With age comes wisdom!!!
I went to the grocery store today and it's a good thing that I did. While I was shopping an old man blessed me with wisdom. Without him I would never known this. He said that if you spend all of your money you won't have any left. I never knew this and it probably would have taken me 50+ years to figure it out.
Every other time when I had $50 and I spent $50 I didn't know that I wouldn't have any money left, now I know! And as GI JOE says knowing is half the battle.
Thank you old grocery store man you have saved me years of struggling with this age old problem.
I'm 50 and just had lunch with a dear friend the other day who is 64. We both agreed, the older we get, the more we realize how little we actually know. If I was half as smart today as I thought I was at 25, I would be chair of the mensa society.
People don't realize though that money is not to be spent. It seems so reasonable to buy the nice car with the extra special rims and trimmings, without realizing that if you went without a car for a little while, you could have all that money spent on it to use for later.
People measure wellbeing so much by how much keeping up you do with others. If someone buy's a benz or a new house and you don't, it's clear that you are doing something wrong because you should be buying a Benz or house too.
But the simple concept people don't realize is that if you spend everything you have, you won't have any money left, even if you have the car and the vacations and whatever else people are buying. Consumption never returns money to you, even in the long-term.
Exactly.. keeping up with the jonses. I see so many kids on here like "lol don't pinch pennies bro... spend your paycheck and save your bonus"... what they don't realize is that's a horrible way to start out managing money - I don't care how much you make. I know people that make $400-500k+ in low cost of living cities (aka a fuck ton of money) but their balance sheets don't imply that they make that much because they blow it all on eating out for every meal, buying the luxury cars, buying the house that's just barely affordable to them... etc.
I'm grateful my parents were frugal - they aren't rich, but my Dad makes 6 figures in a low COL city... he acts like he's broke but I know damn well he has way more money than my friends parents buying bullshit every week (that probably make ~$50k more a year than him).
I have an excel file that maps out all my monthly expenses, as well as amortizing some non-monthly reoccuring expesnes i..e. oil changes, money for presents, renters insurance, contacts, car tires, car insurance etc.
I set up a "working capital" account where 85% of my post tax/medical/401k money goes, and try to end the month up a couple hundred dollars in that (which takes into account the amortized items I mentioned) - but if I spend the monhtly allowance in that it's fine because the other 15% of my post tax/medical/401k goes directly into a savings account.
15% of my gross pay goes directly into my ROTH 401k.
Then my bonus goes towards maybe buying something small for myself (i.e. pair of shoes or something I need), the rest into savings/401k.
I have friends that always want to go out and blow money at the bar - I don't enjoy that shit. I always hit them with the "i'm not trying to blow money at the bar this week" and I know most of them probably think I'm broke, but in reality I save much more money than they can dream of.
I like to live in a way that if I lost my job, I would be fine. Some people spend so much that if they lose their job, they'll be defaulting on their mortgage within 3 months, same with car payments etc.
Hey you know what Sam Walton always said, a little of a lot, is a lot. But you don't have a lot or even a little of a lot. However not much is expected of you. That is good thing about being slow like us
Sounds pretty miserable man. Amortizing non-monthly reoccuring expenses in excel, wtf? To each his own I suppose..
In a nutshell, it is called delayed gratification and living below your means.
Amass an emergency fund, max out employer-matching retirement account, then max out your ROTH, start out by auto-debiting deposits to your 401k/IRA directly from your paycheck (what you don't see you won't miss). Be a saver. Set savings goals. Occasionally reward yourself when you've achieved a goal (all work and no play make Jack a dull boy!).
Start out early. Set your 401k up to automatically adjust up by 1%/year. Well done!
Wow I feel so relieved I was so worried that noone was as stupid as me to not know that if I spent my last $50 dollars then I would not have any dollars
You keep mocking this old man for apparently trying to impart some wisdom upon you. You give no context to his comments, but make it sound as if he is a buffoon for trying to tell you to budget your money and spend it wisely. People like you will go through life casting aspersion on others because you have no self-worth.
Then, when you get to the age where people should show you some reverence because you've been through a lot of life, people won't give a damned about what you have to say because you've done nothing but shit on everything that people have tried to do for you your whole life.
Know nothing about you, but have read enough of your post to see the writing on the wall. Now go ahead and throw shit at the post, talk garbage, whatever. I could care less. That is the beauty of being comfortable in your own skin, which you obviously are not.
For future reference, if you get advice from an old person that you don't need, it's not hard to just say thank you, smile and walk away. Instead, let's run to an open forum and try to harvest sympathy and concurrence that this old man must be butting into your business. Did he hurt your feeling as well? Perhaps you can start a movement.
Hurt my feelings? What are you even talking about. I think you misunderstood my whole post. I am saying that i thought what he said was so profound that I felt the need to come on e here and talk about it. What he said was so wise and enlightening that it has even changed my outlook on life. The man is truly a genius
Another one of these threads.
Do what maximizes your enjoyment. Simple. Saving all your pennies doesn't make you better than someone who chooses to spend. People have different utility functions.
Money was meant to be utilized. Whether that means spending on fun things or saving, it is meant to be used. You are going to die and all the money you don't spend will be taxed or ultimately spent. Enjoy yourself and stop giving a shit what other people do.
TNA, I agree money is nothing more than a means to an end. However, there should be a balance. Hence the suggestion to reward oneself occasionally.
I'm not suggesting anyone be a miser, spending nothing their entire life. Speaking from personal experience, my family and I lived within our means, I maxed out everything, but we went on vacations a couple times a year, did activities, etc. My boys had a pretty idyllic childhood.
At the same time, instead of taking the family to Africa for a month, we took a cruise for a week. Instead of borrowing money to take trips, buy presents, or any other recreational activity, we always had money saved for these pursuits. Sure, everyone has a different perspective on money, and there are infinite uses. However, money is simply a tool that allows us to take part in the free market economy. Having some not only now, but in the future, is crucial for a person's financial well-being. Just my $0.02.
beat me to it
It’s not your fault if your father is poor, but it is your fault if your father-in-law is
You'd think investment bankers with all the money they make they could have fun doing whatever expensive hobby they want.
Oh no, they just shitpost on the internet.
Pun intended?
Of course. Corny puns are clever
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