Another spinoff: Who else started off with "zero"

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.
Thanks, that did feel oddly hostile! :lmao:
 
We were gifted a wedding, my husband has very large family. I come from the exact opposite. Neither of my parents Had any siblings, so I had no aunts or cousins. I have one sister. My parents divorced when I was 11, and she Re-married a very good man when I was about 18 or so.

My father, sigh, played hockey when I was young, and was almost always gone, he then injured himself, went back to school and became a chartered accountant. He was always an alcoholic, and so he was the typical one. But he was a hard worker.

i respected my in-laws (now I wish I had eloped, but alas), and had the huge Italian wedding. My mother paid what she could, we really only has friends, my god-father, perhaps 20 people, lol. Their side was about 300-400 😕.

So our start was the wedding gifts, which gave us the Down payment for our fourplex. We took a 25 year mortgage and this Is it finally, it is paid this year!, All our friends live in their own homes, but this works for us. The tenants always paid our mortgage and more, We were also able to purchase a duplex beside my in-laws, which we rent out, They have both passed Now, and thst is how they do it for all their children. We were doing that also. Making sure each has a home, they can live in it or rent. My son will be fine, he is working and saving like crazy, I am glad for him.

My mom passed 4 years ago, her husband 5 days later. So then was my first inheritance. My dad passed 2 years ago, and I am Just now getting all the inheritance there. It’s a nightmare. He always had a condo as well as a home in Florida, and re-married, and well, it has not been fun.
 
I think my parents may have bought my first plane ticket to get to college. And there were probably 3 or 4 times in college where things got sort of desperate and they gave me $100. Other than that I worked (I've worked consistently since I was 13 with the exception of the year I backpacked through India), had scholarships and took out loans. I suppose I could have moved back in with them if things got really bad but they would have considered it odd and I would have considered it unthinkable. Frankly I floundered financially until a good ten years out of college. I saved some in retirement but didn't really accumulate much else during that period. I met my now husband about five years after college and he had even less than I did.
 
Spinning it a bit.
My kids both left our house with a college education and no student loans. But no cash.
DS left at age 25 to move in with his girl friend. Only thing of value he left with was the 6 year old used 2006 Taurus we bought for him 4 years previously.
DD left at age 28. Only things of value she left with were the bed, desk and book case from her bedroom. The bed and mattress we bought for her 25 years ago!
 


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.
Sounds almost exactly like my story. I have an Associates degree from a community college and didn't go on from that. That's about the only difference, oh, and scholarships, tuition was only $671/semester as I said earlier so that was paid with my grocery store job I'd had since I was 16.

I paid rent to my mother after high school graduation as well. I'm kind of on the fence with that one. I would never make my own children pay me rent, but then again, at 19 and so far going the same path with going to the same community college, she won't get a job, LOL. Mom is paying $270/month on a $14,500 Camry for her. Mom pays $3200/year insurance now because of her and now the youngest is driving. I don't have anywhere near that kind of cash to help with that, I can barely pay my own bills for a few years yet. Even the youngest nagged her all summer after graduation, "You need to go get a job!" LOL.

Conversely, I had a job on my 16th birthday and worked all through high school at $3.35/hour. I suppose I didn't start with absolute zero because Dad had a company car and kept the 2nd car around for when I turned 16. It wasn't worth much when I graduated, but they gave me the car for graduation, which I traded in for $300, but that isn't absolute zero I suppose.

I also paid the insurance listed on my name as well as the increase on my parents' names on the policy. Paid for all my own gas and repairs in high school. If I wanted to drive, I had to work for it as opposed to my ex treating the girls as if they will never have to lift a finger for anything no matter the cost or other bills that need paid.
 
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.
Ah, hand-me-down furniture. I did have some of that. My mother bought us a couch as a wedding gift in 1997. I just bought my own couch this past summer, first piece of furniture I have bought other than beds, at 47 years old.
 
I not only started with less than zero. I only had 9 toes and one kidney. oh yeah, plus I only had one wisdom tooth. plus, I only had one training wheel for my bike. not only that, one of my legs was longer than the other. furthermore, My father was a relentlessly self-improving boulangerie owner from Belgium with low grade narcolepsy and a penchant for buggery. My mother was a fifteen year old French prostitute named Chloe with webbed feet. My father would womanize, he would drink. He would make outrageous claims like he invented the question mark. Sometimes he would accuse chestnuts of being lazy. The sort of general malaise that only the genius possess and the insane lament. My childhood was typical. Summers in Rangoon, luge lessons. In the spring we'd make meat helmets. When I was insolent I was placed in a burlap bag and beaten with reeds- pretty standard really. At the age of twelve I received my first scribe. At the age of fourteen a Zoroastrian named Vilma ritualistically shaved my testicles.

do I win?
 


Ah, hand-me-down furniture. I did have some of that. My mother bought us a couch as a wedding gift in 1997. I just bought my own couch this past summer, first piece of furniture I have bought other than beds, at 47 years old.
My wife left with a double bed, head board, frame and dresser that were her parents, purchased in 1955 and had been in storage since her parents got divorced in 1967. Our son used those for 20 years. Those are now in our guest bedroom, we have just replaced the mattress.
We didn't get most of our hand me down furniture until after our parents passed away.
Our Family room has a coffee table and end tables that were my MIL's purchased in the 1970's.
Our Living room has a coffee table, end tables purchased by my parents in 1950. We also have a couch and lazy boy chair that were hers. There is also a marble table from my mom that was left behind in the house my parents bought in 1950, it is marked with a manufacture date of 1923. And there is a second lazy boy chair that was my MIL's.
 
My mom totally supported me through college - I had a full tuition scholarship, but she paid my room and board. I lived at home during the summers and for a few months after college until I could save up a couple thousand dollars for the closing costs on a house.

I was 29 and DH was 30 when we got married, so I was a little more established by that time. We both sold our houses and put the profits from those into buying the house we live in now.

I didn't start with any kind of inheritance or anything, but at least I started at 0 and not below like many with student loan debt.
 
Yes, this is the type of thing I had in mind.

I understand. I've looked at some of those friends kind of green-eyed from time to time. I remember when our kids were little and several of them were treated to parents stepping up and kitting their kids out for winter with new coats and boots while I tried to manage our budget by guessing what might work for next year's season and grabbing deals where I could on end of season clearance sales. Now we're in the age group where it's becoming common for friends to be receiving financial gifts from their parents for tax purposes, inheriting the estates of parents who've sadly passed and a couple have taken possession of parents' second properties or the family home when parents have moved to condos in warmer climates.

I try not to dwell on it, but it can get frustrating to realize the only gravy that's ever falling on our taters is gonna be homemade. That's okay too, because we can make it to our tastes without considering what anybody else has to say.
 
I had a leg up.

I'm an only child and my parents paid for my education. I did try to make it as cheap as I could -- 2 years at community college and then 2 years at a local public university and commuted from home. Because they paid for my school and I also lived at home, this allowed me to graduate with no student debt. I also worked part time all through high school and college. I also did some unpaid internships. My other leg up was that my parents had purchased my car for me when I was 16 and it was only 3 years old. I was responsible for gas, half the insurance and some of the more minor repairs. My dad was able to purchase company cars when they were up for renewal at a very very reduced cost. They were higher mileage cars but well maintained. It was a 1997 Taurus. So I drove that all through high school and college.... even after it stopped shifting into 4th gear, I drove it like that back and forth a 50 mile round trip to college every day, sometimes twice a day, over 50k miles!

My DH has loan debt and did 8 years of college (BA and Masters) and the second school was private so it was more $$. It at least has a 1.3% interest rate though.
 
on the day we married dh and i were in the red. we had consciously chosen to pay for our own wedding. not a huge event but nice. we had tried to pay as we planned but things like catering and wedding photos/video along with a modest honeymoon had us in debt.

we didn't open our wedding cards until we returned from our honeymoon at which time we learned that b/c of gifts of $10, $20, $50 and a couple larger we were close to being able to pay all our credit card debt off. it just so happened we had an appointment that week with our cpa to do our taxes/see how to adjust our withholdings based on our newly married status. i mentioned to our cpa about our excitement of being able to pay off the credit cards and she started asking questions about the amount of the debt and how much we were paying for rent. she ran a few numbers and asked if we had ever considered home ownership. we had but figured it was YEARS before we could save enough. she suggested we talk to a reputable real estate agent before paying off the debt b/c the numbers she ran with us vs. without having a home were very beneficial to us tax wise.

we took her advice and found that if we saved the money, paid the minimum on the credit cards and saved what we could we would be able to buy a house within a few months. 7 months after we married we bought our first home, and with the tax refund the following spring we were able to pay off the credit cards.

so, no inheritances or gifts of homes when we started. no massive monetary gifts. i had paid for my own college, dh and i paid for his a few years later. inheritances that were received happened decades down the line and were not what most would consider massive but we appreciated them.
 
My mom totally supported me through college - I had a full tuition scholarship, but she paid my room and board. I lived at home during the summers and for a few months after college until I could save up a couple thousand dollars for the closing costs on a house.

I was 29 and DH was 30 when we got married, so I was a little more established by that time. We both sold our houses and put the profits from those into buying the house we live in now.

I didn't start with any kind of inheritance or anything, but at least I started at 0 and not below like many with student loan debt.
Full scholarship and mom paid room and board, that is not starting at zero.
 
Full scholarship and mom paid room and board, that is not starting at zero.
To be fair, scholarships are often merit based and should be considered as working for money the same way a job would.

But agree that room and board is a leg up.
 
For myself, my parents helped me as much as they could. I got my first car (used, with high mileage) when my grandmother passed away. My parents took over the few. remaining payments and gave it to me. My second car was purchased from my uncle (again used, high mileage) by my parents.

My parents also took out plus loans on my behalf for undergrad (which I feel guilty about) and were generous enough to pay my cell phone and car insurance through college.

I took out loans on my post undergrad education (in addition to a merit based scholarship) and am still in the red from those.

While my parents helped much more than other parents were able to, they were not wealthy and therefore I still have student loan debt.

I would be in a much different place if they didn’t help along the way, so I wouldn’t say I started with 0, but I also didn’t start with no debt either.

My parents are amazing and have done everything they possibly could for myself and my siblings. I know I could turn to them if I was short on a bill and needed a temporary loan (couple hundred dollars). They won’t even let me pay for my own meal if we go to a restaurant together (I always offer). They are now in a good place financially but always always put us first, to the very best of their abilities. I hope to be able to do the same for any kids I may have in the future.
 
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Dh and I both started out with -0-. In 1995 I inherited a piece of property from my grandparents, which we still own. It's been used as a seasonal "camp" by the family since before I was born. I can't imagine selling it and will most likely pass it on to my kids.
 
To be fair, scholarships are often merit based and should be considered as working for money the same way a job would.

But agree that room and board is a leg up.
There are a wide variety of scholarships and many that have nothing to do with your grades or your ability to write a compelling essay. Merit-based though is likely to be the main route for many though and likely the bulk of when someone says they got a full ride on scholarships.

There's nothing similar to working for money by having specific eye color, living in a specific area, or being of a certain gender for example. Now what I will say is hunting down these types of scholarships may be more akin to job hunting though.
 
There are a wide variety of scholarships and many that have nothing to do with your grades or your ability to write a compelling essay. Merit-based though is likely to be the main route for many though and likely the bulk of when someone says they got a full ride on scholarships.

There's nothing similar to working for money by having specific eye color, living in a specific area, or being of a certain gender for example. Now what I will say is hunting down these types of scholarships may be more akin to job hunting though.
I agree.

I was very specifically referring to merit based scholarships and did acknowledge that not all were merit based.
 
I had no inheritance or money in the bank when I graduated college, and in fact had ~$80,000 of debt.
But I hardly think I had "zero." I had a great education, a good job offer, and a family who loved and supported me.
If anyone thinks that's "zero" they are whacky.
 
I had no inheritance or money in the bank when I graduated college, and in fact had ~$80,000 of debt.
But I hardly think I had "zero." I had a great education, a good job offer, and a family who loved and supported me.
If anyone thinks that's "zero" they are whacky.
I think you are viewing it a few years ahead of when I am viewing the question from. Starting off to me is upon high school graduation. That is when it becomes your decision. You can go to college, pay for college, parents pay for college, or scholarships, or you can become an electrician apprentice. Important part is, the starting out to me is when you begin to make decisions for yourself which is upon high school graduation.

Thus, you didn't have a great education, good job offer to be starting out greater than zero. Those came after starting out.
 

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