What Happened to work ethic, personal responsibility and morals?
10/11/2008
Living beyond your means.
I am reading the economic news and cringing: more than a trillion dollars was lost in retirement funds and the markets. There was an article about Alan Greenspan’s reign of the Treasury pointing out where mistakes were made. It was greed that got us to this point according to him.
I did hear someone point out yesterday: a lot of the people have never lived through a downturn. I remember the gas lines in the 70’s with unemployment rates hitting their highs. I recall my dad getting laid off and starting a house painting business with one of the neighbors. It got the family through the rough times. Being frugal was a way of life, it affected everyone. I recall in the 80’s when I left collage, I was competing with people that had 20 years of experience on their resume who would take any job just to have health coverage. It happened again in the 90’s and that’s when I moved to Texas. I was willing to relocate, to go where the economy was growing and there were jobs. It was a good move for me.
I was called frugal when I wouldn’t share $120 bottles of wine and $60 dinners with the girls during the tech boom. I was excluded from that group because I suggested a dinner spot that cost us less then $20 each. Yes, it hurt my feelings but when the tech bust came along, I did just fine, some of the woman lost their jobs and their houses. I kept building my dream, piece by piece, the front house, the barn and a steady job with benefits.
I always positioned myself for a down turn, didn’t spend excessively, and didn’t spend what I didn’t have. I don’t use my credit card for shopping, dinners or extras, that’s always cash or the debit card. I did run the credit card bill up when I was building the barn, but that was a risk I was willing to take for a long term gain. I sucked it up this past year and a half, skipping a lot of travel and entertainment opportunities to get my debt paid off. I cooked at home a bunch, didn’t go to many music shows, I watched a lot of free TV and watched racing on the internet because I didn’t want to pay for cable. I sent the final payment in this week to the credit card company on the house balance. That sure felt good.
I don’t drive a flashy car, I live in a nice neighborhood but I have kept it all within my reach. I was always looking towards the future, not wanting to jeopardize what I was working so hard for. Those dinners I didn’t want to spend money on, skipping them bought me plumbing fixtures, light fixtures and the ability to go into this downturn in a debt free, cash positive position.
