Beating Broke

Personal Finance from the Broke Perspective

Financial Gluttony

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Gluttony is all around us.  I’m as guilty of it as you likely are.  The most classical example of gluttony is the act of eating much more than you need.  It leads to obesity, which is a rampant problem in this country.  Gluttony is described as the excessive indulgence in food and drink.

But, since this is a personal finance blog, let’s expand that description a bit and talk about financial gluttony. In fact, lets get down right philosophical about it.

The excessive indulgence of money. It may not be an official one of the 7 deadly sins, but it certainly is one of the deadly sins of personal finance.  It’s the rampant consumerism that often runs wild in our society.  Especially around this time of year.  We spend and spend and only stop when our credit runs out.  We give little thought to what the resulting consequences will be of our spending.  Over spending, over extending, gluttonous use of money.

The excessive indulgences of finance.  I’m going to go out on a limb here and guess that many of you have probably not thought of this side of the argument.  What I’m talking about is the gluttonous use of financial maxims to save and perform frugal acts.  Moderation is good for all things, even the stuff that is good for us.  You’ll garner no argument from me that saving money and being frugal are good things.  But, it is possible to take it too far.  Making soup by boiling your old belts, not because you can’t afford food, but because it’ll save a buck or two is finance gluttony.  Ok, that’s a pretty extreme example, but you get the point.

What I really want to get at here is that there are extremes for everything.  If we eat too much we get fat.  If we spend too much we get broke.  If we save too much, we fail to appreciate what our money can do for us.  So, the next time you’re doing your budget or even just balancing your checkbook, take the time to think about that.  Are you being financially gluttonous?

Are Your Personal Finance Skills Holding You Back?

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One of the reasons that I started this site was because it forces me to learn new personal finance skills.  Sometimes, the tree is sitting there in the forest and you need someone to point it out and make it stick out from the forest.  The more skills that you learn in any given subject, the closer you are to what could be considered an expert on that subject.  There are a few subjects that I consider myself to be an expert, but personal finance is not one of them.  But, I am trying.

It occurs to me, however, that in our journey to become experts at personal finance (even if it’s just our own finances) we can sometimes hold ourselves back.  We can sometimes become so focused on the topic and that one slice of our lives that we forget that there are other parts of our lives that must also be taken care of.  For many, personal finance is a deeply religious topic.  As a Christian, there are many places in the Bible that specifically mention money and the manner in which we should handle it.  In fact, you might notice the tag line here at Beating Broke as being a quote from the Bible.  But, nowhere in the Bible does it say that I must be perfect in the handling of my money before I should begin to work on any other aspects of my life.

If we focus too long on any one aspect, many of the other aspects can quickly fall behind.  Baker, from Man vs. Debt, recently called himself a hypocrite.  Why?  Because he’s been a crusader for paying off debt and doing so unrelentingly.  He has preached a very die-hard approach to debt retirement that is based in the teachings of Dave Ramsey.  But, Baker and his family have put their debt repayment on hold while they travel and experience foreign living and working.

If you only glance at the situation, you can’t help but agree with Baker’s assessment of himself.  And in a some ways, he is a hypocrite.  However, he also is not entirely a hypocrite.  He and his wife planned for this trip.  They budgeted for it and saved for it.  Yes, they put some of their goals on hold, but they did so to take advantage of an opportunity that may have never reappeared for them.  If he and his wife had passed up on this opportunity, they would have been kicking themselves for it for the rest of their life.  They’d be debt free, but at what cost.

It is a lifetime opportunity.  If they had to choose between debt repayment and a trip to Disneyland, I would say that they would be stupid to not skip it.  After all, Disneyland isn’t likely to go away anytime soon and they’d be able to visit at a later date.  Yes, you have to maintain your vigilance and do whatever you can to meet your goals.  But you also have to live your life.  If your goals are holding you back from living your life, then you really should rethink your goals, because they may be causing more harm than good.

Baker is a very skillful personal finance person.  He’s been writing about the subject for quite a while now.  He and his wife have made great strides towards their goal of being debt free.  But, Baker didn’t let his personal finance skills hold him back.  He didn’t let them keep him from living passionately. And he didn’t let them keep him from taking advantage of a once in a lifetime opportunity.  He and his family will have a wonderful story to tell and experiences that you just can’t buy.  If that makes him a hypocrite, then so be it.  I don’t think it does.  After all, if he hadn’t been walking the walk, he wouldn’t have had the ability to take advantage of the opportunity.  If anything, he’s an example of why you need to stick to your guns.  If you do, you will be able to take advantage of opportunity instead of having to let it pass you by.

That Your Daddy’s Car?

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I want to share a story with you about work. About working for what you want, so that you can not only get what you want, but pay for it with cash.
My roommate in college (one of many) graduated college with no college loans. Not because he had scholarships, but because he paid for it with cash. Not only that, but he had a nice pickup and an even nicer classic car. It was a very nice drop-top convertible with a deep burgundy metal flake paint job. Every summer, he did a little bit of work on it until it was painstakingly nice.
68mustangblue_smallOne day, while we were out and about enjoying the sun with the top down, we happened to stop somewhere. It’s been a while ago, so I don’t exactly remember where. While we were there, some older guys (I’m guessing 40-50ish) came over to look at the car.
After asking the normal courtesy questions, like what kind of motor was in it and if the seats were original, one of the guys asked the wrong question.  “That your Daddy’s Car?”

My roommate isn’t exactly a shy person, but even he will admit that, at first, he was taken aback by the question. Despite our age (21ish), he had worked hard to put that car in the condition that it was in.  It was his car.  Not his daddy’s, his.  After he regained his senses, he made sure that the man who asked the question knew that it was his car. That he had done the work and he had paid for it.  The guy laughed his question off like it was a joke, although it was obvious that he hadn’t meant it jokingly.

Like most stories, this one has a moral at the end.  Or, at least, I’m giving it one.  Giving us all something to learn from it.  No matter how hard you work for something, there will always be that guy who will assume that you got it handed to you.  Nice car?  Must be your daddy’s.  Nice house?  Inheritance.  Or more loan that it’s worth.  Or you make a lot of money.  Or.  Or. Or.  The point is, they will find a way to assume that you got whatever it is by some other method than actual hard work.  And, like my roommate, you might feel that you need to set them straight.  Whether you do or not, is irrelevant.  What you need to take from this story is that when you set those goals, and you work hard to reach them, you must expect that there will be few people who will believe that you got it by working for it.  Some, you will be able to set straight.  Others will continue to think it no matter how many times you tell them.  Being disciplined and hard working requires a thicker skin.  You’ve got to be able to ignore the people who won’t believe.  They believe that anyone who has nice things got it the same way the majority of other people do.  Credit.  But you know better.  You got your things the Beating Broke Way!

Photo Credit: kkiser