Today's Poll: How do you feel about your personal financial situation?

I feel good about my situation as it is at this moment. I have always worked and haven't squandered my compensation. I have savings on top of what I've put away into my own retirement account. Maximized savings and compounded interest will serve you well if you stick to that discipline.

Instead of buying the $1500 television when you're 25, put that money away and make it work for you for another 40 years. The money that you were going to use for that trip to Cancun just so that you could get drunk and "try" to pick up girls, give it to an investment broker and let them manage it for a few decades. When you retire, and you may be able to retire early, you can travel anywhere you want to and as often as you want to because you saved that couple thousand dollars a few decades prior.

Don't buy a new vehicle every 2 or 3 years. Buy a basic, low mileage, used vehicle and drive it into the dirt. Bob Brinker (Money Talk Radio) has a rule of thumb for vehicle purchases. If you can't easily pay off a vehicle in 2 years or less, you bought too much vehicle for your income level. I learned the vehicle lesson the hard way in my early 30's. It makes me sick to think about how much I spent on brand new trucks when I could've added that money to my 401K instead. Live and learn...

If you have a low interest mortgage, don't worry about paying it off. Any extra money you want to spend on the mortgage, put it into an account that bears a higher yield than what your mortgage interest rate is. .

When I needed new washing machine, I found a Kenmore front loader on craigslist for $100. It needed a fill-valve and I found that online for $48 shipped to my front door. It took a screw driver and 10 minutes of my time to change it. The washer has been running flawlessly for 2 years and I saved at least $850 over the price of a brand new front loader.

There are SO many ways to spend your money wisely for the things you want and need. Most importantly, though, don't squander your savings. Put it to work for you and watch it grow. Take care of the things you NEED and make them last as long as possible.

Anyway, that's how I've done it for the past 22 years since I bought my first house and it has worked for me.

Good for you, Doug. To sum up, learn to know the DIFFERENCE between what you WANT and what you NEED.

Metaphor, U. S. economic policy, point of view, working class: [video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oudNoKfNUfs&feature=related]

Doug, that is very sage advice. It is near impossible to convince young adults that hey DON'T have to start out with a brand new car, a house with all the new amenities, vacations every year, motorcycles, etc. Reminds me of the ad that ran a few years ago with the guy riding his new lawn tractor, describing his new house, his new car, his wife's wardrobe all while sporting a forced smile and "relishing" that fact that he was up to eyeballs in debt.

It's tough being young! Trying to convince a younger person how easy it is to get ahead is so frustrating sometimes. I've seen them so deep in credit card debt, defaulting on car loans, foreclosing on mortgages and over their head in debt. Some of those people make good money, too. They just have their priorities all screwed up.

I must be really dense but I fail to see how violent criminals should be treated and the moderen workforce see there lives. I guess thats the difference between liberals and conseratives or someone that has never done any real work in there lives.

I have a long time client now close friend that with a mere 9th grade education, went from production worker in 1982, to a businessman with assets over $25million today.

Recently, I brought my 20 year old son along to join my friend for lunch, not in a fancy restaurant, but Denny's

My son at that casual meeting, asked my friend Nolan, how did he do it. Nolan's respose to him was amazing.

"When I was younger, I never bought something I didn't need, and that was at the expense of many things that I wanted." he went on to say, "Every penny that I saved in my twenties was worth $10 to me in my fifties, I could have lived a much more material life in my thirties, but because I held back, and instead saved and spent my time working, I pretty much have what ever I want now instead of some of what I wanted then. Success isn't what you have, it is the satisfaction I got from overcoming the obstacles to get there, and there were many."

My son still not totally comprehending then asked, "Didn't you feel like you could have enjoyed some of these things earlier in life?"

Nolan replied,"If I would have enjoyed some of these things earlier, I simply would have enjoyed some of them earlier, not all of them now. Knowing the difference between what you want and what you need, is the key to success, not the other way around. Driving a used car then enabled me to buy wha ever car I want now."

It really affected my son's perspective, so much so, that instead of askng me for $20 for gas like he did in times past, that afternoon he mowed the lawn, straightened out the garage, and vacummed the rug for his mom, then he asked for the $20, so I gave him $30.

Bath salts rage?

If you're suggesting I've never done any real work in my life, you need to be better informed. ...Ask any foreman I ever worked under.

Rex as conservative leaning as I am, I do not agree with your assesment of liberal belief. I in fact know many liberal minded individuals who work very hard.

The difference is that the liberals feel that part of governments responsibilty is providing charity for those less fortunate rather than charity being actual charity.

My problem with general liberal thinking is that too many that do not want to work, learn to excuse that by claiming they are less fortunate. This takes valuable resources from those truly in need, and reaches to far into the pockets of those who have earned. This is precisely the reason why government should not be in the charity business, rather charity should come from community whether it be church or local community based organizations.

But never make the mistake of blanketing all liberals as people that want hand outs, that simply isn't factual.

Curious, the results of this poll are very close to the same question posed nationally

If your suggesting that being working class is the same as a made up southern prison camp movie you are mistaken. I know little to nothing about you so I suggest nothing towards you personally. But I know lots of people that are liberal that dont work and are always looking for more handouts. I am willing to bet that most of the 99%ters dont even pay any taxes.

Funny Rex, I know lots of conservatives on the dole. In Genesee county, it would be safe to say most of the people collecting are Republicans. Political affiliation has nothing to do with being poor.

The film clip -as metaphor- has nothing to do with prison, being liberal or being conservative. There are two 'bosses' telling Luke (in this case, average working class American) what to do; each directing Luke to do diametrically opposed tasks. He cannot satisfy both. Ultimately Luke moves 'his dirt' from one spot to another, never pleasing either of his bosses, and primarily makes no gain in esteem of his 'bosses' or himself. The viewer may superimpose any authority figure into role of 'bosses.' It doesn't matter. The message (as I see it) is one of detachment, manipulation and senseless expense of effort. Despite Doug's wise advice, I think most people have plans that are regularly derailed by the relationship between stagnant wages and the cost of living. Many of us work in jobs that are not within a field of choice, instead an available job that provides wages without the rewards of personal investment. Compounding the sense of detachment is the nagging reality that we are employed at the pleasure of the company- a feeble arrangement that could end on a whim. The wages we earn are funneled into all manner of 'pockets' other than our own (mortgage, fuel, electric service, water, sewer, insurance, telephone, car loan, taxes, food, rent, etc.) leaving us caught between time invested in work and time to ourselves with a few pennies of our own.

There will also be no political affiliation bias to the increased out of pocket expenses when Obamacare goes into full effect. Brace yourselves and your budgets for that hit.

Jeff, it's only money, I'll just make more. Hopefully no one will go without healthcare again, including my Republican friends.

No one has gone without healthcare in the US since 1985 Charlie, that in honesty was not the problem. The problem was that those with out insurance went to the ER for healthcare. Which was extremely expensive and taxes the system.

Unfortunately, the extremely partisan healthcare law, does nothing to decrease cost, in fact if you look at many of the true drivers of cost, actually will increase them.

Yes there are some good things in the law, but the bad FAR outweighs the good.

You have on here touted that aspirin cost $9-$18 in hospitals in the past, well guess what it is not the insuirance companies that caused that, it was the reporting mandates for medicare that did.. That is not debateable, that is the fact.

You jumped for joy over keeping your kids on your insurance until age 26, guess what, my wife and I had that rider on our insurance since 2004 for a whopping extra $1.72 per month.

The affordable healthcare law according to the most recent CBO report is going to cost $2.9 trillian more than originally estimated and it isn't even fully enacted yet, nevermind that Medicare is costing 24 times more than originally project in 1964.

But you are right, it's only money

Mark, people are going without healthcare right now. People I know, people who work very hard for a living. Saying anything else is denying reality for politics. It's nice you have the choice of a plan that lets you choose, most of us don't. I think all children should have care, even children of poor working class Republicans in Texas.

Sorry, money isn't the most important thing in the world. You can rattle off all the numbers you want, they don't mean anything. Every human being deserves healthcare.

Mark, you seriously don't know someone without health coverage?

You didn't say coverage, you said health care

And what I said was that since 1985, no one in the US went untreated, that is a fact as hospitals can not by law deny treatment. That is fact.

Coverage = Insurance
Care = Treatment

That isn't my pointg at all Charlie, I am not saying that we should not find away to provide coverage for everyone.

I am saying that the new OBAMACARE law is a hyperble of partzanshipithat falls far short of doing this in a cost effective way. It is rife with items that are actually cost drivers of healthcare.

What about life saving operations? Someone I know couldn't have by pass surgery for years because of a lack of coverage. That person also worked everyday of their life.

Putting that aside, you agree that everyone should have coverage. With that, I'll meet you half way and say the agreement that is now in place probably needs some tweaking. Hopefully after the election enough adults are in Washington to make the changes that will be required.

Charlie,
If everyone should have coverage, how much coverage should be provided for free by taxpayers? Catastrophic coverage (like that b pass surgery) or the everything plans (doctor visit for sniffles)?

It needs far more than tweeking though Charlie,everything that is actually a driver of healthcare cost is actually magnified by the law.

This link goes to a white paper from the university of Minesota, but if yopu want 35 so more, they all come to the same conclusion. It is not about the healthcare law but healthcare cost drivers, as you read it it should come quite clear that Obamacare is not only going to be costly but over whelming

http://www.bluecrossmn.com/bc/wcs/groups/bcbsmn/@mbc_bluecrossmn/docume…

Also, the non-paritisan Frazer Institute
Issued a report on federal run healthcare in Canada this week, In Canada wait is up 19 weeks to see specialist after referral from General Practitioner, that is 18 weeks longer than here in the US pre-Obamacare. When you mandate all the simple medical check ups and primary/preventative care here in the US, you have effectively created the same situation

I am not against finding ways to cover those who otherwise could not afford coverage, but one size fits all from the Fed down is not going to fix this. Taken from the report which I linked to

"Practice variation results as individuals and groups of physician make clinical choices
whether or not to pursue and then incorporate EBM and other clinical guidelines.
Instead, diagnostic and treatment decisions are made based on the physician’s own
clinical training and preference, the recommendations of his or her peer groups--practice
group, hospital staff, local physician association—also called “consensus-based
medicine,” and the patient’s demands for service.
John Wennberg, M.D., M.P.H., editor of The Dartmouth Atlas of Health Care has done
extensive research on the financial impact of practice variation. Wennberg found that,
for Medicare spending, for example, there was a two-fold variation among regions, and
the variations persist even after differences in health are corrected for. The study found
that “higher levels of Medicare spending are due largely to increased use of supplysensitive
services—physician visits, specialist consultations, and hospitalizations,
particularly for those with chronic illness or in their last six months of life (11).” One
striking comparison Wennberg makes is between the lifetime care delivered to a
Medicare recipient in Miami vs. Minnesota. The cost difference--$50,000 more spent in
Miami—could buy a Lexus sedan for the patient treated in Minnesota."

Actually Howard, healthcare is the one of the few places where competition may actually drive up cost, competition amoungst insurance providers yes, but not facilities

Among the most significant factors contributing to higher hospital costs include:
• Wage pressure and physician charges;
• The 3 C’s: Consolidation, Competition, and Construction;
• Technology acquisition and use;
• Pharmaceuticals;
• Government payment levels for Medicare and Medicaid; and,Hospital support systems

If you read the link that I gave Charlie, you will see it explained further.

We need more competition for insurance, and less for hospitals, that combination is considered by many medical experts the right mix

John, I would have rather seen a single payer plan for basic care (Sniffles) and catastrophe care that everyone recieved. Then private supplemental plans could be purchased to cover additional things, just like Medicare.

Charlie MEDICARE is the single largest driver of higher healthcare cost, that is a FACT.

"Jeff, it's only money", Charlie, you managed to sum up every government entitlement spending program in US history in so few words. The only thing missing is the next phrase..."in fact, it's not even my money". Well it is MY money, it is YOUR money, and it is being thrown into blackholes at alarming rates. Obamacare is just the latest and largest debacle. There are few that can disagree with the principles behind affordable healthcare for all, this just isn't it. On a side note, I saw a great post recently... Re-electing Obama would be like backing up the Titanic and hitting the iceberg again.

Jeff, there are vital expenses in life, health care is one of them. Complaining about vital expenses is kind of like telling me the sun is too hot. Healthcare costs will escalate as they have for decades unless we try something different. Since the a opposition has no plan and has done nothing to address the problem, we only have one solution on the table. Like all plans it will need to be tweaked. The world isn't coming to an end, the "hot" sun will rise in the morning.

"This election is about your Momma, not Obama." , Rev Al Sharpten

I miss spoke. The opposition has done something about Healthcare. Mitt created the dam plan and rolled it out first in his own state!!!!!

The logic of foisting Obamacare on the American public because it was supposedly the only plan out there is like a mother advertising for a babysitter and finally hiring the sex offender because no one else responded.

Actually the system we have now is the worst possible. Anything is an improvement. I'm all for looking for ways to improve RomObamacare. Maybe it would be better if we had more adults in Washington willing to compromise. Something keeps telling me that Romney and Obama could have worked out a compromise plan.