Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Price shocks in formative years scar consumption for life

knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

431–440 of 478 posts

Re: Price shocks in formative years scar consumption for life

#431

Post by ddingus »

Scar?

Frankly, what happens is people learn the value of prudence early in life which then saves them a ton of money, time and anguish.

I grew up in hard times, and spend to solve problems was rarely the right answer.

Each new skill mastered was worth an awful lot of money! I picked up many and have broad competence today. The savings are still compounding.

If you ask me, the current emphasis on consumption and so damn many things made to fail hard and or be replaced rather than serviced, refused or repurposed is morbid!

Gluttony on parade.

A lot of people need work and or to live on not a lot of money too.

Right to repair plus some way for people to learn, maybe learn together would put a dent in many businesses. I get that, but which is it?

Pay them more to actually consume, or maybe we all should not be surprised when large numbers of people begin to really walk that rugged individualist talk.

Re: Price shocks in formative years scar consumption for life

#432

Post by mmcnl »

mabbo wrote: post #206
ChuckNorris89 wrote: post #2

Being poor in general, during your childhood, scars you for life. It makes you penny wise and pound foolish, adverse to taking risks in your career and investments, can destroy your confidence in yourself, while always having to look over your shoulder monetarily speaking. Habits that even after you remove poverty from your live, you still feel the the anxiety and triggers in your head.

My wife grew up very close to the poverty line, with her parents always just about to lose the house. And she has this anxiety. (Edit: to be clear, she's a successful civil engineer, considered one of the best in her field locally and makes great money- she has nothing to worry about.) In order to help with it, we have a bank account that our bills come out of that has a little more than 6 months worth of all our bil…

Is 6 months a lot? I have my bills covered in a similar way for 24 months.

Re: Price shocks in formative years scar consumption for life

#433

Post by panny »

Interesting to me is

1) How the article focuses entirely on fossil fuel consumption rather than something much more damaging, like housing

2) The author's key takeaway is this is great and we should use it to manipulate people into consuming less fossil fuels by making their usage punishingly expensive.

In particular, 1) is a societal wrecking ball, because no home means no stable environment to raise children, means more trouble in the pipeline for the next generation. Many people in the generation won't even have children and others will have fewer than replacement rate. 2) makes me think the same sort of people are behind the housing crisis. They believe in overpopulation and therefore they want to curtail it by making housing punishingly expensive.

Re: Price shocks in formative years scar consumption for life

#434

Post by evandijk70 »

beezle wrote: post #297

I was a kid during both oil shocks of the 1970s. That has absolutely nothing to do with my driving. What does, and not just for driving, is the family taught cultural value of 'don't be wasteful'. So unlike so many people today, I don't make 12 trips a day to stores/friends/whatever when I can just make one or two if I actually think 5 minutes ahead. That applies whether gas is $1 or $5 per gallon. I also try to make…

As someone who probably falls partly under your definition of 'wasteful':

I don't like planning, and I forget things. So I sometimes leave the light on when I leave the house, forget something when I have to do groceries at the store so I have to go back, if I have half a meal left, I throw it out rather than freezing it, etcetera.

I've learned that, for me, accepting that gives me more peace of mind than trying to plan every part of my life. It also wastes less time than being super organised with my groceries, and I also end up throwing out less if I just shop for a single meal at the time.

Still, my spending is not that high, and my ecological footprint is not big. I switch electricity companies each year, taking advantage of their sign-up bonus. I make sure to double check that I've turned of the heating when I leave the house. I only have LED-lights in my house. I invested in solar panels, which will take a long time to earn back. I bought a house that is 20% cheaper than what I could afford. When buying the house, important factors were that it was well isolated, and that my commute is short, cheap and fast (20 minutes by bus). I compromised on its garden and square footage. I buy a phone that's 300 euro rather than 700 euro and use it until it breaks.

To me, 'don't be wasteful' is best applied selectively, both ecologically and economically. I approach it like an optimization problem: Identify the bottlenecks and attack those.

Re: Price shocks in formative years scar consumption for life

#435

Post by evandijk70 »

lmm wrote: post #376
throwawayarnty wrote: post #249

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How is this not logical or financially wise ? It is common advice to have an emergency fund equal to several months of expenses in cash. What is the alternative ? Having no emergency fund?

Several months is excessive. Even if you think you might going to spend six months with no income, you don't need six months' expenses in cash - one month's worth in instant access savings (or, sure, half in savings and half in cash under the matress, just in case), two months' in one months' notice savings, and three months' worth in three months' notice savings works just as well and will get you a better return.

What if your car suddenly breaks down and you have to replace it? Is the extra income of investing, let's say, 3 months of expenses really worth it?

Let's say you get 3% in an instant savings account, and 3.5% in a three months' notice savings account. If you never touch that money until your retirement in 30 years, that would give you 0.5 months worth of expenses extra interest.

Compare that to the hassle, extra work to keep track of several savings account, and the added risk in the unlikely event that you do need the money quicker (eg. A broken car, an unexpected medical emergency, whatever). Surely the trade-off must than tip in favor of simply having a bit bigger emergency fund?

Re: Price shocks in formative years scar consumption for life

#436

Post by FranzFerdiNaN »

beezle wrote: post #297

I was a kid during both oil shocks of the 1970s. That has absolutely nothing to do with my driving. What does, and not just for driving, is the family taught cultural value of 'don't be wasteful'. So unlike so many people today, I don't make 12 trips a day to stores/friends/whatever when I can just make one or two if I actually think 5 minutes ahead. That applies whether gas is $1 or $5 per gallon. I also try to make…

> I was a kid during both oil shocks of the 1970s. That has absolutely nothing to do with my driving. What does, and not just for driving, is the family taught cultural value of 'don't be wasteful'.

This is most likely caused by those oil shocks.

Re: Price shocks in formative years scar consumption for life

#437

Post by aembleton »

babypuncher wrote: post #372
sbf501 wrote: post #368

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In the late 1970's Star Wars toys still worked if the batteries died! Can't say that about an iPad.

I wonder which is more wasteful: A built-in rechargeable battery that lasts 500-1000 charge cycles but is difficult to replace, or a requirement of six AAA batteries that need replacement after every 3-4 hours of use.

You can use rechargeable AAA batteries so its not so wasteful.

Re: Price shocks in formative years scar consumption for life

#438

Post by krageon »

evandijk70 wrote: post #434
beezle wrote: post #297

I was a kid during both oil shocks of the 1970s. That has absolutely nothing to do with my driving. What does, and not just for driving, is the family taught cultural value of 'don't be wasteful'. So unlike so many people today, I don't make 12 trips a day to stores/friends/whatever when I can just make one or two if I actually think 5 minutes ahead. That applies whether gas is $1 or $5 per gallon. I also try to make…

As someone who probably falls partly under your definition of 'wasteful': I don't like planning, and I forget things. So I sometimes leave the light on when I leave the house, forget something when I have to do groceries at the store so I have to go back, if I have half a meal left, I throw it out rather than freezing it, etcetera. I've learned that, for me, accepting that gives me more peace of mind than trying to p…

Nobody is born enjoying planning things, it's something you like better as you do it more. Of course, you can accept the fact that you are not born enjoying it and then just not do it but that doesn't seem like a decision to be celebrated, to me.

Edit: Because it is essentially celebrating the fact that you are at least in part measurably dysfunctional. It's part of the zeitgeist, but there is such a thing as taking it too far.

Re: Price shocks in formative years scar consumption for life

#439

Post by aembleton »

lotsofpulp wrote: post #125
CalRobert wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We were surprised to discover after her death (in the late 80's) that my great grandmother kept $1,000 in a pouch in her bra. I can understand not trusting the banks and wanting to always have some sort of cash on your person.

I cannot understand not having at least a couple hundred cash on you, and much more at home. What are people’s plans if the power or payment networks go offline? Earthquake, hurricane, ice storm, volcano, etc.

Why would you need cash on you? I can understand leaving some at home in case card networks fail, but day to day if I'm out and about I just pay with my phone.

Re: Price shocks in formative years scar consumption for life

#440

Post by aembleton »

cableshaft wrote: post #317
aerostable_slug wrote: post #306

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My grandfather carried $3k in his wallet every day for the same reason.

I'd worry more about being mugged with that much in my wallet than an emergency happening that required needing that much cash on-my-person.

I guess he grew up in a different era and had other concerns.
Post reply on HN