The tenth black sweater
I
have only seen like two or three episodes of Dr. Phil in my life. The
very first episode I ever watched was pretty good, though. It was about
two families who were in financial death spiral of accumulating credit
card and other debt. One of the families seemed reasonable and gave the
impression that they were going to turn around, but the man in the
other one was so totally deluded about everything that my best guess is
that right now his family lives in either grandparents' basement.
The guy already had one bankruptcy behind him few years ago, in which he lost his house and so had to rent a place for his family. He must have had a pretty good job then, though, since he said that the brings home about a thousand bucks each week. Assuming that was after income and payroll taxes, that's probably what, about twice the national median income? I don't remember if the show mentioned where this family lives, because that salary probably wouldn't be all that grand in some major population centers, but perhaps in some mid-sized Midwest town it would be pretty sweet, even with four kids. Anyway, the way the man told it was that this $1000 quickly gets spent for all kinds of name brand clothes and other similar amusements.
When Dr. Phil and the guest advisor tried to speak some sense to this guy, he was totally daft, like he didn't even understand that he is doing something wrong. His denials and defenses were unbelievable, like when he explained why he needs to own a luxury motorcycle as an investment. Or why the children need to wear expensive clothes. I just shook my head and laughed, vividly imagining what would happen to them if the paychecks should some day stop coming.
I remembered this guy when I saw a news discussion on the personal finances of Canadians these days. I was shocked but in retrospect not too surprised to hear that it takes the average Canadian four days to burn $100 on their average discretionary spending, which makes about $750 a month. Or $1500 for the average husband and wife together, every single month. Jesus Holy Freaking Christ. If I added up all my discretionary spending, I doubt that the total would ring up to $200 each month, even with an extremely loose notion of "discretionary" in which eating a $1.79 burger for lunch is "eating out". And I kind of doubt that my wife, who is the real personal finances nut in our household, is any worse.
It is good and natural to buy better things for yourself, and that is the whole idea of progress. They call some things "better" because they are. But what I can't understand is buying more of the same when you already have enough of it, and even worse, putting this stuff on a credit card whose annual interest rate is like 20% or so. Just to feel good and relax. In fact, I would go as far as to classify such behaviour as a mental illness, perhaps some kind of a compulsive hoarding syndrome.
And spending four dollars for a cup of coffee, typically two or three times a day? What the hell is going on in here? What madhouse did I perhaps move in? No wonder the report then went to tell that the national savings rate is currently negative.
The guy already had one bankruptcy behind him few years ago, in which he lost his house and so had to rent a place for his family. He must have had a pretty good job then, though, since he said that the brings home about a thousand bucks each week. Assuming that was after income and payroll taxes, that's probably what, about twice the national median income? I don't remember if the show mentioned where this family lives, because that salary probably wouldn't be all that grand in some major population centers, but perhaps in some mid-sized Midwest town it would be pretty sweet, even with four kids. Anyway, the way the man told it was that this $1000 quickly gets spent for all kinds of name brand clothes and other similar amusements.
When Dr. Phil and the guest advisor tried to speak some sense to this guy, he was totally daft, like he didn't even understand that he is doing something wrong. His denials and defenses were unbelievable, like when he explained why he needs to own a luxury motorcycle as an investment. Or why the children need to wear expensive clothes. I just shook my head and laughed, vividly imagining what would happen to them if the paychecks should some day stop coming.
I remembered this guy when I saw a news discussion on the personal finances of Canadians these days. I was shocked but in retrospect not too surprised to hear that it takes the average Canadian four days to burn $100 on their average discretionary spending, which makes about $750 a month. Or $1500 for the average husband and wife together, every single month. Jesus Holy Freaking Christ. If I added up all my discretionary spending, I doubt that the total would ring up to $200 each month, even with an extremely loose notion of "discretionary" in which eating a $1.79 burger for lunch is "eating out". And I kind of doubt that my wife, who is the real personal finances nut in our household, is any worse.
It is good and natural to buy better things for yourself, and that is the whole idea of progress. They call some things "better" because they are. But what I can't understand is buying more of the same when you already have enough of it, and even worse, putting this stuff on a credit card whose annual interest rate is like 20% or so. Just to feel good and relax. In fact, I would go as far as to classify such behaviour as a mental illness, perhaps some kind of a compulsive hoarding syndrome.
And spending four dollars for a cup of coffee, typically two or three times a day? What the hell is going on in here? What madhouse did I perhaps move in? No wonder the report then went to tell that the national savings rate is currently negative.
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