What ever happened to having a simple car that gets you from A to B and that is all. I mean cars amongst other things have turned into a luxury in which we get a car not for the purpose of travel but more for satisfaction and happiness. Are we just doing it for show while digging a financial death hole for ourselves?
Stop Trying to Impress other people
From a financial standpoint, that is a horrible mistake because as I mentioned before. Cars are depreciating assets and you pay interesting while your value goes down; which is essentially throwing money away.
But who’s fault is this?
Sure, we can easily point the finger at the marketers but it’s not like we were forced to purchase what they sold to us. Instead, if we didn’t stand up and say no, they just kept pushing more and more.
I mean imagine this for a moment.
Your car has no CD player or radio, no A/C, no automatic windows, no key less entry. We obviously survived with that before so why do we need all this other junk now? Are we going to turn our cars into a living room soon or a bedroom?
Are we just suckered into this by being presented how visually appealing this stuff is? I mean the more we see of it, the more it becomes normal in our mind and the more we want it. So no wonder it makes sense that we are constantly looking for something new, something different and flashy that stands out.
What are your thoughts?
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Andrew
{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
Because even if not everyone wants to impress others by driving a fancy car, few people want to be the person with the “worst” car on the block. People will economize, but only so much because they don’t want to be mistaken for being “poor”. Broke is normal and somewhat accepted. Poor is — while very common in some parts — not something people aspire to, for sure. And poor people are discriminated against socially (as well as in other ways).
Plus, once people get used to a certain level of luxury, it is VERY hard to go back. Heck, why do you think cable companies offer you free trials of certain channel tiers? And even I just can’t bring myself to buy cheap chocolate (which includes Hershey for me). I’ve tasted better and I’d rather go without more often — and that’s probably better for me, anyhow.
Anyhow, I can’t imagine having a car without AC, but then I live in Florida where during the summer you have to run the AC for a few minutes just so you can get in. I’ve known some people to go without AC, but they must be a lot more heat tolerant than I am (or more likely, just didn’t have a choice).
I find that when trying to economize it’s often easier to just not buy/have stuff at all rather than risk feeling inferior for having an inferior product. We don’t have cable, a tv, or a video game system (beyond our computers). Therefore, we don’t get the urge to upgrade whenever we see our friends with nice televisions, etc. But we don’t feel inferior for giving up those things because those were very conscious choices. Heck, we’re proud of it. Likewise, I’ve read about guys who’ve stopped wearing watches because they didn’t want to shell out for an expensive one but they knew that they’d be judged by their watch where they were going. That way, they don’t seem cheap, they just seem unburdened.
Meg from FruWiki´s last blog ..User:170 buy prandin
Meg, thanks for your comment.
You are right, people don’t want to be at the bottom of the chain. But if you think about it there will always be someone at the bottom and slowly this will destroy people either financially or emotionally/mentally.
There is a lot to consider here such as health, cost, maintenance, replacement cost, and more importantly if there is an actual purpose or does the purpose go beyond and its classified as a want.
Such as an expensive watch not for the sake of knowing the time but for the social status.
Hi Tomasz,
Good article – the key difference that people need to adhere to when making any purchase decision is to decide whether the item in questions is a “need” or a “want” – when first setting out in life try to buy only those items you “need” – and have a small budget for those items you “want”.
By delaying consumption until later in life you will be afforded the time to achieve financial independence.
Here is an article which you might find interesting –
http://www.shrewdcookie.com/financial-planning/personal-financial-planning/needs-and-wants-the-basics-of-budgeting
Simon
Simon @ shrewdcookie.com´s last blog ..Secure Savings
Simon, thanks for your comment.
You are absolutely right but our society just keeps moving away from that thinking into an “I want” stuff. Its like I don’t even have healthy food for my kids but I got plenty of junk food and other stuff to satisfy me.
Exactly, and to this end the advertising and marketing executives have been very succesfull in moulding our lives for us.
The skill in building your own personal wealth is not to succumb to those marketing people’s messages.
Every penny which is spent is gone forever. I found a penny on the floor of the local petrol station and picked it up – my friend commented that along the lines of “what’s the point – it’s only a penny”. This from someone who is up to his neck in debt.
Some people just don’t get it I suppose!
Simon @ Shrewdcookie.com´s last blog ..In it for the long haul – no short-term miracles in wealth creation