Money Stupidity

[the_std]

This could very easily tie in with Lupo's "Excuses, Excuses, Excuses!" thread, except it's not about weight loss. It's about people who make no effort whatsoever to manage their money, and then bitch about how poor they are.

I have a friend who still lives at home. She's gone to university once, dropped out, decided to go to a technical college here, dropped out from that, and is once again enrolled at the university. Her student loans alone are easily over $6000 and she is once more in her first year, because of dropping out and re-enrolling. Her parents initially covered the cost of tuition and books, on the condition that she pay them installments every two weeks. To cover these costs, she works for a local community organization, helping out at schools and such. She's not taking full-time classes (I do believe it's three classes a week versus five, which is what is considered full-time around here), nor is she working full-time. Her loan repayment efforts started out well, but she very quickly realized that she now had money at her disposal, and could spend it however she liked! Pretty soon she had a credit card and was going to EB Games every week, easily dropping $70 every visit, plus buying movies and paying for random things she participated in online. She also has a massive Coke habit to feed, often buying a twelve-pack every two days, sometimes more often. Things very quickly got out of hand, and she could no longer meet her parents' requisite loan payments, never mind keep up with her near-maxed out credit card. What was the obvious answer to this? Buy a custom-made gaming rig, of course! Why, a computer of over $2500 would definitely fix everything!

This happened over the course of about six months, and every day I would get texts from her while she was in class, most of them to the tune of "omg i am SO BROKE! wtf am i gunna doooooo?!", which I took to ignoring. She begged me to go and hang out with her, because she was depressed, so I would suggest going to the $2 matinee at the local cheap theatre, or maybe just out for a cup of coffee at a nearby Tim Horton's, and she would whine, "But I'm broooooke! I can't afford to go out!" and so I would ask her what she wanted to do instead, and she would just start another bitch-fest. I've only actually seen her a few times in the past three months because of this behavior. The last time we were together, I got so fed up with it that I sat her down and helped plan out a budget that she could easily stick to. She was very happy for my help and went on and on about how this was going to fix everything!

Well, I just got a text message from her. "Guess what I bought today? A netbook! It was only $450, and I need a laptop for class, so I just had to have it!" I haven't brought myself to answer it yet, because I can't think of anything to say that isn't cussing her out.

I have never understood how people could live so beyond their means and remain so oblivious to the consequences. And then, when they start in on complaining about how hard their lives are, it takes everything I have not to smack them in the face. Yeah, I worry about money too. Everyone does. But I at least try to change my situations with budgets, cheaper alternatives and doing without things I don't need!

[blas87]

My biggest peeve about people and money are people with absolutely horrid work attendance, and yet they have the gall to bitch about not having any money, especially when they are offered makeup time or overtime.

[Rapscallion]

I have never understood how people could live so beyond their means and remain so oblivious to the consequences.

It's partly because of the huge amount of advertising easily available loans and credit. I went to the bank the other week to ask for an interview for an overdraft on my account.

"What do you need one for?"

"Someone reversed into my car. I'm fairly freshly back from holiday in Italy, and the insurance is almost certain to write it off. I reckon six months for a thousand pounds will do me. It's more than I reckon I'll need, but I like to play it safe."

"Can I see your bank card, please?"

She wandered off to a terminal and hit a few keys for a few minutes.

"Right, I've set you up for a thousand pounds overdraft. No time limits."

It helps my peace of mind that I know I'm fiscally responsible. I'm obviously considered a good credit risk by them, since I've got regular income into the account and regular (generally smaller) outgoings. I also don't anticipate being in debt on the overdraft for more than a few weeks - christmas bonus time at the very latest.

However, I went in for an interview. I came out with an overdraft within five minutes. That's ... stunning.

Rapscallion

[the_std]

It's partly because of the huge amount of advertising easily available loans and credit.

You know, I would say that's a symptom rather than a cause. If advertising was the cause of things like this, then people's houses would be filled with all sorts of ridiculous things, even more so than they are. I'm pretty sure a large part of the problem is the "don't talk about money" mentality that so many people harbour. The fact that so many people think it's rude means that parents won't really talk about it, or teach proper budgeting habits. Most schools have no real life math training, which includes teaching how to take care of money and spending habits. I know that, around here, the only schools that include such courses are the inner-city or "problem" schools. It's just such a taboo subject to so many people that it never gets properly explained.

I know I was never really taught anything about money until I actually graduated high school. I did have a job, but I spent money like crazy because I was living at home and had no real expenses. Luckily, the only money I had was what was in my bank account. I had no credit card or anything like that. One day, I took a friend out for lunch and, when I tried to pay, my card came back as insufficient funds. I had to call my mom to get her to pay for it, and that was the last time anything like that ever happened. Afterwards, my mom taught me budgeting and cheque-writing, the basics, and six months later I moved out on my own for the first time. I've never been in debt since then.

It's a mixture of lack of education and a cushioning from real-life consequences. Most people never have to learn from their mistakes and therefore never do. Bleh.

[Rapscallion]

You know, I would say that's a symptom rather than a cause. If advertising was the cause of things like this, then people's houses would be filled with all sorts of ridiculous things, even more so than they are.

I'm ... not certain that's possible, actually. I already think that the advertising boys are running out of tat to flog.

I also think that it's a problem when buying and selling money is part of the economy. The basis of an economy is the exchange of goods, and money is the medium by which we value a product and the labour of a person. Selling that on and profiting from it - something seems amiss to me, as does the way financial markets are not based on the gold standard, but actually the confidence standard.

I don't have any easy answers, or any real alternatives, but it does bother me.

It's a mixture of lack of education and a cushioning from real-life consequences. Most people never have to learn from their mistakes and therefore never do. Bleh.

I learned from watching my father's failure to deal with debt. He's approaching his mid sixties and has a numb foot from diabetes, yet still has to drive across the continent doing delivery runs for someone who pays infrequently, just to try and make ends meet.

I'm going about four or five hundred into that overdraft as an absolute maximum, hopefully less. I'm doing my level best to only spend money I have.

Rapscallion

[LewisLegion]

I'm paranoid about my finances. My only credit card is a CareCredit that I use for vet expenses and immediately pay off when I get the bill. I balance my checkbook every week, budget, and am a stickler about the tiniest penny. Not to say I pinch pennies to death but I know what I have and if I can't afford it, I don't get it or else I set up a plan to save up for it and work some overtime to cover it.

I've seen what fiscal irresponsibility can do to people. A stepfather of mine managed to ruin my mother's credit, lose our childhood home, and drive us to bankruptcy within two years. On my own I managed to get a stellar credit score and buy a house ON MY OWN as a single person. And more, I managed to do so and still leave enough wiggle room in the monthly budget that I can put some in savings every paycheck. It boggles me that people will buy things they know they can't afford, and simply pile up massive debt they have no way to pay for just because they OMG HAVE 2 HAVE IT!!

[Cats]

I know I was never really taught anything about money until I actually graduated high school.

One thing I mention in my rants to people about why the education system here sucks has to do with that. If it's supposed to be preparing us for "life", why don't they tech us other skills we need to surivive, such as how to budget our money?

My siblongs and I never got an allowance as a kid, and the only money we got was for Xmas, so while we often spent it right after, we never got into the habit of just being spendy (it also helped our parents taught us young not to ask for things we didn't need, so we weren't in the slightest bit spoiled into needing nice things). When I got my 1st job, which I'm still at 9 years later with better pay, I didn't spend much and still don't. Yes, while I admit I have it somewhat easy since I don't drive and still live and home (and thus, no bills to pay) and that once every 4-6 weeks I spend like $200 at the mall, I've been saving every since I started that job. Other kids my age then would be harassing the store for the exact moment the paychecks came in, since they went broke every week spending it on going out and putting gas in their cars.

When I buy things I don't need but want, I often haggle in my own mind if I really want it that much to pay whatever it costs. Just because I have the feedom to buy a lot of things and not have to worry about the expense, doesn't mean I have to. I don't pinch EVERY last penny, but I don't just throw it around either.


One specific thing that annoys me is people who whine they are so poor and gas prices are so high, yet they wait in the drive thru for their xtra large coffee that they never finish drinking every morning for 5 minutes, not getting that the cost of that DOES add up. If that's the kind of lifestyle you want, fine, but don't whine to everyone else about your vices you refuse to either give up for find an alternative for. Either give it up or suck it up.