I was at Chipotle today and a kid, maybe 10 years old, sees a Lotus drive up, looks at his mom and says "wow mom I want one of those when I turn 16!" his mom replies "you really want to be a person who only cares about money and nice cars?" I wondered why the mom didn't reply "work hard and you can earn that if you want it!"

I just turned 25 and have a nice house in a nice area, a new car and I do alright for myself, nothing super fancy, but i'll pretty easily retire around 40-45 years old. I hope my kids grow up wanting to reach for the stars. I just far too often see my colleagues sitting idle with their college degrees making $30k-40k a year that will probably never make more than $45k a year for 10 years because they don't have the drive to go the extra mile and earn a raise/promotion. Then I see those who do pretty well for themselves and they spend it on a stupid amount of rent and going to bars every night so much that when I ask if they want to go out to lunch they literally can't until they get their next paycheck.

I know I'm a bit old school, but am I the only person who has the goal of frugality and being able to live a bit simpler now so that I can have a wealthy retirement and so my kids can go to college and be more successful than I even hope to be?

i...

i want to own a yacht some day

Some people value the time they spend outside of work more than they value the promotion. There's nothing wrong with enjoying life over work. Balance is important.

Materialism is overrated and does retard the spirit, although to say you don't need money would definitely be spiritual snobbery.

The reason I care about my earning power is because it is a nice quantitative measure of being successful in a particular culture and I personally wake up and piss excellence.

I know I could make more money doing something else, but there is quality of life issues to consider and I love waking up and doing the things I do. Considering I'm the first person in my family to go to college and have a real professional occupation I feel like I am successful already. But I yearn for more. I am going to have much nicer things than I do now, and right now I have much nicer things than I ever had in the past, nicer things than either of my parents had. But that is just icing on the cake, because I would trade it all and start over again just to have another conversation with my mom or dad, and when you think of what is valuable after considering something like that it isn't the nice single-cup coffee brewer, ice machine, PS4, sectional couch with four built-in recliners, electronic devices, etc, etc, that wins out.

It is tempting to measure success in dollars, but you can have a lot of dollars and be a horrible, miserable, and shitty person devoid of any real value.

As long as you can meet your basic needs the sky is the limit in potentiality.



My financial goals include: buying an in-ground pool, being able to pay for my children's' college tuition, books, and board, and making enough cash to make sure my wife is set (she is nine years younger than me and men typically die earlier than women...so she is going to have an entire life after my death, a renaissance I hope), and that's about it. Travel freely, I'd like to see more of the world and meet more of its people. Maybe win an election of some sort.

This post was edited by Skinned on Oct 8 2014 04:22pm

1001010111010110101101

this.

Saving for retirement is all well and good and probably a wise choice... but I wouldn't sacrifice my life now for a possible financially comfortable retirement. I feel I would regret not doing all the things I wanted to while I was young.

You're still a nerd.

Some people don't want what you want.

I could give up my personal life to devote myself to my career but I would hate myself for it. I work to live, I dont live to work.

If I have enough money to live comfortable, why would I want more? Anything more above that is simply greed and materialism.


e/

and you bring up rent. Whats wrong with rent? I will NEVER EVER EVER own a house because its not a commitment I want to make. If I want to up and start a new life somewhere else in the country - I can - and I will. Owning a house is an anchor in my eyes.

Can I afford a house? Very easily. I would just rather slam my nuts in my car door than sign my life away like that.

This post was edited by ChronFather420 on Oct 8 2014 07:38pm

No, I'm 22.
I'll graduate with zero debt, 401k, Excellent credit score, salary job lined up with a scholar ship for MBA if I so choose to take that path.
My main goals are a career that I love (like my current), condo, cabin that I refurbished myself, wifey and my sportsbike.
The career I have will be pure passion with or without my degree needed.
All my $$$ go towards my hobbies and investments.

This post was edited by S3th on Oct 8 2014 07:52pm