I don't see anyone getting rewarded for risky lives. If spending all your excess money on paying back principal & interest loans, credit cards, and mortgages is their idea of fun... I echo your own lifestyle. I live in a small rental place that meets all my needs, drive a Civic, avoid eating out/expensive luxuries, have no debt, and put away about 25% of my income into retirement funds. I call this "freedom" After all, 3 months later am I really going to remember eating out at an expesive restaurant? And it is amazing how Reeses peanut butter cups/Mounds/Krackel bars taste every bit as good to me as $25 a pound chocolates.
sometimes the "you only live once" mentality gets a hold of us; some more than others. I understand young individuals living above their means. Hell when i was a student in gainesville i lived well beyond my means; I didnt have 2 nickles to rub together but i had all the plastic needed for them nickle beers ...the bottom line is sometimes we must enjoy our lives and worry not about what the future may hold for we may not live to see it. The trick is to find a fine line between and just try to make more money. Hell, i am an advocate of living below ones mean trust me..i do it myself; but i can surely understand why some would want the pool or the better vacation they may never get to enjoy otherwise unless going into debt...peace
Sometimes Jim Cramer does say some smart words. He said this...if you have never lost a lot of money either: 1) You will in the future. or 2) Your lieing We all will go through a period of hard times in our lives. The good times where we have money will not last forever. In fact, its during the good times that you should be preparing for the bad times. It is fun to live for the moment and satisfy your urges, but how about when bad times finally strike? You know they will strike. You know those times may be just around the corner. You dont want to be stuck with an expensive luxury car when the music stops. You dont want to be under a mountain of credit card debt when the music stops. I have seen the lessons taught to me by the tech boom/bust and recession. In 1999, everyone seemed happy and had jobs. In 2001, we were all scrambling around looking for a job or sitting paranoid at our existing job wondering if we were the next ones who will be asked to leave. Protect your dollar, protect your pound. Even if you dont spend it in this lifetime, you can hand it over to your next of kin who will have a bit of insurance and put it to good use.
A book I read many years ago summed up this discussion with the simple definition of "wealth". Society measures wealth through material possessions or your earning potential. In reality, wealth is how long you will remain solvent if your income stream would cease. For the doctor earning $500K a year, that might be 2 weeks. Or it might be 10 years. The latter lives below their means and saves/invests. The former blows all his cash on cars, homes, women, vacations, BJ's, parties, boats, women, etc. Man I've got it all wrong. That saving shit is for da birds.
A few months ago, the wife and I go down to Sobe and have dinner at a fancy restaurant. Food was average and not worth the $200, but we buy the ambiance right? Now here's the kicker. 15 minutes after I left, I got the nastiest stomach ache. Thought I could wait it out since I didn't want to ruin the evening. After waiting 45 minutes to get into a nightclub, I made a mad dash for the restroom. Fucking Iraqi's would have been impressed with the bombs that were dropped. I almost passed out on the fucking toilet. The bathroom caddie probably thought I was high on dope or something. Went home shortly after that. Safe to say there was no sex that night (I still tried tho). So to answer your question, yes, you will remember eating out at an expensive restaurant. You will remember it vividly...
asumming they both died within lets say 5 years,,,,which Dr. do you think had more fun....yeah baby...bring me them loan apps...im ready to live largeeeeeee... when you really think about it the things that bring you the most happiness ( at least for me) are the things which dont cost a dime. A kite purchased at a garage sale...$2.00 gas to get to the park... $1.00 Flying that kite for the frist time with your son and watching him chase it all over the field... Mother fucking priceless. or do you think one would enjoy it more if it was a more expensive kite getting there in a more expensive car and having your kid telling you that its boring...
.... the SOBE special... all hype.. the best restaurants in miami are Matsuri a hole in the wall and Hy vong another hole in the wall...oh yeah and Ms. saigon
hahahahahahaa hahahahaha u guys are too funny...hahahahahaha... did he tell you..." no cologne go home alone" or better yet " No spray no lay"...
I agree with everything you wrote except the chocolate part. What are you thinking?! Reese's? Consider President's Choice semi-sweet chocolate chips. Not the cookie, the actual chocolate pieces. You will find that it is relatively bittersweet and superior compared to semi-sweet baking chocolate. Here in Canada you can get a kilo bag (about 2.2 pounds) for about $6. It's principal ingredient is chocolate rather than sugar and there are no dairy ingredients. Therefore, it meets the criteria for "healthy" chocolate, in moderation of course. Further, it tastes as good as Lindt's premium chocolates which cost a multiple more. Trust me, I know my chocolate. It's all about choices, man. Get with the program!