How to Never Pay for Anything Again

Do you know how much your life costs?

I’m not talking about how much you make but how much you spend. Do you know how much it costs to live your life?

To give you an estimate, here are some baseline figures of a few major expenses:

• The average rent is $1,739 per month
• The average cost of owning a car — including maintenance and insurance — is $1,015 per month
• The average food bill each month — including dining out — is $778

According to the Motley Fool, the average household income is $61,937 or $5,161.42 per month — before taxes. With half of American households earning less than $50,000 per year, there’s a good chance your actual take-home pay is around $4,000 per month.

If you’re the average American, that means more than 80% of your monthly income is going to housing, food, and transportation. This doesn’t include other major expenses like health insurance or child care.

For most Americans, the math ain’t mathing. And it hasn’t been for a while now.

There are a number of different explanations to explain why the economy sucks: greedy corporate executives, currency debasement, lack of good jobs for college grads. But I think there’s another reason: everyone is playing the wrong…