How do fundies afford it?

[JermajestyDuggar]

This topic started brewing in my head when talking about Jill Rod and how they seem to feast or famine. They are either spending wildly or don’t have any money to spare. 

I was then thinking more on the topic when I saw an Instagram post by Olivia Meggs and her fiancé Ethan Plath. They are both 20 year old fundies. How can they afford this beautiful home?! I know she does photography and he plays music with his family. But I can’t imagine those gigs pay that well! 

What fundie family makes you go “wtf?!” When it comes to their finances? Besides grifting, how do these families afford the lifestyles they do? Out of all the fundie families, which family’s finances would you like to look through the most?

[Lisafer]

I'd like to know how the JRods manage! Even with grifting! I don't see how two parents with no real jobs can keep that many kids alive. 

Also Derick and Jill...I'd love a peek at their finances! They were volunteering for TLC, right?  

And Bro Gary. Dear lord, how does he even have a roof over his head?

[formergothardite]

Jill Rod. - their finances make no sense.

John Shrader - his finances also make no sense. He spends huge amounts of money on himself. 

Gil and Kelly - I would have love to have seen their finances before they got on reality television. Lawson had to work to buy them food, people gave them stuff, yet Gil and Kelly always had money to take mini, child free vacations. 

The Maxwells - I want to know what their finances are really like. 

The woman who has a ton of kids whose names all start with C and her husband is the pastor of a church - how do they afford all that. They have a farm, all those kids and the children are always dressed super nice. Just the doctor/hospital bills they have every year would be a lot. 

[JermajestyDuggar]

I really want to have a look at Zoo and PP’s finances. I want to know how much money and gifts are sent to them from people who don’t go to their church but watch their videos religiously and hump their legs. 

[adidas]

I’m trying to say this in a way that doesn’t sound rude, but I’ve noticed that fundies often live in areas where housing and the cost of living is relatively cheap. Eg Joy and Austin’s home is a typical starter - it’s not fancy, it’s small and needs work. There’s no judgement from me, our first place was exactly the same and there’s nothing wrong with that. 

Unfortunately we live in a place where even starter homes like that are super expensive  and it took us years to save up enough for our deposit to buy our first home, and thats with us both having professional careers.

But that doesn’t explain the gorgeous house in the first post here. Sometimes I struggle to understand it too. 

Unless they - like lots of fundies (and unlike the majority of couples) - had family help to buy their house. That could explain a lot. 

[sableduck]

That house would only be around $70,000 here most likely.  You can buy a gorgeous mansion for $200,000(my parents did) in my area, and I suspect most fundies live in low COL areas.  In 2009 we purchased our 2400 4 bedroom/2 bathroom home with an oversized lot for $72,000.  Granted it needed a lot of cosmetic work, but we were broke AF and still able to be homeowners.

In fact, both J Rod and the Bontrager Mom come from towns within ten miles of me and I seem to be in a fundie hot bed.  I suspect the low COL is one factor.

[Starrynight]

For many Fundies- I don't think they have student loan debts to worry about, no car loans  and many use government funded medical insurance for their children. Those take a big chunk of a pay check for a family.  My neighbors are very conservative - and always vote Republican but also sign up for state medical insurance for their children which annoys me. I find it hypocritical. 

[Themanda Duggar]

7 hours ago, JermajestyDuggar said:

I was then thinking more on the topic when I saw an Instagram post by Olivia Meggs and her fiancé Ethan Plath. They are both 20 year old fundies. How can they afford this beautiful home?! I know she does photography and he plays music with his family. But I can’t imagine those gigs pay that well! 

Here are my thoughts on this-

I have a friend who took every single monetary gift ever given to her son (I’m talking about $10 in a birthday card kinds of gifts), and put them in a savings account from the time he was born until he was an adult.  He never touched the account until he used it as the down payment on his house when he was 28.  

I’ve known people who bought really nice houses out of foreclosure at way below market value, and people who have done the same through short sales. I don’t think I’d feel ok about benefitting from another person’s misfortune like this, but plenty of people feel fine with it.

I have friends that bought a house in San Francisco, one they should have never been able to afford, because the owner wanted them to have it.  She had lived in it for over 40 years, and didn’t need the money she’d have made by selling it at market value.  She sat down with them and went through their finances, and offered it to them at a price they could actually afford.

Some of the most beautiful houses in my town are near the railroad tracks, or are in view of a highway or interstate that was built after the houses were.  These can have a huge effect on the property values.

Sometimes real estate is transferred within families without a lot of money changing hands.

Sometimes people have family money or inheritances you would never think they have.

It looks like a beautiful house from the front.  

[JermajestyDuggar]

47 minutes ago, sableduck said:

That house would only be around $70,000 here most likely.  You can buy a gorgeous mansion for $200,000(my parents did) in my area, and I suspect most fundies live in low COL areas.  In 2009 we purchased our 2400 4 bedroom/2 bathroom home with an oversized lot for $72,000.  Granted it needed a lot of cosmetic work, but we were broke AF and still able to be homeowners.

In fact, both J Rod and the Bontrager Mom come from towns within ten miles of me and I seem to be in a fundie hot bed.  I suspect the low COL is one factor.

But 70,000 is still a lot because if you live in an area with a LCOL, you also aren’t making a ton of money. I grew up in a very LCOL area of the country but people were also paid very low wages. Lots of jobs were minimum wage. So it’s still a decent chunk of money for people. I’m actually shocked that the house looks like it’s been recently renovated. I wouldn’t be as surprised about this home if it was a dilapidated fixer upper like David and Priscilla Waller’s. Their house had a huge hole in the floor when they bought it. That house was a mess.

[Mrs. Bean]

I would love to know how Phillips manage after the VF debacle.

[acheronbeach]

There's a reason we don't see young fundie homeowners in New York City, San Jose, Seattle, Vancouver, Toronto, etcetera.  The average home price where I live - even for a small, old rancher or a teardown - is around 1 million CDN (~ 750k USD).  I can't think of a single fundie family that lives in a major city.  

[Pecansforeveryone]

A lot of our fundies are snark-worthy precisley because they are so lazy and incompetent. I think there are a decent chunk of fundies "at large" who are hard working and skilled. Many male fundies apply themselves to become carpenters, welders, and mechanics.  The agrarian minded fundies can raise goats and chickens and grow beautiful vegetable gardens and orchards. 

[JermajestyDuggar]

32 minutes ago, acheronbeach said:

There's a reason we don't see young fundie homeowners in New York City, San Jose, Seattle, Vancouver, Toronto, etcetera.  The average home price where I live - even for a small, old rancher or a teardown - is around 1 million CDN (~ 750k USD).  I can't think of a single fundie family that lives in a major city.  

There are some but I think they rent. 

The Salyers, the Hammers, Michael and Brandon. 

[Briefly]

I kind of think that a lot of them buy fixer-up houses, I can't remember who it was but I read a fundie blog a long time back and the future husband bought a small house that needed work. Then he and his family did a lot of work, I remember the future wife mentioning how she could only go help if she had a chaperone with her.  It might have been a HUD foreclosure that they bought or similar.

[JermajestyDuggar]

2 minutes ago, Briefly said:

I kind of think that a lot of them buy fixer-up houses, I can't remember who it was but I read a fundie blog a long time back and the future husband bought a small house that needed work. Then he and his family did a lot of work, I remember the future wife mentioning how she could only go help if she had a chaperone with her.  It might have been a HUD foreclosure that they bought or similar.

See I can understand that. Fixers can be really cheap and if you do most of the work yourself, it’s going to cost a lot less. However you then get into shoddy craftsmanship and low quality materials if they aren’t skilled enough to do a good job. So that’s a real negative. I’m just amazed at the fundies who seem to always have money to throw around. 

[OGEmoji]

I think they a) get help from their families with down payments and such 

and b.) live much closer to the "edge" than many would find comfortable.

 

I have a close friend who is fundie-light, SAHM with her 3rd on the way. Her spouse delivers sandwiches for a chain and also cleans businesses. They live in a small but cute house that his parents bought and they pay rent unless money is tight, their families pay for whatever used cars they have, all their kids are born on the state chip insurance, they get WIC, their kids are almost exclusively dressed in hand me downs, they run their air and heat very selectively. She buys their food at places like Bargain Hunt, and has memorized when their local grocery store marks food down. Because she is a SAHM, she is able to juggle all of this much better than I could. They have no savings and no back up plan, no retirement, no college funds, no money for fun things. I would be very miserable in that life.

Edited to remove random emoji, why is it still there??

[Tangy Bee]

Wow, now my grown ass feels guilty for saving $100 for a Disney World ticket. Then I get back home to a $400 utility bill. Should of just walked around Disney Springs for free instead. I wonder what most fundies would consider a splurge. 

[RainbowSky]

70grand for a house isn't doable if you're making min. Or even anywhere near min. Even full time. Nope! 

I live in a very low COL area with a very small house that we got for very little. It still needs a lot of work bit it's ours.

 

[DomWackTroll]

2 hours ago, JermajestyDuggar said:

The Salyers, the Hammers, Michael and Brandon. 

I would add the Schlissels in NYC. Not talked about much here on FJ, but Steve and Doug Phillips are (were?) friends and he's been an influence on others in Dominionism. Who the hell knows how he can afford to live there? Unsurprisingly, his kids look a lot more "normal" than most fundies. 

http://www.schlissel.com/

ETA: By the way, here's what Spanky and Lisa are eating tonight: 

 

[ladyamylynn]

Good lord. Who murdered those portobello mushrooms? 

[Tatar-tot]

This is how they do it:  

1.  Little or know medical insurance.

2.  Jill R. (I guarantee) gets food stamps. With all the kids they would qualify for state sponsored healthcare for kids and she would be covered during her pregnancy.

3.  They live is crappy place with crappy schools since they “Home school”.  

4.  They drive okay cars.

5.  They pay for NO activities for their kids.

6. Once the kids can make money it all goes in the family till (Ardnt team ripoff).

7.  When Steve left Boeing he moved his 401(k) money in an IRA and let it grow for the past 20 years.

8.  Some like Paines had money stashed before embarking on their religious kick.

9. Some like Anderson feel Mom & Dad vacations (f-trips) are paramount and fund them before they find anything else.  We also know Zsu goes to soup kitchens to get produce.  

10.  The list goes on and on.  The bottom line is that we all pay for their religious adventures.  It makes me ill to think about it.  

[TatiFish9]

I thought the Keilens live in ATI/IBLP funded home. I suspect many of the "royals" and prominent members receive help from the org. especially when they're working for them directly.

I also suspect fundies purchase habits are similar to those of the general population. Some have little money but know how to make it stretch across important vs. luxury. 

I can see how the house on the topic head is in question. I suspect, as many have mentioned, savings and family help on that one.

 

[polecat]

On 5/18/2018 at 8:18 AM, JermajestyDuggar said:

This topic started brewing in my head when talking about Jill Rod and how they seem to feast or famine. They are either spending wildly or don’t have any money to spare. 

I was then thinking more on the topic when I saw an Instagram post by Olivia Meggs and her fiancé Ethan Plath. They are both 20 year old fundies. How can they afford this beautiful home?! I know she does photography and he plays music with his family. But I can’t imagine those gigs pay that well! 

What fundie family makes you go “wtf?!” When it comes to their finances? Besides grifting, how do these families afford the lifestyles they do? Out of all the fundie families, which family’s finances would you like to look through the most?

Disclaimer: I don't know these people and cannot speak for them. Nor am I assuming that the pictured people are like this.

But having grown up fundy, this is something I can answer to a degree re: a lot of fundies who have half-ass jobs with a much-nicer quality of life than would be typical for one with that type of job.

Those who work for themselves trade on their being "Christian," by which I mean, they advertise themselves as being Christian businesses and make it a huge talking point, as if by being Christian they're more honest than secular businesses. In truth, they often cut corners, cheat clients and worse. Not all of them, by any means. Some are likely honest people. But many are not, ime.

Second, they frequently cheat on their taxes. Not overtly, but by underreporting their income, working "under the table," paying people "off the books," or similar shenanigans. This keeps their overall expenses lower. (But as someone who is also self-employed, I can promise them that it WILL come back to bite them in the ass when they have little or nothing to collect for social security.)

Third, they have gotten scrimping and saving down to an art form. And this often includes taking every handout available. They know where every area food bank is, which resale shops have the best deals (and when their sales are), they know how to get extra discounts and specials, and they know how to get blood out of a turnip. And never discount the power of complaint: It's amazing how many freebies you get when you're the squeaky wheel.

Finally, they know how to hit other people up for money when they need/want it. Wednesday night prayer meeting is more than just another church service. It's a great way to grift. "Pray for us. Our van has a broken thermonuclear regulator gasket. We need $5 gazillion to fix it. Pray that Jaysus comes through for us!" And then lo and behold, some poor sucker will sure enough either hand them an envelope full of money or the keys to a new/used vehicle. Golly gee, isn't it amazing how Jaysus works?!?!

(There might be more I'm not thinking of just now, but these are just off the top of my head.)

[Shiny]

A lot of first time home buyers qualify for USDA of FHA loans. So there is little upfront money. A 70k loan with no down payment would be less than $400 a month. Cheaper than rent. 

[Jana814]

Where I live the cost of living is very high. I currently live in an apartment building in a town next to the one I grew up in. Their are a few kids in the building. This building is a great appeal because it's close to all the schools and they are great.