Fun Stuff > CHATTER

financial independence

<< < (8/18) > >>

Hat:
I have parents who pay for my university fees, loan me some money for uni related stuff if I need it (just borrowed 14 hundos to buy a laptop that'll take me most of the semester to pay off) and they would have been perfectly happy having me live with them and pay board (some measly amount, I think it was 50 a week last time I was living with them) which includes pretty much all living expenses except the internet, which I paid for.

Unfortunately, this sweet arrangement is tempered by the fact that I cannot stand living with my parents (not in the sense that they were 'cramping my style' but more in the sense that I come from, and am inherently part of, a family of hysterical melodramatics who have epic arguments that typically end in breaking furniture just to make a point) , so I moved out when I was about 19. I'm 23 at the moment and in the second year of a BA, and am arguably financially independent. I still get my HECS fees paid for me, but if they ever decided to stop paying them I'd still be able to get the government to give me a HECS loan, and the only reason I borrow money off my parents for uni related things instead of getting a personal loan is because they basically told me if I did something as stupid as get a personal loan when they have the cash lying around, they'd disown me.

I earn about 600 dollars a week in my job, doing a pretty normal amount of part time work (I do about 32 hours a week at the moment, but only because I did part time uni this semester to give myself some time to relax), when I was going to uni full time, I was still earning plenty to support myself and have a life, albeit one mostly involving cheap liquor and egg and rice.

I think the important distinction between people who "leech" off their parents and people who are making a smart financial decision is future intent. If you are being supported by your parents to study something you are genuinely interested in, and want to pursue a career in,  there's no problem with that at all. What I have more of a problem with is people who go off to university straight out of highschool with no idea what they want to study, and live with their parents for the entire duration of their degree, only to keep living with them because they have a useless degree. It seems to me that in situations like this its a kid who is terrified of really growing up and entering the real world, and just wants to go back to a more sophisticated version of high school.

However, if your parents are happy to support you, and you're happy to be supported by your parents, you probably shouldn't give a shit what anyone else says. Some people are a lot closer to their parents than others and it might be nice to live with them for longer than your average person does, if you have one of those families

jhocking:

--- Quote from: roxie_vinyl on 23 Jul 2008, 16:54 ---Also, the 3 birds I mentioned previously make it so I can never have an apartment. This means I have to wait until I can afford my own house.

--- End quote ---

man talk about your rationalization.

Social Bacon:

--- Quote from: evernew on 23 Jul 2008, 16:19 ---Overly long winded self righteous ramble.

--- End quote ---
fixed.

calenlass:
I am currently borrowing money to pay my rent and bills from my parents, and they set up a fund to help pay for school for each of my sisters and me, so they are paying my tuition as well. I pay my dad a monthly installment for car insurance (which is in his name) and the car payment (since I bought it from him), and I am still on their health insurance plan and they pay my medical bills and (don't ask me why... I didn't) my mom pays for one tank of fuel for my car every month. They also give me a $50 gift card to a local Kroger grocery.

So this bothers me quite a lot. I can't afford to change anything right now, especially since I don't have a job, but my parents also raised me to be independent. I get antsy sometimes because they pay for pretty much my entire life. It also bothers me because it means I have to keep lying to them (or, well, at least telling half-truths) about who I am going to visit and how I met them and what I do with my time, because if it were something immoral, like SEX, they would cut me off (they told me this specifically). It is kind of a difficult situation, I guess, mostly because I wish I weren't dependent on anyone but myself, but I am not going to really complain about the situation to anyone but my psychiatrist because I can't afford anything else and, really, who in their right mind would complain about free food and living expenses?

Skibas_clavicle:
2 jobs! I live with my 'rents so they pay for the house and I cover pretty much everything else (school, transportation, clothing, entertainment, I'd say at least half of what I eat, etc.). They bail me out when I need them to, but that's a rare occurence these days. I try to work hard and get my shit together. I'm only at home half of the evenings and to sleep, so my living arrangement isn't half bad as of late.

Navigation

[0] Message Index

[#] Next page

[*] Previous page