How Broke is broke?
 

I was talking with a friend the other day about what people mean when they say they are broke. Our mutual acquaintance was crying poverty and asking for free construction labor since she had already dipped into her 401k and was now down to a mere 420 grand. She is in her late 40s, btw, plenty of work left in her.

I've heard many people complain of being broke then taking three transcontinental flights for week long visits that same year.

So, how broke is broke? Don't include the value of your house, (I think we learned that lesson) just liquid assets.

Do these numbers represent total assets? Savings? The balance in your bank account?

You replied while I clarified that point.

I think it has to do with liquidity.

When my wife and I were younger, we both worked and had no kids or mortgage. The money flowed more freely, but our net worth wasn't really anything. If we wanted a new TV, we'd go out and buy one. Need a new couch, buy one. We ate out all the time. Went on nice vacations.

On paper, we are a lot richer now, but we don't do all that stuff like we used to. The money is tied up in 401ks, 529 college savings, and the house.

We're certainly not broke, but we don't have the lifestyle we had before.

If a person can afford to fly cross country several times a year, they aren't broke. And I wouldn't do free work for anyone if I were you. Barter maybe, but not free labor. Unless I considered it charity or volunteer work.

I am uncomfortable without 3-6 months of burn rate in my liquid assets column.

But then, I am a very risk-adverse person.

I have a hard time drawing a definitive line. As the asset value shrinks, I become more and more uncomfortable and scale back accordingly. To consider ourselves "broke" I think we'd have to be both out of money and unemployed.

Oh yeah, no free lunches given out here. And not to pick nits but they were transatlantic flights.

Yeah, there is the small "b" I'm broke, meaning I don't have any ready cash and the big "B" I'm broke meaning I don't have any assests to tap into.

I'm talking about big B Broke.

And what Clod says is also true, when you see the value of your stocks shrivel up it is worrisome since their shrinkage has nothing to do with your spending habits.

I have $0 in my account.

Rowed with Mum tonight.
No idea what will happen tomorrow (she went to a village pantomime I also had tickets for).

I'm still angry. If I am, she is too.
I learned holding a grudge from her.
Am gonna go to bed with earplugs in and hope either I or her (v bad grammer!) work it out overnight.

Because right now I think she's a fucking bitch that seeks out someone's weak spot in order to dig into it. Then when it bleeds, she displays it as a sign of weakness.

Like getting my brother to call me "Droopy Eye!" when I was younger.
Some peple shouldn't have children.

I am Broke.

I lived a few years being VERY lucky if I wasn't overdrawn: to get the bills paid I took a chance the bank would cover the check (with all the charges therein.)

I don't think you should even use the word broke unless you're like what Sinbad (the comedian) spoke about: "College broke." You find a dollar on the street and the birds start singing. You say to yourself "I think I'll just hang out with my dollar tonight."

Other than that, you don't know broke.

I'm sure many of us have been there, though.

People who cry broke because they can't buy a new luxury car to replace the year old car they have and the like: they make me itchy.

Big B itchy or little b itchy?

No itchy...as in scratchy.

Audibly laughing, I am.

Uh-huh...yuck it up guys. :cool:

'Broke' is a relative thing for me mainly. If I can afford to do the things i need/want to do then I am not broke. If someone invites me to a party that might involve me spending £50 and I only have £70 in the bank, I might say no on the grounds I am broke, or that it would leave me broke.

But if I am not planning on going anywhere and I have food in my kitchen a packet of fags and bus fare for my two days in uni, then I can have a fiver in my purse and nothing in the bank and not feel broke. Depends.

I'm at my comfort level if I have over £150 in the bank with less than 2 weeks til payday. That rarely happens :P Mind you.....actually that never happens, because I am always in overdraft. I am only out of overdraft three times a year when my student finance goes in :P By £150 in the bank, I really mean £150 in available funds.

If we can't pay our bills we're broke. I don't think I've ever been truly broke in my life. I've always had enough to pay my way, although there was the time a friend got married in Bali and I considered myself 'too broke' to afford the trip, but then his mother decided I had to go so she paid my airfare and accomodation. There were extenuating circumstances then though. It was not long after Mum died, and his mum was my mum's best friend and in her mind I was there taking my mum's place. Anyway, that's a bit of a waffle.

I've never been broke enough that I couldn't pay my bills, but I've never been much over that either (until recently). I wouldn't have the faintest idea what it feels like to be broke because my balance just went below 10 grand. I think Clod has it right...no money and no job equals broke.

Look at me. :)

That is broke and pissed. lol

As the rich Tomcat said ... If I ain't broke, don't fix me.

Actual numbers are hard to give because so many things vary. I have no dependants and no mortgage, so I don't need so much.

To be not broke I require:
* some kind of dependable income that equals or exceeds my minimum needs.
* at least one pay-period worth of money in the bank at the end of each pay period as "padding" or insurance against cashflow interruptions.
* some kind of savings against sudden needs - fixing the car, etc.

Being unable to save for retirement etc does not count as broke.
Being forced to dip into savings and investments for unexpected bills is a danger sign but it does not count as broke. Dipping for living expenses is an alarm bell but does not count as broke.

Right now I am doing better than ever before in my life, but the further I get from broke, the greater aversion I seem to have towards it.
When I was young, a few hundred left over in the account the day before payday seemed like plenty. Nowadays I want a few thousand. And I always have a stash of long-life food in a cupboard somewhere.

I have been at the state of being so broke that I had to decide between gas and groceries. Those were the 8 dollar a week grocery budget days. I have also been broke enough to afford neither groceries nor gas and overdrawn by 700 dollars.

These days, I consider us to be very rarely broke. We pay all our bills and usually have enough extra to go out to eat once in a while.

I still can't imagine considering <10,000 broke. I hope I live to see that for our family. It might not be until 10,000 is the cost of a loaf of bread, though.

"Broke" just means you can't afford to buy whatever it is you need/want to buy at the moment.

It also means I don't want to lend you five bucks, whether I have it or not. ;)

Broke is when you're in deep shit of debt.

My 'comfort' level and my 'broke' level are two very different things. I am 'comfortable' when I've got a couple/few hundred in the checking account after having paid bills and put a couple hundred into savings accounts. I live fairly minimal. Supporting someone on a single income we usually manage to put at least $400 a month away, pay all our bills & groceries, and still have a couple hundred left over after every pay check.

As for how broke I've been. Well. I'm a little spoiled. When I was scraping bottom on a regular basis, I'd end up calling my parents for help. I've, therefore, never had to decide between food and gas. But having to ask for money from my parents on a regular basis pretty much destroyed my self esteem at the time.

Sorry, I put a whinge in this thread where I didn't mean it to be.
I went away from the 'puter, came back and mistook the thread I was in.

Okay.

For me, broke is nuffink.
No money in the bank, no credit or debit cards, no chequebook. Zero, zilch, nada.
Broke means you can't get on a bus, can't buy a drink if you're out and thirsty, can't do anything other than walk home if it starts raining, can't buy your favourite magazine and can only shrug at people who say, "spare any change please?"

Saying that, if you have people who love you, then you still get fed, still have a hot shower and still have internet access. It's not all bad.

broke, dunno. Never got there. I'd say when you have to sell something you truly care about in order to survive. Bank balance is irrelevant. we've had huge overdrafts as students, but they were free/cheap and we paid them off before they got seriously expensive. I didn't count that broke. It got tough at times, but I did pretty much every type of manual labor there is and we made it.

My comfort level and *broke* level are very different.

I have money squirreled away in several different accounts, which are my *rainy day* and back up accounts.....so in real terms I am never broke.

I get uncomfortable when my everyday account gets below 1k, and I start watching what I spend.

When I was footloose and fancy free with no dependants or obligations besides rent and beer, I wouldnt care if I didnt have a dollar to my name the day before payday, and that was the norm.

But now, very different. Being unemployed for nearly a month has made me tghten my belt and watch what I spend.

I dont think I have ever been Broke in my life, I have always had a job and an income, I havent always lived within my means, but that was my choice.

Broke! When I worked construction it was always chicken or feathers. But I alway kept up my credit, so not to worry. Once while drawing $25 bucks a week unemployment I ate lots of chicken necks with rice and used the necks 2 times. When I had my health I never worried about money or work.
While waiting for my SS I was really broke. City turned off the gas. I did odd jobs for $5 buck per hr. sold lots of things and was sober.:litebulb:
Now I live on my SS and get by. What me worry?

Broke is having nothing on hand, no one to lean on, no assets to cash in and nothing coming in. Otherwise, you're not broke, you're just short on cash at the moment.

I've been broke. So broke I was half-starved and passed out on the sidewalk. Broke is eating an onion as your main meal, because that's all you have. I've been nearly broke, and pinched pennies until they squeaked. Went to food banks, drove miles to save a few dollars on a bargain, and bummed a place to sleep from a friend for a few days.

God willing, I never end up in that sort of situation again.

When I was much younger, I had been completely broke, whereas I had no money, no job, and no home (resulting from bad moving choices leading to a bad breakup, blah blah blah.) Somehow, at my most dire moment, fate stepped in and I was called back to DC for a job, and two friends needed a housesitter one right after the other. Talk about lucky. Lived on pasta and greens, and lost 60 pounds. I did come out of it looking better and feeling like I'd accomplished...something, but not having solid ground to stand on for that long does something to you.

However, all that was a cakewalk compared to facing no income, yet having a mortgage to pay for. Being on the brink of foreclosure--twice--had been the most stress I have ever encountered. When you have absolutely nothing, you have more freedom to move around. But when you have this one thing, you fight tooth and nail for it; because if you lose it, you'll be right back at square one with little chance of getting past it again.

How broke is broke?
 

This sums up part of what I'm about to say. If having no money (that's what this about, right?) doesn't keep you from being happy and you're not starving, then you're not broke.

Of course you'd have to have no possessions or responsibilities. Even when I was broke and making 137 bucks a week, I did have a roof over my head and my bills were paid. But if my plumbing broke down I couldn't pay for the parts to fix it and I certainly couldn't pay for someone to fix it. I also had bills for electric and water so those had to be paid.

So it's down to what you need the money for and how you view debts.

I'm reminded of one of those TV preachers (Reverend Ike) who had someone crying about a huge bank debt coming due in a few days and he could lose his business. He told the guy that he didn't have a problem, the bank did.

But when you have freedom to make your own decisions and can afford (and I dont mean this in strictly monetary terms!) to make your destiny as you wish, the money isn't the primary impetus.

Being stuck in a dead-end job with no prospects scares me more than being broke. I can always go someplace and make more money.