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Nope. Like everything else it's good when it comes about for good reasons and bad when it came about from bad reasons. It is not a de facto good by it's existence
It provides incentives for people to achieve great things and perform extraordinarily.
Candidly I have enough to last me and hopefully with some left over. I was fortunate in that I lived the good life. Traveled all over the world on company money. Dined at some of the finest restaurants. Always drove new cars. Belonged to some nice golf clubs. I had no money worries. Had a great, good money earning wife. We had no kids. I always used fee based financial money managers. I paid them to look and advise, not sell me something. I basically followed their advice.
I deny myself nothing, but I do not need much. One might say I am hoarding my money but they are wrong. I am not hoarding, I just cannot find anything of interest to spend it on.
Two years ago I started aiding my Uncle on his estate. Taxes and medical directive.
I absolutely have no desire for his wealth or belongings. So with that said...we reviewed his budget as he wanted to skim the fat so to speak. He is 84. Can probably live the good life on all he has left in his portfolio. Yet he somehow enjoys squeezing a dime out of a penny.
He has been single all his life. Worked two jobs..has military retirement pay...along with pensions.
Even if the worse case came where he wanted to be in a medical care facility ...he'd still have plenty left. Right now I've suggested he get a gentlemans' aide to help with his morning care. He was quoted 180$ out of pocket weekly...his insurance would cover the rest. He about had a seizure. Mind you he spends 240$ for his sports channels to watch. I'm embarrassed to take him out ...no matter where we go he takes things. ..at restaurants it's the silverware and napkins. At the bank he'll take handfuls of the candy and stuff it in his pockets. If we are at a medical appointment he will have his pockets filled with q tips,cottonballs, and even took the tongue depressers! He said he uses them to scoop his ice cream.
He can afford to buy things yet has his church believing he is poor. So they donate clothes and household things to him.
His own brother stopped being so helpful since learning he is well and wealthy enough to hire a person.
It boggles my mind . He knows he has alot more money then life in him...yet he won't take care of himself or hire someone. He wants me or my son to be his personal aide...free of charge.
Two years ago I started aiding my Uncle on his estate. Taxes and medical directive.
I absolutely have no desire for his wealth or belongings. So with that said...we reviewed his budget as he wanted to skim the fat so to speak. He is 84. Can probably live the good life on all he has left in his portfolio. Yet he somehow enjoys squeezing a dime out of a penny.
He sounds like a survivor of the Great Depression (late 1920s) although he would have been young. I know my grandparents, who were raising 5 kids at the time, never quite got over it. The first address she remembered is "Rear of 120 North Street"- a tiny building in the back yard of a larger one. Grandpa always had a job but, as my mother put it, after the bills were paid "he didn't have a nickel left over for a bottle of beer". He and Grandma were always urging each other to eat that last little bit of whatever was in the serving dish because "we can't let it go to waste". And when Grandma wanted new linoleum for her tiny kitchen Grandpa said what she had was just fine. My Aunt took her out to buy linoleum using a little money Grandma had inherited from her parents, because Grandma didn't drive.
Grandma died first and Grandpa's second wife benefited highly from everything Grandpa had squirreled away.
Some of the older seniors may remember these experiences or may have heard of them from their parents and are extra-frugal.
I suspect a lot of this is holdover from the Great Recession and our very impermanent society.
I was ready to graduate college when the markets crumbled in 2008. We had no clue what lay ahead. There were was tons of financial carnage from new graduates to senior citizens. At least for awhile, people became a bit more financially conservative.
Today's society is just extremely unstable. I've been fired with no notice before and no idea that anything was even wrong. Jobs are rarely secure. Markets gyrate wildly. The news cycle is full of craziness and instability, and that leads to people not being able to plan well.
I can't blame people for sitting on their wealth when things seem wild.
Exactly. I'm not a retiree YET but plan on becoming one in two years so I am definitely sitting on my savings; my 401K is fluctuating like crazy and it's scary.
Lots of people in my age bracket are terrified to spend their money in case everything goes *poof*.
He sounds like a survivor of the Great Depression (late 1920s)
I was going to ask the same.
When I was a hospice volunteer, I experienced this with some of patients, listening to their amazing Great Depression stories they told, that certainly shaped them for life. Reminds me of an interesting story I read concerning the first safety razors sold that had disposable blades.
Despite all of the hype about how wonderfully convenient and safe this new system was for the consumer, sales were very slow at first, especially for replacement blades. The companies were obviously curious why this would be, and wanted to get to the bottom of it. Seems they discovered folks were attempting to resharpen the disposable blade, because the thought of throwing out a perfectly good tiny piece of paper thin steel was abhorrent to them, and they were well practiced stropping a straight razor... Obviously it worked out VERY well in the end, bringing us the concept of the razor and blade sales model.
When I was growing up, my dad, a product of the Great Depression, taught me how to straighten used, bent nails. I don't recall that he ever purchased actual new nails or screws.
Anyway, some us treat our wives better than cavemen treated theirs. Kayak/riverboat trips, for example, on the Amazon aren’t as simple as flying off to Vegas. Lol Maybe you wouldn’t cover such topics with your spouse. I do.
I'm saving mine for that big private suite down at the end of the hall in the nursing home.
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