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Let's start with the fundamentals. Spend $7.50 a day on your lunch at work, and that's not $150 a month, but really $300 monthly in pre-tax income. Buy a pack of smokes a day, and...well, you get the picture. So if you just did nothing else but bring your lunch to work and stick the money instead in a 401(k), you are conservatively putting back somewhere close to $2000 a year.
From 1/1/1985 to 12/31/2017 166.66666 per month would've gotten you $126,713.87 to be exact.
Absolutely right! And you seem to be able to admit that for about 5 seconds....but I'd wager that 15 seconds from now you'll still forget about it when you're talking about those stupid lazy people who aren't saving - because you're assuming they MUST be lazy, otherwise they would be saving. Your emotions just won't let reality enter into your life view.
You want to talk about the 20% of people who really can't save money. We want to talk about the 80% who can save a respectable amount, but won't. Since most people are money morons, it only makes sense to point out that most people aren't living up to anywhere near their financial potential, instead of obsessing over the minority who realistically can't do any better. And by money morons I mean people who have the ability to be wiser about money, but aren't acting on it.
It's like Mr. Money Mustache said, the typical American lifestyle is an exploding volcano of wastefulness. People don't even see the waste right under their noses.
so it's not that people don't pay attention to them it's a "worth" thing.
But the problem is people are horrible at making good estimates at what things are really worth in many situations. Like MinvanDriver's mortgage example where the people just couldn't be bothered refinancing to a lower rate mortgage. This type of behavior is shockingly common. Yet many of the same people who behave this way bellyache about the greedy corporations while making those very same corporations very rich through their own complacency.
You want to talk about the 20% of people who really can't save money. We want to talk about the 80% who can save a respectable amount, but won't. Since most people are money morons, it only makes sense to point out that most people aren't living up to anywhere near their financial potential, instead of obsessing over the minority who realistically can't do any better. And by money morons I mean people who have the ability to be wiser about money, but aren't acting on it.
It's like Mr. Money Mustache said, the typical American lifestyle is an exploding volcano of wastefulness. People don't even see the waste right under their noses.
Great post! There are indeed people, who do the right thing, save, take responsibility, etc and then have an accident or such-that 20% or so.
However, those people aren't representative of the people we've been discussing here. There are many people who waste continuously, always in crisis and seemingly unaware of why that is.
I know several people, who live paycheck to paycheck, not having a dime to their names towards the end of the month. One of them doesn't make much money because she doesn't work much, yet she does manage to afford her cigarettes and alcohol, as well as trips to Trader Joe's.
The other one works a lot and makes a fair amount, yet is broke towards the end of the month because she eats out regularly, spends freely and takes month long vacations. She has two storage units full of stuff an once spend $300 on boards and concrete blocks to build shelves to put her boxes. That is of course her choice, but she then wonders why she can't get ahead, save money and start building wealth.
The old adage that it isn't what you make, it's what you spend holds true.
But the problem is people are horrible at making good estimates at what things are really worth in many situations. Like MinvanDriver's mortgage example where the people just couldn't be bothered refinancing to a lower rate mortgage. This type of behavior is shockingly common. Yet many of the same people who behave this way bellyache about the greedy corporations while making those very same corporations very rich through their own complacency.
There is a part of me that feels like it has to be this way for the economy to stay strong.
You have to have the majority blowing their money on frivolous things.
There is a part of me that feels like it has to be this way for the economy to stay strong.
You have to have the majority blowing their money on frivolous things.
That's exactly how it works. You are an economic battery, nothing more. Everything else is... details of importance only to yourself.
The other one works a lot and makes a fair amount, yet is broke towards the end of the month because she eats out regularly, spends freely and takes month long vacations. She has two storage units full of stuff an once spend $300 on boards and concrete blocks to build shelves to put her boxes. That is of course her choice, but she then wonders why she can't get ahead, save money and start building wealth.
OMG, don't get me started on those self storage units. I have an ex-friend who had stuff in storage, paying around $250 a month for 10 FREAKIN' YEARS! So emotionally attached to his stuff he wouldn't get rid of it. Then he moved cross country, which made it even harder for him to clean it out and get rid of his stuff. Of course, he loved griping about greedy rich people.
There is a part of me that feels like it has to be this way for the economy to stay strong.
You have to have the majority blowing their money on frivolous things.
No, I vehemently disagree with that. It's absolute nonsense and pure indoctrination. They want people broke because broke people have less power over their lives and thus, are easier to control. Our economy blew up in 2008 precisely because people had too many debts they couldn't pay back. Did you forget that?
Germany & Switzerland both have lower government and personal debt and higher personal savings and they are prosperous countries with growing economies.
This notion that we must spend everything we make is pure BS. It's used by spendthrifts to justify their behavior and it's used by the media to brainwash people into believing spending everything they make is patriotic. It's not.
The old adage that it isn't what you make, it's what you spend holds true.
To an extent. Just to an extent. This saying is way over used in our society and I hate it. For many people they don't have a budgeting problem, they have an income problem.
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