Originally Posted by
CJKatl
I'll have no trouble qualifying with my spend flying, as I am really a frequent flyer. Nonetheless, it is a condescending to hauntingly claim it's easy to spend $25k annually.
You are Delta PM, so you are spending at least $7500 on plane tickets alone, not counting the taxes. That's a third of the way to $25,000!
Fortunately, I live somewhere that doesn't soak us on real estate taxes, so my taxes are under $2k.
Wow, I have never seen such low real-estate taxes on a reasonable home. But I've lived most of my life in the Northeast and now Florida.
Plus, anyone who refinanced a mortgage in the past couple of years is not only paying well under 4% interest, but is also likely to have taxes escrowed.
Good point. I haven't had a mortgage in over 20 years and forgot about escrow requirements.
Many of us who must use corporate credit cards for business travel just do not spend that much a year outside business expenses.
I had a corporate card, too, when I was employed, but I used my personal card instead, mostly to get the miles. Nobody seemed to care, fortunately.
It is quite easy to live pretty well without spending that much money.
Debatable, for sure.
I am purchasing a car right now, and most dealerships have a limit on how much you can put on a card and charge an additional 3% for the pleasure. If I pay cash, they'll give me 3% off, which translates to an additional $3k just to get DL miles. Who would do that?
I don't buy cars very often. I currently drive a 2000 Mustang GT convertible. But when I must buy a car, I put as much as the dealer will allow on a credit card, without ever agreeing to pay a fee for the privilege. If they won't let me use a credit card for at least a hunk of the cost, then I go to another dealer.
I don't eat at restaurants when I'm in town: I do enough of that on the company's dime when I travel, and most of my friends like to cook and invite people over. I buy most of my food at the DeKalb Farmer's Market. They don't take credit cards.
I don't know what to say to this, but my $100/week in restaurant spending doesn't seem excessive.
Heck, I'm even likely purchasing a Volt, which will mean almost no gas expense starting in May.
Nice!
Maybe in your circumstance it is easy to spend $25k, but for those of us who like to save/invest more than we spend on restaurant meals that are gone before you are out of the restaurant and other unnecessary expenses, $25k is above necessary spending.
The average American family spends double that. The amount put on credit cards is probably what distinguishes me from the norm, not my total spending.
Bruce