• AwkwardLookMonkeyPuppet
    link
    English
    2320 hours ago

    I read a book called The Richest Man in Babylon and it states “that which we consider to be our necessary expenditures will always rise to meet our income, unless we protest to the contrary”. I’ve tried to remember that lesson my whole life. You must be very intentional about expenditures, scrutinizing each one, and scrutinize it in the context of the lifestyle you wish to maintain, not the one you’re newly capable of sustaining.

    • @riodoro1
      link
      English
      319 hours ago

      And then what? You die with a lot of savings? What are you saving for?

      • @Redfugee
        link
        English
        717 hours ago

        Save so you don’t end up working your whole life. Was that not obvious?

        • @[email protected]
          link
          fedilink
          English
          313 hours ago

          Achieving financial security and independence is more valuable than any stupid item/service/vacation you might purchase.

          I grew up with modest means, took out the smallest student loans that would suffice and worked my way through college. I’m now middle aged and do allow myself a few nice things but have always kept my spending very intentional. I’ve achieved a position where, barring some major war or disaster, I could realistically just stop working and I’d have enough resources to make it to the end of my days, although I’d have to stay modest.

          I still work, though. How i spend the next 5 years will determine what degree of comfort I will be able to afford in retirement. I’ll probably just take an easier, part time position to keep myself busy and comfortable.

          My point is, if you allow lifestyle creep to consume all your resources as you become a productive adult, you may have nice things (and you may impress others with your flashy crap) but you’ll just be living to work. Early retirement with my old truck seems way better than driving a brand new car to work.

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        English
        818 hours ago

        Splurging won’t make you happy in the longterm. Saving and buying your own home might. That’s why you want to save money, to have options available.

        • @[email protected]
          link
          fedilink
          English
          817 hours ago

          That would be great if the prices of houses didn’t rise faster than it is possible to save for the majority of people.

          • @Redfugee
            link
            English
            215 hours ago

            That’s true if you were just keeping savings in a non-interest bearing account. Stock market returns, however, have outpaced house prices.

        • @yetiftw
          link
          English
          214 hours ago

          ah but slightly nicer groceries would

        • @riodoro1
          link
          English
          118 hours ago

          But they make them more and more expensive every year. What’s the point of chasing a carrot if it’s attached to your head?

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        English
        115 hours ago

        I feel the correct balance of this practice will reach a point when you start answering “fuck it, but that thang!”

        If I’m scrutinizing every choice then as my money grows my concerns wouldn’t be the same. I might have not splurged on that X-Men mansion attack by sentinel diorama 10 years ago, but now if I scrutinize my parameters would be different. Now that diorama would look banging on my dining room table.