this post was submitted on 20 Jan 2024
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[Outdated, please look at pinned post] Casual Conversation
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Congrats! The trick is to not increase your spending, and take the excess and either save it or invest it. Remember: just because you can afford it, does not mean you need it. :)
The trick is to increase everything proportionally. Not increasing your living standards is just poor people logic.
Absolutely make your life better in the moment. There's no telling whether you'll keel over in two days from an aneurysm and all that saving did absolutely nothing.
But yes, 401k > Mortgage as long as you'll be saving for 30 years or more. You'll need about a million or more to retire comfortably these days.
Ok, I’ll give that if a person is living in less than ideal standards, getting a raise is a great way to enhance their quality of life and could be argued is necessary.
I didn’t outright say this, and I should have, but I was referring to spending for the sake of spending; I.e., I got a raise so I’m going to go out and buy a PS5, new super computer, a BMW, etc. there’s nothing inherently wrong with buying those things. It’s simply a matter of doing so responsibly.
As for poor people logic, so what? It’s sound logic. Of course it works for me personally. YMMV. But I have gone through a chapter 7 bankruptcy in my 20s, and now my FICO is around 800. For me, it was the mentality that I had money so I should spend it that got me in financial trouble. Treating my money as an asset that should be cared for got me out of trouble.
This only matters if you're making more than your peers. Most of my friends had engineering degrees coming out of college so we weren't massively different in compensation. I'm pretty open amongst them, but I wouldn't tell anyone how much I make it i thought it was more than 10-20% different than them.
Ehhhhhh. Eating better costs money. Home improvements or not living in a shit hole costs money. Clothes that aren't 10 years old costs money. Children. Health. Teeth. Eyes. Safe vehicles. Green living.
It all costs money and is prohibitively gated by cash.
Improve your life now. Quit buying shitty cheap products and buy better ones. Vimes Boots. Take a vacation to somewhere that isn't your couch.
There's so much that isn't some Lemming's idea of trying to reconcile being poor so they aren't out murdering billionaires.