re: Car dealers have so much backlog, some 2022s are "new"

I’ve always, and especially now as an older father of young kids, prioritized quality time over “more money” and things. So I definitely don’t maximize my earning capacity. But I have a good income and income-producing investments, and we live frugally. We hardly eat out at all. Our trips are to see family or we camp. No luxury items at all.

However, just our credit card bills every month would absolutely sink the average wage earner. Granted, some of it is rental property and business expense, and I put anything that doesn’t have a transaction fee over my credit card cash-back benefits. But still. I feel like we live sort of on the edge of stability. In my 23d year of the same profession, which started with a great job.

We’ve been blessed and have worked hard. But I look back at any little misstep or misfortune that very easily could have occurred and… i would be a ward of the state.

My focus the past several years has been a rational “prepping” for debt-free simple self-sustenance should this house of cards collapse.

On one hand, there’s nothing new under the sun. Go back to any other time and only a handful of rulers and elite would live the way we do. But the unsustainable environment we’re in now was largely preventable.