Another spinoff: Who else started off with "zero"

[LSUmiss]

Let’s hope the state doesn’t bankrupt TOPS before our kids can use it!!

I know . I was thinking that as I typed it b/c it’s not as hard here to pay for college with TOPS as it might be in other states. And I don’t know anyone here concerned with private colleges so I can’t imagine DS would want to go anywhere else. Guess that’ll be the stipulation, if it’s not covered by TOPS then he’ll have to pay the difference.

 

[tvguy]

I know of only one person who had it golden.. My college roommate. Her parents were well off, college paid for and all living/fun expenses. She got an awesome Computer ( back in the 90s when www just started). Most went to the computer lab to do papers. or a crapy word processor. When she graduated her dad shows up at our apartment with a new Hondu Civic... She had to sign some papers... They paid the downpayment ( sure it wasnt a small one) and I recall her Dad saying she needs to build credit and so they got her a car loan...

I could barely afford to eat.

Well, that really doesn't bother me. I lived in a private (not University) owned fraternity. Our room and board rates were low and we depended on people paying their house bills in a timely fashion. One of my fraternity brothers was always late, or only paid a portion of his housebill. He was an only child, his dad an executive with a publicly held corporation. His parents had him declare himself financial independent so he could take advantage of grants and scholarships. So money was tight for him, but he often felt expensive new clothing and the latest records were more important than paying his house bill. The other thing is......since his dad was with a publicly held company, his pay was public record. He made $1 million a year....and this was in 1976-1979, yet he elected to have his son declare financial independence so he didn't have to shell out $2,500 in tuition and $800 a year room and board and maybe another $2,000 in other expenses when he could easily have afforded to, and made that grant and scholarship money available to students whose parents could not afford to pay their college costs.

 

[mrodgers]

I turned 22 the month after I graduated, so I almost made 22 with SS.

There's an interesting variable that I didn't think about with the topic of starting, finances, and college.

I was already 19 when Dad passed. My brother was 16, so Mom collected SS for him. He never got it like many of you talk about. Mom got it and kept it.

I don't know about me. I was in 2nd year of school and it was just before my 20th birthday in 1992. I have no idea if I had SS or not. Guessing not because it would come in my name at 19, well for a month I was 19, and I would have had to sign it over to Mom as that's how she is. I don't remember doing that. My brother graduated and joined the Army, so I don't know how that affected SS.

 

[North of Mouse]

Started with $300 and our personal items (clothing, etc.) from our respective homes. DH & I were 20,21. High school grads, no college. I was always a SAHM with 3 children eventually. DH now retired for several years, happy to have our dream home - no debt, and enjoying life at home and traveling. Very happy and thankful - 52 yrs. married.

 

[tvguy]

There's an interesting variable that I didn't think about with the topic of starting, finances, and college.

I was already 19 when Dad passed. My brother was 16, so Mom collected SS for him. He never got it like many of you talk about. Mom got it and kept it.

I don't know about me. I was in 2nd year of school and it was just before my 20th birthday in 1992. I have no idea if I had SS or not. Guessing not because it would come in my name at 19, well for a month I was 19, and I would have had to sign it over to Mom as that's how she is. I don't remember doing that. My brother graduated and joined the Army, so I don't know how that affected SS.

Social Security survivors benefits for children to age 22 still in school were discontinued in 1981.

 

[NYCgrrl]

I know . I was thinking that as I typed it b/c it’s not as hard here to pay for college with TOPS as it might be in other states. And I don’t know anyone here concerned with private colleges so I can’t imagine DS would want to go anywhere else. Guess that’ll be the stipulation, if it’s not covered by TOPS then he’ll have to pay the difference.

What is TOPS? Apparently I need to keep up to date with terminology.
I want DGD to attend a private college but that's on her head.

 

[focusondisney]

So, you didn't save a penny before you got married? How did you pay for a place to stay, or were you homeless?

People saying they started off with "zero" - your parents just shoved you out bare-naked when you turned eighteen and you hadn't worked a day in your life or saved a cent?

Not who, you were quoting, but yes. We started with nothing from our parents. Nothing. They didn’t kick us out at 18 but they didn’t really give us anything either. We were in college in the mid 70’s & got married when I graduated. We did each live at home during college. I had a scholarship for most of my tuition. I worked part time & used my own money for any spending I did. My parents did not pay for any of my college. I was going to take a student loan for my last year’s tuition, but my DH (fiancé at the time), insisted on paying it instead. He didn’t see the point in taking a loan when he had the money saved.

DH’s parents paid nothing for his college either. Not a penny. DH worked full time in a service station while he went to school. He started at community college then went to a state university. He lived at home for a year after graduation & saved money for when we got married. He also pay “board” as they called it back then to his parents. He gave them money every week after high school graduation until he moved out 2 months before our wedding.

I graduated 1 year after DH did. We got married 3 months after I graduated. We paid for the majority of our wedding ourselves. My parents paid about $400 toward the food & FIL paid about $100. Everything else was us. Our parents did not give us anything toward our apartment, cars or first house. In fact, my mother was a bit miffed I got married & moved out so quick after graduation. She wanted me to live there & pay board for awhile before I got married.

My DH & I had no savings accounts except the small amount he saved before we got married. We had no stocks from parents; no inheritance from grandparents; no monetary gifts for college; a down payment for a house; car or honeymoon. So I think that qualifies as starting with zero. Everything we have, we earned & paid for ourselves.

 

[disney212]

I have twice. Moved from out 2 weeks after high school graduation soon as I turned 18. college was not an option. Got a job as a temp in an office. My rent was half my income, no car, furniture and no help. Got married a few months later at 18, baby at 20 and 21. When I was 28 got divorced with 2 kids in a foreign country. Came back with what I could put in our suitcases. Rented an apartment using my last 1000 to pay rent and deposit, signed up for food stamps and got about another temp job. Between rent and daycare i couldn't have made it without those food stamps. Found another temp job after a few months that led to a permanent position. Off food stamps (only help I got) with that temp job. Permanent job at 30. Decent pay, office work. Immediately started putting 10% of my pay into 401k. Raised that each year by 2%. Bought a house at 31. Kids are grown now and both have Masters (still only a high school grad for me) so proud knowing what statics say should have happened. They have minimal student debt and momma has 7 figures in her 401k, a paid off house and car. I have worked my way up in the same company for almost 23 years. I know the value of money, I have no issues spending money but I know value. I'm 52 and getting ready to build a retirement home in FL. I have a chronic illness that may inhibit my ability to work to retirement age. I will pay off the build by 57. When\if I can no longer work I will sell my current home and use those proceeds to help bridge that gap. I also have a retirement health savings plan to help with expense due to my illness. (No idea I had this illness until I was 40). The only help I got was those food stamps for a few months. Do I live in a mansion, no. Do I drive a Jaguar, nope a Chevy, I own DVC as it is of value to me. I bought the worst, biggest house in the best neighborhood. It's worth almost 10 times what i paid for it. It was a ton in of my labor but I was happy to do it. Anyone CAN make their own way. Is it easy no, but everything I have accomplished is my my doing. Do I boast about it, no, no one in my life knows how bad it was but as I sit in my living room in front of my fire typing this I look around and know I did this. A slightly pudgy middle age high school grad who should by all accounts had less than a 1% chance of sitting where I am. You bet your Mickey Mouse I proud I stuck at it all these years.

 

[SaintsManiac]

I know . I was thinking that as I typed it b/c it’s not as hard here to pay for college with TOPS as it might be in other states. And I don’t know anyone here concerned with private colleges so I can’t imagine DS would want to go anywhere else. Guess that’ll be the stipulation, if it’s not covered by TOPS then he’ll have to pay the difference.

It’s LSU or bust around here!

 

[NYCgrrl]

So, you didn't save a penny before you got married? How did you pay for a place to stay, or were you homeless?

People saying they started off with "zero" - your parents just shoved you out bare-naked when you turned eighteen and you hadn't worked a day in your life or saved a cent?

I started off out of my parents'home with about $2000 in a savings account, and a couple CDs and got an apartment with a boyfriend. By the time we got married a few years later we had over $10K saved. When we bought our first house we had $24K to put down on it (in 1992).

My mother (and other relatives) were very clear. Either you continued your education or got a job by the time you were 18/19. No kick out under those rules/regulations. I truly believed I'd be kicked out if I dinna follow that mantra.
If you hadn't frittered away your savings account on sillines you would still have them before the door hit your butt. Most children in my extended family had one opened at birth.

One of my sons had in excess of 25K before "his shoes got too big for the house"(he dropped out of college and then had the nerve to ask me to pay for it a few years later; slightly duncey that one) . The other had about 10K remaining after he graduated from college.

DGD is 14 y/o and currently has approx 120K saved for and by her that I'm aware of. Glad she's learning the lesson about tomorrow better than some prior generations.

 

[billlaurie]

I started with zero as well, got married really young, divorced and then went to college as a single parent, working the whole time. I lived very frugally but that was the life I was used to. My parents had nothing to give me. I didn't graduate until I was in my 30s, with 60,000 in loans. I did get some grants and scholarship because my income was low and I had 3 kids. I remarried. We were able to pay off my $60,000 in loan debt and his $40,000 in 10 years because we chose our professions well. My husband had help from his parents with his undergrad but he paid for the professional school entirely himself. I started in community college, then state undergrad and state professional.

 

[TipsyTraveler]

Zilch. I left at 18 with just my personal belongings. We (then boyfriend, now husband) worked minimum wage jobs with no savings, no financial help, and no paid-for cars or college degrees.

We intend to take a different approach with our children. Every payday we put a couple hundred dollars into a savings account for each kid. Assuming things go to plan, they’ll be sitting on a pretty nice sum of money by the time they turn 18. Our intention was that they could choose to use that money in whichever way they wanted to help them get started in life — college, house, etc. But, now that we live in Georgia there’s a decent chance some or all of their college tuition could be covered through outside sources. If that happens they could start out with a bigger leg up than we had even hoped.

 

[LSUmiss]

What is TOPS? Apparently I need to keep up to date with terminology.
I want DGD to attend a private college but that's on her head.

It’s a college tuition program in Louisiana. Pays most of the tuition for public colleges in Louisiana. I’m not sure if you can get it toward private colleges. There are minimal requirements to qualify, but it’s not income based. It was new when I started college in 1997. I think the rules have changed since. But then it covered all regular tuition costs just not room & board. I think it’s not enough to cover 100% tuition now at the more expensive schools like LSU, but it’s still most of the cost. I think back then you just had to maintain a 2.0 average & take at least 12 hours a semester to keep it. It’s only for undergrad.

 

[LSUmiss]

It’s LSU or bust around here!

Well here too, but I didn’t want to deal with arguing about that with random posters lol! I should say it’s LSU or pay for it yourself . Once someone asked me what would I do if DS said he wanted to go to Bama. I said I’d tell him I hear out-of-state tuition is expense & good luck !

 

[Colleen27]

I'm not sure I'd say zero. We didn't get a lot of financial help from our families early on, because our families are both working/lower middle class and didn't have a lot to give, but they do have enough to help at certain key points (when we were buying a home, for example) and we had a lot of non-monetary support that was an invaluable safety net when things went wrong (grandparents willing to babysit when the kids weren't feeling well, hand-me-down vehicles that our parents deemed not worth trading in, a parent or sibling willing and able to loan a small sum for a car/house repair or other emergency, things like that). I expect our kids will get much the same; we aren't likely to be handing out large sums of cash, but DS22 is house hunting and able to look at properties that need more work than he could do on his own because of DH's professional expertise, he won't have to buy small appliances or dishes or other household stuff because we and the grandparents have been setting things aside for him, etc. It isn't much, but I know from experience that it makes getting started easier and less daunting.

The financial help we did end up getting from family came later, after we were already fairly established, and has allowed us to give our kids extras that we probably couldn't swing (or wouldn't shoehorn into the budget) on our own. And there's a good chance we'll end up with a small (low six figure) inheritance eventually, but that is still many years away because women in the family tend to live to quite an old age.

 

[disneychrista]

Other than hand-me-down furniture, NOTHING.

Oh my ex's mother paid the deposit our on electric but that was a "apartment warming" more than a gift.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

So, you didn't save a penny before you got married? How did you pay for a place to stay, or were you homeless?

People saying they started off with "zero" - your parents just shoved you out bare-naked when you turned eighteen and you hadn't worked a day in your life or saved a cent?

I started off out of my parents'home with about $2000 in a savings account, and a couple CDs and got an apartment with a boyfriend. By the time we got married a few years later we had over $10K saved. When we bought our first house we had $24K to put down on it (in 1992).

Sometimes it felt that way! I had to leave my house at 18. I had no real money in savings and parents weren't in a place to help me. I rented a room for $25/week from a nice couple with grown children and extra space. I worked two part time jobs while attending college full time, living essentially paycheck to paycheck. Was responsible for 100% of my school costs, which I somehow managed between working, grants and loans. (I think I won a $500 scholarship once from one of my employers.) Eventually my now DH and I got an apartment together where we shared costs, but I was still in school for several more years thanks to a change of major and schools. Over that time we did manage to save a few thousand intended for a house. Probably foolishly, we spent that on a backyard wedding (each family contributed a few hundred), leaving us with virtually nothing left. (And I hadn't thought of it at the start of this thread, but I had school loans, as well, so actually had a negative balance like many others here, too, when I graduated and married a few monthe afterward.)

Once I started working full time we were able to bank quite a bit (always lived fairly frugally) and save enough for a down payment on a house a couple of years later. Interest rates at that time were 10.5% but ours was actually 11.5% because we put down less than 20%, which also meant we had to carry PMI. (I used to dream we'd lose the house I was so worried about costs. ) Later, when interest rates dropped to 7%, we refinanced, but because home values had dropped, we had to cough up another $10K to put down in order to get the lower rate. (Always something!) But we were eventually able to get rid of the PMI and pay off my student loans. (DH later went to college as an adult and we paid those loans off, too.) We live in a high COL area, so we stayed in our first home and enjoy some nice equity in it now. We added onto it twice, one addition being an in law apt that became a home for my mother, the other a sunroom that gave us more space. We were in the home for 20 years before we did some major renovations.

We've both worked and saved for retirement (and retirement health care) regularly, as well as carried plenty of insurance, including life, disability and long term care, as that helped me sleep at night. (Maybe it's like that for people who've had little to fall back on, idk.) Retirement is still a ways away, but we talk about it. Our kids will graduate from college this year with just one small loan each, we managed to get them through three years without their taking on debt. They should have no trouble paying it off once they're working full time, and it will help them establish credit. They will start off in a better place than we did because of our support - it's tough out there for young people today, especially to buy a home given everything being crazy expensive now.

 

[DLgal]

So, you didn't save a penny before you got married? How did you pay for a place to stay, or were you homeless?

People saying they started off with "zero" - your parents just shoved you out bare-naked when you turned eighteen and you hadn't worked a day in your life or saved a cent?

Why do you assume someone who is 18 has never worked a day in their life? I started working at 15 and worked steadily through high school. All that money went into a savings account and became my "spending money" when I went off to college. It lasted a year. I then found a job and worked 32-40 hours a week for the last 3 years of college to pay for my living expenses (no campus living after freshman year...had to rent an apartment.) I got credit cards in college to supplement my income and buy things I didn't yet have the cash to pay for (like groceries, gas, clothing).

Basically, once I left for college, yeah, I was on my own. But I had been working 3 years by that point. Getting a job in college was a non issue. Once I graduated, I lived at home for about 9 months while my husband finished up military training. We got courtroom married so that I could get health insurance (otherwise I would be on the hook for monthly Cobra payments). I lived in my old bedroom, but had a full time job and paid for my own groceries and gave my parents money towards the utilities. The money I made went towards buying things for our first apartment and our wedding costs, which we paid for. When we got married (the ceremonial wedding) and were out on our own, we found an apartment and got to it. I didn't find a job for 3 months. My husband made enough to just barely cover our expenses.

We had no gifted money to fall back on. We started with $45000 in total debt and spent the next 10 years digging ourselves out of that.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

Among several close friends we have at least 3 who were given their first home, at least a few who had the option to purchase homes in their extended families at very sweet deals, including one who was able to live in a family home rent free for several years and then was able to purchase it essentially on a quasi land contract deal. A few others were given significant nest eggs as wedding gifts.

Yes, this is the type of thing I had in mind.

 

[sonnyjane]

Re financial planning thread, where there was some disagreement. (Naturally!)

Reading it made me wonder what people started off with (if they want to share).

DH and I started off with zero. There were no inheritances or chunks of money, homes left to us, trusts, that sort of thing.

I wonder how much of a difference it makes to one's "wealth factor" when they have that extra something that they can play around with, or invest, etc.

Edit: Typo

We are in the camp of below zero - I had about $80,000 in loan debt as many other posters here did.

And to the weird combative poster, no my parents didn’t kick me out naked, but I left home at 17 and went to school using a combination of student loans and scholarships. After graduation I got a job and started paying things off.

That’s how almost everyone I know save for two friends started out their adult lives.