{"id":48996,"date":"2018-05-26T04:15:41","date_gmt":"2018-05-26T11:15:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lenpenzo.com\/blog\/?p=48996"},"modified":"2025-01-01T10:15:18","modified_gmt":"2025-01-01T18:15:18","slug":"black-coffee-26-may-2018","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lenpenzo.com\/blog\/id48996-black-coffee-26-may-2018.html","title":{"rendered":"Black Coffee: Rich Man, Poor Man"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"black<\/a>It’s time to sit back, relax and enjoy a little joe …<\/em><\/p>\n

Welcome to another rousing edition of Black Coffee, your off-beat weekly round-up of what’s been going on in the world of money and personal finance.<\/p>\n

Another glorious week comes to an end. Off we go …<\/p>\n

“Some people use one half their ingenuity to get into debt, and the other half to avoid paying it.”<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

— George Dennison Prentice<\/strong><\/p>\n

“The conviction of the rich that the poor are happier is no more foolish than the conviction of the poor that the rich are.”<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

— Mark Twain<\/strong><\/p>\n

Credits and Debits<\/strong><\/p>\n

Credit:<\/strong><\/span> Did you see this? A recent survey of Americans between 21 and 75 found that the average net worth they consider necessary to be “financially comfortable<\/a>” today is $1.4 million. As for the average net worth needed to be “wealthy”? Well … that would be $2.4 million. I suspect many Americans with a net worth in the neighborhood of $2.4 million would vehemently disagree.<\/p>\n

Credit:<\/strong><\/span> On a related note, researchers have determined that earning $95,000 annually<\/a> is the magic point at which more money has decreasing returns in terms of our emotional happiness, life satisfaction and overall fulfillment. Call me crazy, but I’ll bet the 80% of the world’s population who get by on less than $10 per day<\/a> would say that the researchers’ $95,000 figure has one too many zeros.<\/p>\n

Debit:<\/strong><\/span> Unfortunately, another study released this week found that 43% of US households — 51 million in all — don’t earn enough<\/a> to afford a monthly budget that includes housing, food, child care, health care, transportation and a cell phone. But other than that, everything is just fine. Kinda sorta.<\/p>\n

Debit:<\/strong><\/span> Ironically, the large number of struggling American households belies the fact that the last US recession ended way back in 2009 — which means the “teens” decade has been recession free. The bad news is every decade has seen at least one recession<\/a> since 1850 — for those not counting at home, that’s 16 consecutive 10-year periods. Does anybody else see a problem here? Okay … then how about here:<\/p>\n