Pssst… The Joneses Don’t Care About You!
Posted: November 30th, 2010 | Author: Joe | Filed under: Debt, spending | Tags: Debt, Rant, Saving Money, spending | No Comments »A coworker of mine was lamenting a problem with some friends of he and his wife the other day. They were having some difficulty dealing with the fact that they didn’t seem to be at a point in life that their friends were at. To put it bluntly, they had a bad case of envy.
My coworker, let’s call him Jim, and his wife (Amy) save up for big purchases. They want to buy a bigger house to make room for their expanding family, and they’re saving up for a down payment. They pay off credit card every month, have no student loan debt and own their single car outright.
Their friends, by contrast, have new car, a bigger house and make the same or less income than Jim and his wife.
Naturally, this is bothersome for Jim and Amy. They feel that they are the ones who should have the new car, new television, bigger house. Jim was beside himself with annoyed confusion when he told me about this.
It’s actually a topic that hits home for me. My wife and I have friends who always complain they have no money, yet seem to have the latest and newest stuff. They have a new minivan , a 42″ flat screen television, new computer, iPhones – you name it! My wife and I have a used minivan, a 27″ CRT monitor and tracfones.
But here’s the real difference – we don’t have a huge new car loan, and we don’t have a big credit card balance, and we don’t live paycheck to paycheck. It’s difficult to see them seemingly cruise through life without any money worries. I have to remind my wife that they will have very little beyond Social Security when they retire, because they save nothing. They’re going to be a world of hurt if one of them loses their job.
Or maybe not.
I wonder how many Americans are feeling the same way. Especially in the last couple of years of bailouts, handouts and general welfare that seems to reward irresponsible behavior. In such an environment it’s easy to wonder if doing the right thing makes sense anymore.
