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This advice is similar to that of Elizabeth Warren: you can make a bigger difference in your finances by cutting back on the big stuff (housing, cars, etc.) than by pinching pennies on small stuff.
This article is about Spare Change
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JD, thanks for the mention.
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The linked article says: ” The problem lies in the fact that this advice ignores the “happiness factor” completely.”
This is completely wrong. Socialogists have studied this and found that more money doesn’t make people happier. Therefore as long as your basic needs are met, less money doesn’t make you less happy.
I know from personal experience. I used to make $94k and changed my lifestyle to live on $12K. I am much happier now. Money is a drug and when you are freed from the delusion that money buys happiness you are free to find true happiness within yourself.
Latte does not make you happy. Designer clothes do not make you happy. What makes you happy is your satisfaction with yourself and the people around you.
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You’d think living below your means would help. But, in my city, where housing has gone up astronomically, those of us who tried to live below our means have been punished. If you bought a 800-sq-ft for $280k, it rose to $385k. Meanwhile, the house you chould have bought for $400-$500k has gone up to $900k to $1M. You read that right. How can one ever recover from the decision to live below one’s means, in a situation like this?
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a ton of lead weighs the same as a ton of feathers. It doesn’t matter if it is a big expense or a bunch of small expenses. It will be unique to the individual as to if all the small things add up to the big things. the problem with what Elizabeth focused on is the fact that we tend to ignore the cost of small things, because they are indeed small. To be trite, you do nickel and dime yourself. we can ignore $1 difference quite easily; however, bigger expenses give people more pause and more thought so they look for ways to save. We never look for ways to save on the small things.
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