Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
In my experience, though, a lot of mid- and high-income couples still really need this. There are a lot of people who walk around looking rich but still have unsecured debt that is half their annual salary...not because they can't afford to pay it back, but because they just keep buying and buying and never reckoning themselves with past purchases.
Isn't this society or world? People only judged other by the cover, they don't care how much debt they have.
OP here. A lot of people, sure. Even me, before I started budgeting and changing my mindset. When I was growing up, we didn't really have money, so when I had a decent paying job out of college, there was a rush to being able to buy (finance) a new car, buy new furniture, go out to restaurants, pick up the check, etc. It felt like wealth. It looked like wealth.
Now, my husband and I share a car. A one-car family in the DC suburbs! A teenage cousin asked me if I was worried that people thought we couldn't afford another car, and it struck me that 10 years ago I would have cared. Now, I just say, "Woo hoo" every month I don't have a car payment on a second car, every errand we manage by bike. Now, I look at big flashy new SUV's and think what a waste of depreciation and gas mileage!
Now, I have less stuff, older stuff, more peace, less stress. Years from now I'll have more options to work less and travel more. Finally, that feels like wealth to me, even if I may not look wealthy.