The New York Times recently published an that allows you to compare your debt situation to a group of more than 360 American families that were surveyed in 2004. After playing with it for a little bit, it was pretty clear that this survey indicates that those with more income are more likely to have debt. This led to me to ask, why is that those with more means seem to borrow more?

The calculator allows you to input your mortgage debt, credit card debt, automobile debt, and educational debt.  Then you can choose your income and age group on the bottom and it tells you how many percent of the families they surveyed are like you. So I put in $0 and less than 35 year old.  In my age bracket, 39% of families making less than $20,000 per year had no debt, and only 3% of families making more than $150,000 per year had no debt.  This is a very stark difference.  When I changed the age bracket to all age groups, 47% of families making under $20,000 had no debt while only 14% of families making more than $150,000 had no debt. That is still a very big difference.

I noticed that regardless of income, most of the debt of these families came in the form of mortgage. The average amount of mortgage debt goes up as you scroll up in income. This makes sense because more income allows people to qualify for larger mortgages.  Higher income families also tend to live in areas with high costs of living so housing is more expensive to begin with. Some would argue that mortgage is a type of “good” debt because it allows people to have a piece of real estate after it is paid off, but that alone  does not change the fact that it is a debt.

In all the other categories of debt, higher income families still owed more than lower income families on average.  The average automobile debt of families making over $150k  is nearly 9 times the automobile debt of a family making less than $20k.  All of this just shows that those with higher income spends much more on the same goods and services.

Personally I have lived in both ends of the income spectrum presented in this survey.  When we just moved to America we were living on one graduate stipend.  All three of us lived on less than $1000 a month and we watched our expenses day to day.  Nothing was bought without a coupon, and the damaged foods section is where we shopped first. When my family was at that income level, frugality was necessary for survival  and  there is no room for debt because one credit card interest charge could mean a week’s worth of groceries.

Later, my parents graduated and we moved to the San Francisco Bay Area.  They both had well paying jobs after a few years, and they took on a mortgage. A big change I noticed is that we no longer cut out every coupon we found for food and we ate out much more.  It was much easier to spend money because we had more income than before.  The rationale was that coupons were no longer worth the time and effort to redeem, and paying for good food was great because we can’t cook like that anyway. Being frugal is just harder when you have the means to spend your money and justify it later as only 0.25% of your salary.

Though, having said this, I would like to clarify that my family was never that extravagant and got in any debt other than their mortgages. Also, I think it would more interesting if the NY Times reported the amount of assets these families had and see if these families could cover the amount of the debt they have.  If the higher income families had enough assets to make their net worths positive, then they are not too badly off.  If they had the most debt and least assets, then they are really in trouble.

Welcome to the Carnival of Money Stories #67!  This week we have sixteen great stories full of insights,inspiration,triumph, and tragedy.  Read on to be titillated and entertained!

cialis prescription drugs reviews- Silicon Valley Blogger tells the story of her friends’ ill fated real estate purchase in posted at . This story is a must read.

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Dean Paley presents posted at . It seems pretty simple to negotiate your mortgage terms with the banks these days.

FMF tells of posted at . When I do buy a house, I will make sure to make a lowball offer. There is just no point in paying sticker price for anything.

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Kelly from Almost Frugal tells us how she is at . When you have a chronic disease, money management is even more important.

GBlogger presents posted at . This is an inspirational story about a guy that managed to invest well despite the debilitating effects of brain cancer.

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Mr Credit Card presents posted at . Is it worth it to get a crappy credit card to build your credit score? Mr Credit Card tells us his experience.

paidtwice presents posted at .

Brooke presents posted at . In this story Brooke outlines how much she spent this month in various things. She has been bad.

Ryan Suenaga presents posted at . This is a tip on how to get 5% back on gift card purchases through credit cards.

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Jim presents posted at . Jim reflects on his decision to become a professional blogger.

The Financial Blogger writes about his new job in posted at . He is trying to make more income so that his wife can stay home without worrying about finances.

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Dorian Wales tells us how to posted at . Well, Monopoly isn’t really my favorite boardgame because there is too much luck involved, but this is a good post about it.

Todd tells us that his neighbors are having at . Hip hip hooray for Todd’s neighbor I guess.

Tip Diva presents posted at .  I am sorry you were victimized Tip Diva!

vh presents posted at . Estate sales are pretty awesome for furniture, and that ottoman vh got is quite delicious.

Money Monk and MoneyNing had very similar stories about living below your means. See posted at and posted at .

That is all for this week!  Next week the carnival will make a stop at so !

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In addition to “Introduction to American Economics” and “Mathematics for Business”, I also chose “English” and “Basic Accounting”. At that time the college had an English requirement. Every student must pass “English 100″ to get a diploma. I’m not sure what level of English this is equivalent to in China, but at that time I only scored 540 on the TOEFL and I did not qualify for “English 100″, yet. Under “English 100″ there were “English 10″, “English 20″, and “English 25″. After I took a placement test, my student advisor suggested that I should take “English 25″, which is Basic English Writing.

The professor of Basic English Writing was a tall and slender British woman named Cary. She was a bit over 30 and spoke with a heavy British accent. When I learned English in China my professor had a Russian background, and did not speak with a standard accent. Additionally, my college class was the first class after the end of The Cultural Revolution, and we did not have a lot of great educational materials. Additionally, since my major was agricultural economics in college, I had to learn a lot of Marxist political and economic theory. At that time I bought a full set of “Das Kapital” and read it through, so I didn’t have time to learn English. After I moved to America, I realized that British English sounds different from American English. When I worked in Duke’s Lane, I could distinguish different English accents such as Australian, New Zealander, and Singaporean.

Cary is very strict with her students. Every time I received my papers back I would see her edits blooming like red flowers. Behind each paper she would write very detailed and helpful comments. I remember I wrote an essay titled “My Daughter Xin”. The essay chronicled how Xin started to learn Chinese at age two and how she was able to read at age three. When she was nine I brought her to America, and when she just came she did not know any English so we let her stay back one grade in school and repeat fourth grade. After half a year, she managed to catch up to her classmates. Additionally I wrote about her hobbies such as collecting coins and stamps. Finally, I wrote that my wife and I wished that Xin would have a bright future. I think Cary was also a mother because she really loved this essay. After some edits, she sent my essay to the school’s English magazine and published it. Unfortunately, I no longer have a copy of the magazine, but my wish for my daughter to have a bright future has been realized.

In a blog post I wrote on 7/27/07 titled “When can parents let go?” I wrote, “If someone asks me what the greatest benefit of leaving China is, I would say that we have found a place where children can freely develop.”

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Basic Accounting was a course that related to my future job. I had an excellent professor named Rose Kar. She was a little over 30, and already had an PhD in Accounting from the University of Texas. She taught at Kapiolani and also the business school of The University of Hawaii at Manoa. After my wife Helen switched to the business school she was also a student of Rose.

Rose Kar’s teaching style is very focused and logical. She also built upon the material like links upon links of a chain. Another thing I noticed is that she likes to save time. When you listen to her lectures, you must be very focused. From the beginning of the lecture to the end, she would start from the left side of the blackboard and work on one problem. After the lecture is done the entire board would be covered and the problem is done. When she is demonstrating a problem she would welcome questions from students. I remember that I liked to ask some weird questions. For example, in several different types of transactions, how would you balance several depreciation methods and find the best method?

A Chinese proverb says, “professionals watch for special techniques, and amateurs watch for entertainment”. Since I was a professor, I felt that I gained quite a bit from Rose Kar’s class. Her class definitely gave me a great foundation in accounting, and that helped me in my future job immensely. Rose Kar also liked a student like me who liked to ask questions and challenge the professor. After one semester, I received an A in the class, and she recommended that I should become a tutor at the student learning center and tutor other students in accounting.

After one semester, I received an A in all four of my courses. In the second semester the school gave me the coveted Pacific Scholarship, and that waived all of my tuition. That was a great boost to my confidence and life.

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Well, 2008 is really flying by.  Now we are in the first day of July I think it’s time for a mid year review of my goals for 2008 which.
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cialis prescription drugs reviews- I am still looking into this, but I think the biggest obstacle is my weird working schedule.  I work from 11am to 7 or 8pm on most days.  Maybe I can find things I can do at home or before I go to work.

cialis prescription drugs reviews – When I set down this goal I was only writing .  In January I was invited to write for and then I started in March.  So combining all three blogs now I get on average 2000 pageviews  a day. This is a huge improvement.  So I think I will have to revise this goal to getting 4000 pageviews a day on average by the end of the year.
cialis prescription drugs reviews – Well, since getting the Wii Fit and getting I have been exercising with the hubby almost everyday.  So far I lost about 2 lbs, but I feel that I gained a little bit of  muscle and my thighs are more toned. So I guess we will carry on and see what happens.
cialis prescription drugs reviews – I am working on this, really.  I try to listen to the hubby when he tells me to clean certain rooms.  This weekend he said that my bathroom is above average in cleanliness.

5. Be awesome at my job – I have been at my job for almost 8 months now and I have pretty much settled in.  I learned quite a bit of new things so now my job isn’t that difficult once again.

Financial Goals
cialis prescription drugs reviews- I received a  small raise at work a couple months ago.  Since I was a new employee and had only been working there for four months they prorated my raise so it was about 3.5%.  I think after taxes I am earning about $100 more a month. It’s almost enough money for gas! Anyway,  I was pretty happy about it since I was expecting nothing.  My manager actually told me it was a special raise since pretty much all the other people who worked at the company for less than six months got no raise.  I believe him since in my last company all the people that has been at the company for less than nine months didn’t get a raise.  I guess it makes sense.    Anyway, my salary isn’t 100k, yet, but my blog income has grown quite a bit.  So it’s quite possible to break $100k in income this year.
cialis prescription drugs reviews- Well, we’re actually progressing nicely towards this goal.  Our networth has gone up 21% since 12/31/2007 despite the recent stock market drop. So I think we’re definitely on track for 40% by the end of the year.

cialis prescription drugs reviews – I think with is pulling in I would have to file taxes as a business at the end of the year so I can write off some of the expenses I have incurred.  I would have to pay income taxes anyway so I might as well deduct some of the valid expenses I had such as hosting and software.

So all things considered, 2008 is turning out to be a good year.  I think writing down my goals really helped me in working towards them. Now I just have to stay the course for the second half of the year!

Well, I’m reading some panic-inducing headlines lately about the Dow going down 20% and how it is worst June since the Great Depression.  Recently my mom asked if I were selling my investments lately, and I  said no way.  Here are some of the reasons why I am not panicking and keeping my portfolio intact.

cialis prescription drugs reviews  -  The hubby and I have a cash reserve that could last more than a year of our expenses.  So there is no need to touch our long term investments.
cialis prescription drugs reviews – Most mutual fund investors do not get the long term gains as advertised by the funds because of panic selling at low points.  Since most of my portfolio is in funds, I am keeping them still to get the long term benefits.

cialis prescription drugs reviews – Yes, my portfolio has gone down a few percentage points, but overall I still have gains because I have been investing for more than three years.  So if I do sell now, I still have capital gains taxes to pay, and that doesn’t seem to be worthwhile.

cialis prescription drugs reviews This is an election year, so volatility is to be expected since there are a lot of uncertainties. Additionally, the turmoil in the credit/finance industry has not totally settled yet. I would be more worried if there was no volatility and the markets are shooting straight up because that might indicate another bubble.

At this point, the best thing for long term investors to do is to not look at the market.  A funny story I read at the Vanguard Diehards forums said that a photographer asked one of the Bogleheads  “How’s the market doing?”, and someone answered, “I don’t know and I don’t care!”. I like that attitude.  I think   my portfolio is fairly well diversified and I am comfortable with its long term growth, so I am just leaving it alone.  If I look at it too much, I might be tempted to do something stupid, and that could be disastrous.