You don't need that: Average American spends almost $18,000 a year on nonessentials

Well, you have to make allowances for people who have experienced hard times --- really hard times.

I could tell my wife, "We have $500,000 in the 401(k)" or "We have $5 million in the 401(k)," and neither number would mean a thing.

She lived in a country that defaulted in 1998, where money basically became worthless overnight. So this "number" to her is something that could just vanish at any time.

 

Wait a minute ... a newspaper being a watchdog to everything except itself and others in the publishing industry?

Oh wait ... that's any random Tuesday. Carry on.

 

That makes sense. In the case of my former father-in-law, he's a former Marine, a tough guy and pretty smart. But his comment and his attitude was of someone who was ignorant and basically saw no value in trying to better yourself through something as stupid as reading. I mean, what can you even do with someone who thinks like that? He's not poor because he was dealt an awful hand. He's poor because he didn't want to make the trade-offs to NOT be poor.

Meanwhile, my gf was born in South America, immigrated to this country when she was 7. She was dirt poor. But she put herself through college, now works for a hedge fund, and makes good bank. But she's got a good head when it comes to money. She's not flashy and compensating for what she didn't have growing up, and she's not so tight with her cash that it's a constant reminder that she came from nothing. To me, she has the right attitude toward money.

 

This might well be the kernel of truth at the center of all of it. People are people. They might have environmental differences, but for the most part, they’re relatively similar, especially when it comes to vices such as poor money management and entitlement.

 

That's what I don't get about some athletes.

Many KNOW what it's like to be dirt poor, and they KNOW their maximum earning window is only a decade and a half long, at best.

And some still piss it all away.

 

They might know it, but many of them forget to think about it. Let the good times roll ...

 

Make it rain.

 

I'm trying to figure out how I can write off weed and Scotch as a business expense.

 

2 things:

1. A lot of poor people are functionally like rich people - they're materialistic. They like things as much as rich folks. Really rich people just don't piss their money away as easily because they have more of it and...

2. They're less generous than poor people who get rich. This is key. A lot of poor folks' friends are...poor. Even after an athlete gets rich. So he buys stuff for his family and his buddies because that's his family. That's who helped him get rich. Generationally wealthy people are surrounded by...other generationally wealthy people.

 

What has increased the last 40 years well beyond inflation: Housing, housing, housing, and college, autos and health care costs. I'm not going to pretend that everything has stayed the same over the years. Some things have stayed below inflation too, grocery costs, utility costs, ????

 

Spot on. You can be smart with your money but not cheap with your money. Intelligent frugalism, I call it. I don't deny myself, but I really try not to spend money on stuff I do not need, or spend big bucks on something I need when a more affordable and perfectly acceptable alternative is present.

 

It costs a lot more to be poor than it does to be rich. No service charges at banks, zero interest on car purchases, better food values.