WARNING! DANGER! Boring post follows. WARNING! DANGER! OK, this is gonna be long and preachy and probably boring to some. I’m feeling a little annoyed with myself just for writing it, so I can only imagine how pompous and paternalistic it must seem to others. Nonetheless, here it is: I recently had a conversation with someone from my childhood that I hadn’t spoken to in about 10 years and was really struck by some of what he was saying. He basically seemed to equate people’s worth (including his own) with how much money they made and how much “stuff” they had. I think this is extremely common and extremely harmful. I’m addressing it here in the hopes that it will get a few people to think differently about material possessions. You /= to your possessions. We all like to have cool stuff, but it’s easy to forget about what we have to sacrifice in order to get it. Did you know that if you keep every car that you buy for 10 years that you will save about $400,000 over the course of your lifetime (I think this is in comparison to buying a car every two years). Sure, HDTV’s and high-end computers are cool, but what are you sacrificing to get it? Generally, people are sacrificing the only thing that really does matter in life – their time. Time to do things other than working – time to actually enjoy their brief moment on the planet. Buying new and high-end possessions generally means that people then have to make more money to be able to afford it all. This is true for just about everyone except the multi-millionaires. More material possessions means that you have to either work more hours in a week or work for more years than you would have to otherwise. Essentially, people become slaves to their possessions – working more and more to get better stuff. And the catch is that there is ALWAYS something new to buy. So, before you buy, you might want to step back and say “what am I giving up in order to get this?” As an example, my parents always lived beneath their means (spent less money than they made) and invested the extra money. Thus, they were able to both retire at 50 years old. Had they been caught up in the “buy, buy, buy” trap, they might have easily had to work until they were 65. Thus, their tendency to spend less than they made potentially gave them 15 years (!) of freedom that they wouldn’t have had otherwise. (Unfortunately, my father died at 52, so only got to see a couple of those years without working.) The other cool thing about not convincing yourself that you need to buy all the newest stuff is that you can then spend your money on things that really will improve your life – experiences. Time together with people you care about, time doing what you enjoy, time to live. (Yeay living!) Anyway, I apologize for any suffering that I have caused in people who have actually read through this whole thing. I will atone for my sins by making at least 5 smartass/stupid comments in other threads.
You did not comprehend his post, that was part of his point. Either that or you only read the first paragraph. I agree with it.
Hmmm, I infered the fact that it would be boring to read, but heck you would probably, find some things interesting in my post. Not to mention, that post took a long time to make, but people like you are just lazy...
No I read what he says. That your giving up time to get these things. Im saying what good is having that free time, if you dont have the money to do anything with it. You might as well work and then have money to spend on your free time.
I don't really agree, obviously if you're not making enough money and say buy somthing expensive on a credit card that you can't really afford well that's just stupid but if you can work for these things which you will get enjoyment out of why not buy them? You could work maybe 3-4 weeks (without bill etc.) and buy a really good computer that could entertain you for years, or a new TV, Home Entertainment system etc. You could work to save enough money throughout the year to go on a vacation. People say "The best things in life are free" but besides obviously friends and family I don't agree with that saying at all, nearly anything fun these days will cost money.
