Well, perhaps but I had others in mind, like the ones running the banks, investment dealers, and hedge funds.
Swim suit sales, propelled by the captains of finance no doubt, will be predictably brisk this spring. But no designer stuff. Oh, no! There’s that $500,000 cap on their income. Well done, Obama. Squeeze ‘em ‘til it hurts.
The rest of us will be content with the old togs we bought last year but might surprisingly find them a little baggy with all the belt-tightening this winter.
No Sports Illustrated fame for us in their annual eye candy edition. Is it my imagination or are the talent a little thinner this year? Hmmm.
So settle back. Don’t worry. Be happy.
The rising tide pushed by a wave of stimulus may create a tsunami that lifts all boats and sweeps the flotsam out of sight and out of our life.
I live in hope.
Copyright 2009 William M. MacKay
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( 2.9 / 153 )A great lifestyle is a process of “natural selection” as Charles Darwin coined the phrase. Whatever your appraisal of your lifestyle it is, like evolution and our very nature, the end result of a long, slow process.
Over recent decades, dissatisfied with the slowness of the dream creating mechanism (saving) that earlier generations endured, we embraced credit and debt with historical consequences. Yet, even today, this process of choice is still operative in spite of the limitations imposed either by the availability of credit or by the decline in your personal income.
While “survival of the fittest” became the more popular term that explained how living things evolved it also offers a perspective on how you get to that great lifestyle you would define for yourself.
Getting there is an evolutionary battle. The combatants in this struggle (being of our own making) have also evolved from two powerful natural forces. Parental and cultural conditioning come to mind.
It is, however, your values, attitude, desire, and motivation that are the determinants of how you spend your money. But if your wants get perverted and become everything you “need” then all bets are off that your survival can be guaranteed or your dreams realized.
This behavior may reinforce the notion that we are but modified monkeys, as T. H. Huxley said, although not quite as low as modified dirt.
Why the problem? You can’t buy “everything” you want. Your desires are infinite.
Even to the most casual observer there is not enough money to acquire what all advertisers and retailers are offering to make you and your life perfect. Of course, it’s natural to want it. Throw in the availability of loose credit, rampant greed, and blind regulators and you have the perfect storm we are now trying to survive.
But you can buy “anything’ you want. Here’s the distinction.
The “anything” you want is much more of a selective process. It’s a value-added enhancement to the survive and reproduce model that drives much of our behavior. It is what separates us from a beetle or a pig. The choice is conscious.
While I don’t support the existence of Homo economicus, a rational Adam and Eve that walked out of the Garden of Eden, there is a place for sober second thought in how we go about getting what we want and can sustain. The sustaining aspect is the key to defining your choice.
Natural selection has a very long time horizon. So does life expectancy in the 21st century. What’s the best you think you can manage and sustain given the duration and uncertainty of the years ahead? Now, the operative word is “ think”. No immediate gratification here.
This is not about giving up your dreams and aspirations. It is about putting what you truly value in the spotlight of reality and doing something that will ensure its survival.
You cannot have it all but you can enjoy --with modest analysis, planning, and action--what you value most when you remember that wealth is all that you have for which you would not take money.
Copyright 2009 William M. MacKay
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( 3 / 163 )As weekends come and go, and wherever you find yourself, there are others who are doing or enjoying less. If you’re at home you are not the only one.
Sure, some friends carry on with their Friday or Saturday tradition. However the night is defined…be it “club, girls’, bowling, or movie night” … whatever the recreation, I have no doubt that the fun is tempered by the thought of who is missing from the social circle this weekend. And perhaps why they are missing.
What’s happening to your friends and family?
I just heard Obama pushing Congress to pass the $900 billion plus stimulus plan to avoid a catastrophe. Chrysler announced the closing of several assembly plants for 10 days starting on Monday. An acquaintance was just diagnosed with cancer. A friend’s partner just left today.
Not-so rich, you see, is about more than the money in your jeans. It’s the lifestyle big picture.
Clearly, money is the enabler here so you can afford those nights out with family and friends. But it is too limiting to budget with only this narrow financial perspective.
The grand vision of your lifestyle encompasses so much more than just what money will buy. But as one wag said, “There’s only one thing money can’t buy and that’s poverty.”
So while this weekend may not be just what you prefer doing and would do if you had more money, consider your good fortune in other ways. Whether it is spent with a special friend, partner, or child you love; or alone with a good book, terrific DVD movie or a hobby that engrosses make the most of it.
It is the little things in life that add up and make it special. Adopting this attitude now may make the year ahead one to remember rather than one to regret.
Copyright 2009 William M. MacKay
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( 3 / 157 )Choose wisely. SAVING Is for Suckers unless…and this is the vital qualifier…unless you are, right now, Spending On Purpose.
Are you? Or do you even know?
Spending on purpose is a strategy where you allocate your income to those vital few things, your dreams and personal aspirations that give your lifestyle the edge, that give you the feeling that it really is meaningful and in sync with your values.
3 BEEFS WITH SAVING [unless you are already enjoying the above]:
#1. Saving while you are carrying debt that racks up interest charges of 10%, 12% or 24% is nuts. The difference between what you could earn on today’s best saving rates and what you are paying out on your credit card or auto loans is astronomical. You can’t win.
#2. To squeeze anything out of your spending to save a little you typically follow the practice of cutting a fixed percentage out of your budget. You know the drill. Want to save 10%. Cut 10%.
That 10% 'across the board cut' to the budget sweeps away all in its path including the 10% you actually spend toward your greater purpose and lifestyle dreams. Why reduce what gives your life some of its meaningful moments?
#3. What gives your life meaning and satisfaction (as opposed to celebrity status and beating your neighbor) demands a focus on spending on those things and activities that actually make a long term contribution toward a lifestyle you can sustain. Of course, I assume this is the one of your dreams.
Why? It is only when you see yourself making progress toward your goals that saving can be practiced with any discipline. Saving is tough to sustain when your lifestyle sucks.
The solution; make SPENDING ON PURPOSE your goal. Then, sooner than you think, saving will not only be natural but a habit that will also give you pleasure and lasting satisfaction.
Copyright 2009 William M. MacKay
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( 3 / 140 )Well, thank you CitiBank. I didn’t know that.
I used to think spending was, you know, spending until your Savings Checks arrived today. What’s wrong with me? And look. They’re even personalized. How thoughtful.
It was just yesterday that I was cursing your birth. You know, given the bail out and all. Dare I mention that my retirement account won’t buy a Hershey bar. But when nine out of ten of you CEO guys can still keep your jobs you can’t be all bad. Stupid for sure but retrainable.
I sure hope you keep your $8 million a year jobs. You’ll need every penny when the banks are nationalized. You'll have fun dealing with civil servants e.v.e.r.y. daaaay. Then you’ll know what pain really is. Boyz, those long lunches are definitely history.
But I digress. Must get on with my savings plan. The sooner I write those checks the more I’ll save. And I intend to SAVE BIG.
By the way, could you increase the size of the print on the back so I can read it? Thanks again.
Copyright 2009 William M. MacKay
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