Many Americans each waste many dollars every day on products laced with addictive narcotics.
I don't think that word means what he thinks it means. Caffeine is a psychoactive drug (so is your antihistamine), but it ain't a narcotic.
How to Afford Anything
71–80 of 121 posts
Re: How to Afford Anything
#72Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Essentially the space is being wasted. Would you say that an undeveloped greenbelt around a city is wasted? Empty space in a house is both an option and space. The latter is quite valuable. Also, some people value the privacy.
I read something from a real estate blogger that has stuck with me since: People often pay for a bunch of space they do not need , even use. The argument that the space is an option is the same argument used to justify why someone would need to keep some random piece of garbage in their garage, taking up space. "This is a potential hobby of mine, so I am keeping this around," says a guy on the "Too much clutter in yo…
A lot of people are willing to pay for 'possibilities.'
In other words, they derive intangible value by keeping that possibility around, regardless of how often they may actually exercise the option it gives them, if ever.
Many people have vacation homes or own boats that they rarely use, and could probably rent (on an as-needed basis) more cheaply, but the value to them is not simply in their actual use of the house/boat/whatever, but in the ownership itself. They derive value and enjoyment simply from the knowledge that they could go use the house, or take out the boat, whenever they wanted, even if they don't actually exercise that option very often.
It may not be a wholly rational choice when viewed from a purely economic perspective, but that's because humans aren't anywhere close to rational economic actors if you fail to take into account intangibles.
Re: How to Afford Anything
#73Not to nitpik this, but I don't consider eating off the dollar menu at McDonalds anyway to save money. In the long haul--that's probably what will end up killing you or at least racking up some medical bills. I'd rather spend 10x the dollar menu at a local lunch spot with real food that won't send me to an early grave. All around, good advice--but don't use fast food as a way to slim down the budget.
He doesn't suggest eating off the dollar menu as the way to save money. Rather, if you do eat at McDonalds, eat off the dollar menu. Subtle, but distinct difference.
2000 cheeseburgers later, and you will have saved enough for that new laptop! Unfortunately, you'll be in a coma.
Re: How to Afford Anything
#74Earlier quoted context omitted.
I read something from a real estate blogger that has stuck with me since: People often pay for a bunch of space they do not need , even use. The argument that the space is an option is the same argument used to justify why someone would need to keep some random piece of garbage in their garage, taking up space. "This is a potential hobby of mine, so I am keeping this around," says a guy on the "Too much clutter in yo…
A lot of people are willing to pay for 'possibilities.' In other words, they derive intangible value by keeping that possibility around, regardless of how often they may actually exercise the option it gives them, if ever. Many people have vacation homes or own boats that they rarely use, and could probably rent (on an as-needed basis) more cheaply, but the value to them is not simply in their actual use of the house…
Sure. These choices are part of what separate the rich from the poor (economically).
Re: How to Afford Anything
#75I'd be more impressed by his advice -- in order to be able to afford anything you need, be frugal about what you don't -- if he hadn't happened to mention the time that his wife bought a house for $2.8M (and returned it, whatever exactly he means by that). If you can afford houses that expensive, your ability to afford nice stuff is probably not entirely the result of frugality.
And what about the hypocrisy of "don't have kids" combined with his "support my growing family" footer?
Incidentally, for those interested in photography I wouldn't take this guy's photo advise either. The guy lacks depth in understanding and sometimes makes statements that are just ridiculous.
Re: How to Afford Anything
#76Earlier quoted context omitted.
Agree, I would much rather rent my apartment if I could, but the way the market looks here it's not an option. Renting is just like insurance, you pay a premium so that others take the greater financial risk: You're not tied down, you can move anytime, and you don't have to care about the housing market or interest rates. For some people this is worth it, for some it's not. Your mileage may wary. The only other probl…
Agreed. Better advice would be "stay behind the curve." Right now, if you want a Wii, it's expensive. If you're happy playing Playstation 2, it's cheap. A Wii will be cheap 5 years from now when something cooler is out. Same kind of thing applies to computers.
I use this method of saving on home electronics. Home electronics depreciate at a stunning rate, and by buying "behind the curve" you can find great deals on things you wanted a year ago.
This is why I still enjoy, and buy games for, my (refurbished) PlayStation 2 (actually, I still play games on my SNES too). My workstation was dated, so I built a new machine with parts just below top-of-the-line (Core2Quad rather than i7, 600 GB instead of 1.5 TB hard drives, for example).
The advice in the article about new cars is valid; new cars depreciate as soon as you drive them off the lot, because then they're "used." You might get a nice warranty package with it, but you can get extended warranties for used cars from certain dealerships.
Re: How to Afford Anything
#77Earlier quoted context omitted.
"women don't give a crap what kind of car you have" Not when you're married, no... but when you're single? It's taken as an indicator of your wealth and status (whether consciously or not).
Personally, I think women who are concerned about your wealth and status (beyond "he's not a bum") are too shallow to worry about, anyway.
To a certain extent I agree, but to another extent, everyone worries about your ability to provide. It's just... a factor, along with the rest. Not to everyone, but to most people.
Re: How to Afford Anything
#78"When one group did a survey a few years ago, they discovered that the most popular car owned by millionaires was a Ford. Why? Simple: the people who still had and grew their money didn't waste it on luxuries to show off. All showing off does is make others spend more effort trying to scam you. " I suspect a large part of the reason is that these millionaires are, for political reasons, whether in politics or not, sh…
I dunno. Sam Walton (founder of Wal-mart) famously drove an old truck long after he was rich. He said he liked it and didn't care about driving something fancier. Probably this attitude had helped him get where he was.
Another factor may be that for those wanting to buy a fancy car, maybe they don't have many other obvious way to show off or look good. If you have a huge house, or own the world's largest retail chain, you probably don't need to show off, the showing off is practically done for you.
Re: How to Afford Anything
#79Earlier quoted context omitted.
How'd I miss that? Marrying smart means to marry someone as cheap as you are. That would require me to marry someone from the intersection of the sets WomenWhoWouldMarryMe and WomenWhoAreAsCheapAsMe. I suspect that the population of that intersection asymptotically approaches zero.
How does a set intersection have an asymptote?
I think its population declines with the number of hours logged in to HN
Re: How to Afford Anything
#80As off as some of his points may be, this one caught my eye:
Don't worry about being embarrassed [about what you own]
I have always said this, and it may not be 100% correct, but:
The rich don't need to buy things to impress the circle they live in. They are already rich and don't need to prove it to anyone. Wasting money trying to "keep up with the Jones'" is, oddly, a sure way to lose money in the end.