Reply to The Biggest Waste of Money

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Reply to "The Biggest Waste of Money - Suze Ormn"

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]She probably has someone who cooks for her at home. No way is Suze cooking up a grilled cheese for dinner. [/quote]

This -
[b]She has staff and they cook and serve her. [/b]She probably gets taken out to eat on others' dime.[/quote]

+1000

And she doesn’t have kids. She’s never had to work a 8:30-5, pick up kids from aftercare, then rush home to throw together taco night while the other spouse totes the kids around to sports practices.

So splurging on take out from Uber eats on a Sat. night after the kids go to bed while we watch a Netflix show is how we unwind and enjoy a date night at home. It’s also a drop in the bucket compared to all the years of daycare/preschool costs and what we throw into their 529s.

Lol at maybe $300 a month on takeout having a noticeable effect on our finances compared to childcare, housing, and college savings. Also that $300/month keeps us from totally burning out.

And we do make coffee at home (no Starbucks) but that is because we had the funds to buy one of those fancy machines that makes lattes, espresso, etc. So I would never begrudge someone splurging on an $8 drink on occasion just because they can’t afford an $800 coffee maker. 
[/quote]

I, on the other hand, totally do begrudge someone their $8 fancy drink if they're not also taking care of their financial future. I'm the poster who said I read Suze in my 20s. I never, ever hit Starbucks during that decade of my life. Nor did I drink any alcohol at all. I went out with my friends, but my bill was always lower than everyone else's, because I had paid myself first, and thus I had less income left over with which to splurge. I worked my whole lifestyle around what was left after I saved for my future. A big reason why I did this was the education I received from reading Suze Orman.

Today, our HHI is high and we blow lots of money. After saving for retirement and contributing to the kids' college, we use our income to do fun things like eat out. We belong to a country club. I do hit Starbucks a couple of times a month. I do feel entitled to all kinds of luxuries now that I've worked for decades and sacrificed many of life's little pleasures when I was younger in trade for the great feeling that building a solid financial foundation brought me. Now HHI is high enough that what's left over after saving is still a lot.

I have kept several friends from my teenage years. We are now in totally different financial spots and we're at the age where they're getting nervous about it. I remember feeling incredulous and silently judgy when I'd watch how they spent when we were young. Lots of dining out, lots of drinking, lots of fancy coffee, vacations. Again, don't begrudge anyone these things, as long as they're buying them with the money that's left over after they've saved an adequate amount. That's Suze's point. And that $300/mo that is negligible to you can actually build great wealth for someone who starts saving it early. $3600/year saved for 45 years at 8% growth becomes about $1.4 million. That's a lot more than most people accumulate, and it's because most people waste too much relative to their income.[/quote]

How sad. Sounds like you wasted your 20s, that should be the best decade of your life. If you were more rational you would have smoothed your consumption more appropriately over your lifetime and you could have had more fun and not stiffed your friends on the bill.[/quote]
Sounds like the PP hit a nerve. [/quote]

Not really. I had a lot of fun in my 20s, spent a lot on travel and eating/drinking out, and still ended up with plenty of money, a vacation home etc. If I have any regrets it is that I didn’t spend more when I was younger, eg eating in restaurants abroad rather than having bread and cheese for lunch in my early twenties.

It is really about balance. I just get annoyed by these people who think there is something virtuous about ruining your 20s by working like a dog and deferring all your enjoyment till you are in your 50s and too old to sample life’s pleasures with the same gusto.[/quote]
See, it did hit a nerve. You can have fun when you’re young without doing all those things. It’s all about balance and what makes you happy.  I’m happier now looking at my bank balance than trying to remember an evening of inane conversation and bar-hopping in my twenties. [/quote]

DP: The PP said she sacrificed many of life's little pleasures when she was young.  And that's she was incredulous and judgy about her friends. Why? So she can enjoy a country club now and have more money to throw around as her middle-aged whims now take her. w  You get fewer years of less impressionable memories of the things you do in middle age versus what you do when you are young. One scrappy trip to Europe when you are 20 shapes your life in ways that 10x more pricey vacations in your 40s does not. Yes there's a time value of money you invest when you're young, but there's also a time value of having experiences--some of which may cost more money than seem reasonable for your current finances when you are in your 20s.  I'm not saying mindlessly wasting money on things that don't provide value, but if you get over-focused on saving/investing/living for your financial future you spend too much of your precious short life smiling over a growing bank balance.  I think Orman is just too much about prepping for your financial future and not balanced enough about enjoying life.  I prefer the financial advice of those who are less about fear and more about aligning your finances with your values and extracting the most value from your money over your lifespan--not about sacrificing your life when you are young so that you can grow your bank balance so big that you will always feel safe.

I am middle-aged and started contributing to a Roth IRA with my first teen job and would be deemed an "oversaver" by the millionaire next door types, but I still see value in spending on valuable experiences when you are young--and maybe those are in a coffee shop, restaurant, on a trip, in a bar --  even if you don't quite have the means yet to prepare adequately for your full financial future.  They give you memories and social connections for life while your brain is still developing and while you're deciding who you are and what you want to do in the world. It's worth it even if it doesn't make financial sense in the moment.  I went abroad for 2 years in my 20s and scrounged around--working just enough to keep going-- not contributing to retirement, seemingly not growing my career and all I regret is that I was too tight with my money to fully make the most of that time. I could have made more connections, experienced more, laid the groundwork for more serendipitous connections that have served me well most of my life (In addition to memories and cultural knowledge, I have gotten great jobs, made friends, have stayed for free in places abroad from the connections that I made then).   I have more money than I need now, but no travel I do now will have the same impact as when it was all new to me. Sure it would may have been more financially prudent to take a job with a 401k and health benefits and start compounding more money even earlier, but at what cost to the quality of my life?   And what really happened was that spending that money on the trip and the expansive effect it had on my mind and social world opened up far more opportunities than I would have had grinding away at the entry level job I could have gotten out of college--which likely improved my finances in a less predictable way.[/quote]

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