Tuesday night my brother and I went to the MLB All Star game. We had a great time, the game was well played but the pictures were only so so. In the one posted to the left, Cliff Lee is pitching to David Ortiz in the 3rd inning.Our conversation during the game mostly covered sports but with a few financial topics too. At one point my brother made a pretty funny comment. He said that one of the things I've been writing about all along has been living below your means (the first post on this was in early 2005), yes I said, "too bad no listened."
It struck me funny and while it is true I tend to think of it from a different angle which is life is simpler and has far less financial stress when you live below your means. While I am a bit of an outlier on this stuff there is nothing that says a married couple must have two car payments at all times. If you can make twelve monthly payments (to make up an example) pay off a kitchen remodel then you could instead make twelve monthly payments to save for the remodel ahead of time and then pay cash for it. The difference being if something unexpected comes along financially (good or bad) it can be absorbed far more easily.
There can be no defense against the idea that going to the All Star game is an extravagance but I believe it is infinitely more extravagant if you're still paying for it six months later.
Short post as I catch up from being out of town.
3 comments:
What a great concept. My grandfather grew up through the 1st great depression, his motto "if you can't pay cash for it you don't need it".
Unfortunately today this is not a value for most. You are encouraged to spend, accumulate debt and ask for a pass. Our government leaders are leading the way.
I have a colleague who has done well over the last 15 years earning on average in the low 6 figures. They just negotiated down over a $100k of debt to pennies on the dollar and lost the house to foreclosure.
Pretty ironic that Dave Ramsey is making a fortune teaching us what our parents didn't.
You know where I stand on this. I am pretty sure that those with the pitchforks and rakes in angst over Republicans not caving on the budget are paying for lots of trinkets paycheck to paycheck - or never gave a though about saving for retirement until age 60.
T
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