certain age you also need to have a premium car or the neighbours start talking. Premium means Audi, BMW, Mercedes around here.
If you are very frugala nd you want to state that your car is more a tool than a nice thing, you might buy a Volkswagen.
At a certain age, the company should pay for your car or your career is a major failure. The car has to be taxed, but that's a minor amount, which doesn't really matter (300-600€/month).
That was a mashup of things several people that on different occasions.
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You own a car and store it someplace? Are you crazy? Sell it already!
Do you know anyone who wants to buy a high milage 1994 Nissan Sentra Sedan with the rear driver side window broken out and paint damage for $900/obo?
I've had it up on craigslist a few times, never got any serious bites. It's the same car I bought with my own money in high school.
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You own a car and store it someplace? Are you crazy? Sell it already!
Do you know anyone who wants to buy a high milage 1994 Nissan Sentra Sedan with the rear driver side window broken out and paint damage for $900/obo?
I've had it up on craigslist a few times, never got any serious bites. It's the same car I bought with my own money in high school.
Haha do your parents drive it at least? My dad used to haul all kinda of nasty stuff he found on the side of the road ("free" wood, dirt, recycling, etc.) in my HS beater which had at least 350k miles before the odo broke and was later towed away because he left it on the agree too long (cheaper to just forget it than to pay the towing storage fees).
Anyways, is it mechanically reliable or does it need a lot of work?
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My folks start it up occasionally, and my stepdad sometimes drives it into the little town 5 miles away. I'd keep it if I could find a per-mile car insurance that takes cars that old, but 1995 is the lowest year I've seen available.
It's pretty reliable, but there's some electrical drain somewhere in the system, so the battery will die if it's idle for more than 3-5 days. I put one of those $5 battery cut off switches they use in car shows and it's worked great. The trunk release lever is also broken, but I view that as a security feature, not a bug. :) When I had it parked by my apartment (in a high crime area) I could leave my valuable stuff in the trunk and leave the doors unlocked. Whoever broke out the rear window didn't check the doors apparently. And they left a bunch of loose change scattered all over, and only took a bag of expired equine medication and a livestock rectal thermometer.
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You own a car and store it someplace? Are you crazy? Sell it already!
Do you know anyone who wants to buy a high milage 1994 Nissan Sentra Sedan with the rear driver side window broken out and paint damage for $900/obo?
I've had it up on craigslist a few times, never got any serious bites. It's the same car I bought with my own money in high school.
I had a 2000 Ford Ranger a couple years ago. When the engine blew, the repair bill was going to be more than the truck was worth, so I scrapped it. I got $650, and they came and picked it up. Might be an option in your area. I also made about $150 extra by taking out some of the easy-to-pull parts and selling them on eBay.
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only took a bag of expired equine medication and a livestock rectal thermometer.
Holy cow. I bet they had a big, old party with that stuff...
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only took a bag of expired equine medication and a livestock rectal thermometer.
Holy cow. I bet they had a big, old party with that stuff...
Ivermectin (wormer): the new party drug craze! Now in apple flavor!
The main thing that peeved me off was that I left the car unlocked all the time so people WOULDN'T break windows! Grrr.
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seems like you should leave the door open, too
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Of course you can never ever buy a car cheaper than the previous one.
Ha, we went from 2 old cars (1990 Toyota Corolla) to a 2007 Mercedes Benz with a small car loan (low end range though). That was pre-mustachian days, and we were following the normal trend! It was a damn expensive lesson to learn. We now have a 2006 Ford Focus hatchback.
People still are amazed at how we can share a car between the two of us! Uh, it's very easy...
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We just sold a 2009 Honda Odyssey (LOADED) and paid off a bunch of debt in July. Yesterday we bought a 2003 Mazda MPV with 120K+ miles and paid cash. Our friends and family are going to think we're CRAZY. But that's ok. The piece of mind as we sort through finances and make smarter long-term decisions that give us more stability and freedom is worth being considered a bit nuts.
And that's what being an adult means to me: making calm, grounded decisions regardless of what other people think.
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Of course you can never ever buy a car cheaper than the previous one.
Ha, we went from 2 old cars (1990 Toyota Corolla) to a 2007 Mercedes Benz with a small car loan (low end range though). That was pre-mustachian days, and we were following the normal trend! It was a damn expensive lesson to learn. We now have a 2006 Ford Focus hatchback.
People still are amazed at how we can share a car between the two of us! Uh, it's very easy...
When I bought my '06 Prius new, friends told me I'd never be able to buy a used car again! It was totaled last year, and I picked up an '09 Civic and pocketed $1K of the insurance money instead. Apparently you can go back to used!!
Hubby has an '01 Accord in super mint condition and a '66 Cutlass "toy car". Yeah, I know, we aren't very mustachian in this category, but all vehicles were purchased and paid in cash, no financing. One of our neighbors knows this, and can't reconcile why we don't want two brand new SUV's in the driveway every 2 years. He even once suggested we could sell all our cars and buy one brand new one! I smiled and changed the subject.
Our current home is too big for our needs and w/property values skyrocketing, we can sell this one and build a new, smaller one 10 miles north of where we live. The proceeds of the big house will be just enough to pay for the new home and have a mortgage burning party. :) We mentioned this to our (older) next-door neighbor last night, and he gave us that shocked look about adjusting to the size of the house, followed by that wise look where he informed us that at some point, we'll move into another house and have a mortgage again. Sorry, but that will never happen!
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only took a bag of expired equine medication and a livestock rectal thermometer.
Holy cow. I bet they had a big, old party with that stuff...
Ivermectin (wormer): the new party drug craze! Now in apple flavor!
The main thing that peeved me off was that I left the car unlocked all the time so people WOULDN'T break windows! Grrr.
So classic! I'm sorry they broke your windows for that though :(
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Before my husband and I moved to NYC, we shared a single car. He'd drop me off at work in the morning and pick me up after. Sometimes I ended up having to wait in my building's lobby for a little while, but it wasn't that bad. I was peeved when my employer brought up in my review that she was concerned how we'd manage in the winter.
This makes me angry, too. I can understand needing a licence and vehicle if you are a tradesperson working on different job sites, but if you are working in a building with a lobby, I assume that does not apply here. If your desk doesn't migrate, why on earth would your employer care how you get to work? Surely it's the employee's responsibility to get to work, and how they do it is none of the employer's business!
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Before my husband and I moved to NYC, we shared a single car. He'd drop me off at work in the morning and pick me up after. Sometimes I ended up having to wait in my building's lobby for a little while, but it wasn't that bad. I was peeved when my employer brought up in my review that she was concerned how we'd manage in the winter.
This makes me angry, too. I can understand needing a licence and vehicle if you are a tradesperson working on different job sites, but if you are working in a building with a lobby, I assume that does not apply here. If your desk doesn't migrate, why on earth would your employer care how you get to work? Surely it's the employee's responsibility to get to work, and how they do it is none of the employer's business!
What a bunch of BS, that should never have been brought up in a review! I used to live in the Hudson Valley and was the top choice for a 6 figure paycheck in a Greenwich, CT hedge fund. My final interview was w/one of the partners, who had just had a baby. He lived about a 30 minute drive up on the Merrick Pkwy, and due to rush hour traffic, he was getting home just as the baby was going to sleep. HIS issue became MY problem, b/c he felt my commute was too long. (It was, but I had been doing it for years and was willing to do it, so what's the problem?) At the end of the interview, it was pretty clear he couldn't get over his issue, and I called him on it. He admitted that yes, I wasn't going to get the job b/c of my address! After that, I began using my mother's address on my resume, and telling people I lived there on the weekdays, and went to my Hudson Valley home on the weekends.
So glad I don't have to deal w/that bull anymore...
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If the weather is so bad, that it is not safe for your husband to get you, how would your own car help you in any way?
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I'm a Gen-Y er, and I get older people telling me I need to "stop being so lazy" and get a car instead of riding my bicycle.
Yeah, I don't get it either. Must be a boomer thing.
I keep reading articles that say Millennials are not buying cars. Sounds great to me.
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Yes, I know a few people in that age group (kids of my friends) and a lot of them don't even drive. I just always think of how much money they will save over the decades! I think it is great.
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I had a similar experience where an acquaintance was talking about a man she was dating. To describe why she didn't think she'd be dating him anymore, she said that he was a grown man (40s), and he didn't even own a car. He took the bus/train/or walked everywhere. She couldn't understand why he did this since he had a stable well paying job. I automatically said That's awesome! Good for him. Hopefully I can be that badass someday. She just stared at me blankly for three beats
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Yes, I know a few people in that age group (kids of my friends) and a lot of them don't even drive. I just always think of how much money they will save over the decades! I think it is great.
Sadly I know a lot of people in this group who think nothing of taking a $10 minimum uber ride wherever they go (uber is like a taxi for millennials)
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I had a similar experience where an acquaintance was talking about a man she was dating. To describe why she didn't think she'd be dating him anymore, she said that he was a grown man (40s), and he didn't even own a car. He took the bus/train/or walked everywhere. She couldn't understand why he did this since he had a stable well paying job. I automatically said That's awesome! Good for him. Hopefully I can be that badass someday. She just stared at me blankly for three beats
She should do him a favor and break up with him. Somewhere out there is a woman who is walking to work............
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I had a similar experience where an acquaintance was talking about a man she was dating. To describe why she didn't think she'd be dating him anymore, she said that he was a grown man (40s), and he didn't even own a car. He took the bus/train/or walked everywhere. She couldn't understand why he did this since he had a stable well paying job. I automatically said That's awesome! Good for him. Hopefully I can be that badass someday. She just stared at me blankly for three beats
She should do him a favor and break up with him. Somewhere out there is a woman who is walking to work............
Exactly!
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I was telling a coworker that I plan to buy a bike and learn how to ride it next Spring and she said, "You are a grown up. Buy a car. Kids ride bikes." It reminded me of this thread :)
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You own a car and store it someplace? Are you crazy? Sell it already!
Car has finally been sold! And I managed to get $975 for it without having to fix the rear window! Refund check from the insurance co should be arriving next week. :)
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You're former car now earns you 4$ a month, instead of costing money (assuminung 7% return on stocks). Nice work ;)
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My wife is financially comfortable, but she drives an '03 VW Beetle that she got when she graduated high school. Ten years later is has only 60,000 miles on it and that includes several drives halfway across the country. Sometimes people tell her she should get a new car and she says "Why?" The car works just fine and it meets her needs.
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I had a similar experience where an acquaintance was talking about a man she was dating. To describe why she didn't think she'd be dating him anymore, she said that he was a grown man (40s), and he didn't even own a car. He took the bus/train/or walked everywhere. She couldn't understand why he did this since he had a stable well paying job. I automatically said That's awesome! Good for him. Hopefully I can be that badass someday. She just stared at me blankly for three beats
You know, I am that man's early 30s version. I live 4 blocks from my office, thus no car. I have been doing some dating lately and I am yet to figure out the impact of telling girls that I don't have a car. I am sure eventually I will come across a girl who will not get it.
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You're former car now earns you 4$ a month, instead of costing money (assuminung 7% return on stocks). Nice work ;)
It's not earning me much money yet - I want to get a Vanguard Roth IRA, but they require $5000 to open one, so it's in a (so-called) high interest savings account where I'm building up to that amount of money so I can open one hopefully next year.
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You're former car now earns you 4$ a month, instead of costing money (assuminung 7% return on stocks). Nice work ;)
It's not earning me much money yet - I want to get a Vanguard Roth IRA, but they require $5000 to open one, so it's in a (so-called) high interest savings account where I'm building up to that amount of money so I can open one hopefully next year.
I definitely opened mine with $3000, and that was just two months ago. I think all you need is the minimum for the fund you choose, and there are plenty under $5k
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I'll have to check it out again - I'm still not at $3k available to plow into a Roth IRA, but that's a lot closer than $5k.
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Correct, you can open the account with very little, maybe as low as $1000 (that will severely limit your fund choices but it should be possible)
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The Vanguard Target Retirement funds all have a minimum of just $1k. Of course you should modify the "target date" you choose according to how early you're planning to retire.
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The Vanguard Target Retirement funds all have a minimum of just $1k. Of course you should modify the "target date" you choose according to how early you're planning to retire.
Yeah, that is how I started my account and I am saving up to roll it all into another fund once I hit the minimum for that fund.
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You need a minimum of $1K to open up a Money Market fund, then you are free to put that however you choose into ETFs (with the same options and less fees than the mutual funds to boot). You need to open a Roth IRA brokerage account though which will give you two accounts, one for your money market and the other for your shares. Only issue is you can only buy full shares so you may have some leftover.
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I was telling a coworker that I plan to buy a bike and learn how to ride it next Spring and she said, "You are a grown up. Buy a car. Kids ride bikes." It reminded me of this thread :)
If someone actually said it that way to me, I'd have a *very* hard time not coming back with something pretty condescending.
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My parents are concerned that I won't be taken seriously when applying for a job after training (as a surgeon) because I want to keep my 12 year old Honda. Has anyone had an issue like this happen to them when applying? I told them that I can just borrow their car for a day!
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My parents are concerned that I won't be taken seriously when applying for a job after training (as a surgeon) because I want to keep my 12 year old Honda. Has anyone had an issue like this happen to them when applying? I told them that I can just borrow their car for a day!
Hey Abe. Medical specialities are like clubs, and very proud of it too. Seems like it's OK to have one thing "wrong" as long as you fit in 100% in all other aspects. So if you look a certain way and talk a certain way, they won't call your car into question. However, if you are a different demographic or don't talk like you belong or are not a dashingly handsome (well I don't know, most general surgeons I know are dashingly handsome, even the women) then you'd better have a shiny new car...
Now if you were interviewing for family medicine I'd say go ahead and keep the Honda ;)
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My parents are concerned that I won't be taken seriously when applying for a job after training (as a surgeon) because I want to keep my 12 year old Honda. Has anyone had an issue like this happen to them when applying? I told them that I can just borrow their car for a day!
I'm guessing there are a few assholes who would use that against you. And its a sure sign that their brain stem is connected directly to their ass.
So, do you want to work for someone who cares what car you drive?
I've know a few surgeons. A couple owned very shitty cars. They didn't give a fuck what anyone thought, they just got the job done and laughed off any criticism of their vehicle. And well they should, they were elbow deep in guts, saving lives, while their critics were doing bong hits in front of a video game.
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I also frequently get the "just watch, you'll be buying a house in the suburbs when you're ready."
I hate this mentality from people. It's basically saying "your opinion doesn't matter because you'll realize how stupid you are any minute now."
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...people telling me I need to "stop being so lazy" and get a car instead of riding my bicycle.
Hahaha... This made be burst out laughing! I live on the 5th floor across from a large fitness club. Every few months I'll hear a ruckus coming from my window and look out to see two people in the club's lot arguing over a parking spot closest to the front door. I like to yell down, "You idiots!! Don't you see the irony here?" Usually the response is confused looks, "Huh? ...Irony? What're you talking about, pal?! I was here first!"
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I was telling a coworker that I plan to buy a bike and learn how to ride it next Spring and she said, "You are a grown up. Buy a car. Kids ride bikes." It reminded me of this thread :)
If someone actually said it that way to me, I'd have a *very* hard time not coming back with something pretty condescending.
LOL Well she is older than me and I do respect my elders. I just bite my tongue.
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I'm a Gen-Y er, and I get older people telling me I need to "stop being so lazy" and get a car instead of riding my bicycle.
Yeah, I don't get it either. Must be a boomer thing.
Not just a boomer thing.
My officemate is 32 and made a complaint about the lazy 20-somethings who don't have a car. Too lazy to work or get a "real life".
Well, he's also the guy who is pissed that he cannot afford a house. Admittedly, it's expensive here (his budget is $600k). But when the market was slow, the only thing he could afford was a 2BR house. He's not interested in a condo or anything smaller than a 3BR house. The market has picked up and he's priced out of even the smaller houses.
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For what it's worth I give my close friend a hard time about not having a car -- because he frequently uses other people's vehicles for rides/etc. He doesn't have to get rides but sure does it a ton for "not needing a car." Especially now that it's winter.
There's a difference between, "I don't have a car and rarely use one in my lifestyle" and "I don't have a car but other people frequently take me places."
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After getting my MBA, I always played my car off as a "not ready to change yet since this has fantastic mileage." Especially since people got really obsessive about it sometimes. The excuse worked decently until Mother Nature destroyed my awesome 98 Corolla in a hailstorm.
I'm now getting the "you're not an adult" judgement since I don't want to buy a house in the suburbs. I also frequently get the "just watch, you'll be buying a house in the suburbs when you're ready." So signing up for a 1 hour each way commute is like a rite of passage now?
Maybe it's not so much the commute as a rite of passage as the school question. Personally, we moved to "the burbs" to cut down on commuting time since for a while we actually lived close to downtown (initially for my job) and my wife found a job in "the suburbs" (really just a smaller town on the edge of the metro). However, before we decided to move our daughter was on the verge of turning 3 so we started the pre-school dance of ridiculosity and we could tell that schools were going to be a major PITA. That issue magically sorted itself out when we went from Denver County to Boulder County. I get the feeling from talking to other parents that a lot of folks in my area bite the bullet and move to the burbs because of schools, often taking on life-shortening commutes in the process. It seems when the choice comes down to seriously sketchy public schools (unless you win some sort of silly school lottery) or hideously expensive private schools, many folks choose C) The Suburbs.