Telly
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
- Joined
- Feb 22, 2003
- Messages
- 2,419
Every once in a while, I think of an awakening I had long ago. You all will laugh at me... but let me set the stage for it first...
My parents never lived in a new house. Waste not, want not. Their first new car, I can remember going with them to pick it up. It was a bare-bones model 2dr. Options? I can't think of a single one that it had. Basic transportation. And it was run till it had rust holes all over, which wasn't really all that long back then. But longer than most people we knew.
Fast forward some years, after working to put myself through school, getting married to a wonderful (and frugal!) woman from a "poor" family (like Ronald Reagan said "we didn't know that we were poor").
We had been living in an apartment, and my wife and I were just starting on existing-house hunting. We were in a bank, and the loan officer went to get something. He was gone a while, and we couldn't help but overhear a conversation from another desk.
The customer there was an average schmuck working in a relatively low-level job in a can manufacturing plant. The loan officer said " what did you want this money for?"
The man replied "to buy a new Cadillac".
We just about gagged! You mean, someone would be driving around in a new Cadillac, that they really didn't OWN IT?
They borrowed money to buy something like that? (OK, I said you'd laugh at me
)
This was totally foreign to us. You bought something ONLY if you could afford it (reasonable mortgage excluded, as that was shelter). And "afford" did NOT mean borrowing money to buy it! If you can't afford it, don't buy it! What's with this borrowing from the future to spend it today? It sounds like the road to ruin!
Are there people who just think that they "deserve" everything NOW? With this awakening, I then looked askew at most new car purchases that people made. And fancy houses. I now saw the chasing status that was creeping up everywhere. Its show. The people with the actual money are probably NOT most of them that look like they have it (hey, The Millionaire Next Door concept, but years earlier!)
And the words "revolving credit" that was often heard back then, now had new meaning. I basically ignored those words and the concept before, as it seemed like insanity to me.
Although I viewed things differently after that, I certainly never let go of the economic programming I received growing up. As a self-taught DIY guy, I quietly snicker at many objects I see people value. They buy them with big loans, and don't have a clue how they operate. They are unable to maintain, diagnose, or repair them, whether its a car, washing machine, or you name it. Just more $$$. Hey, big $$ repair bills even have become a status item!
I remember a common everyday phrase from my youth. Relatives were always saying it - "Make do, or do without".
I wonder when was the last time I heard someone say that, other than myself! It's been many years.
To me, this status "bought" with borrowed money is total foolishness, and I stopped being impressed.
Maybe this is why I'm ER'd, while many others...
My parents never lived in a new house. Waste not, want not. Their first new car, I can remember going with them to pick it up. It was a bare-bones model 2dr. Options? I can't think of a single one that it had. Basic transportation. And it was run till it had rust holes all over, which wasn't really all that long back then. But longer than most people we knew.
Fast forward some years, after working to put myself through school, getting married to a wonderful (and frugal!) woman from a "poor" family (like Ronald Reagan said "we didn't know that we were poor").
We had been living in an apartment, and my wife and I were just starting on existing-house hunting. We were in a bank, and the loan officer went to get something. He was gone a while, and we couldn't help but overhear a conversation from another desk.
The customer there was an average schmuck working in a relatively low-level job in a can manufacturing plant. The loan officer said " what did you want this money for?"
The man replied "to buy a new Cadillac".
We just about gagged! You mean, someone would be driving around in a new Cadillac, that they really didn't OWN IT?
They borrowed money to buy something like that? (OK, I said you'd laugh at me
This was totally foreign to us. You bought something ONLY if you could afford it (reasonable mortgage excluded, as that was shelter). And "afford" did NOT mean borrowing money to buy it! If you can't afford it, don't buy it! What's with this borrowing from the future to spend it today? It sounds like the road to ruin!
Are there people who just think that they "deserve" everything NOW? With this awakening, I then looked askew at most new car purchases that people made. And fancy houses. I now saw the chasing status that was creeping up everywhere. Its show. The people with the actual money are probably NOT most of them that look like they have it (hey, The Millionaire Next Door concept, but years earlier!)
And the words "revolving credit" that was often heard back then, now had new meaning. I basically ignored those words and the concept before, as it seemed like insanity to me.
Although I viewed things differently after that, I certainly never let go of the economic programming I received growing up. As a self-taught DIY guy, I quietly snicker at many objects I see people value. They buy them with big loans, and don't have a clue how they operate. They are unable to maintain, diagnose, or repair them, whether its a car, washing machine, or you name it. Just more $$$. Hey, big $$ repair bills even have become a status item!
I remember a common everyday phrase from my youth. Relatives were always saying it - "Make do, or do without".
I wonder when was the last time I heard someone say that, other than myself! It's been many years.
To me, this status "bought" with borrowed money is total foolishness, and I stopped being impressed.
Maybe this is why I'm ER'd, while many others...