Everyone always tells you that you shouldn't compare yourself to other people. Especially when it comes to money, keeping up with the Joneses is a very bad thing. This makes sense. We probably shouldn't compare ourselves to people in our neighborhood who lease brand new SUVs. We definitely shouldn't compare ourselves to the people who are building a 5,000 square foot house on a lake. However, I think that we actually should try to keep up with the Joneses. Well ... sort of ...
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What Would You Do if You Were Rich?
One of my favorite movies is The Italian Job. After stealing $35 million worth of gold, explosives expert, Left Ear, asks his fellow thieves what they are planning to do with the money. In other words, now that they are rich, how are their lives going to change? The answers range from simple (a great stereo system) to extremely complex (a house in Spain that includes a library full of first-editions and a room for shoes). As the thieves go through their answers, we soon find out that all of the answers except for one involve buying stuff. And if we're honest with ourselves, buying stuff might be our answer…
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Do Some Hard S*** Today
Does it make sense to constantly search for more ease and convenience in our lives? We wake up after sleeping on a 10 inch thick luxury mattress, stumble into the bathroom to get a shower with hot water that just magically appears when we turn a lever, and clean and groom ourselves with soaps and lotions that people have spent years perfecting. Then we wander to our fridge and find food that has been sourced from farms and factories throughout the country, waiting and ready for our consumption.
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Envy is Not a Tool For Happiness
Every single one of us owns something that we don’t feel too great about. Whether it’s a house that we feel is ugly, a treadmill that barely works, kitchen cabinets from the 1970s, or a watch that is only right twice per day, we all own something that we are not too fond of. For me, it’s a Chevy Malibu that has 180,000 miles on it. This car has a cracked windshield, a gap in the passenger door that lets water in when it rains, and a sound coming from the engine that is getting louder every month. I don’t love this car. However, I am not in a rush to…
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The Answer is Not Found in a Store
Every Thanksgiving, my family used to drive to see my aunt, uncle, and cousins. On the way home from their house, we would always see a long line of people waiting at Best Buy to try to get the best deal on some Christmas presents. These shoppers would typically be in tents or sleeping bags, spending the night at the store in order to be the first there when it opened on Black Friday. Many would give up part of their Thanksgiving and most of the next day to spend it doing Black Friday shopping (and waiting). Of course, there was a good reason that people were waiting in line.…
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Lessons I Learned from Buying a Big House
Just over a year ago, my family and I owned a big house. Actually ...I mean that we owned a BIG HOUSE. The “American Dream” embodied in brick and mortar form. Forget 2,500 square feet and 0.33 acres. Our house was 4,500 square feet and a large finished basement set on 11.5 acres. It even had a huge in-ground pool. This house was so big that it had two staircases!
