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IMHO, Americans needs to consume LESS and invest MORE.
Investing includes buying investments, spending money to learn new skills, starting new businesses, etc.
I'm no expert in economics but I still believe frugality by itself will slow down the economy.. UNLESS the money saved by being frugal is used to invest in productive projects that'll increase our future standard of living.
But I doubt the idea of consuming less and investing more will be apparent to the average American anytime soon. Our education system fails to teach the average person how to succeed in a capitalist economy.
Rep for this. We need to invest more. You don't create wealth by spending.
Maybe some of those people can afford to blow money at Starbucks. Just because a lot of people are dumb with money, doesn't mean everyone is.
Exactly. And for people who make a comfortable living - they can still be living well below their means, saving and investing, not running up debt, while also spending an amount of disposable income that can seem like a lot to those who make significantly less to begin with.
As the country as a whole - people living well beyond their means is one of the reasons that we are in the current financial mess we are in. And I am sure some people didn't learn their lesson the first time around.
I still see people going out to eat, drinking in bars. I cannot afford to go out to lunch every day, and get Starbucks twice a day. I wonder how the people I work with have so much more money than me. One woman wears fancy clothes, it is amazing to me. She is planning a ski trip to Aspen for Christmas.
I just don't get it.
My Grandmother never went out to dinner, except a few times. We always packed sandwiches if we went some place. She had one fancy dress for church, and several house coats for doing things at home. We had a huge garden, and canned food for winter. She used tea bags several times over. And used slivers of soap to make new soap. We did not even have a telephone until 1970. She said use the phone at work for free, and borrow the neighbor's if there is an emergency.
Previously we were buying more but also manufacturing more. This created jobs *inside* the country. Now if we buy more, we are just creating jobs in China. That is not going to help our economy at all and land us in deeper debt. We cannot be successful nation if we just keep importing goods from other countries and don't export anything of our own!
For my understanding, frugal does not equal austerity. That may be a once a month treat for him OR a once a day thing and he drives a 15 year old car. I enjoy discussing frugal philosophy but I try not to judge anyone else.... ... Don't judge others for how they spend theirs unless they begin to depend our our hard earned tax money to bail them out of their bad finanical decisions.
No judgement made nor intended. Don't read stuff into my post and then judge me on it!
I indulge in Starbucks. I just find the juxtaposition of "Starbucks" and "frugal" to be ironic.
The people who are spending like there is no tomorrow are living for TODAY. They don't have a future plan. Most likely the folks who live paycheck to paycheck but hey it drives the economy and the stock market up.
Starbucks is a rip off to me. I can make just as good as coffee at home for much cheaper.
Living below your means is common sense. You don't teach anyone to teach you.
Everyone's economy is different. One should have a plan. There are stuff we cannot control like inflation, Cost of living, unfortunate health circumstances, how the market will perform.
The economy can be a boom like the late 90's but that does not mean you have to live above your means like everyone else.
Quote:
Originally Posted by 007.5
Im newly retired now and spend quite a bit of time in my local Starbucks on my Laptop so i get to see the traffic flow . One thing that has me perplexed, is, the general populus is in financial disarray from over-usage of charge cards ($31,000 for the average card holder Ive heard on TV) , jobs are in jeopardy or they have none, and the cost of living is rapidly rising ... yet places like Starbucks are cranking out $5-6.00 exotic coffee drinks in a frenzied state . I say this as i count a total of 8 Servers at my little Starbucks at 10 a.m. on this Friday morning.
Ive concluded that we Americans simply dont like to cut back on our spending , and feel entitled to get whatever we want whether in bad times or not and regardless of what we can afford . I guess our U.S. Government isnt much of an example with
its ludicrous spending and owing China the shirt off its back.
Im grateful i had Parents who bucked the common american culture and taught me how to not live beyond my means, to save while having some entertainment but not to excess, and to plan for the future instead of living for the time being.
So, im wondering HOW bad does the U.S. economy need to get before americans are willing to make severe cutbacks ? What does gasoline need to get up to....what do food prices need to be .... what financial state does our Government need to decline to.., before the general U.S. populus get alarmed enough to embrace frugality ?
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