I never understood “the millionaire next door.” To live a life of frugality is equal to not living at all. In other words, what the fuck are you saving your money for? I rather live like a fucking King in my 30’s, than a comfortable senile old fucker at 70. We’re trained to believe in the notion of “saving for a rainy day.” Scum bags like Suze Orman profess selling off spare kidneys in order to increase interest income during light years. If you are saving money to build a business or buy some property, fine, that’s smart. However, if you are a sick person, like some of the old fuckers I know collecting cans out of the trash, who happen to have $20 million in savings, seek professional help.
This is the way I see it: live good and smart, die without regrets. It’s important to leave a legacy behind, something to build upon the family name through fortune. However, it’s far more important to do what you want to do. For me, having money is about not having to worry. I don’t need to worry about haggling over prices, because the difference between a $500 mirror and a $2,000 mirror is negligible. If you are still of the mindset to always get a good deal, you’re a fucking idiot. Period.
I grew up without money, living like a fucking vagabond with holes in my sneakers. Now that I have a little, I tend to not think about spending it, only acquiring more.
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FIG
very deep. will take it to heart
You’ll do fine in the transition LeFly. You’re evolving out of the status detailed labyrinth that is NYC. This house issue will be a blip on your memory’s radar.
Well said Senor Fly
Ditto!
Lets be real, your Hugh Hendry collection is worth billions
I look for deals all the time. Every day, like clock work. Some times I price myself out of the market.
regards,
chuck
Unfortunately for many money is a disease. Knew a guy many years ago who would not buy butter, wear winter coats in house beacause he would not heat it and all he would eat is dry biscuts and a cup of tea.
When he died he leaft millions to his son who immediately bought a luxury car, rolex and started living large.
Pretty f&*ked up.
Was his name Ebeneezer Scrooge?
Unfortunately for many money is a disease. Knew a guy many years ago who would not buy butter, wear winter coats in house beacause he would not heat it and all he would eat is dry biscuts and a cup of tea.
When he died he left millions to his son who immediately bought a luxury car, rolex and started living large.
Pretty f&*ked up.
So that’s why they call you Jimmy Two Times.
Ha!
LOL you got that straight !!!
noticed a typo, thought I could go back .. hate errors so duped the post .. my mistake
looming forward to “cooking with oil” tomorrow on the refiners
Shopping for mirrors, plenty of money, holes in sneakers,”extending the legacy’ etc. You’re thinking about the money because wife is in spending mode and she’s got you conditioned as such. That’s how they do it, they make you think it is “normal” and then make you think you’re not as every other guy who has coin would act if you don’t fall in line and agree to free up the jack. Good luck my man. It’s a tough slalom.
Don’t worry, they do it it to all of us. But know that the Mrs. is in her GLORY shopping for new bathroom fixtures, mrrors, tiles, ;paint colors, light fixtures, towels bars, toilet holders, etc. This is what they f–ng excel at. They’ve trained for this kind of situation since pre-school. Hell, in the womb they were studying Williams & Sonoma mags before they even existed.
Carry on good sir.
lol. I tend to agree with what you said, but this is really my opinion as well.
Something tells me this post was not approved by the certified financial planners association.
Classic!
It’s more satisfying to bargain shop and fix things than to shop extravagantly
and replace things. You will learn that in 35 more years, Fly.
Fly’s got it. Everything in moderation. Save some, spend some. Conserve but splurge on the things you will really enjoy.
Conserve but splurge is not Everything in moderation.
“Excess in moderation”. (copyright wcs 1991) is preferable, but a man’s got to know his limitations, lest he slip of the edge.
This is indeud a Tier 1 blog.
If you are still of the mindset to always get a good deal, you’re a fucking idiot. Period.
You are still looking to get a good deal. Just your definition of a good deal has changed. Having more money allows you to change the amount of margin you are willing to pay for your goods. Needless to say, whether rich or poor, bad spendthrift habits will lead the foolish to the poor house. Just those who happen to have more to start with end up there later, and even then that’s sometimes not the case. Look at all the broke NBA players.
The Fly is worth 23.1M
http://www.cnn.com/2011/TECH/web/04/25/amazon.price.algorithm/index.html?hpt=Sbin
I have to disagree with you, Fly. I live on the water, and my neighbor at the end of our private drive, an architect of national repute who rode the peak of the housing bubble, was foreclosed a year ago to the tune of $1.1 million when his work dried up. My neighbor next door to him is being foreclosed for over $2 million. My neighbor on the other side of me had to auction off his house at a huge loss, and he paid the difference. I can go on and on about the other people I knew well from the RE development game. Many owed well in excess of $50 million and have lost everything. There have been three high profile suicides.
One thing they all had in common was that they denied themselves nothing. They drove $130,000 Mercedes and/or had 60′ junior yachts. They were big swinging dicks who would compete to outdo each other. Now they are all broke or playing keep away from the banks and the tax man. Some who bought their wives boob jobs, are now having to live with the fact that someone else is polishing those missile warheads.
I still drive my 1997 Expedition and 1999 VW bug. My wife still drives her 2000 F-150 crew cab. Our intracoastal waterway house is less than 5,000 sq ft, but it’s paid for and our beach house is paid for. One of my daughters costs me 50 grand a year at Duke, and the other daughter, at nine years old, is in expensive sports, dancing and music activities five days a week. I saved enough money to pay for everything. There is still much more to pay for.
The State’s largest newspaper interviewed me in May of 2005 about the stupid prices of beach lots. I told them it was all a ponzi scheme, and realtors responded to my interview by threatening to do everything but burn crosses on my lawn. Now they are all broke, and I am still the millionaire next door to the foreclosed or foreclosing properties. I still drive shit cars and I still dress like shit, but I’m in great shape–physically and financially. Fly, be careful, because bad $hit really does happen.
They are idiots. “who rode the peak of the housing bubble”
That’s not riding the bubble; that’s being driven over the edge of a cliff like a lemming.
truth be told, I’ve made the same mistakes but not to that extent. I’ve spotted investment opportunities, bet on them, only to hold for too long. I’ve learned to correct that on this here blog – I hope.
Good riddance to the human detritus that were your ostentatious neighbors.
I hope the got planted in a potter’s field.
Very true Baron. My story is very similar although I sold my coastal home in early 2006. Purchased in ’95 for $365K sold in ’06 for $1.9 million. This same home has now been listed for sale for over a year starting at $2.5 million and is currently offered for sale for $1.1 million with no takers.
In my opinion, The Fly is apparently suffering from a young man’s feelings of immortality. The ability to acquire more money is never guaranteed, life often throws curve balls that usually hit you where it can do the most damage. My wife was diagnosed with breast cancer three years ago and that alone completely changed our priorities.
Only one thing is guaranteed in life.
Let me guess…Florida?
North Carolina
OBX?
I remember driving around out there in the early 2000’s and seeing all those giganto mansions going up, one after the other after the other, from Duck to Corrolla… and thinking where the FLICK do all these people come from?
Now we know, they came from the over-levered bank to the Outer Banks.
_________
North Carolina also, coastal property in South Carolina.
Kiawah got quite outrageous there at the end, as well as Seabrook Island… haven’t checked to see how much (if any) they’ve cooled down since 2007 or so.
_______
i agree with u,, but more important are u happy,,,,,
$2,000 for a mirror!! Are you kidding me? You fool. Hell I got mine for 45 bucks – last one on closeout @ TGT. Waited six months for it to go on sale but it’s all mine now.
you need silver to make mirror’s
When I drove a BMW I watch where I parked for fear of getting
a scratch, I always felt like it needed it to be perfectly cleaned and serviced
on time. Now that I drive a Honda civic, I dont worry about any of that stuff,
I get killer gas mileage, and it’s-paid for, and if I get a scratch on it oh well. It’s
really a luxury driving this car.
Exactly. You have no idea how many $70k trucks are roaming around Calgary, with never a ding or scratch. They always stay on the pavement despite their tremendous off-road packages. Me, I bought a 93 Jimmy (fully loaded and works awesome) for $700 at an auction. It’s great for camping/hunting/offroad adventure. I don’t worry about it. I have fun pushing it to the limits. It gets uglier every day and I am totally fine with that! Perhaps to my shame I’ve since added a nicer minivan to the fleet… 2 kids and one on the way does strange things like that I suppose.
Bravo fellas. You got the right idea.
Gotta have balance and take care of today and tomorrow. Not too miserly, not wildly indulgent.
I have a sibling who makes a lot of money and lives large and says that when her old age comes she’ll just set herself adrift on the sea, so she doesn’t need to be careful with her money and save now. She’ll likely be adrift someday, but it will be in an expensive care facility and the rest of the family will be footing the bill.
True..
I say-
Thrift begets adaptation. Motivation begets liberty.
Oh and Cramer is wearing a top hat right now. What a gentleman he is, only from the neck up (forget the lion tamer suit he’s wearing).
Red arrows down on all commodities in the pre-market. BTFD opportunity, or deleveraging? This will be an “interesting” week, as in ancient Chines curse, “May you live in interesting times”.
I said to myself, “Come now, I will test you with pleasure to find out what is good.” But that also proved to be meaningless.
“Laughter,” I said, “is madness. And what does pleasure accomplish?”
I tried cheering myself with wine, and embracing folly—my mind still guiding me with wisdom. I wanted to see what was good for people to do under the heavens during the few days of their lives.
I undertook great projects: I built houses for myself and planted vineyards.
I made gardens and parks and planted all kinds of fruit trees in them.
I made reservoirs to water groves of flourishing trees.
I bought male and female slaves and had other slaves who were born in my house. I also owned more herds and flocks than anyone in Jerusalem before me.
I amassed silver and gold for myself, and the treasure of kings and provinces. I acquired male and female singers, and a harem[a] as well—the delights of a man’s heart.
I became greater by far than anyone in Jerusalem before me. In all this my wisdom stayed with me.
I denied myself nothing my eyes desired;
I refused my heart no pleasure.
My heart took delight in all my labor,
and this was the reward for all my toil.
Yet when I surveyed all that my hands had done
and what I had toiled to achieve,
everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind;
nothing was gained under the sun.
Wisdom and Folly Are Meaningless
Then I turned my thoughts to consider wisdom,
and also madness and folly.
What more can the king’s successor do
than what has already been done?
I saw that wisdom is better than folly,
just as light is better than darkness.
The wise have eyes in their heads,
while the fool walks in the darkness;
but I came to realize
that the same fate overtakes them both.
Then I said to myself,
“The fate of the fool will overtake me also.
What then do I gain by being wise?”
I said to myself,
“This too is meaningless.”
For the wise, like the fool, will not be long remembered;
the days have already come when both have been forgotten.
Like the fool, the wise too must die!
Toil Is Meaningless
So I hated life, because the work that is done under the sun was grievous to me. All of it is meaningless, a chasing after the wind.
I hated all the things I had toiled for under the sun, because I must leave them to the one who comes after me.
And who knows whether that person will be wise or foolish? Yet they will have control over all the fruit of my toil into which I have poured my effort and skill under the sun. This too is meaningless.
my heart began to despair over all my toilsome labor under the sun.
For a person may labor with wisdom, knowledge and skill, and then they must leave all they own to another who has not toiled for it. This too is meaningless and a great misfortune.
What do people get for all the toil and anxious striving with which they labor under the sun?
All their days their work is grief and pain; even at night their minds do not rest. This too is meaningless.
A person can do nothing better than to eat and drink and find satisfaction in their own toil. This too, I see, is from the hand of God,
for without him, who can eat or find enjoyment?
To the person who pleases him, God gives wisdom, knowledge and happiness, but to the sinner he gives the task of gathering and storing up wealth to hand it over to the one who pleases God. This too is meaningless, a chasing after the wind
File under “Money ain’t everything but it makes everything a lot easier”…………
King Solomon the wisest king ever ruled… Instead
of asking god for wealth, he ask for Wisdom to lead
his people, but because he didn’t ask god for wealth first,
God gave him in return, great wealth and wisdom.
He should have left it to a pure research foundation to benefit all humanity over the long term. But I guess they didn’t really do that then.
I might add, research “legacy states” concerning trusts. Buffet and Gates own in Wyoming, one of the states with multi-century asset protection laws. JFYI in the community.
It’s worth a try, but the law is like the wind; sometimes it blows the other direction.
Barnes’ will specifically stated he did not want his art collection moved. The court decided to violate his wishes. It will benefit more people, but there is no doubt that the decision is contrary to the law.
SOHU coulda helped paid those bills a wee bit.
Doing what you want to do each day of your life is priceless, everything else is meaningless. I am finding that you can just have too much stuff, no room, not enough time in the day to play with it. Many waste too much time imho trying to impress others or prepare for future generations. But unless it gives you bliss doing that stuff, its just a waste of time, Future Generations won’t remember or will blow it all, Money comes and goes……lol, I could go buy high end designer, but that is no fun, rather dull….but to buy a famous person’s clothes cuz they can’t fit into them anymore (but you can) on pennies on the dollar…is just way too much fun, in a sort of catty way…………..talking about bliss, Shanghai weaker tonight, steel makers leading the way down, with Copper Futures down..Mainland Banks start reporting tomorrow night, Bloomberg has the story on China Govt and their loans tonight, fwiw.
funny u should mentioned that,,when i was younger i bought bigger n bigger homes to keep more n more stuff,,,at some point i realized i didnt own stuff i was just keeping it at my house,,,the stuff owned me,,,lol,,so as im getting older i seem to want less, stuff anyway, and enjoy life more, as i explained this to my sister, she said she wants more,,,,she is 8yrs older,,,im wondering if i will b going back to wanting more,,,in essence im saying if all u worry about is your stuff,,,,life might pass u buy,,,,tks for ur post
I’m selling a big 8 bedroom home full of stuff, largely for that reason. Less is more.
Razor and Go2…totally agree, less is more…once you fill up one house with stuff, you have to go buy another and another….it does control you…
The House of Fly must get a lot of Christmas cards from car salesmen.
I’ve got a $2000 mirror for sale… anybody? Bueller?
Though not poor, I am still trying to be in the ~cheap bastard phase because I can’t afford to start a self financed oil company yet.
Fly,
There has to be some middle ground between extreme frugality and acting like price doesn’t matter on anything. I guarantee you that price matters to the guy selling you stuff. I’m fairly certain that when purchasing or selling a stock holding you are considering the price as well as your expectation of whether you can get a better price at a later date. You can not honestly believe it doesn’t matter if you buy a product for one price or buy it for 4 times that price ($500 or $2000 for mirror).
Regardless, I feel your pain as my wife remodeled two of our bathrooms last year and the job just kept growing and growing. Worse than the cost of the projects was the inability to make a stink’n decision. “I don’t care what color you pick just go a head and pick one, damn it!”
problem is, buying whatever you want leads to an addiction to consuming and an unsatisfied feeling of it never being enough. On the other hand being frugal is no fun. But the easiest way to have more in life is to want less.. If you want more you will always be filled with that feeling of “not enough” no matter how much crap you have.
It’s not the stuff, it’s the internal reaction to the stuff that determines what we get out of life.
I’ve always thought the rich that own a company and actually create value for the world is richer than say an actor with tons of money, or someone who gets rich in the stock market by reinvesting his high paying job income.. Not only do these people tend to have the physical wealth and freedom of more time and rewards that come from reaping what they have sown, but also they get the satisfaction that they make the world better.
Totally agree. Do you contribute to society? Or are you just a consumerist value suction device?