Website owner: James Miller
Twelve things people waste their money on
I have just seen the YouTube video
The 12 things listed in the video that people waste their money on are:
1. Paying credit card interest. Credit card interest is high — usually around 20%. One should pay credit card balances off at the end of each month. Don’t pay credit card interest.
2. Drinking at pubs and bars. Don’t drink alcohol at pubs and bars. It is expensive.
3. Buying the latest technology (latest cell phones, computers, etc.).
4. Spending a lot on clothing.
5. Buying new cars. New cars typically lose 20% to 30% of their value in the first year. For the best value buy a used car coming off a two or three year lease.
6. Gym memberships (most people aren’t committed, stop going after two or three months, and don’t get the value they have paid for)
7. Cable TV, subscriptions and subscription services
8. Skin care products
9. Eating out at restaurants
10. Gambling
11. Eating junk food
12. Smoking and vaping
I would agree with everything stated in the video.
Although I have had credit cards for around 60 years I have never paid a cent of interest on one (I have always paid in full at the end of the month).
I never go to pubs and bars (I don’t drink alcohol).
I have never bought the latest technology because it is always very expensive. Other people are always way ahead of me in technology. (I still don’t use a cell phone. I don’t need one.)
I very rarely buy any clothing. (I already have far more than I need.)
I have always bought new cars although I agree with the advice of buying three year old used cars. I do keep my vehicles for a long time. I currently have a Toyota truck that is now 11 years old. My previous vehicle was a Toyota truck that was rear ended and totaled when it was 19 years old — spoiling my goal of getting 30 years from it. Before that I had a Chevrolet station wagon that was rear ended at an age of 14 years.
We don’t have cable TV or any subscription services.
We always eat at home — never eat out at restaurants. ( I think a restaurant meal costs about ten times that of a meal we fix at home.)
I don’t gamble ever. Wouldn’t even buy a lottery ticket.
My wife and I are health conscious and avoid junk food. We avoid sweets and don’t have deserts at meals.
Neither my wife nor I smoke.
I don’t think my wife and I are at all typical. I think most Americans like to treat themselves. Treat themselves to candy and ice cream and cake. Treat themselves to nice dinners at restaurants and great vacations on lovely beaches. And I believe most Americans don’t save much money, no matter what their income bracket. I think most live mostly from paycheck to paycheck. See American income and savings.
I am different. I am frugal. I have always been frugal. I was frugal as a child. I was very careful in spending money when I was a boy.
The source of all of my frugal ways is not in reading or advice from other people. I am not what I am from reading other people’s advice. I am an independent minded person. My ways come from my own mind, my own thought. I am a believer in simplicity and self-discipline. There is an austere, ascetic element in my outlook. I think the simplest life is the best. And I am always aware of how hard, unfair, and rough life can potentially be (at its worse). I would not wish to suddenly be in the position of having no job and no money. Many people with good, well paying jobs, for one reason or another (perhaps company downsizing), suddenly find themselves with no job. And then in desperation, unable to find another good job, and needing money for rent and food, are forced to take some bottom-of-the-ladder type job (such as making hamburgers in McDonalds). They may be people with great confidence in themselves who never believed it could happen to them. Life has its vicissitudes. Bad things happen. I am a very security oriented person and several hundred thousand dollars sitting in a bank account give a lot of peace of mind. That peace of mind is worth a lot more to me than eating out a lot and fancy clothes and impressing other people.
There is a proverb: A fool and his money are soon parted.
1 July 2023
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