This is the 1410th original article of the spirit animal.
2023 is coming to an end, and hopefully 2024 will be better, even if it may be extravagant.
Written by Chu Beliuxiang.
id/lingshouke
I thought the assets in 2023 were negativeUnexpectedly, the total assets of China Merchants Bank Card at the end of the year were more than 1,000 yuan. Looking at the 2023 annual bill released on the China Merchants Bank app that he just received, Li Mingming, who was born in the 80s, said self-deprecatingly.
Li Mingliang is an ordinary office worker in Beijing, whose family lives in Yanjiao Town, Sanhe City, Hebei Province, which is surrounded by Beijing, and often travels back and forth between his place of work in Beijing and his home in Yanjiao, so transportation expenses account for a lot of expenses.
Spending for the full year of 2023 is 15260,000 yuan, credit card consumption 13480,000 yuan, of which 7,742 were taxis47 yuan, which is 4 times the consumption level of peers in Beijing China Merchants Bank. Li Mingliang said, "In 2023, I obviously feel a lot more pressure. ”
Li Mingliang's wife is now a "freelancer", and the total annual family income of the two is 30-400,000 yuan, but they still feel pressured, and the mortgage has to be repaid more than 10,000 yuan a month, and about 130,000 yuan a year, which is still the result of repaying part of the mortgage in advance.
For well-known reasons, Li Mingliang's wife closed the company she had been in business for 5 years and became a freelancer.
In order to save money and control consumption, Li Mingming's wife did two things:
First, all credit cards have been stopped, and grocery shopping has returned to the traditional vegetable market, "just to save money, because the pressure is too great." ”
Although it has been open for a year, the project is becoming more and more difficult to accept, and the project is still few, and the ** is still low. Li Mingming's wife said, "Money is getting harder and harder to earn."
Second, part of the mortgage was repaid in advance.
In 2018, Li Mingliang took out a loan to buy a commercial house in Yanjiao, Hebei Province, with a repayment period of 10 years, an area of about 38 square meters, a unit price of more than 20,000 yuan, and a total house payment of more than 780,000 yuan, not counting taxes, intermediary fees and interest.
But now the price can not be sold, can only be rented out, the rent is 1,000 yuan a month, but also including property fees and heating, this suite is conservatively estimated to lose 500,000 yuan. Li Mingliang said.
In the second half of this year, Li Mingliang scraped together money and repaid the mortgage of 100,000 yuan in advance. In November, he borrowed more than 100,000 yuan from other financial institutions at an interest rate of 367%, ready to settle the loan. "Roughly calculated, the difference with the original mortgage interest rate is 231%, you can save more than 10,000 yuan. Li Mingliang said.
Even with such frugality, Li Mingliang still felt a lot of pressure.
In the future, there are too many uncertainties.
In terms of income, there is little room for growth in the future, "if wages do not fall, it is good." Li Mingliang said, "Many people around me have reduced their incomes, either losing their jobs or their companies have closed down. ”
Even Didi drivers complain that their incomes are getting lower and lower, and there are fewer and fewer people taking taxis, while the number of people driving Didi and delivering food is increasing.
A Didi driver in Beijing said that in Beijing's Wangjing, Shangdi and other commercial districts or science and technology parks, orders are constantly increasing, and they can't be received. Now you go to "work on the ground" again, and in less than a few dozen minutes, there is no order at all.
It turns out that many Internet companies work overtime and reimburse them for fares, but now many reimbursements have been cancelled.
Later, I inquired, between 'being laid off' and being reimbursed for taxi fares, many people chose public transportation such as buses and subways, and even if there were taxis, many of them carpooled and left. In this way, Didi's orders will naturally be fewer. The above-mentioned Didi driver said.
Due to commuting across the city, Li Mingliang also often takes hitchhiking, "In the past, most of the hitchhikers were Toyota, Volkswagen, as well as new energy vehicles such as BAIC and BYD, but now when you take a hitchhiker, the probability of encountering BBA is much greater." ”
Li Mingliang also talked to a hitchhiker who drove a BMW, why did he drive a BMW and pull a hitchhiker?
Now the general environment is not good, and no one knows how long it will last. Now I can spend a little less, and take someone with me on the way to work, at least I can save money on gas. The BMW owner said, "One goes to work and one gets off work, and there are more than 100 a day, and about 3,000 yuan a month, and the gas money is enough." ”
BMW owners lamented that in the past, when the economic situation was good, they couldn't look down on these small money, but now the situation is different. "Every household is saving for the uncertainty of the future in case of a possible 'crisis'. ”
One is to save for medical care. Many people are worried about serious illness, and even if there is cooperative medical care in rural areas, the reimbursement rate is not high. Once someone in a family has cancer, it is enough to bring a middle-class family back into poverty.
The second is to save for your child's education. Because this is a "bottomless pit", money is needed from kindergarten, elementary school, middle school, high school to university.
According to the 2022 edition of the China Fertility Cost Report, the average cost of raising a child aged 0-17 in families across the country is about 4850,000 yuan.
Of course, this figure is conservative, as some households may overspend. Because as children grow up, they need a lot of extra money in addition to food and basic household items.
Li Mingliang does not have this concern at the moment because he does not have children.
The third is to save for oneself and support the elderly.
Considering the pension and supporting the elderly is a problem that many Chinese cannot escape. If the parents have a pension or savings, it is fine, but if not, the pressure will be infinitely magnified. Li Mingliang said, "Now many experts and relevant departments are calling for the promotion and stimulation of consumption, if the people have money in their hands and have no worries, who will not consume?."Do you still need stimulation?”
Li Mingming's work is closely related to the retail and consumer industries.
But now the entire retail industry is also sluggish, from time to time there are supermarkets are closed, or closed, there are many companies "sell assets" to survive, and some hope to find a "pick-up man" to get out, but more retail companies are still struggling to persevere.
This industry, which was once the most resistant to economic cycles, is also facing the challenge of life and death.
In the case that it is difficult to open source, Li Mingliang can only "throttle", because this can be relatively controlled.
Li Mingliang roughly calculated that the bank's housing loan was still about 1.5 million.
In 2023, a total of about 20,000 yuan will be spent on "grocery shopping", and Li Mingliang does not often cook at home, about 2-3 times a week, with an average of about 1,600 yuan per month.
Among them, the amount of "grocery shopping" through online channels accounts for about 60%.
Nowadays, I go to the vegetable market more often to buy groceries, and occasionally use it online, but the proportion has decreased, mainly to save money. Li Mingliang said, "Now I can save almost half of the money I spend on groceries every month, and I cook more often." ”
In October and November, Li Mingliang went to the vegetable market to buy vegetables and only spent more than 800 yuan a month.
If you go to the morning market, the price of vegetables will be cheaper, and it will be fresh, and there are many dishes that are sold by the pile, and you can eat them for two or three days at a time. Now, I've joined the army of aunts and uncles buying groceries. Li Mingliang said with a smile.
Now Li Mingliang strives to eat one meal at home every day, "If I can cook at home, I try not to eat out and reduce the number of takeout orders." Li Mingliang said.
In addition to the annual mortgage of more than 130,000 yuan, the cost of maintaining a car is also not a small expense, and there are 3 a yearAbout 50,000;There are also annual New Year expenses, including visiting relatives, transportation expenses, accommodation, etc., almost 30,000 years, in addition, heating, property, water, electricity and gas, etc., as well as some meals, living expenses, etc.
Each of these things may seem like a lot, but over time, it can be a lot of money. Li Mingliang said, "All year round, I am also stretched, I can't save any money, if I want to have a child in the future, then life will definitely be very poor." ”
A few days ago, Li Mingliang and his colleagues were chatting about next year's economic situation and future development, and everyone was not optimistic. Because at least for now, there's not a lot of good news.
But no matter what, life goes on. 2023 is coming to an end, and hopefully 2024 will be better, even if it may be extravagant.
But faith is more important than **, isn't it?(Original work of Spirit Animal Media).