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Originally Posted by !@#$%!

saving is good! it has many functions. the first one is to stabilize your finances. because your income goes up & down and it's never guaranteed, or your expenses might fluctuate from month to month, savings provide a cushion for those variations so you never run dry.

people today are brainwashed to spend all the money they get. that is the problem. when they have a small emergency or an inconvenience or they just want something they can't afford, they borrow money from someone else.

they borrow from friends and fuck their friendships, they borrow from family and strain the relationships. they borrow from credit cards and get gouged with interest. they borrow from payday loans and get trapped into a downward spiral of debt. they borrow from title loans and lose their vehicles. they borrow from their home equity and get underwater and end up in the street.

borrowing money is the fucking pits.

borrowing money turns you from a worker into a slave.

when you have savings, you borrow from yourself. you owe nobody, nobody owns you or dictates where and how you can use your money. e.g., for some bank loans, the bank needs to approve your loan, tied to a purchase, they can repo, etc.

if you have savings you have choices. you are free to quit a job. you are free to try a business, or pursue education. you are free to say "no." you are free to move to another place. you are no longer hand-to-mouth, fearing that the boss might wake up with a swollen hemorrhoid and fire you on a whim. savings give you power.

saving is only a start though. the goal is to make money work for you, i.e., investing, which basically means: buying a business or a piece of a business. it's the only way to make good use of capitalism. the problem is, the poors are brainwashed into thinking that investing is beyond their means. too hard/too difficult/ too inaccessible. it's a class problem. so the poor blow their money in gambling, "collectibles," drugs, status symbols, and all manner of nonsense, and remain poor, waiting for a miserable social security check when they are old and broken.

if that could change, and the poors dared to save and invest, and didn't get conned in the process, it would amount to a massive social revolution. all businesses would be employee-owned. capitalism would stand up on its head.

the other thing is that as you get older you get more opportunities to make money. if you have the saving habit then it just kicks in and you can build a sizeable stash and get financial independence. everyone makes 8 bucks an hour at the start. as they acquire skills, they get to charge more. but you can't wait to make more money to change your habits-- change them from the start.

saving is a really good habit. it's only the first step but without it the rest doesn't happen.

to call it by a different name: saving is the ability to LIVE BELOW YOUR MEANS. which puts you on a much safer position than the ones who are waiting for the next paycheck to keep the lights on. it makes a MASSIVE difference in how you relate to money-- namely, it makes you the master instead of the other way around.

whoa - lots of wisdom here.

everyone read this.

re- fashionable shit.

you get hooked on this stuff in your youth because your parents/disposable income makes you a target, so everyone hustling makes off you. but when you face the fear and reality of surviving as an adult its time to let go of this stuff.

but it is real fun to buy trinkets and junk and shiny objects as a kid because its beautiful. but this stuff doesnt give you an identity past a certain age.

thats why it becomes very sad to see older people still grasping at some objet petit a through consuming trends. nothing worse than an adult trying to recapture their youth - it never works. there is no contentment to be found in this shit either, unless you are producing it it is not gonna give you much in the way of artistry.

i guess as an adult hyperconformity is a smart move. but more than that, i dress now FOR other peoples perception of my appearance. you get what you need and blend in a lot better looking smart as an adult. the difference in how you are treated is MASSIVE - try wearing a suit.

Originally Posted by symbol

the problem is, the poors are brainwashed into thinking that investing is beyond their means. too hard/too difficult/ too inaccessible. it's a class problem. so the poor blow their money in gambling, "collectibles," drugs, status symbols, and all manner of nonsense, and remain poor, waiting for a miserable social security check when they are old and broken.

this is precisely it.

its hard to deal with reality because noones telling you how to live - and people cant handle that because then they'd have to handle the fact there's no need to live at all. freedom is not what most people really want. instead they seem to want to follow a leader at a safe cynical distance, always ready to disavow. getting caught in bad forms of narcissism that are produced by hustlers with designs on your wallet.

and people know deep down that this stupid trivial shit is a waste of their time, but they still pursue it because it seems like an anxiety release valve or an escape from something worse.