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The art and science of spending money

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Re: The art and science of spending money

#121

Post by curation »

brailsafe wrote: post #115
curation wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Similar. I left home at 15 made my own way. I saved 95% of what I made - drank powdered milk, worked 7 days a week for 15 years multiple jobs, side jobs (flip houses, production company). But I set a goal so, unlike my grandmother, who never stopped fearing the return of the Great Depression, I could stop. I retired in my mid-thirties and now I study languages and write and travel, but I don't buy stuff. Maybe if you…

Do you feel satisfied in that series of decisions? This was something I started doing in my twenties, but am glad it didn't continue, despite having some major financial difficulties now (though I don't have much control over that anyway). Do you feel like your travel experiences offer you more substance than any possessions would, and do you feel like language learning is a fruitful use of time?

Yes. I'm learning Russian, traveling all the time, studying philosophy, working with a small think tank and I've become a black belt in Krav Maga. I hate stuff, don't miss it and learning a language has changed my writing, thinking and it's actually fun.

Re: The art and science of spending money

#122

Post by sanderjd »

sokoloff wrote: post #120
sanderjd wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes but you have to choose a philosophy either way. I'm saying the philosophy of "we want to leave our kids money" should be run by those actually kids before it is pursued. In my experience most adult children don't want their parents to focus on leaving them anything.

The chosen philosophy is “we don’t want to run out of money before we run out of heartbeats”. Having money left over is a by-product of that, not a primary goal. If the kids don’t want the money in the end, they’ll figure out some way to dispose of it I’m sure.

This seemed contradictory to your original comment. But I went back and read it and I guess it isn't quite so much as I thought. But a seven-figure cushion seems pretty unnecessary to me. That's a lot of wiggle room! But :shrug:, you do you.

Re: The art and science of spending money

#123

Post by Red_Leaves_Flyy »

sanderjd wrote: post #71

> The more you were snubbed while poor, the more you enjoy displaying your wealth. Man I dunno about this. It does seem like a thing for certain personality types, but I usually see exactly the opposite. All of the people I know who have "made it" from a less wealthy background are the opposite, living with a ton of guilt about their new wealth. I think this is because of having tons of family and friends still scrap…

>They aren't going to take my money!

Hey! It’s me your friend.

Seriously though. They’re probably not that bad off, or the next most important lesson for them to learn is to take help when it’s offered.

Re: The art and science of spending money

#124

Post by sanderjd »

Red_Leaves_Flyy wrote: post #123
sanderjd wrote: post #71

> The more you were snubbed while poor, the more you enjoy displaying your wealth. Man I dunno about this. It does seem like a thing for certain personality types, but I usually see exactly the opposite. All of the people I know who have "made it" from a less wealthy background are the opposite, living with a ton of guilt about their new wealth. I think this is because of having tons of family and friends still scrap…

>They aren't going to take my money! Hey! It’s me your friend. Seriously though. They’re probably not that bad off, or the next most important lesson for them to learn is to take help when it’s offered.

No that's right, they aren't "that bad off". But just to give a concrete example, I have a number of loved ones who have been unable to afford a house, much longer than they would have liked. And I can't help them with that. I'm sure I could help if they were starving or homeless, you're right.

Re: The art and science of spending money

#125

Post by type-r »

IanCal wrote: post #16

A fun article. > If you develop an early system of savings and living well below your means – congratulations, you’ve won. But if you can never break away from that system, and insist on a heavy savings regimen well into your retirement years … what is that? Is it still winning? Those two things aren't quite connected though. If you build a good life living below your means, you can absolutely carry that on into reti…

i like the idea behind the quote but with PEDs (which Arnie himself used for most of his life) i feel it rings pretty untrue

Re: The art and science of spending money

#127

Post by idkwhoiam »

I've been saving money for future smarter self who will know what to do with all the money. Here I am almost a decade later and I am not any smarter. I'm scared sh*less to invest so the 2x annual salary that I managed to save is just rotting in a savings account.

Re: The art and science of spending money

#128

Post by sc077y »

jandrewrogers wrote: post #83
rsynnott wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Western Europe has generally higher social mobility by most metrics than the US (mobility between income cohorts, education level vs parents, etc). The US probably does have more people becoming really, _really_ rich, though, and also has slightly different social norms around money and the showing-off thereof. (That said, this is mostly differences at the margins. The mean price of a new car isn't much different bet…

Social mobility is the wrong metric. The economic mobility in the US -- the ability to increase your absolute income -- is far higher than in Europe. Countries with compressed wages have high social mobility, almost by definition, by low economic mobility. Since the US experiences very low wage compression compared to most countries, it will never be "socially mobile" but will have anomalously high wages for a large…

You're right, I meant to say economic mobility.

Re: The art and science of spending money

#129

Post by unity1001 »

sanderjd wrote: post #119
unity1001 wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is something that is valid more for societies like US, where being rich is seen as proof of 'hard work' and 'making it'. It defines your social status and actual social worth, therefore not being rich is like a stain. Its even built-into the terms used for describing it - someone's 'net worth'. As if a human being can be qualified by the amount of imaginary numbers attached to his or her social identity. So beco…

I live in the US, and as I said, this is not my experience at all.

Individuals' personal experiences being to the contrary does not mean that something is not a societal paradigm. From the cover of Forbes to the arguments used in discussions during lawmaking, the situation is as my comment described.

Re: The art and science of spending money

#130

Post by feet »

curation wrote: post #121
brailsafe wrote: post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you feel satisfied in that series of decisions? This was something I started doing in my twenties, but am glad it didn't continue, despite having some major financial difficulties now (though I don't have much control over that anyway). Do you feel like your travel experiences offer you more substance than any possessions would, and do you feel like language learning is a fruitful use of time?

Yes. I'm learning Russian, traveling all the time, studying philosophy, working with a small think tank and I've become a black belt in Krav Maga. I hate stuff, don't miss it and learning a language has changed my writing, thinking and it's actually fun.

Out of curiosity, which think tank?
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