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Cheap is when a wealthy family member wants [you to reduce the price] on nice furniture for their adult kids which your selling at a rock bottom price of $25.00 to $100.00 cause your moving cross country.
Last edited by volosong; 07-11-2016 at 08:55 AM..
Reason: mod edit: removed offensive racial epithet
A few years ago, there was, I think, a 60 minutes segment on Warren Buffet and one of the points made was that he was quite judicious in how much money he gave to his adult children.
I recall one of his daughters was interviewed about a loan she and her husband wanted for the purchase of a house which was to be repaid with interest. Buffet refused to lend them the money saying that if they could not get the loan from a bank or outside institution then they should not be borrowing the money in the first place.
Now the amount his daughter wanted was inconsequential to someone with Buffet's net worth but he still refused to loan the money. Given the discussion, was Buffet being cheap or was he being a responsible parent who did not want his daughter to be incurring more debt than she should?
Given the amount of money that Buffet has given to charity and his intention of giving the bulk of his net worth to charity, one cannot question his generosity. But there were those who felt that depriving his daughter of a loan was being mean or petty.
A few years ago, there was, I think, a 60 minutes segment on Warren Buffet and one of the points made was that he was quite judicious in how much money he gave to his adult children.
I recall one of his daughters was interviewed about a loan she and her husband wanted for the purchase of a house which was to be repaid with interest. Buffet refused to lend them the money saying that if they could not get the loan from a bank or outside institution then they should not be borrowing the money in the first place.
Now the amount his daughter wanted was inconsequential to someone with Buffet's net worth but he still refused to loan the money. Given the discussion, was Buffet being cheap or was he being a responsible parent who did not want his daughter to be incurring more debt than she should?
Given the amount of money that Buffet has given to charity and his intention of giving the bulk of his net worth to charity, one cannot question his generosity. But there were those who felt that depriving his daughter of a loan was being mean or petty.
His kids didn't earn the money, he did. I'm sure he's given them every advantage one could have. Beyond a certain point helicopter parenting actually makes their lives worse in the end as they are never able to deal with harsh realities.
Given the amount of money that Buffet has given to charity and his intention of giving the bulk of his net worth to charity, one cannot question his generosity. But there were those who felt that depriving his daughter of a loan was being mean or petty.
I'm not sure if I'd categorize him as "mean," but he sure didn't give his child a break that I'd think the vast majority of parents would do for their children if they could afford to do so, and Buffet certainly could afford to do so. He could have had his daughter pay him interest and he could have then taken those interest payments on the loan and donate that to charity. There were other ways to handle it than the path he chose.
Yeah, "cheap ba$tard" covers it. He was miserly to his own child and there was no reason to be that way.
His kids didn't earn the money, he did. I'm sure he's given them every advantage one could have. Beyond a certain point helicopter parenting actually makes their lives worse in the end as they are never able to deal with harsh realities.
Quote:
Originally Posted by lottamoxie
I'm not sure if I'd categorize him as "mean," but he sure didn't give his child a break that I'd think the vast majority of parents would do for their children if they could afford to do so, and Buffet certainly could afford to do so. He could have had his daughter pay him interest and he could have then taken those interest payments on the loan and donate that to charity. There were other ways to handle it than the path he chose.
Yeah, "cheap ba$tard" covers it. He was miserly to his own child and there was no reason to be that way.
I'm not really in a position to judge. He may have wanted to have his child think outside the box or develop some negotiating skills rather than going to the bank of daddy. Or maybe he wanted his kids to be humble. WB is old fashioned. Parents used to make their kids learn to be responsible and self sustaining. Too many 'rich' kids have lost their way over the centuries because they weren't held to a standard.
One thing I've found is it's easy to have an opinion on how other people should be spending their money. All of the mulch guys who come by think I should pay them to mulch rather than do it myself. The pest guys don't think we should do it ourselves. The lawn guys want us to pay them to weed and feed rather than do it ourselves. Some guy selling rust remover was real concerned about the rust stains on our sidewalk. He even mentioned that living in my "nice, expensive house" I should be concerned about them. Those aren't places where we see the need to spend money. We can do it ourselves... and we actually like it. I consider it a hobby.
He may have wanted to have his child think outside the box or develop some negotiating skills rather than going to the bank of daddy.
Daddy's worth more than a bank. I didn't suggest he should gift the house to his child, but he could have done the loan and charged interest and donated the amount of the interest to charity.
Daddy's worth more than a bank. I didn't suggest he should gift the house to his child, but he could have done the loan and charged interest and donated the amount of the interest to charity.
I think you missed the point. The daughter was unable to get the loan through a bank, which is an indicator of some financial shortcoming on her part. Had he loaned her the money she might never have learned to take responsibility for her own finances.
This isn't a definition, per se...but they live in fear of 'this and that'...it may
even be unconscious.
Somewhere in their upbringing they were instilled with lack, deprivation
of some kind...often from a big family.
Some cheap people will become minnie hoarders....often children of Depression
Era parents.
Often they are control freaks, having had little in their childhood, 'By God they will control things around them NOW!"
They also often were not raised in a religious family, thus, were not taught to trust God.
It's really not hard to figure out why they are this way.
I think I have been relatively frugal ever since I was in my mid-20s but I think what made it something of a compulsion was when I was in my late twenties, I was in a job where I was very very well paid - so much so that it would have been difficult for me to find another job paying anything close to what I was making.
What made matters worse was that it was not an entirely stable situation because of political undercurrents that were constantly in play. The prospect of losing my job was something I really feared and although there was no imminent threat, I felt that it was always hanging over my head. It was stressful and really affected my moods until a good friend of mine who I had known since we were in college together offered me a perspective which I never forgot. He asked me how much money would I need to support myself and my family in an adequate lifestyle. I told him that I could do so with about half of what I was then earning. He then asked me whether I could get another job making half my then earnings and I said that I absolutely could. He then said: "what are you worrying about?"
I never forgot that nugget of advice and since then until I retired I made many times what I was then making but we always maintained a lifestyle that although improving as we made more money was never even close to the sort of money we were making. As a result, by default, we just ended up saving a lot of money - a level of savings which combined with some good luck with investments, enabled us both to retire in our forties. We never stinted but we always lived well below our means. My peers spent all that they made and had hardly any savings of consequence.
So it was a frugality that was developed by a fear of what could happen but never did happen - but it paid off for us in spades. To this day we don't stint but we live well below our expendable income ........
I think I have been relatively frugal ever since I was in my mid-20s but I think what made it something of a compulsion was when I was in my late twenties, I was in a job where I was very very well paid - so much so that it would have been difficult for me to find another job paying anything close to what I was making.
What made matters worse was that it was not an entirely stable situation because of political undercurrents that were constantly in play. The prospect of losing my job was something I really feared and although there was no imminent threat, I felt that it was always hanging over my head. It was stressful and really affected my moods until a good friend of mine who I had known since we were in college together offered me a perspective which I never forgot. He asked me how much money would I need to support myself and my family in an adequate lifestyle. I told him that I could do so with about half of what I was then earning. He then asked me whether I could get another job making half my then earnings and I said that I absolutely could. He then said: "what are you worrying about?"
I never forgot that nugget of advice and since then until I retired I made many times what I was then making but we always maintained a lifestyle that although improving as we made more money was never even close to the sort of money we were making. As a result, by default, we just ended up saving a lot of money - a level of savings which combined with some good luck with investments, enabled us both to retire in our forties. We never stinted but we always lived well below our means. My peers spent all that they made and had hardly any savings of consequence.
So it was a frugality that was developed by a fear of what could happen but never did happen - but it paid off for us in spades. To this day we don't stint but we live well below our expendable income ........
I think the lifestyle choices you've mentioned should be followed by more people. There are those people who would call you cheap because you have money and aren't living it up and not sharing the wealth with them.
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