Why is it scarier to spend money when you have it, then when you dont?

Discussion in 'Economics' started by peilthetraveler, May 25, 2009.

  1. dozu888

    dozu888

    artless drone, lol.

    you don't know what it feels like to be rich. It's peace of mind. It's knowing that you don't need that job. It's working for fun. It's the sense of 'having made it'. It's an option to retire tomorrow if need to. It's a sense of superiority and achievement.

    Now, the road to a million is actually not that hard. Get a good education, be smart, be forward looking and see where the money is for the next 5-10 years... go to that profession, work pashionately, and the money part will take care of itself.

    The young bucks out there... where is the money for the next few years? real estate? outsourcing? some type of service industry? (it's certainly not looking at every tick and thinking you even have a chance).

    It's usually quite hard to think about these things just by brain-storming, due to the lack of experience in most young people. The best way is to throw yourself into the real economy, but always take moments to look at the big picture and plan your next move.

    Frugality is a tool. It can be practised with fun (knowing that you paid the better price for the same goods/service than the next guy), instead of out of necessity. It cleanse your soul, when you follow minimalism, without getting cluttered by all the material junk around you. Spend money with maximum efficiency. what is your passion? If you love something, get the best training, equipment etc and enjoy the most out of it... but on the fringe items in your life (like a flat screen that's showing junk all day, or that dinner out that is really a waste of time etc).. cut them out, or just going by the bare minimum, with little or no sacrifice of quality of life.
     
    #11     May 25, 2009

  2. this is obvious nonsense. written so the poor ( who buy books like this) feel better about themselves.

    yeah, there are a few "homeless" type ultra wealthy, however, they are primarily mentally ill.

    regards, surf

    www.twitter.com/marketsurfer
     
    #12     May 25, 2009
  3. A friend of mine owns a store in a mall that sells urban wear clothes. When I first saw it, I was shocked at everything. Who the hell would want to pay $90 for a pair of jeans? And it’s not like they’re made out of silk or anything. In fact they look like crappy worn down clothes you would find at Goodwill. The more crappier, the higher the price. Put a few holes in it and the price doubles. That’s the stlye. I have never been much of a fashionable person, but this dumbfounded me. He finally explained that it’s like that way because the low end urban crowd, or whatever you want to call them, spend money on this stuff.

    See, you and I think differently than the poor or lower middle class. We try to watch our money because we are working towards a goal. Whether it be a car, or house, or education, or retirement. We sacrifice now for a larger gain later in life. But you see, over the past couple of years, I have been learning that not everybody is like that. When you’re making $10 an hour and living paycheck to paycheck, you quickly realize that you will never have those things that others are working towards. It seems so far off. But there is something you can have that will make you feel better. Clothes, phones, food, tv’s etc. How will these people ever be able to afford a a 20k downpayment for a house? Or $5,000 a year for an IRA. Or $500 a month for a car and everything that you have to pay with that. When a goal seems so out reach, you just give up and enjoy what you can get.

    I have experienced this personally. I used to work anytime I could. I’d work 3 weeks without a day off sometimes. When other people wanted to go home, I stayed because I was always working towards getting money to trade with or start a business. But after 6 years of working my butt off, I’ve gotten nowhere. So now I say what’s the point. I work hard and I’m broke, I go home early and I’m broke, so I’ll just not try. This doesn’t me that I’ve given up, it just sort of means that if I don’t see results in what I’m doing, I’m not going to try very hard at it. If that makes sense to you.

    The habits of the rich versus poor are pretty distinguishable. Deliverying pizza has showed me a lot of people’s habits. When people from the ghetto areas call, they are really dumb. They don’t know what they want. There’s always yelling and stuff in the background. They just know they have $20 and they’re hungry. They hardley ever use coupons. Occassionally they’ll bitch about the price, mostly cause they’re in the habit of bitching about everything. When you deliver the pizza and tell them it’s $18.50, they give you a 20 and then look at you and say, “aww I’m sorry, I need that dollar for the bus tomorrow, I’ll tip you next time.” I feel like saying one of 3 things. First, if you can’t tip me for my services, don’t order. Second, why don’t you next time go online, get a coupon or special, pay $15 for the pizza, give me $3 and then you have $2 for the bus. Or thirdly, I feel like asking them why the hell are they spending their last $20 on a stupid pizza when they can just go 5 minutes to the grocery store and buy a $5 frozen pizza and cook it. Of course none of this logic would make sense to them.

    Now when the rich people call they are much different. First off they usually always have a coupon or at least know what they want and how much it costs. They didn’t just think to order a pizza, they planned it. They also already did a cost/benefit analysis on whether they should get delivery or pick it up. When I get to the door, they always answer it right away. This always fascinated me. How come it takes 3 knocks, 1 dog, 2 phone calls, and 5 minutes for someone in a 1 bedroom apartment to answer the door, but people in a 5,000 sq ft house always answer the door within 30 seconds. Oh well. Of course they always have the money ready right away as well. So they pay for the pizza, give you a calculated tip and that’s it.

    Overall rich people are still better, but they’re more calculated. I think it just really depends on the person. I just got a job as a caddy at an exclusive golf club. I don’t have enough experience to really see how the super rich act, but most are pretty nice. In fact I get along with them great and they are usually interested in knowing more about me. Obviously I’d like to know more about them, but it’s not really the time or place to do that. I think it just really boils down to personality. Stingy people will be that way when they are both poor and rich. I’m broke now, but I still feel like I need to do my share or whatever. I mean every month when I use my Chick-Fil-A coupon from my calendar, if it’s something free, I still buy something because I’ll feel guilty getting something for nothing. I don’t think that attitude would change if I got rich.
     
    #13     Jun 3, 2009
  4. volente_00

    volente_00


    It's not what you know but who you know.


    Use this job to network and you will be surprised where you can go.
     
    #14     Jun 3, 2009
  5. GREAT POST
     
    #15     Jun 3, 2009
  6. Sandybestdog,


    Wow, thats a great post. It brings me back memories of my first job at mcdonalds. (where i was making 4.40 per hour and happy that i was making 15 cents an hour more than min wage) When i worked in the drive thru, I could tell the poor people from the rich people( or even middle class) The rich/middle class generally had their order ready at the speaker and when they got to the window they had their money ready. The poor people (even though they ate at mcdonalds 3 times a week) never knew what they wanted. It was like someone else drove them there and they just woke up and were told they were at mcdonalds and surprised that they had to order right then. Also, just like with your pizza orders, they were yelling. To this day, i still remember this black guy yelling into the speaker ordering french fries and saying to me "Nigga, i want my shit hot!" (i'm like wtf? im white!) Then when they got to the window to pay, even though they had been waiting in line for 5 minutes to get to the window, they still dont have their wallet out and they dont know how much it is for the food. Or even worse...they start ordering more food AFTER they hand me the money. For instance...they ordered something and it came to 4.50....they hand me a 5 dollar bill then start ordering 3 more dollars worth of food. Some of the more unscrupulous ones would try to tell me they gave me a $20 bill, or pull that scam where they try to give you different money, ask for the original money back and get you confused. Some of them even had the nerve to laugh at me because i worked at mcdonalds even though they were most likely unemployed.

    Boy...i sure hated that job for the whole 11 months i had it.
     
    #16     Jun 3, 2009
  7. Cutten

    Cutten

    Millionaire Next Door vs the $30k Milli
     
    #17     Jun 3, 2009
  8. Cutten

    Cutten

    That's like saying who'd pay $30 for a bottle of wine, or $300 on a pair of shoes, or $75k on a Porsche. Higher quality and luxury goods generally sell at a premium. Yeah they're not silk but a $90 pair of jeans from a decent company will generally fit and look better than a pair at $30.

    Now paying $300 for the same quality jeans but with a load of holes and rips in it, I agree that's dumb as hell :)
     
    #18     Jun 3, 2009
  9. This is an excellent point, but i think it goes deeper than that. I think its the whole "I want it now" attitude. People who want everything now, spend everything now. Its also the reason why poor people are more likely to be adicted to drugs. They want that high feeling now and do not want to wait until they get to a place in there life where they just feel good all the time.

    I think when you delay your gratification, it makes you wealthier. Like if you want something and you decide to put money away and save for it...then when you have finally saved for it, sometimes you find that you dont really want it as much, which has happened to me when i wanted to buy a new computer, or a new TV. I put money aside every month, and when i actually had that hard saved cash in my hand i was like...why do i want to blow it on something i already have? So i put that cash away in some investment and save for the next thing i want.
     
    #19     Jun 3, 2009
  10. Is a $30 bottle of a wine high quality? I thought thats a pretty normal price for decent wine.
     
    #20     Jun 3, 2009