Another car rental closes

Hey there. One of our car rentals within our chain closed March 31, permanently. At first it made me think about another car rental a couple years ago closed within our chain and we had to scramble to find another company to match our price because the reservation was leaving the car in the closed city. Today that leaves just 3 cities in Iowa within our car rental chain. I hope I don't have to look for another job someday from my car rental location closing.

And financial advisors advise investing in your employer, like 401K and stocks. I read a page of financial advice one day in the paper encouraging the public to invest in their 401Ks to get matching contributions from their employers. Not contributing to your employer provided 401K is passing up free money. An stocks prove your loyalty and faith and trust in your employer. Yeah, whatever. The problem with the sales pitch is that my employer does not match contributions so I'm not getting free money and the what if your company tanks making your loyalty stock worthless. Besides that, I would have to come up with my half of the contribution to get it matched if the company did. Sorry investors, not everybody makes over $30,000 a year like you. Money market funds with higher interest sound good if you do not plan on taking out any of it. Those accounts require more than I have saved ($1000 at my bank) and charges a fee if the amount falls under that limit.

Then I read about affordable housing is 30% of your income in a magazine. I remember once a poll in the paper where experts were shocked to discover most people pay 35-40% of their income in housing. I said: Gee, what would they say if they knew I pay 50% of my net income in housing (rent). I thought getting my rent down to roughly 43% of my net income was an accomplishment. And people encourage me to buy a house with no down payment. Yeah, I would like to see their plan on how I would be paying for it. Sometimes, bad advice and unrealistic advice must be filtered out.

In short, I wish someone would give financial advise for people making under $25,000 or better yet, below the poverty level (about $15,000) who is not on welfare or public assistance (like a newly graduated high school or college student). That I could relate to my finances. Post later. Bye!