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No Desire To Spend

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Re: No Desire To Spend

#71

Post by jiggy2011 »

leeHS wrote: post #60
jiggy2011 wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Good point, to an extent is a vicious cycle. If you want to get that salary raise, at some point it has to be backed by somebody actually buying something. If everybody becomes super frugal then the economy shrinks and unemployment gets worse. I guess this is because we're at a point where we don't need anything close to 100% employment to cover everybody's 'basic' needs.

This is a REALLY good point. The benefits of being frugal are increased when the majority is not. It's sort of the same thing with the birth rate. Our economy will grow as long as we keep replacing the workers.

Yes, the best position to be in is to be the guy who only owns a bicycle but sells ferraris. It becomes difficult to be frugal when other people are because business and government don't actually want to let that happen.

I remember when the recession started in the UK, there was a lot of advice going around to the effect of, "When you go shopping, don't buy brand name foods instead by the supermarket value brand equivalent'.

The supermarkets seem to have responded by simply taking a lot of the value brand products off the shelves or making them only available in bulk quantities.

This has a negative effect on equality. If your business is struggling because the lower and middle class aren't buying your products you must either decide to take lower margins or you will focus your products instead on the remaining people left who do have disposable income and start producing high end products only.

Re: No Desire To Spend

#72

Post by zurn »

debacle wrote: post #37
johnrydell wrote: post #13

Here is my own piece of financial advice that I learned from a wise man 20 years ago: You have to double your income in order to improve your standard of living by 10%. Many people get a raise or a new job and they think they are now rich and can spend like crazy. You can't. Double your income and you'll honestly only see a 10% lifestyle change. Don't forget it. Keep saving. Limit spending. And give a percentage of y…

While it sounds like a compelling anecdote, it's complete bullshit. If you are just squeaking by at 30k, and you get a raise up to 60k, you suddenly have an extra 30k per year to play with. That can mean many things - for every year you work, you could theoretically retire one year earlier. You could now afford a car that doesn't cost more in maintenance than gas each year. You could now afford to double your extreme…

> "Lifestyle" and "standard of living" are unquantifiable

Happiness can be quantified, then there are things like the Human Development Index, Satisfaction With Life Index etc.

Re: No Desire To Spend

#73

Post by randomdata »

CaptainZapp wrote: post #33
Robin_Message wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is literally the main reason my wife and I do not own a car. If we need one for a long trip or a holiday, we rent or borrow one. We have discussed renting a garage a couple of miles from our house if we ever do buy a car though.

I felt enormously liberated after giving up my car. Two caveats: I live in a city with fantastic public transport. I would not be any faster at work by car, probably slower on most days. I'm a member of a car sharing cooperative (something like ZipCar, but on a non-profit basis). If I do need a car I have a dozen (literally) at my disposal within 5 minute walking distance. The range is from a Smart to a Mercedes tran…

On the other hand, owning car enables me to live in a lower cost of living area. Based on some online cost of living calculators, it would cost $15-20,000 more per year to live in a city that provides the amenities that you utilize, which, even with the $5-6,000 you quoted to own a car, is still a net win for me.

Though I definitely see the appeal of not owning a car at all.

Re: No Desire To Spend

#74

Post by jiggy2011 »

debacle wrote: post #27

"The people who generally have their financial shit together don't usually realize when it's pay day." Seems like a pretty specious argument. If you pay bills, then you know when bills are due and you know when payday is. That's finance in a nutshell - managing your AR and your AP. "Do you live within biking distance from work? No? Then move closer to work." I live in one of the better school districts in the area an…

Another thing to take into account is that a lot of jobs tend to be concentrated in specific in particular locations. This means that property closer to these locations tends to become more expensive which may wipe out a lot of the savings made by an easier commute.

Re: No Desire To Spend

#75

Post by jiggy2011 »

prodigal_erik wrote: post #51
debacle wrote: post #27

"The people who generally have their financial shit together don't usually realize when it's pay day." Seems like a pretty specious argument. If you pay bills, then you know when bills are due and you know when payday is. That's finance in a nutshell - managing your AR and your AP. "Do you live within biking distance from work? No? Then move closer to work." I live in one of the better school districts in the area an…

That issue isn't age-correlated. I'm over 40 and never had kids, but there are 25-year-olds who are concerned about teacher quality (and during the grades it matters most).

There is an age-correlation , people over 40 are statistically more likely to have kids than 25 year olds.

Re: No Desire To Spend

#76

Post by jiggy2011 »

spking wrote: post #32

It's also worth pointing out that for many people, servicing debts is one of their biggest monthly expenses. Credit card debt and car payments especially will sap your ability to save in any meaningful way. If you have debt, the #1 goal should be to pay it down as fast as humanly possible.

Yes, this is what I am doing right now. I find that what helps is to do the math and then mentally mark the price of everything up by the amount that it would cost not to put that money into paying debt instead.

Re: No Desire To Spend

#77

Post by debacle »

zurn wrote: post #72
debacle wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

While it sounds like a compelling anecdote, it's complete bullshit. If you are just squeaking by at 30k, and you get a raise up to 60k, you suddenly have an extra 30k per year to play with. That can mean many things - for every year you work, you could theoretically retire one year earlier. You could now afford a car that doesn't cost more in maintenance than gas each year. You could now afford to double your extreme…

> "Lifestyle" and "standard of living" are unquantifiable Happiness can be quantified, then there are things like the Human Development Index, Satisfaction With Life Index etc.

Please quantify happiness.

Re: No Desire To Spend

#78

Post by jules »

cperciva wrote: post #10
engtech wrote: post #2

I'm always surprised that more people don't bike to work, if they can do it in a reasonable amount of time and safety.

There's a lot of people who are physically incapable of biking to work -- not because of distance, but because of some combination of {age, injuries, lack of fitness, difficult terrain, luggage}. It's easy for a fit 20 year old who lives on a flood plain to say that more people should cycle to work. It's not so easy for an overweight 40 year old who needs to drop her kids off at daycare, works at the top of a steep h…

My grandmother lived at the top of a steep hill, and biked to buy groceries until she was 75 or so. There are not many people who are physically incapable of biking, especially if you have a bike with gears then almost all hills shouldn't be a problem; just go slow.

Re: No Desire To Spend

#79

Post by eli_gottlieb »

jiggy2011 wrote: post #22

The big problem, at least in the UK is that cost of food and other essentials has gone up by a lot while wages have remained stagnant. This can make even a frugal budget fall apart because at the end of the day you still need to put some food in your face. It's easy enough to stop buying consumer stuff that you don't need, but you do need some way to entertain yourself and if you want any social or family life at all…

The big problem, at least in the UK is that cost of food and other essentials has gone up by a lot while wages have remained stagnant. This can make even a frugal budget fall apart because at the end of the day you still need to put some food in your face.

This has been happening for 40 years in the United States.

Re: No Desire To Spend

#80

Post by kamaal »

Follow what patio11 is saying. But follow what the OP is saying too.

If you are a ordinary working class citizen, you are not likely to make it big unless you save and invest when you are having it good. I've seen a lot of people who didn't save and invest only to be saying later, If at all I had done so...

Saving money cannot increase your income by drastic size. But not saving, can sure decrease it.

That's the whole point.

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