Rich Programmer, Poor Programmer
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xicoloko wrote: but what makes you hate London that much? I don't hate the place. It is an amazing pulsating heart of an empire. It is 1st world all the way. The business is great, the money is there and there is plenty to do. BUT I come from Cape Town, South Africa. A city with it's own mountain in the middle of it. With island beaches, forests, huge outdoor areas, hot days and the magnificent ocean. You can hike, camp, suntan OR you can go clubbing at night, dine at fine restaurants, watch movies etc. etc. I am not much of a social person. I like clubbing, but for the music and atmosphere. London is for social people. There is no real outdoor life (Kew Gardens does not count) and the only alternative to being a hermit is going to pubs, clubs, theatre, movies and restaurants. Thats it. Also I own a car back in Cape Town and I love to drive. I like being in control of my "transport." In london it is "wait for bus/tube/train, get on bus/tube/train, sit through ten stops, get off bus/tube/train, work, repeat." I think bottom line is that why would I want to live in London... no reason. CT has it all for me and I love it there. LO is not my type of city. I come from Africa, I need space and hot weather. LO has none of that. But saying all that to visit LO is AMAZING! I blew myself away the first three times I came here. Visited everything and anything. Such history and so much stuff to do. But once the tourist bit is done... well then you have to be a social animal to carry on enjoying it, and I can't abide by that. regards, Paul Watson Bluegrass Cape Town, South Africa "The greatest thing you will ever learn is to love, and be loved in return" - Moulin Rouge Martin Marvinski wrote: Unfortunatly Deep Throat isn't my cup of tea Do you Sonork? I do! 100.9903 Stormfront
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All I can say is: start saving. Get money taken out of your account automatically and into a managed fund or something. My rule of thumb is always have enough money put aside (working for you, but still available) so that if you lose your job tomorrow (or for some other reason are unable to generate income) you'll be OK for 3 months. cheers, Chris Maunder
Chris Maunder wrote: so that if you lose your job tomorrow (or for some other reason are unable to generate income) you'll be OK for 3 months. Agreed... but I prefer to save for 6 months... "Good Jobs" are not so easy here in Brazil... Mauricio Teichmann Ritter Brazil mauricioritter@hotmail.com
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Nobody lives in London, they commute in from the surronding areas. :-D Which part of London are you stuck in? Michael :-)
Michael P Butler wrote: Nobody lives in London, they commute in from the surronding areas LOL true! I think of London though as one big seething mass of people with tube bits stuck between them. It reaches out to all the suburbs and gorges itself on them :) Michael P Butler wrote: Which part of London are you stuck in? Staying in Clapham Common and working at the Oval (all Northern Line.) regards, Paul Watson Bluegrass Cape Town, South Africa "The greatest thing you will ever learn is to love, and be loved in return" - Moulin Rouge Martin Marvinski wrote: Unfortunatly Deep Throat isn't my cup of tea Do you Sonork? I do! 100.9903 Stormfront
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Roger Allen wrote: £15000 That's about $45,000 Oz. :omg: Us guys do some damn stupid things for :love: (but I admire you nonetheless ;)) cheers, Chris Maunder
That's why I appreciated my (ex?)-girlfriend. (She is away at Uni). Not only is she not interested in the latest designer fashions, but even if she was, she would much rather be earning her own income. She hates being financially dependant on people. Tha type of attitude definately works for me :) - Jason SonorkID: 100.12194 :bob:'s your uncle
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I was reading Rich Dad, Poor Dad on the way to work (I am slowly learning the art of reading in the sardine tin that is the Tube.) My third management/business/finance book in three weeks, oh no! As usual what the guy talks about makes a lot of sense, it is just actually applying it which is the hard bit. It got me curious about the rest of you and how you handled your finances. I am bad with money, nay, I am terrible with money. Money pushes me around a lot and I am getting so sick of it. I earn a good enough salary and don't have that many expenses, but I still end up with a nice fat zero at the end of every month. What really gets to me was that I can start renting a flat at R2000 per month and still end up with zero while right now I am not renting and yet I still end up with zero. That tells me that there was R2000 floating around which I somehow spent a month on nothing much really. So I have decided to get serious, and strict, about my money habits and was wondering what your situation was like. Do you live month to month? Do you have some nice investments or savings accounts? Are you banking on a retirement fund to get you through the last 30 years or so? Basically, are you smart or stupid with your money? And what can you tell me that actually works or doesn't work? regards, Paul Watson Bluegrass Cape Town, South Africa "The greatest thing you will ever learn is to love, and be loved in return" - Moulin Rouge Martin Marvinski wrote: Unfortunatly Deep Throat isn't my cup of tea Do you Sonork? I do! 100.9903 Stormfront
I knew a man when I was growing up, a friend of my father's, who came here from Lebanon as a teen without a dime in his pocket. He retired at 40 as a multi-millionarre. His formula was simple. Take 10% a give it to God (he was a devout Christian). Take the next 10% and put it in savings. Live off of whatever is left. Every time his savings grew large enough to make a down payment on an investment property (ie, one that paid back a return) he bought it. It's a formula that I've seen in many books, and I know from watching this man over many years that it really does work. Yet I can't seem to make myself follow his sterling example.... Grrrr... Like most here, I live month to month, check to check. Possibly the only smart thing I've done is to enroll in the investment plan we have at work. In the US we have a plan called a 401K, named after the section of the Internal Revenue (Tax) code that defines it. We can have an amount taken out of our gross pay before taxes, and invest it in an approved plan - usually a mutual fund. The employer usually matches a portion - in my case 50% of what I contribute - and interest earned by the investment is not taxed until we begin to spend it. Despite the falling market of late, mine actually increased 10% last quarter! It amazes me that, knowing that our employer adds 50% to whatever we contribute, we still have employees who refuse to join! Things are turning around, though. I bought an accounting program - Quicken -to track income and expenses. I'm not yet disciplined enough to maintain it properly, but I'm getting there. What is a real eye-opener is the size of the Miscellaneous account each month. That's where the money for beer, darts, cigarettes, sodas, and such lies, and it's far too large! My goal is to reduce that to a minimum, and in doing so, I think I'll find a bonanza... By the way, "Rich Dad, Poor Dad" is an excellent read - I've got it, and I re-read it from time to time... A penny saved is a penny taxed...
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That's why I appreciated my (ex?)-girlfriend. (She is away at Uni). Not only is she not interested in the latest designer fashions, but even if she was, she would much rather be earning her own income. She hates being financially dependant on people. Tha type of attitude definately works for me :) - Jason SonorkID: 100.12194 :bob:'s your uncle
Jason Hooper wrote: That's why I appreciated my (ex?)-girlfriend. (She is away at Uni). Don't think like that or it may become that. Stay in touch. Jason Hooper wrote: She hates being financially dependant on people. Tha type of attitude definately works for me Janina is the exact same way with me. Our problem though is that I love to spend money on her. Plus she does not have a job yet (going into Varsity (Uni)) and so feels doubly bad about me paying her way. I don't mind though, if I have to spend my money on something then her and I are the top choices. regards, Paul Watson Bluegrass Cape Town, South Africa "The greatest thing you will ever learn is to love, and be loved in return" - Moulin Rouge Martin Marvinski wrote: Unfortunatly Deep Throat isn't my cup of tea Do you Sonork? I do! 100.9903 Stormfront
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Nish [BusterBoy] wrote: I'd probably fall in the 1st to 31st category. I finish my pay in 30 days flat. I mean even if I get a hike or a bonus, I still manage to finish it in 30 days. Or if I have a sudden unexpected expense, still it finishes in 30 days. The whole point is that whether I get more or whether I get less, I end up with zero at month-end Same as me. Nish [BusterBoy] wrote: and I am quite happy with that too. Not the same as me. I hate living 30 days at a time, it is stressful. Nish [BusterBoy] wrote: I mean, it's easier that way. I just need to think for 30 days. When the new month starts I get money again and the cycle continues. My point is that even if I start saving money now, it wont amount to much. But 4 years later when I am earning 10 times what I do now, then if I save each month, I can save in one month or two what I could save in an entire year with my current monetary situation I think this is a prime example of what the rich (or soon to be rich) people know about, and what the poor (or soon to be poor) people don't know about. IMHO that is a terrible way to think Nish. With your first job lets say you earned X. At the time you thought "not bad, not enough to start saving so lets just live and get a raise." Then you got a raise to 2X. However you forgot what you said when you were earning X and once again said "not enough to start saving, lets waits until I get 3X. Meanwhile your expenses are increasing, you are expecting more from life and you are sick of eating two minute noodles every night. So you spend more. At the end of the day you are in the same position as you were in when you were earning X. Then you get 3X, and once again your perspective changes and you say "4X." And so on and so on. I worked out that if I had saved just 5% of my salary from the day I started working till know I would have enough to cater for any emergency, put a deposit down on a flat (instead of just having enough to rent it), help Janina pay for her education and so on. Yet I said the same thing every time I got a raise "I need more before I can start saving." I am still in the same financial position as I was two years ago, even though I am earning three times as much as then. Rich people, and I work for one, know that you get rich not through big salaries or lucky breaks or huge windfalls. You get rich through small savings which add up over the years and get doubly added by
The words of wisdom I always heard were to "pay yourself first." Go ahead and take that 5% and put it into a savings account somewhere. Your other expenses will work themselves out around what you have left. If you let your own "savings" work itself out from what you have left after everything else is paid, then you won't ever get any saved, as you have pointed out. Dave "You can say that again." -- Dept. of Redundancy Dept.
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The words of wisdom I always heard were to "pay yourself first." Go ahead and take that 5% and put it into a savings account somewhere. Your other expenses will work themselves out around what you have left. If you let your own "savings" work itself out from what you have left after everything else is paid, then you won't ever get any saved, as you have pointed out. Dave "You can say that again." -- Dept. of Redundancy Dept.
David Chamberlain wrote: If you let your own "savings" work itself out from what you have left after everything else is paid, then you won't ever get any saved, as you have pointed out. David Chamberlain wrote: "You can say that again." -- Dept. of Redundancy Dept. :) corny, I know David Chamberlain wrote: The words of wisdom I always heard were to "pay yourself first." Go ahead and take that 5% and put it into a savings account somewhere. Your other expenses will work themselves out around what you have left. It is just SO hard to do that, to actually make that comitment. I just have to stop procrastinating really. Still hard though. regards, Paul Watson Bluegrass Cape Town, South Africa "The greatest thing you will ever learn is to love, and be loved in return" - Moulin Rouge Martin Marvinski wrote: Unfortunatly Deep Throat isn't my cup of tea Do you Sonork? I do! 100.9903 Stormfront
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:omg: I read your post twice Paul. Twice! And I don't do that usually. You are so dead right. Two years ago, I had put a figure in mind when I'd prolly be able to save something and now that's nearly what I get every month. I am kinda thinking like 4 years later, I'll startv saving. 4 years! Maybe I am just procrastinating endlessly. Your words of truth have soured me up a little. I hope to recover soon and continue in my foolhardy manner though :-) For a 22 year old VB programmer [with stress on the VB part] you sure speak wisely, buddy! Nish Sonork ID 100.9786 voidmain www.busterboy.org If you don't find me on CP, I'll be at Bob's HungOut
I agree with Paul. The key is the 5%, even if it's very little now. We are creatures of habit. So it's good to start learning how to save now. If you wait until you have the extra money to save you might not know what to do with it. But if you start now you can learn how to invest and you can use that experience and knowledge later on when you are able to save a lot more. The easiest thing to do is get your bank to automatically transfer a small percentage of your paycheck to a savings account. Then invest the sum of that every 6 months or so.
Todd Smith
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David Chamberlain wrote: If you let your own "savings" work itself out from what you have left after everything else is paid, then you won't ever get any saved, as you have pointed out. David Chamberlain wrote: "You can say that again." -- Dept. of Redundancy Dept. :) corny, I know David Chamberlain wrote: The words of wisdom I always heard were to "pay yourself first." Go ahead and take that 5% and put it into a savings account somewhere. Your other expenses will work themselves out around what you have left. It is just SO hard to do that, to actually make that comitment. I just have to stop procrastinating really. Still hard though. regards, Paul Watson Bluegrass Cape Town, South Africa "The greatest thing you will ever learn is to love, and be loved in return" - Moulin Rouge Martin Marvinski wrote: Unfortunatly Deep Throat isn't my cup of tea Do you Sonork? I do! 100.9903 Stormfront
It really isn't that hard, once you take yourself out of the loop. *What?* If you have direct deposit abilities, set up an automatic deposit to your savings account of $x and let the rest go into your checking account. Then, you don't have to do any work to save. It's automatic. Agreed, it is difficult if you have to extract your savings from a check you just received. But if you let the automatic money gods handle your deposits, then it's easy. If THAT is too hard, then you're really going to have a tough time of it. Dave "You can say that again." -- Dept. of Redundancy Dept.
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That's why I appreciated my (ex?)-girlfriend. (She is away at Uni). Not only is she not interested in the latest designer fashions, but even if she was, she would much rather be earning her own income. She hates being financially dependant on people. Tha type of attitude definately works for me :) - Jason SonorkID: 100.12194 :bob:'s your uncle
Jason Hooper wrote: She hates being financially dependant on people My woman was originally like this. I bought here a few clothes and I practically had to strangle her to allow me to buy food for the home (we didn't live together at that time). She was struggling hard to support herself and her two kids. Doing a full time course and a job to help house and feed them. She was cracking up under the strain. When she finally did accept being supported by me even just a little, it slowely increased until I was paying for all the food (not quite all the time these days). As she lives with me at my own house, she doesn't have to pay accomadation costs and bills. She was also able to give up that job while at colledge. Its probably what allowed her to graduate last December. She now works part time and does bring in some money, but she tends to spend that on herself and her kids. She does buy me things now and again (she wants me to dress well, where I like to slum in old clothes). I just have to ween her off these big expensive purchases she likes to make. Escpecially on my credit card. :( Roger Allen Sonork 100.10016 If I'm not breathing, I'm either dead or holding my breath.
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Hell, I'll be his girlfriend for 15 grand (sterling) a year... ;) ________________ David Wulff http://www.davidwulff.co.uk "My grandfather once told me that there are two kinds of people: those who work and those who take the credit. He told me to try to be in the first group, there was less competition there" - Gandhi
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Michael P Butler wrote: Enough so that I managed to live for six months last year without any money coming in. That is pretty damned good Michael. Read Nishs reply to me and then think to yourself: If he got fired, what the hell would he do? I am in that same position, if I lost my job I would have to get one within a month or I would be broke. And then they repo your car, you cannot pay your rent and you have to beg borrow or steal some money to survive. regards, Paul Watson Bluegrass Cape Town, South Africa "The greatest thing you will ever learn is to love, and be loved in return" - Moulin Rouge Martin Marvinski wrote: Unfortunatly Deep Throat isn't my cup of tea Do you Sonork? I do! 100.9903 Stormfront
Although I spend my days as a programmer, I also do financial planning for families and businesses. Here are a few details about the US that are pretty surprising: Current Statistics state that of every 100 people who will reach age 67 in the year 2005 in the US: 54 will be dead broke (and need to rely on Social security or family). 41 will still be working. 4 will be able to retire ( with around $1M) and 1 will be Financially independent. Most people have been caught up in the commercial lie that more is better, and spend their whole lives aquiring debt. I was in the same situation, Credit cards and car loans. I am now down to my mortgage and one other loan, and I'll have everything paid off in under 8 years. I for one am never going to allow myself to be indebted to anyone again after I get everything paid off. One more interesting statistic, in the US 65% of people cannot put their hands on $1000 cash. If they sold everything they own, and paid off all their debts, they would have a net worth of less than $1000. Start early, and save regularly. It can make a big difference. And make sure that you are getting at least 10% return, or you'll not beat inflation after taxes (in the US, at least). From an internal company e-mail November, 2001 -- "Would the person who stole the ethics training manual from the class last Friday please return it."
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I agree with Paul. The key is the 5%, even if it's very little now. We are creatures of habit. So it's good to start learning how to save now. If you wait until you have the extra money to save you might not know what to do with it. But if you start now you can learn how to invest and you can use that experience and knowledge later on when you are able to save a lot more. The easiest thing to do is get your bank to automatically transfer a small percentage of your paycheck to a savings account. Then invest the sum of that every 6 months or so.
Todd Smith
There's a classic example that illustrates the mistake that most of us (myself included) make. It definately sobers you up if you're no longer just out of college and haven't started saving yet. Here it is: Let's take to hypothetical people, Jane and John. Jane starts saving when she's 21 and invests $100 a month for only 10 years, not saving anything after she turns 31. At that point here total investment has been $12,000 (not counting the interest she's earned) and she just lets the investment (and the interest) sit until she retires at 65. John on the other hand doesn't start to save until he's 35, but unlike Jane he invests $100 a month all the way up until he retires at 65. So, his total investment was $36,000. Assuming an annual return of 8% on their savings, Jane retires with $300,053 while John retires with only $150,023! John invested nearly three times as much as Jane but ends up with nearly half of what Jane does! If Jane hadn't stopped at 31 her total investment would have been $52,800, but her return would have been $489,120. Save early. No matter how little you think you can invest, the return is MUCH greater then saving later. An interesting extreme to this: if you have a baby and immediately start saving $100 a month for him, but do so only until his 6 years old, and that money just sits earning interest until he retires, the return is $1,107,869! Another scary thought is that the magic of compound interest also works in exactly the same way against you... the only trouble is that you pay a much higher interest rate when you borrow then you get when you invest. (Waits for the sound of everyone here cutting up their credit cards.) William E. Kempf
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I was reading Rich Dad, Poor Dad on the way to work (I am slowly learning the art of reading in the sardine tin that is the Tube.) My third management/business/finance book in three weeks, oh no! As usual what the guy talks about makes a lot of sense, it is just actually applying it which is the hard bit. It got me curious about the rest of you and how you handled your finances. I am bad with money, nay, I am terrible with money. Money pushes me around a lot and I am getting so sick of it. I earn a good enough salary and don't have that many expenses, but I still end up with a nice fat zero at the end of every month. What really gets to me was that I can start renting a flat at R2000 per month and still end up with zero while right now I am not renting and yet I still end up with zero. That tells me that there was R2000 floating around which I somehow spent a month on nothing much really. So I have decided to get serious, and strict, about my money habits and was wondering what your situation was like. Do you live month to month? Do you have some nice investments or savings accounts? Are you banking on a retirement fund to get you through the last 30 years or so? Basically, are you smart or stupid with your money? And what can you tell me that actually works or doesn't work? regards, Paul Watson Bluegrass Cape Town, South Africa "The greatest thing you will ever learn is to love, and be loved in return" - Moulin Rouge Martin Marvinski wrote: Unfortunatly Deep Throat isn't my cup of tea Do you Sonork? I do! 100.9903 Stormfront
I think the key here is to be obsessively cheap. For instance: - Buy down-rev computer stuff. 500 Mhz., 2 mega-pixel camera, etc. You can get this stuff for dirt. - Drive an older car. - Buy used clothes at an upscale thrift store or buy clearance items (tough, since they're clearance for a reason) - Don't always buy the best. For instance, why spend $350 for a set of tires??? - Don't be generous with friends! It's tough to resist, sometimes. - Shop heavily for price on everything, especially financing terms (mortgages, etc.) - Don't make investments with high management fees. - Have cheap hobbies that don't involve goats. (hiking, movies, etc.) I've been doing C++ for pay for 3 years now and recently bought a house and have 6 months pay in an emergency fund. And I don't really take home all that much. No debt except the mortgage. It's worth it, except for the "quit being a cheap a$$" ribbing I take from friends (and the girlfriend)...
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Although I spend my days as a programmer, I also do financial planning for families and businesses. Here are a few details about the US that are pretty surprising: Current Statistics state that of every 100 people who will reach age 67 in the year 2005 in the US: 54 will be dead broke (and need to rely on Social security or family). 41 will still be working. 4 will be able to retire ( with around $1M) and 1 will be Financially independent. Most people have been caught up in the commercial lie that more is better, and spend their whole lives aquiring debt. I was in the same situation, Credit cards and car loans. I am now down to my mortgage and one other loan, and I'll have everything paid off in under 8 years. I for one am never going to allow myself to be indebted to anyone again after I get everything paid off. One more interesting statistic, in the US 65% of people cannot put their hands on $1000 cash. If they sold everything they own, and paid off all their debts, they would have a net worth of less than $1000. Start early, and save regularly. It can make a big difference. And make sure that you are getting at least 10% return, or you'll not beat inflation after taxes (in the US, at least). From an internal company e-mail November, 2001 -- "Would the person who stole the ethics training manual from the class last Friday please return it."
Steven Mitcham wrote: One more interesting statistic, in the US 65% of people cannot put their hands on $1000 cash. If they sold everything they own, and paid off all their debts, they would have a net worth of less than $1000. That is just horrifying. What did/do they all work for? Just to stay one step ahead of the collectors? (I also could not put my hands on $1000, but that is worth R14000 which is about half the price of a car. If I sold all I owned, which is not much, I would not come close to that either. But then I am just 22, and only just starting the debt-race :) ) Steven Mitcham wrote: Start early, and save regularly. It can make a big difference. And make sure that you are getting at least 10% return, or you'll not beat inflation after taxes (in the US, at least). I have seen so many graphs predicting savings and the number one commonality between them is: The earlier you start, the better you end off. Compound interest is an incredible force, should be up there with gravity and Linux... ;) Steven Mitcham wrote: Current Statistics state that of every 100 people who will reach age 67 in the year 2005 in the US: 54 will be dead broke (and need to rely on Social security or family). 41 will still be working. 4 will be able to retire ( with around $1M) and 1 will be Financially independent. And that 1 probably got all the others to work for him, rather than working for someone else. Thanks for the info Steven, very useful, much appreciated :) regards, Paul Watson Bluegrass Cape Town, South Africa "The greatest thing you will ever learn is to love, and be loved in return" - Moulin Rouge Martin Marvinski wrote: Unfortunatly Deep Throat isn't my cup of tea Do you Sonork? I do! 100.9903 Stormfront
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There's a classic example that illustrates the mistake that most of us (myself included) make. It definately sobers you up if you're no longer just out of college and haven't started saving yet. Here it is: Let's take to hypothetical people, Jane and John. Jane starts saving when she's 21 and invests $100 a month for only 10 years, not saving anything after she turns 31. At that point here total investment has been $12,000 (not counting the interest she's earned) and she just lets the investment (and the interest) sit until she retires at 65. John on the other hand doesn't start to save until he's 35, but unlike Jane he invests $100 a month all the way up until he retires at 65. So, his total investment was $36,000. Assuming an annual return of 8% on their savings, Jane retires with $300,053 while John retires with only $150,023! John invested nearly three times as much as Jane but ends up with nearly half of what Jane does! If Jane hadn't stopped at 31 her total investment would have been $52,800, but her return would have been $489,120. Save early. No matter how little you think you can invest, the return is MUCH greater then saving later. An interesting extreme to this: if you have a baby and immediately start saving $100 a month for him, but do so only until his 6 years old, and that money just sits earning interest until he retires, the return is $1,107,869! Another scary thought is that the magic of compound interest also works in exactly the same way against you... the only trouble is that you pay a much higher interest rate when you borrow then you get when you invest. (Waits for the sound of everyone here cutting up their credit cards.) William E. Kempf
William E. Kempf wrote: Another scary thought is that the magic of compound interest also works in exactly the same way against you... the only trouble is that you pay a much higher interest rate when you borrow then you get when you invest. (Waits for the sound of everyone here cutting up their credit cards.) Exactly. I reckon Compound Interest should be added as a force of nature, up there with gravity and women... :-D Your example of Jane and John is the same as I have been told many times and every time I am amazed and galvanised to save. Hopefully this time I will actually do it :) regards, Paul Watson Bluegrass Cape Town, South Africa "The greatest thing you will ever learn is to love, and be loved in return" - Moulin Rouge Martin Marvinski wrote: Unfortunatly Deep Throat isn't my cup of tea Do you Sonork? I do! 100.9903 Stormfront
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I think the key here is to be obsessively cheap. For instance: - Buy down-rev computer stuff. 500 Mhz., 2 mega-pixel camera, etc. You can get this stuff for dirt. - Drive an older car. - Buy used clothes at an upscale thrift store or buy clearance items (tough, since they're clearance for a reason) - Don't always buy the best. For instance, why spend $350 for a set of tires??? - Don't be generous with friends! It's tough to resist, sometimes. - Shop heavily for price on everything, especially financing terms (mortgages, etc.) - Don't make investments with high management fees. - Have cheap hobbies that don't involve goats. (hiking, movies, etc.) I've been doing C++ for pay for 3 years now and recently bought a house and have 6 months pay in an emergency fund. And I don't really take home all that much. No debt except the mortgage. It's worth it, except for the "quit being a cheap a$$" ribbing I take from friends (and the girlfriend)...
Bill Carlson wrote: Don't be generous with friends! It's tough to resist, sometimes. Yeah, amazing how expensive a couple of drinks for friends becomes :) Though I know generous people who are well off and generous people who are dirt poor. Bill, do you friends call you "Scrooge" ? ;) I think that going to extremes in saving and scraping money is just as bad as spending it unwisely. In Rich Dad, Poor Dad they call it "an equal psychosis." I have to agree. Money is meant to be used and to pay for a good life. regards, Paul Watson Bluegrass Cape Town, South Africa "The greatest thing you will ever learn is to love, and be loved in return" - Moulin Rouge Martin Marvinski wrote: Unfortunatly Deep Throat isn't my cup of tea Do you Sonork? I do! 100.9903 Stormfront
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Bill Carlson wrote: Don't be generous with friends! It's tough to resist, sometimes. Yeah, amazing how expensive a couple of drinks for friends becomes :) Though I know generous people who are well off and generous people who are dirt poor. Bill, do you friends call you "Scrooge" ? ;) I think that going to extremes in saving and scraping money is just as bad as spending it unwisely. In Rich Dad, Poor Dad they call it "an equal psychosis." I have to agree. Money is meant to be used and to pay for a good life. regards, Paul Watson Bluegrass Cape Town, South Africa "The greatest thing you will ever learn is to love, and be loved in return" - Moulin Rouge Martin Marvinski wrote: Unfortunatly Deep Throat isn't my cup of tea Do you Sonork? I do! 100.9903 Stormfront
Yeah, it's tough. I'm generous with loans and "emergency aid" to friends and family, but not with drinks (unless the two overlap). :) Having a substantial emergency fund has some nice rewards. Having the ability to tell your company to "stuff it" is nice. Not that I would actually do it, but having the power is kind of cool. Not having to be anyone's "bit*h". The most tempting this is to be able to retire at an early age or at least psuedo-retirement (work every other year). Also, with compounding over the years, you can get a nice stash for travelling, etc. Doing this before you're senile and tied to a walker is preferable. Maybe the most important consideration is the relative benefit of higher priced stuff. It often isn't as big a deal as it's made out to be. For example: - A $5,000 car still has four wheels, is comfortable, and reliable. Same as a $30,000 car. - A $500 computer runs most of the same stuff as a $3,000 one. - A $80 dinner for two won't taste any better than a $35 one. - A $30 coat is just as warm as a $180 one. - Your young kids won't know that you only spent $2 for their toy at a garage sale. - Broadband internet over 56K. Okay, never mind on that one... :) If I can be cheap like that and retire at 55 and see the world, I'm all for it!