And Rob is right. If saving money helps you live a life of meaning then awesome, but in most cases it’s about creating a meager existence, which is awful.

As for soda and eating out–my time is worth a lot, to me and to other people, so I’d rather not waste it cooking. And for the record, there is nothing wrong with rewarding yourself. Ever.

“Evaluate your lifestyle. People forget that sometimes the best investment they can make is in wisely buying things they know they will use. If you track what you use and consume, whether its gas vs bus fare, buying bulk quantities or other discretionary spending, you can save more and earn a far greater return than you could in the stock market. If you can save 10pct per month on a hundred dollar per month budget, thats 120 bucks you can put in the bank. Thats the equivalent of earning 12 pct on a 1k dollar investment. If you can cut 100 bucks per month off 1k dollar monthly budget, thats like earning 12 pct on 10k dollars. Thats pretty darn good. Spend smart, put your savings in risk averse, interest earning offerings.”

-Mark Cuban

“The most obvious failure of our education system is the number of ‘educated’ people who are financially illiterate and seem to have no concept of personal responsibility.”

-Steve Olson

I agree with you about the penny pinching, but I disagree with your disregard to educating yourself financially.

You don’t have to take my word, but if you get a chance look into reading the articles I linked below.

Mark Cuban

My Investment advice for 2006

http://www.blogmaverick.com/2006/01/02/my-investment-advice-for-2006/

The Stock Market is for suckers….

http://www.blogmaverick.com/2006/01/03/the-stock-market-is-for-suckers/

Investing – The Good News – The Longtail of Investing

http://www.blogmaverick.com/2006/01/04/investing-the-good-news-the-longtail-of-investing/

Steve-olson

Personal Responsibility is the Cornerstone of Financial Literacy

http://www.steve-olson.com/personal-responsibility-is-the-cornerstone-of-financial-literacy/

If you spend your whole life being a supportive breadwinner who never achieved anything else, you know what happens at the end. You die, same as someone who lived life to the full from moment to moment.

I couldn’t respect myself, and I wouldn’t expect others to respect me, if I merely existed rather than lived.

I don’t check my 401K,IRA,etc on any regular basis, but what I am cognizant of is the retirement talk I attended at age 21 (in the mid 90s) in which the speaker said the primary reason to have multiple accounts/investments was not to travel the world and live in luxury, but to be assured that you could afford healthcare of some degree. Even though I don’t agree with that premise, this seems pertinent given the looming impact of the baby boomers’ demise, and the future of soc. security, healthcare, and quite a few other things after that generation is gone.

As an aside – since you’re so physically active, I would think you’d prefer not drinking soda or eating out since you could better control your diet vis-a-vis your goals for conditioning, by cooking for yourself (which is a skill everyone should possess, IMO).

I enjoy reading your blog, please keep up the good work.

You’re just wrong. There is a difference between being financially illiterate and being literate but rejecting the message. I’m putting myself in the latter category now.

It’s just not worth the daily grind of pinching pennies. Why waste all that time, energy and stress when you could pay a little to take it all off your shoulders?

A lot people die wishing they’d been happier but very few wish they’d left more in the bank. And I can’t think of anyone who enjoys not owning trash bags.

The city picks up my recycling with the trash, but even if they didn’t I would still do it. A few minutes a month to be better than the average mouthbreather? I will do it. And if everyone threw everything away, that much more trash we have to bury.