money!!!!

how can i stretch $12 to eat til friday afternoon

i have already stolen soup from my roommate and eaten like 4 doubletree cookies in the last 24 hours

i can help u

ramen

Try to find some local cheese and wine receptions you can gatecrash. And take a bag.

ramen!! so simple and right in front of me too i kiss u genius

don't you know how to cook beans?

Yikes! Sorry to hear that. FWIW, when she was in undergraduate, my wife was so cash-strapped that she ate at the Hare Krishna cafeteria from time-to-time. A quarter got her a plate of rice-and-beans, and in exchange, all she had to do accept some of their literature. (She never joined or remotely swayed to do so, BTW; and as I understand it, the food was pretty good). I'm sure inflation has pushed the meal-cost up some, but maybe there's something similar in your area?

Also, if this is the conspiracy theory roommate, just continue stealing he food, but tell him that it's the communists...

krakow you are reminding me i should dig out my copy of frugal indulgences that has many other suggestions to this very effect!!

harbl duh and as i have mason jars of both red and black i will prob make some tomorrow but dag i am hongry now and tired from a double :/

daniel i am searching for something to this effect now

yeah iirc the four food groups are beans, eggs, potatoes, and rice

If you have any postgraduate student or academic faculty friends at local universities or colleges then they should be good hook ups, always loads of catered receptions and meetings in academia that are easy to blag into, in my experience.

snoball its amazing this guy's grocery list is like

-3 frozen pizzas
-chips
-cheez its
-cookies
-soup
-beer
-hot wings
-microwave ribs

The soup is the only healthy thing on there! Well unless it was beer soup, in which case there wouldn't be anything healthy.

Actually it reminds me of a time when I was a student and was so short on food I tried to make potato soup with instant mash potato powder and much more water than usual. Absolutely disgusting...

If you have any postgraduate student or academic faculty friends at local universities or colleges then they should be good hook ups, always loads of catered receptions and meetings in academia that are easy to blag into, in my experience.

― krakow, Sunday, October 11, 2009 6:47 PM (3 minutes ago)

^great suggestion, if you lived near me i'd tip you off on the thousand pharmacy lunches we ahve every week

goddammit my box of change is all pennies

oh yo wait i get a lil money on weds i can totally rock this for 3 days

damn $4 a day is amazing

When you start to understand what money is, you lose all respect for it.

kind of surprised there's no big thread on money on ilx. or am i missing it in the search?

wanted to do a little money questionnaire:

how much do you care about money?
is there a limit to how much you'd want?
what do you think when people say "i'd never want that much money" or say they aren't interested in money?
has increased/decreased amounts of money in your life changed you?

plus any more money thoughts you have.

I try to be very responsible about money, pay every bill on time, etc. Comes from being a younger child maybe. Like, don't have unmanageable debt, etc.

I'm not the kind of person to want a lot of money, I'm not comfortable with that. However, I try really hard to stay afloat and modestly comfortable. I have a relative who had tens of thousands in credit card debt but because he is Mr. Corporate that's cool. He's "learning about money".

I freak out when I have a bill I can't pay, start rummaging around for stuff to auction.

how much do you care about money? I care about it, and I generally want more of it. Having cash on hand is nice, but have some savings is very comforting.
is there a limit to how much you'd want? No. I'll take all I can get.
what do you think when people say "i'd never want that much money" or say they aren't interested in money? Sure, that's fine, I can understand it. I do not feel that way.
Has increased/decreased amounts of money in your life changed you? probably not changed me personally, but it certainly makes things easier.

how much do you care about money?
- enough to not want to worry about it.
is there a limit to how much you'd want?
- probably not. If too much money became a problem you could give it away.
what do you think when people say "i'd never want that much money" or say they aren't interested in money?
- I think they are a) upset by greed and b) probably not worrying about money.
has increased/decreased amounts of money in your life changed you?
a) I've learnt that people can take advantage b) it's good to plan & budget.

I find money kind of embarrassing, whereas I am not embarrassed at all when I don't have it? Will happily admit to being broke or having to economize because I think people being able to get by with less is a good mode of thought and important to our survival/planet.

But I know that state is temporary and in a week or two I could choose to have sushi and a social life again, so it's not a real state. I know it's not like this when you're actually poor.

Increased amts of money have made me eat better and want more stuff, I guess. I try to mentally separate myself from the women who have very stylish clothes and this season's shoes because I don't want to start feeling pressure to compete w them, but it's inevitable to aspire to somewhat nicer things, at least for me.

should answer myself.

how much do you care about money? worrying about it is the worst thing really and i spend easily, so a lot i guess.

is there a limit to how much you'd want? not really, i don't think so anyway.

what do you think when people say "i'd never want that much money" or say they aren't interested in money? i always find this weird, which is why i asked, and i guess i don't believe them a lot of the time, though some people seem less interested in "stuff" than me for sure.

has increased/decreased amounts of money in your life changed you?

this is sort of why i asked, i feel like since i've reached a certain level in the last 6/7 months my habits have definitely changed, i guess just in the sense of going out for dinner more, buying clothes more, generally doing more expensive things. it's not me specifically but i wonder about these changes, ie if you look differently, do different things, do more things like holidays or activities or whatever, have you then changed?

maybe it's just reaching a certain watershed and it'd need a huge amount more to change again.

OK, this is probably a bad idea to answer this honestly, but anyway.

how much do you care about money?

A bit. It obviously bothers me if I don't have to cover the basic functions like food on the table and a roof over my head, but that's the only time it becomes intrusive. I have the ability - but also, I recognise, the privilege - to shrug and switch off worrying about money in a way that I don't have the ability about other things which might seem trivial to others, but have much more of an effect on my general happiness.

is there a limit to how much you'd want?

Yes, I think there is. And that's from observation of the 1%ers in my extended family, and people I went to school with, that beyond a certain level, more money doesn't actually make anyone happier. Sure, more money makes life smoother, and facilitates things. But there honestly does come a point where having so much money generates its own problems. And I don't mean that in a "omg poor rich ppl" kind of way, but there's a level of wealth - like a level of celebrity or anything else excessive - where it becomes problematic in people's relationships and ability to trust or even interact with others.

Not to mention that I have simple pleasures, and I've already reached the point in my salary progression where I am paid more money than I can think of ways to spend. Not that I'm hugely rich, I just don't have that much of a monetary imagination. I don't see the point of fancy restaurants, I'm not really into clothes or gadgets or expensive consumer goods, I don't drive, you eventually run out of new CDs and books to buy, and beyond that... I can't see the point of just having more ~things~ as I'm running out of space as it is.

what do you think when people say "i'd never want that much money" or say they aren't interested in money?

I think they probably have their priorities the right way round. I would tend to much more distrust people who were overly interested in money, to the exclusion of other things. Or people who are so avaricious for the point only of being avaricious that they can't imagine and end-point of how much money they want to have. Those people bother me, I know from experience.

has increased/decreased amounts of money in your life changed you?

Like I said, beyond a certain level of "I can pay my rent now", probably not. I mean, there is a level of anxiety that is removed when you just don't have to *think* about having the money to buy lunch. (But conversely, the more money you have, the more anxiety you have that you will lose it - which generates its own anxiety. I'm happy that I don't have to worry about paying my mortgage - but there is also the anxiety I never had before that I have to *keep up* a mortgage, and have lost the freedom to just up and move about that I used to have.)

I grew up in a weird household where we swung between extremes of having upper middle class large amounts of money and having absolutely zero, hiding the car so the repo man won't get it and begging relatives for jewellery to pawn no money. So what I learned, while growing up, was that money wasn't really something worth bothering that much about, that it will either be there, or it won't, so don't get fussed. And yes I do recognise the upper middle class boho "having relations that have jewellery to pawn" privilege in that attitude. But it just seems a way healthier attitude than the ppl in my family who are unhappily obsessed with the stuff. If that makes me a horrible person, then fair enough.

But I also think that £65 is too much to pay for a rock gig.

Maybe I'd be a happier person if I has so much money I didn't even think about it. But I don't ever want to be the kind of person that thinks £65 is a reasonable or even cheap amount of money to pay for a gig.

What a weird thing, money and one's own attitudes towards it.

Also: there is a thing that kinda explains my attitude in part C.

Time spent working in Financial Services made me realise that there is a level at which money stops being a tool, or a facilitator, and just starts being a kind of statscock.

Those people suck. Avoid them.

I would like to feel long-term financially secure and not have to think about rent and my bank account all the time but I don't feel like I ever need to make a considerable amount of money. outside of the mental security thing and maybe eating out a little more, I don't really have more things I need or want to spend money on.

I was lower-middle-class growing up, but I was often around people with a lot of money - giant houses, second homes, boats. It made me not want to have a lot of money. It made me realize what an enormous responsibility it is to be wealthy, it is easy to hate the wealthy, but it is a huge responsiblity - how to spend and invest, how to manage a company or employees.

I have family who are first- or second-generation American and being solidly middle class is new to them and a bit scary. I also have family who used to own or manage companies then lost all of their money. Makes you conservative about spending or making huge career moves.

If I ever get my act together, I'm going into real estate because I think it would be easier to manage. A lot of people think money = working up the corporate ladder, like a corporation or a bank.

how much do you care about money? not enough to want to do the things all my friends do to earn the amounts they do

is there a limit to how much you'd want? not strictly, but we're getting to the stage where we've set out a target income to achieve (as a couple) in order to eg be able to own a home, etc. i wouldn't really 'want' any more than that tbh.

what do you think when people say "i'd never want that much money" or say they aren't interested in money? depends on how much i know about them and how much money they have.

has increased/decreased amounts of money in your life changed you? i don't have any debt and don't have any savings. i woulnd't know how to answer this, i seem to spend what i have and don't really ever seem to know how. i'm not crippled and i don't think i'm extravagant either. ask me after another month in dublin i guess.

how much do you care about money?

a lot

is there a limit to how much you'd want?

probably? but i think its less about the amount than the kind of wealth thatd i say no to

what do you think when people say "i'd never want that much money" or say they aren't interested in money?

i think they dont understand money

has increased/decreased amounts of money in your life changed you?

yes, v much so

Increased amts of money have made me eat better and want more stuff, I guess. I try to mentally separate myself from the women who have very stylish clothes and this season's shoes because I don't want to start feeling pressure to compete w them, but it's inevitable to aspire to somewhat nicer things, at least for me.

Also in xp to myself: It was easier to be cavalier about not having "normal" things when I was younger. Not that I'm going to run out and change myself, but it gets a bit weird to other people when you don't have a couch/tv/computer/normal apartment/eat out/travel/whatever after 30. Or 35. Or, presumably, 40.

Like I just brought the guy I've been dating back to my apt the other week and he was...unimpressed. Which makes him a dick, kind of, because I've broken my back to get that place and improve it. But he's only a bit older than me and has a palatial apt with tons of electronics, furniture, everything custom, blah. It does make me suspect that I'll never measure up to other adults I might meet and want to appear well to.

i think they dont understand money

ha

all the happiness money buys is like, an illusion, man. seriously though, beyond necessities and savings I don't see much point in keeping up with consumer goods. strange the people who tell us these products, clothes, nice apartments, gym memberships, etc. will make us happy are the same people collecting our money. wonder what's going on with that.

studies show the happiness drops off after 70k

But he's only a bit older than me and has a palatial apt with tons of electronics, furniture, everything custom, blah

haha whenever i go to someones place and its super pricey im just like 'how on earth can you even afford this shit'

also tbf its almost always totally tasteless but thats a separate point

some stuff is nice, stuff that does what you want it to do and looks cool and doesn't break down, that stuff's expensive. i mainly get the other stuff.

how much do you care about money?

Enough so that I am able to recognize that while money alone can't make me happy a lack thereof can certainly make me unhappy.

is there a limit to how much you'd want?

idk - I could always give some away if I suddenly came into loads of it.

what do you think when people say "i'd never want that much money" or say they aren't interested in money?

i think they dont understand money < - - Lamp otm.

has increased/decreased amounts of money in your life changed you?

Not really, no. I grew up comfortably and as an adult have been all over the spectrum from pretty freaking poor to pretty comfortable albeit with a fair amount of debt from both graduate school and an international courtship that resulted in putting lots of trans-Atlantic flights on credit cards and I think I've been essentially the same person throughout. I don't want massive amounts of money or a huge house or whatever but I have sort of expensive taste and would like to live comfortably, eat well, and continue to travel and take my future children places so that they can see the world. Realistically I know that's not possible without a fair amount of money.

unless you are crazy-rich, i think it is very easy to move to a part of the world where you are suddenly middle-class again, if too much money is making you miserable. i guess the opposite is true, too. not gonna lie: have thought about buying up all of michigan.

So, is how wealthy or poor you feel attributable to social comparison? For me, in the past that's how I've seen it.

have thought about buying up all of michigan.

Don't even think about it, buddy.

i think they dont understand money

Or they might understand Money a lot better than you do.

all the happiness money buys is like, an illusion, man. seriously though, beyond necessities and savings I don't see much point in keeping up with consumer goods. strange the people who tell us these products, clothes, nice apartments, gym memberships, etc. will make us happy are the same people collecting our money. wonder what's going on with that.

Different strokes, etc. I will happily enjoy my illusion. I think my life without all the technology/electronics I've gotten over the years would be less fulfilling for me. Judge me however you wish, but it's true.

And really electronics is my biggest extravagance. I don't buy fancy food/clothes, eat out that much, or travel.

Electronics and beer.

don't knock a nunez-controlled michigan until you consider the alternatives. i heard insane clown posse might be trying to buy the upper peninsula...

X-post yes, totally

I know some people my age who makes tons more and have huge houses and multiple cars etc. Compared to them I don't feel like I have much at all. I think in addition to them making more we just have diff priorities when it comes to what we spend on. For instance, I couldn't care any less about cars - never have never will. Gimmie something that runs safely and I am good to go.

Or they might understand Money a lot better than you do.

the martin amis novel?

but srsly: lol, no

obv the ideal is not having to think about money, and since the relationship of the frequency with which you are required to think about money to the amount of money you have is a bell curve, abstractly a middle ground is what you want to hit, but in real life everybody knows that there's no possible way wondering how you're gonna make rent can be preferable to wondering how much apple stock you should buy. most of my friends who are "financially comfortable" buy an awful lot of, like, tv show box sets (but no books except for harry potter) and that's kind of weird and makes for an oppressive apartment, but my life is like the HOOS section of this thread way too often so i'd be happy to be them. i just want enough money to be impulsive.

an inverse bell curve i mean

on the "wtf" podcast interview w/norm macdonald, he talks about how on three separate occasions he lost all of his money, like everything, via compulsive gambling. when pressed as to what unconscious motivations might have driven that behavior he speculated that it was in part because he really is most comfortable living a spartan-ish lifestyle.

i suppose i can relate, in that when i get past a certain level of money then i begin to feel somewhat overwhelmed by the options suddenly made available to me. should i spend it on this? or that? or this entirely other thing? i find it distracting and even somewhat anxiety-provoking.

i want my life to be as simple as possible. i mean, i do appreciate nice things, and on the one hand i guess it would be fun to have a huge amount of money to throw around... but ultimately it presents too much of a distraction from stuff i'm the most interested in devoting my energies towards

Like, one of my 1%-er relations said, in all seriousness, with a complete straight face, to my Mum and I "the problem with you, is that you are not serious about money."

And my Mum and I, we practically rolled about on the floor, like we just could not stop laughing for about twenty minutes, crying tears of LOL at all the various shades of meaning and irony.

I guess that says something about my side of the family, that it would not be considered laughable to be serious about Abstract Art, or Particle Physics, or some philosophical ideal, or medieval theology or the botanical makeup of the grasses of South East Asia or the novels of Henry James. I suppose it's odd because, my brother being an economist, he is serious about money, but in a different way than my relation intended the caveat.

It's just like... of all the things to be serious about, money is probably the least interesting. It's always a symbol for something else. The things that it is a symbol for - power, wealth, affluence, control, your rent - might be interesting. But having an excessive interest in money for its own sake is just... weird.

Though what I think was funniest was that we meant such different things by that statement.

Like, obviously, we mean completely different things by "you don't understand money" vs "we understand money all too well."

how much do you care about money?
- a fair amount because i don't have enough of it to not care about it.

is there a limit to how much you'd want?
- i think there's a level of money i'd like to have, i have a decent amount, but it'd be nice to be able to have a boat or not have to work?

what do you think when people say "i'd never want that much money" or say they aren't interested in money?
- i dunno what to think about that - seems a bit of a weird thing to say. i wouldn't be bothered about having THAT much money but if it's offered to me and if it's obtained through legal and ethnically sound means (IF SUCH A THING IS POSSIBLE), i wouldn't say no?

has increased/decreased amounts of money in your life changed you?
- a little bit, i think. i really enjoy counting pennies, and sometimes having a little more disposable income (and you start making more expensive purchases e.g. a flat) the small things e.g. whether to spend £1.04 or £1.15 on lunch suddenly becomes a little less significant.. and i don't think i ever want to NOT think about stuff like that. and maybe that's why i'll probably not likely to ever be mega rich, or be a manager because i don't think of things in a big scale and prefer the nitty gritty?

it's good to be as serious as mike love and iron your larger denomination bills

I wish I had enough money to quit work. I get no personal satisfaction or enjoyment from the work I currently do and wish I didn't have to trade it for cash. And I feel too old and used up to try to change to more rewarding and satisfying work.

Like, yes, I've been HOOS poor, wondering how long I can survive on economy 9p baked beans tins during some parts of my life. And I've been country clubs in Connecticut affluent during others.

And though obviously DUH affluence is objectively better - the thing to understand about money is that both having it, and not having it are things that will come to *rule* you. And the path to happiness is to be *able* to not be interested in money.

Obviously I am not doing a good job of explaining this, so I should quit while I'm still laughing.

"maybe that's why i'll probably not likely to ever be mega rich, or be a manager because i don't think of things in a big scale and prefer the nitty gritty?"

don't lose hope: scrimping your way to financial independence seems to be the advice of every shouty TV money guru.

how much do you care about money? A moderate amount. We have no savings, but no debt other than mortgage and student loan either. We earn enough to live a comfortable, modest, lower-middle-class existence, and that's nice. I think I'd care more if we earnt either a little less or a lot more. I have no interest in the skill of "moving money around" that seems to make some people huge amounts. It seems bizarre and sociopathic to me.

is there a limit to how much you'd want? Yes. I don't think anyone is worth over, say, £200k a year, be they a footballer, popstar, doctor, chief exec or whatever. I don't want anywhere near that much I think. But it depends how you get it. Right now I'd love a spare £20k cos we're house-hunting and it'd make life easier.

what do you think when people say "i'd never want that much money" or say they aren't interested in money? I wonde how interested they are in life, because you do need money to live, in most circumstances, in the western world.

has increased/decreased amounts of money in your life changed you? I've never had spectacularly less or more enough to notice a turning point.

Yes. I don't think anyone is worth over, say, £200k a year, be they a footballer, popstar, doctor, chief exec or whatever.

yeah, pretty much agree.

i like jean-luc mélenchon's idea of 100% tax past a certain lvl of earnings

I don't get understand that "if you're not interested in money, you're not interested in life" assumption at all.

It's like saying, well, if you're into hiking, you have to be interested in shoes. You need shoes in order to hike, so if you're not interested in shoes, you're not interested in hiking! Like, why be interested in the tools, rather than the end result, or the journey, or the route, or the adventure, or the view or whatever else you like about hiking? It just doesn't make any sense.

Agree about the earnings cap, but the thing is - that kind of money isn't about the money, it's a statscock.

I see what you mean in the hiking / money analogy, but as a cyclist, taking a (minor, in my case) interest in the gear (bike, clothing, tools, etc) increases the productivity and enjoyment of cycling no end. With a better bike and proper clothing I can cycle further, easier, better, see more, discover more. So I think at least a minimal interest is important.

But you're interested in the gear! Money is just a tool to help you get the gear, not the thing you're actually interested in.

I don't think very many people are 'interested in money' in the sense that you are acting like they are though

And yeah, totally agree about the statscock thing; I kind of think people who earn statscock amounts ought to receive training or counselling so they understand that it's a statscock, get over themselves, and give it the fuck away to charity and live more like a real human being with real human interests.

like most people don't want to sit in a bathtub filled w/ bills but they do want lots of the things that can be purchased with a lot of money, such as gear

Yeah, I don't mean "interested in the money" in an economist or statscock or family fortune way; just interested enough to plan a bit, not make stupid decisions, earn a living, etc.

that kind of money isn't about the money, it's a statscock

lol

Like interested enough to check your bank balance regularly and stuff. That's the level of interest I have in my bike. I clean it and I ride it, cos cleaning it makes it ride better.

Yeah, I get that we are talking at cross purposes here. But the thing is, there are many people who are interested in money in the sense that I'm talking, and I often have to deal with the fuckers. They are interested in having money because being rich in itself is somehow seen as a desirable thing, in and of itself. When from what I've seen, misery and happiness are distributed as randomly among the super-rich as they are among the comfortable.

And that's what I mean when I say I'm not interested in money. It's a tool. That's all it is to me.

But I have a whisky-drinking session to get to anyway.

how much do you care about money? the precisely correct amount, which is to say I care only about what money can do for me and for others, and the more basic the need that is being satisfieed by it, the more important it is - but the money involved is rather incidental to the need or its satisfaction.

is there a limit to how much you'd want? of course. what I have today is entirely adequate atm. To name an upper limit, I'd say more than $60,000 a year would be utterly superfluous and would have to be absorbed by charitable giving. While giving can absorb an awful lot of money, it also can start to absorb too much of one's time and energy and I can do without that.

what do you think when people say "i'd never want that much money" or say they aren't interested in money? I think they are getting most of their needs met already and they recognize this.

has increased/decreased amounts of money in your life changed you? I have been poor enough to count pennies, to be down to my last few dollars, and not be able to pay the rent and that kind of poverty is very fatiguing. It weighs on your mind. It's no good. But as soon as I know I will be able to eat, stay warm and dry, live in a clean and well-lit place, my attention turns to address needs that are further up Maslow's hierarchy, and the further up you go, the more tangential money becomes to meeting those needs. It doesn't disappear from consideration altogether, but it does become much less of a requirement.

how much do you care about money?

odd question - i care very much about how much money i have, i don't care that much about money in and of itself, or as a goal. as a freelancer money is almost always on my mind - which is not ideal, but i still prefer my current lifestyle to my old nine-to-five when i never had to think about running out.

i basically really love money enough that i can't ever say i *want* to get away from my consumerist western lifestyle, and i love it when i can afford nice shit, but i don't love it enough to, say, go into a career where i might actually earn decent amounts of it, or even get into enough of an entrepreneurial mindset to seriously monetise the skills and work experiences i already have.

i guess i kind of worry about earning progression as am finally at the age where my peers with proper careers are now earning proper adult professional salaries, whereas there is literally no financial path mapped out for me over the next, say, decade, and i'm still basically living month-to-month. i was talking to a couple of other freelancer friends the other day about the recent realisation that "proper" money might not ever happen to us. it's the life we've chosen i guess.

is there a limit to how much you'd want?

nah bring it on. sadly this is not a problem that'll face me any time soon though.

what do you think when people say "i'd never want that much money" or say they aren't interested in money?

people are different and can think what they want - it's only nagl if they're saying that to put people down - usually criticising the materialism of poorer people, or people who grew up poorer, from a vantage point of never having to worry about it themselves. cuz if you have to worry about money you have to be interested in making it.

has increased/decreased amounts of money in your life changed you?

when you have a comfortable amount of it, everything seems easier. mentally you feel so much more relaxed.

I don't agree with a 100% tax rate over some arbitrary amount, but rather a "use it or lose it" proposition, because some people could be really productive with their absurd wealth. also, this better penalizes people who are only interested in accumulating money for sake of having money.

i mean, wasn't david cronenberg's movies all funded by some weird canadian tax version of that principle?

how much do you care about money?

a lot. i've been quite poor for most of my life, and i suspect that to be poor is to care about money, more or less.

is there a limit to how much you'd want?

not really, no. i suspect that i could be quite happy overseeing a multi-billion dollar financial empire.

what do you think when people say "i'd never want that much money" or say they aren't interested in money?

i think, "huh." also, "that person is not like me."

has increased/decreased amounts of money in your life changed you?

yes, definitely. when i am scraping to get by, i am subject to black thoughts, self-doubt and deep depression. i go around worried and miserable, hiding my head from the cruel world. when i feel financially secure, i am much happier, more proactive about accomplishing my goals, more energetic and self-confident. unfortunately, this pattern does not incline me to responsibly attend to my own financial security.

plus any more money thoughts you have.

money in my life is a fantasy, a castle in the sky, and there's little reason to limit the scale of the fantasy. daydreaming about wealth is like daydreaming about immortality or superpowers. and yes, i'll take both of those things, too, so long as you're handing them out.

when you have a comfortable amount of it, everything seems easier. mentally you feel so much more relaxed.

Yeah srsly the number of times I've gone on a trip or left the house for an event or s/thing, that I think: "Fuck it, if I forgot to pack anything, I'll buy a replacement when I get there" whereas the MANY YEARS that I had to remember and lay out and cook foods ahead of time and pack every. single. thing. I might need all day, or during my whole trip. That's some stress I SUPER do not miss.

Like spending 8 hours in transit from train to airport to airport to train, and having to pack food from home b/c I had literally no cash to spend eating out, and then the security guards throwing away my sauces/hummus/whatever...it's just...demoralizing.

Being out at a party far from home and it gets shit or you feel wrecked, and you can afford that magical taxi home.

how much do you care about money?

Medium, I guess. I am in a position now where my material needs are met so I don't have to care too much on a day to day basis, which is really nice. At the same time, one major medical expense or a spate of unemployment would wipe out our savings, so I'm not like, a carefree gadabout or anything.

I'm actually answering the question "how much do you worry about money?" As far as caring about money in general, I don't follow financial news or care if people are rich (although I do care when my friends are struggling) or track the earnings in my puny IRA or anything like that.

is there a limit to how much you'd want?

I don't think so, but I am the most comfortable financially than I have ever been in my life so I don't really know what it would it would be like to have more. Probably pretty cool, and I could pay off my student loans.

what do you think when people say "i'd never want that much money" or say they aren't interested in money?

Probably some combination of "That's a hard position to take in a capitalist society" and "That's cool and I hope that works for this person" and "Are there any additional signs that this person is going to be an insufferable hippie?"

has increased/decreased amounts of money in your life changed you?

I'm definitely less stressed when I don't have to worry about covering basic food/shelter/clothing expenses, and can afford to do things to entertain myself. I don't think it's changed me as in I've lost touch with who I am or anything. I tend to pick up the tab more enthusiastically now.

plus any more money thoughts you have.

I kind of hate it as a social construct, and I wish everybody had enough money to get what they needed and also have fun. Down with capitalism.

has increased/decreased amounts of money in your life changed you?

i sort of meant this question more in the sense of... over a long period of your life do you think financial changes have changed you, especially if as you get older you've been making a little more each few years?

not that i am dictating answers or whatever...

i can see how it might have, but it hasn't, because i spent so long post-university being broke that i never really got out of the mindset of *not spending money* if i can help it, and looking for bargains or at least being aware of what the price is of something i'm buying (all of which has always coexisted with being terrible with money in an absent-minded way and never ever actually budgeting properly). anyway i never got out of that attitude which is a positive probably.

as an addendum to my carefree answer above, i did spend a lot of the last two years worrying that our family home (my brother and his kid live there now, i lived there until last month) was going to be repossessed due to payments not being met, and that was a particularly shitty ongoing feeling. that's still as likely as ever but i just stopped stressing over it- it's not a particularly nice house and nobody's going to go homeless over it and i've long written off any hopes of inheriting anything other than this absurd hairline.

has increased/decreased amounts of money in your life changed you?

i sort of meant this question more in the sense of... over a long period of your life do you think financial changes have changed you, especially if as you get older you've been making a little more each few years?

My income has more or less increased over the years (not steadily, but there is an overall upward trend) but so much about me and my circumstances has changed during that time that I can't relate any of those changes directly and solely to money. Except maybe living in an apartment with a washer/dryer.

oooooh get you

When I was a kid I made up a joke: "Why is money green? Because it makes you feel sick!" It just never seemed to cause anything but problems.

I've lived on student loans long enough and money's an imaginary specter just around the corner. I'm pretty good at keeping a budget but lord knows if I'll be able to get/keep a job. Childhood joke still applicable.

Lack of money is why my teeth are so incredibly fucked up. Like I definitely have the mouth of a poor.

money is green because you are jealous of ppl who have it

oh hell yes to poormouth xp

In my high school econ class, the football coach/teacher taught us about different economic systems by playing different versions of Monopoly. So capitalist Monopoly was normal, and Communist Monopoly was everyone starting and ending with the same amount of money and also everyone "shared" all the properties, which had full hotels on them. It was really boring to play and an inaccurate depiction of Communism, but I thought: I could live like this.

I should note I'm not a cutthroat Monopoly player to begin with.

how much do you care about money?
- I care v deeply abt having enough to do basic life things but "care" in the sense of "aspiring to high earnings"... well I've had the same low (genuinely low) paying job for 10 years and during bad moments I think abt how it's p much fucked my future up but I can post on the internet and listen to CDs and don't wear a tie and maybe that keeps me sane in a weird way

is there a limit to how much you'd want?
- not actively so but I couldn't really do anything with millions, at least not for myself. even the cocaine habit I would dutifully get would be curbed by my body's low tolerance

what do you think when people say "i'd never want that much money" or say they aren't interested in money?
- tbh unless I know otherwise I assume that they come from a monied upbringing (surprised no-one else has said this)

has increased/decreased amounts of money in your life changed you?
- no but being less of a fuckup and not going out drinking every night for the sake of it has

also ken c's answer to this qu is almost exactly what I would say, so that too

because i spent so long post-university being broke that i never really got out of the mindset of *not spending money* if i can help it, and looking for bargains or at least being aware of what the price is of something i'm buying

Yeah, this is kind of a thing. Because I spent so long in the 9p baked bean-eating space, I never picked up ridiculous expectations regarding lifestyle expenditures. Or maybe it's just that ~being Scottish~ thing my mum taught me about loving BARGAINS but it's like, having lived so long on a freelancer's budget, than when I finally picked up a middle class salary plus still living with a freelancer's expectations, that means I feel stupidly luxuriously wealthy compared to my former life, rather than getting that OMG keeping up with the Joneses worry that I haven't got the right consumer goods.

But, like, I really should go register with the NHS dentist around the corner. I just can't believe they'd really be willing to fix my fucked up by no-insurance teeth the way that the NHS fixed up my fucked up by no-insurance wrist.

oooooh get you

You can come over and do laundry anytime.

how much do you care about money?

I know exactly how much i have in my savings account, current account and pocket all the time. I guess that's common for people who grew up relatively poor. I'd like to have more money but i'm generally indifferent or actively hostile to the ways you can legally obtain it.

is there a limit to how much you'd want?

Not really. Vast sums of money aren't a recipe for happiness but they can offer a measure of security and buy nice, shiny things.

what do you think when people say "i'd never want that much money" or say they aren't interested in money?

I've never believed them. Certainly where i live, now more than ever, fairly large sums of money are essential if you want to live somewhere habitable, have a family or feel medium-term "security" - the kind of things lots of people probably grew up to think were pretty achievable basic life goals. I don't know what percentage of the population is that comfortably off to not care about it, but i'm not sure it's high.

has increased/decreased amounts of money in your life changed you?

I'll let you know if it happpens.

what do you think when people say "i'd never want that much money" or say they aren't interested in money?
- tbh unless I know otherwise I assume that they come from a monied upbringing (surprised no-one else has said this)

This is at least partially fair - but I'd modify it to say that it's likely they grew up *around* money rather than necessarily "monied."

Growing up around money to see its effects - to see what it does do, and more importantly, what it doesn't do.

I'm not under any illusions that poverty is ennobling or any of those stupid myths. Not having enough money is objectively horrible in all kinds of demonstrable and measurable ways. But the problem is that having huge amounts of wealth does not obey the inverse. Not having enough money is pretty much a guaranteed way of being unhappy, but having lots of money is not an effective way of being more happy. For most people, doubling their income will have an immediate and objectively measurable effect of halving their anxiety and doubling their happiness, in whatever terms you choose to measure. But earning 10x the income will *not* make a person ten times as happy, in fact, it's unlikely to create a more significant increase than doubling their income would.

To a person that is physically starving, it's hard to even conceive the idea that a surfeit of food could cause health problems. (Yes, I know this is an imperfect analogy because obesity alone is not a good predictor of health or even diet.) But there is such a thing as too much. I hate myself for making this analogy, but still.

There is a thing called "lifestyle inflation."

i think that's a good analogy. people who know they can't control themselves around cashews probably wouldn't want a bulk tin of cashews lying around the house. at the same time, you could just give the excess cashews away. or build a room full of cashews to swim in like scrooge mcduck

more cashews, more problems.

xp Is there where you tend to increase your expenses commensurately with your increased income, and then these increased expenses start to feel necessary even though you obviously did fine without them for however long? I've definitely experienced this.

yes

Lifestyle inflation is the thing behind me thinking I'd never want "that much money." Or, if I make more money, I want to keep being able to live cheaply, and put the rest in savings. But money seems like a drug that makes your brain go crazy when you get a sudden increase of it, making all those sensible plans go out the window.
Assuming I get a job this fall, I plan to:
- pay off debt/student loans/fix up credit ratings
- fix up my deeply fucked up teeth that are in pain all the goddamn time
- put a lot in savings

OR SO I TELL MYSELF. I mean the career of "teacher" is well-known for causing MC Hammer like excesses of cash so don't be surprised if the money drug makes me pull a Hammer.

Yeah, I mean I'll sell plasma to keep an in-unit w/d at this point.

I'm frustrated that I might have to buy a car to have a job. Fuck cars.

OTOH not "fuck cars" to the point where I can't get a job. -_-

hammer, please don't fuck cars.

the thing with having 10x the income not making you happier, i totally believe that, because the "keeping up with the joneses" competitive factor is one of the hardest to control (even when you rationally tell yourself how bullshit it is), and even though a 10x income right now would put anyone ahead of their current peers, in practice that sort of thing just means the people you compete with are 10x higher up the wealth ladder.

always found it weird when people say "how can those super-rich people waste so much money on ridiculous yachts" or whatever, as if it wasn't exactly the same desire for status that drives their useless middle-class material indulgences. i guess the only answer to that is surrounding yourself with people who don't buy into all of that.

I think it depends how you get the money. Getting paid 10x my salary for doing the same job would be better than getting paid twice my salary for the same job. Getting paid 10x my salary for doing the kind of work that normally attracts 10x my salary, surrounded by the kind of people who normally earn 10x my salary, wouldn't necessarily be so much fun.

We covered it in the Quiddities thread - super-rich people aren't necessarily happier, in my experience, but that's often because they're hyper-competitive or still work round the clock and don't feel like they can step away. Alternatively, if they're younger, they're often brought up feeling they don't have life goals or will inevitably fall short of the successes of their parents. It's a question of mentality, rather than a problem with money itself. The people who can step away or have been raised with a positive approach to wealth tend to be fine.

The only reason I think "I'd never want THAT much money" is if I have soooooooo much money I can not think of a way to spend it anymore.

If you have played a game like SimCity or something, maybe you have had familiar feelings - like, there's a thrill to REACH the point where you can buy something new that you couldn't previously afford - but if you do the cash cheat and suddenly end up with more money to buy the most expensive thing 10000 times - it kind of ruins the entire game and there's no longer any purpose of building anything.

I think this is why megarich people will end up just going for statscock because that's pretty much the only thing that drives you on? Once you can buy your own boat and a bowling lane in your house there's really not much more that you can get. (private jet and a trip to the moon on a rocket excepted?)

Also, will obv need my friends to not "change" after me having loads of money - no fun having the boat if no one goes on it.

bowling, however..

a euromillions win would be good, always liked the idea of neverending luxury holidays with all of my newly-retired friends, paying off everyone i like's mortgages, shit like that. Doing a really frivolous and fun degree in a lauded university while living in the lap of luxury. I mean yeah you could theoretically have too much money but i could deal with 100m pretty handy before they box me tbh

Agreed, would love that kind of thing.

100m would be okay but if it's only a 22m win then it's not enough

after i paid off everyone's mortgage there wouldn't be enough for the boat and the house with a bowling lane

If you were mega-rich and didn't have to worry about bills and sustenance, would you work? What would you do if not work?

Nightclub, record label, bar etc, without risking too much.

if work = going to the office to stare at a screen and go on ilx -> no

If you were mega-rich and didn't have to worry about bills and sustenance, would you work? What would you do if not work?

the lady of leisure lifestyle has always been my ultimate ambition

if work = make stuff, open a restaurant, explore space in a spaceship -> yes

i'd fucking sunbathe on my yacht all day and drink champagne in my private nightclub all night, what do you think i'd do

would visit america a lot.

make a film

purchase a football club

i would travel round the world and stay in NICE HOTELS

#firstclassstretchedoutovertheatlantiiiiiiiic

buy the government and BAN football

organise a coup d'etat and make lex watch football 24/7

genuinely think i'd study anything that took my fancy- if that eventually led me to anything like 'work' then so be it, kind of thing.

Running for election could be punishing/fun i suppose.....

(depending on our relative statscock size)

tick off a michelin 3 star restaurant every day

really need more than 100m

yes every stupidly priced restaurant ever i think

man united costs $2.2billion supposedly but maybe i can use some financial instrument to leverage 100m

hmm i'd need prob a billion to buy spurs and make a proper job of it, tho would i change expenditure/wage caps not really tbh

how much would messi cost? i would quite like to just buy him and plonk him into an arena to dribble a ball past 1000 shawcrosses and some lions

Being a "lady of leisure" is a fun lifestyle for about three months, six months tops. And then after that, it's just like, hello existential crises, depression and you find yourself getting into super-weird new age religions just to have some ~meaning~ back in it all.

Just for fun*, LET'S POLL IT

Are you ~not interested~ in money?

*or does hating money also mean hating fun?

Just go for pleasure over meaning. Works out much better. xpost

i'll take the 3-6 months and cross the other bridge when i come to it

it's not as if my current 9-5 overburdens me with meaning and purpose.

if i could i would totally go back to school. art school, initially, and then who knows.

how much do you care about money?

yeah although i'm awful at keeping track of my own

is there a limit to how much you'd want?

nah, i think i would be a good rich person.

what do you think when people say "i'd never want that much money" or say they aren't interested in money?

i think that 99% of the time they're fronting

has increased/decreased amounts of money in your life changed you?

idk, i mean in the past 2 years i've been able to travel more, buy a new car, etc. but i don't think my lifestyle is that different. maybe just doing cool stuff more frequently.

if you are sick of having too much money also you do have the option to just give it all away

fewer options to suddenly become mega rich

This is always the thing, though, that what people are interested in isn't the money, it's the freedom, the self-determination, the not-having-to-work-a-job-you-hate.

And suddenly being paid 10x as much to do a shitty job does not suddenly make it a wonderful and not-shitty job. Being paid 10x more to do that job would not solve 10x the problems that getting paid twice as much would solve.

And those people who are all like "I'd go back to university or attend art school" or "I'd open a bar or a club or a record label" - it's like they'd be just as satisfied with an environment where being an artist or an academic or an impresario or a music geek that got paid to share their love of music were a realistic option that could keep a roof over one's head. Rather than just being optioned reserved for the children of the money obsessed idiots earning 7 figure salaries.

I suppose it's a question of, which is more or less of a total fucking pipe dream? Winning the sodding Euromillions, or a society where there are more possibilities, more options, a more level payscale because the basic amenities that money facilitates are already taken care of so that money stops being such a huge fucking deal? Which is more unrealistic and idealistic?

It's not just what it does to the idiots who end up with stupid money, it's also the idea that the fact that there are some people with hundreds of billions means that there are some people with nothing. So it's not just observing that money on that scale is no the problem-solver that people seem to think it is. It's also just not wanting to participate in such an inherently unfair system.

But yeah, pipe dreams, right? Pardon my whisky related hangover. I should shut up and buy a Euromillions ticket instead instead of spouting this Harley St Socialist nonsense.

"I'd open a bar or a club or a record label" - it's like they'd be just as satisfied with an environment where being an artist or an academic or an impresario or a music geek that got paid to share their love of music were a realistic option that could keep a roof over one's head. Rather than just being optioned reserved for the children of the money obsessed idiots earning 7 figure salaries.

it's not just that though - it's "being an artist or an academic or an impresario or a music geek that got paid to share their love of music were a realistic option that could keep a roof over one's head even if i'm shit at it"

i won't need a 7 figure fortune if i know my shit is so good that people will buy all the crap doodling i draw or eat my shit cooking!

If you want the freedom to be shit at something that's kinda what hobbies are for?

You don't need a 7 figure salary to have a hobby, dude.

most distressing thing on this thread remains the concept of "microwave ribs"

not a salary - that means i'm working otherwise?

7 figure, so i can live somewhere, and have enough to eat and not have to work and work on my hobby full time. pretty reasonable i think

i have no idea how much it costs to buy a bar or a club or a record label, either

kind of misrepresenting some things there imo MB

Ppl want the money *and* the self determination. I could quit work tomorrow and survive on the dole.

Being paid 10x the amount to do a shitty job gives you a lot more freedom over your lifestyle in your life outside of that job, and possibly for how much longer you have to work in that shitty job.

The ppl being like 'i'd go back to university' (i was one of them) didn't mention getting salaried/earning jobs out of it afterwards- just the thought of studying interesting things without any such pressure while living well.

As someone who is descended from a long line of career academics, what you describe was, pretty much, the dictionary definition of career academic for about a thousand years, which has only really ended within the last generation or so.

And hasn't it ended spectacularly. < / works with academics >

the avenues towrds career academia relied on having either familial wealth, outstanding ability or a real relish for the risk of poverty tho! You have to admit that the removal of worries over costs and eventual outcomes adds attraction to the idea of leisurely studies

can this be generalised as thus?

take "working" to mean = obligation to do something in order to earn money

"money" to mean = the stuff that comes from "working" - a minimum amount is required for shelter and food to stay alive. extra amount can be used to buy things you don't need.

"hobby" to mean = doing stuff, could be same thing as "working", could even earn money, but without obligation

"time" to mean = i can't define time, but you have 24 hours of it a day and you spend it doing stuff such as "working" or "hobby" which can include sleeping. Everybody has the same amount each day (relative to your speed or whatever, einstein)

if you have lots of "money", then you don't have to "work" and so you have more "time" to do "hobby"

yes but every hour of doing 'hobby' becomes more expensive because you could be making more money instead

partly why rich people work even more hours than poor people these days

yes that's why the more money you have the more hours you can spend doing your hobby

xpost

is that true?

pretty sure many poor people work much longer hours than rich people

in america, today, it's true

i'm still doubtful. give me some examples

graph of 'hours worked' vs 'income' would be a v strange curve, p sure it wouldn't be a straight line tho.

I have this kind of instinctive feeling that no one has a right to that. (x-posts to Ken C) And it's actually really quite selfish and unjust to expect it.

And yes, I say that as someone who tried to make their hobby their job, and failed at it.

I don't know, it's complicated.

If you're competent at something, you deserve to get paid a decent wage for it. Beyond that, if you're not good enough to get paid for it, but if you still enjoy it enough to want to do it, then that's your business. The world owes you a living for useful work that you're competent at. The world does not owe you a living for a fun hobby you're kind of shit at.

I feel like we can quibble all day over the meaning of "competent" and the meaning of "decent wage" but... eh.

An ideal world would leave everyone with a balance of time spent "working" and time spent on "hobby" so that life is bearable, and this current world doesn't give that option to anyone but the children of the super rich. Which is vastly unjust. But I don't see that becoming super-rich solves that inherent unjustness.

"The world does not owe you a living for a fun hobby you're kind of shit at."

That's exactly it! This is why I want to amass enough of a fortune (doing things i am good at but not enjoy), in order to one day not have to do anything else apart from hobbies (things i'm crap at, but enjoy)

i'm still doubtful. give me some examples

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/02/opinion/02conley.html

not sure about that link

think: the man who is checking their blackberry to quickly check their email on labor day while out with their children at mcdonalds, and the person who is working at that mcdonalds for 8 hours on labor day that day.

For many people who are +interested+ in money, it is their hobby, as well as their job. Em's dad, for instance, runs a shoe shop (2, in fact), as a hobby adjunct to his weekday job (which involves way more than 9-5). The only other 'hobby' he has is reading the paper.

xp

well nobody said they enjoyed their jobs more. but people who work at mcdonalds are less likely to put in a 60 hour week than some investment banker or lawyer.

they would if they need the money to feed their kids.

Em's dad comes from a REALLY shitty, like, spectacularly shitty, background, though, from which money was an escape, and yes, I think he's obsessed with it, because he's had to be to get where he is. But it's had big emotional downsides on his family.

they would if they need the money to feed their kids.

Yeah, I feel like this is more because McD's, like most low wage employers, limits hours to avoid having to pay overtime and not because those people don't want to earn more money.

God, I am like Em's dad in that my hobby is a second job. But I think I'm going to end that soon.

Yeah, not having to pay overtime, not having to provide benefits/health care etc. etc. Not a fair comparison.

also, i think what you are saying there is a different issue to what i was talking earlier

The higher paying jobs may well involve more actual "work" - this is to earn the "money" remember "work" was defined as obligations.

Once you have earned enough, though, you can do such things as
1/ quit your job
2/ take a sabbatical

in order to pursue your "hobby", without having to spend time "working" again, until such times as to when you run out of "money".

the tricky part is that once you quit your job there's a fear that you may not be able to resume the same job again when you do run out of "money"

I know several people who have or would express the idea to work really hard for a finite time, earn a lot of money, and then *stop* and *enjoy* it, and I have very strong suspicions that none of them ever will. My best friend in the world said this, and went on a very steep earnings trajectory, even 8 years ago he was earning nearly twice what I earn now, and he's been promoted several times since, but he has no savings, so wont be able to stop at 40 (in seven years) as stated, because he's spent it all (on holidays, and a silly 100% mortgage, and so on and so forth, and now a duaghter), and also, most importantly, he's now so used to working incredibly fracking hard and long hours that I simply doubt he could stop and enjoy it.

In my industry (legal) the rich people def. work long hours, 80 a week.

holidays though - that's enjoyment?

P sure for me the appeal of being an independently wealthy shit creative is not just 'I could sit at home and be a shit artist' but 'I could sit at home and be a shit artist and get my teeth fixed.'

'xactly

yeah i don't think it's true across the board (there are definitely some well paid people who stroll into the office whatever 10-20 hours a week they feel like) but there are definitely a lot of people working insane hours for the big money. i was reminded of this recently when i worked a very long day at the highest-paying of the multiple jobs my poor ass works, and everyone else there was making way more than me and stayed for even longer than the 10 hours i was there.

That depends if you want to work 12 hour days and not switch off at weekends (or on holidays) because you might need to make a phonecall or answer an email at any given moment. (xposts to ken)

FIND A JOB YOU LOVE AND YOULL NEVER WORK A DAY IN ARGH

"Are there any additional signs that this person is going to be an insufferable hippie?"

haaaaaa

it's not just the children of the super-rich that get enough leisure time/money to enjoy life, tbf. Most people i know have at least some measure of that balance, and i'm at best lower-mid (and my earnings are nowhere near lower-mid, nor indeed national industrial)

It's not "enough leisure time/money to enjoy life" - it's "the ability to do their fun hobby full-time regardless of actual ability at it."

but i'm public sector, so the hours, holiday allowance and relative lack of stress/hassle are worth more to me than eg doubling my earnings.

can't c/p sorry, but yr post at 2:04pm?

The post from 2:04 is a follow-on/addendum to the post at 2:02 in which I explicitly state that's what I'm talking about.

There are some studies that upper middle class professionals (law associates, lower level i-bankers, etc.) actually do work more hours than middle class people in the US. Which is neither to feel sorry for upper middle class professionals nor to make any statement about *entitlement* to earnings. But it's interesting how the professional class is often beyond striking distance from the life of the truly wealthy, but the illusion of wealth being barely out of grasp often keeps people on the treadmill. That and the "fear of falling" as Barbara Ehrenreich called it a long time ago.

barbara ehrenreich wanted people to work longer hours though..

In 1970 Ehrenreich gave birth to Rosa — who was named after Rosa Parks and Rosa Luxemburg, the German revolutionary, as well as a great-grandmother — at a public clinic in New York. "I was the only white patient at the clinic," Ehrenreich told the Toronto Globe and Mail in 1987. "They induced my labor because it was late in the evening and the doctor wanted to go home. I was enraged. The experience made me a feminist."

Just read this Atlantic article and was kinda shocked by it. I'm familiar with Neal Gabler, and always figured he was one of those six-figure-advance writers who lived in elitist comfort. But some of the things he describes, like making minimum monthly credit card payments for years on end, sound to me like the behavior of an insane person, almost willfully self-destructive. The bigger issue, of course, is the whole thing of people not being able to rustle up $400 in an emergency, an idea that is frankly horrifying to me. I don't have a ton of money, but I could pay $400 or even $4000 for something without draining my bank account, and I feel like I'm someone who's made a lot of life choices that would be pretty financially damaging (not graduating college, marrying at 21, becoming a writer).

i've just spent the last two months immersed in other people's finances. Some people are just not very good at managing their money, in terms of basic things, like reducing debt, avoiding late fees and penalties, living within their means. There are a bunch of clickbait pieces about "bad financial habits poor people learn." But I've seen affluent people who come from at least a middle class background have bad financial habits as well.

there is no money in heaven

money is a goof

http://i.imgur.com/WghY9Dz.jpg?1

I have horrible money management skills but it's been buffered by the fact I'm in a career that pays reasonably well, have no kids, and my splurging tends to be on a lot of lower-priced items instead of expensive ones. And have family that paid for the majority of my college education (although I graduated before college went from $$ to $$$$$)

I was surprised by a friend, who afaik lives pretty well within her means and has saved for moving a few times and had annoying expenses in those situations (double rent for a couple months due to a breakup/no sublet situation) admitted, despite working for mid-sized workplaces with full benefits, has not set up a 401k or other retirement plan

I was joking about the ridiculous credit limit on a card I have and was joking with friends I could have a really nice two-week vacation and max it out

they weren't sure they could spend over $10k in two weeks, but buddy, I could find a way

but i'm public sector, so the hours, holiday allowance and relative lack of stress/hassle are worth more to me than eg doubling my earnings.

― diafiyhm (darraghmac), Thursday, 19 April 2012 14:57 (4 years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

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