Poll: Why do you LBYM?

[JustCurious]

A) You lived in another country, and are somewhat innoculated from American consumerism.

B) You grew up poor, or, your parents lived below their means, and you never forgot the value of a dollar as an adult.

C) At some point during your adult life, you suffered some financially catastrophic event (ie loss of job, health issue, loss of family member, etc) that caused you to re-evaluate your lifestyle and adopt an LBYM lifestyle.

D) At some point during your adult life (usually middle age) you realized that if you kept spending every dollar that you made, you would not get ahead and you would never be able to retire comfortably, so you got religion and started LBYM.

E) You were born frugal, and it's just the way you are.

F) You witnessed the effects of overspending and a lack of financial discipline by your parents or other role models, and you vowed it would never happen to you.

G) A different reason. (Please elaborate)

I know that for some of you there may be a combination of reasons, but for the purpose of simplicity of this poll, please select the primary reason.

 

[MasterBlaster]

You need another choice on your poll.

H) You realized that if you didn't spend all your money that you could retire young and buy your life back.

 

[JustCurious]

Master, wouldn't that be "D"?

 

[MasterBlaster]

JC:

Oh I suppose. But it doesn't have to occur to you to opt out of the consumption/work forever con game during your adult years.

 

[JustCurious]

Master, then it would be "E".

 

[Jaction]

I voted G.

I have a DW that was born in another country and is very frugal. Without her I would probably spend way too much. She keep me under control.

I did grow up poor and didn't want to live my live that way either.

Larry

 

[laurence]

Master, then it would be "E".

Quit calling him master! I keep getting images of Kane in Kung Fu!

F for me by proxy.

 

[Sand Pounder]

B) You grew up poor, or, your parents lived below their means, and you never forgot the value of a dollar as an adult.

B) for both DW and me. My parents made me deliver papers and mow lawns as a kid, so I learned the value of a dollar. Plus in the high-tech industry there is a lot of uncertainty.

 

[Meadbh]

I voted A. I lived in the US for three years and the consumerism was quite a shock. It's easier to avoid it in Canada.

 

[Caroline]

D) Sorta. In my first professional job (after B school) I got a perfect job rating and a 20% raise one year, and got laid off (with a big chunk of the rest of the company) a year later.

Not really a catastrophy, since I didn't have kids / mortgage / etc. but it was certainly a wake-up call. I realized that there is NO job security in the tech industry. At-will employment at its finest.

 

[mickeyd]

I pick "B", the poor one.

It tends to make me look like a self-made man. Seriously, I learned a lot from observing how my folks raised 5 kids, sent them all to Catholic schools, graduated all five from Florida State University. All on Dad's salary of about $120/ week at the end.

As my younger sister often reminds me, "We were damn poor growing up, but did not know it!"

 

[Kitty]

I grew up poor, we were always on the edge of not eating or paying the rent or some other bill. There were constant fights about money and who spent it on what usually my Father drank it as fast as he made it. Even with careful monitoring by my Mother there was never enough money for even the simple things like twent-five cents a week so I could learn to play an instrument in the school band. When I got married I had a spend-thrift for a husband lots of arguments about money and what we should buy and for how much and why save money?

Once divorced I got the bills paid and got on the path to finnacial freedom. Now I have just enough to be retired and pay my bills with enough (I hope) for those unexpected things that come up. Do I regret being tight with a buck? No I don't, I regret not bouncing the spend it now guy sooner.

I still have a healthy fear of poverty, it keeps me on the right path. I would rather die with money in the bank than in a charity ward at the county hospital like my Father.

Kitty

 

[Martha]

Hey kitty, off topic, but how have you been? Health on the mend?

 

[JonnyM]

Used to LBYM, during the 7 year ramp up to FIRE. Now we Live right on the edge! I no longer have a reason to save significantly, the emergency fund is in place, and the income more than meets expenses. The excess is a blast spending on completely frivolous items that give us enjoyment. We could rationalize away, but that is the simple truth. 8)

 

[shiny]

Now we Live right on the edge! I no longer have a reason to save significantly, the emergency fund is in place, and the income more than meets expenses. The excess is a blast spending on completely frivolous items that give us enjoyment. We could rationalize away, but that is the simple truth. 8)

You are my role model JonnyM!!

 

[KM]

I voted E. I didn't grow up poor, but I remember at a young age listening to my mother on the phone and hearing her say "Fine, you will have my resignation on your desk in the morning" and being scared to death we wouldn't have any food (she was a nurse, she had a job at another hospital the next day). I remember my father coming home upset because two co-workers had been laid off and they had families and no way to support them. As far back as I can remember, I think I always saved money....half my allowance, a portion of my paycheck (no matter how small).

My sibling, OTOH, has filed for bankruptcy twice. Go figure.

 

[Cattusbabe]

I picked D. My story has been posted before so I won't go into that again. However now that DH and I are FIRED we see no reason to change. We are frugal when it comes to the day to day stuff so that we can spend on the fun stuff. For example I still clip coupons and shop for the best deal, we keep to our pre- FIRE budget, by now it is a habit. We are not actively saving and are using the income from our investments to fund the hobbies and trips we now have time for.

 

[bosco]

my father died when I was 17 5 months before I was to start university, and left my mom with just enough income to live on.

I had to learn to make it through university with social security, a modest cheque from National Merit, and what I could make at a summer job.

The discipline I learned at that point just stayed with me, as it became clear to me that controlling consumption was far more effective than trying to grub for more money. At the time, my options for increasing income were limited (unless I wanted to withdraw). Once I started working full-time, it just stayed with me.

 

[FinanceDude]

I think it's "cool" to LBYM, since the average Joe won't..........

Actually, I have a few LBYM folks aroud me, and we all laugh at the new huge homes with the two new leased Lexuses in the garage that are being built nearby................

 

[Calgary_Girl]

I voted F after watching my immigrant parents work two jobs in order to buy a home, pay the bills and put me and my sister through University. Growing up, we basically lived paycheque to paycheque.

 

[JustCurious]

I think it's "cool" to LBYM, since the average Joe won't..........

Actually, I have a few LBYM folks aroud me, and we all laugh at the new huge homes with the two new leased Lexuses in the garage that are being built nearby................

Speaking of which....

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/orl-house1407feb14,0,7140883.story?coll=orl-news-headlines

 

[CCdaCE]

"If I pay $1 million for the land, doesn't it reason that I'd want to put at least a $3 [million] or $4 million home on the property? Otherwise you're spending too much on the land."

Haha! Because I blew a huge wad for the land, I wanna burn even more cash on the house!

Just like, I paid too much for this Dodge Neon, now I wanna put rims, spoiler, neon lights, ground effects, etc. on it.

Hilarious.

-CC

 

[getoutearly]

I'm with Master, it's H. Dreaming every day of getting out of the rat cube is the only thing that get's me through the work day sometimes.... And th ebest way to do that is to LBYM...

 

[cj]

I picked B - we didn't have a lot growing up, and neither did DH. We got into the habit of LBYM, and (not that we've tried) I don't think we could live any other way. Early in my life (I was 23) I had an entry-level job, then got thrust into lower-level management. The bump in pay was enormous, and I honestly didn't have a clue what to do with all that money. Then I married DH in 1980, and the 2 of us together were making about $42K. Our apartment rent was $225 a month and we both had paid-off cars and no other bills. Since we both had grown up "poor", we squirreled away money, "just in case". Fortunately, those were the days of 14-15% money market funds so we did pretty well without knowing squat about investing.

DH still worries about having enough, which at this point is ridiculous. Whenever there is a news story about the plight of the middle class, he gets upset, and I have to remind him that we are no longer middle-class.

LBYM is a state of mind.

CJ

 

[haha]

I was naturally frugal in childhood. I had jobs and little businesses starting whenI was 8. I sold veggies from my grandparents' farm, door to door in the city-pulled them around with my wagon. I bought model planes to build and other cool stuff, but I also liked to save. I paid part but not all of my college with jobs, usually selling jobs where I made pretty good money.

But when I got done with my education I had been around well to do people so much that I pretty well lost the habit of saving, though I was more likely to spend on recreation than on stuff.

After I had kids I figured out that I was going to have a hard time adjusting to the degree of regimentaion that most work requires, so I started saving again.

If I had had the foresight or luck to find a work that I could happily stick with I would not be a big saver. IMO, if you have any taste at all spending money is often fun. Also, many careers can give a personal power base that beats the hell out of the modest path.

Ha