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> It absolutely baffles me that prevailing financial habits in the US seem to include spending as much money as possible. If you're an average American who wor

by aianus 11y ago

> It absolutely baffles me that prevailing financial habits in the US seem to include spending as much money as possible. If you're an average American who works 50h a week, 50 weeks out of the year, wouldn't you want to feel compensated for that? And not in green paper IOUs but in goods and services? Beyond having a rainy day fund and moderate retirement fund I don't really see the point in saving. You can't take it with you...

MaulingMonkey 11y ago
> And not in green paper IOUs but in goods and services? Beyond covering my basic needs and having some toys, I don't really see the point in spending all my income. Goods and services? I already have those - more won't bring me happiness. Financial security means one less stressor in my life. A sunny day / early retirement fund means I can take more time off between jobs, on vacations, and be more aggressive about getting job terms I like. I can go out and have more experiences. I don't need to save up to buy the things I want, because I haven't wasted my money buying things that don't bring me happiness.
- lmm 11y ago
  > Financial security means one less stressor in my life. A sunny day / early retirement fund means I can take more time off between jobs, on vacations, and be more aggressive about getting job terms I like. I can go out and have more experiences. I don't need to save up to buy the things I want, because I haven't wasted my money buying things that don't bring me happiness. Early retirement isn't great for happiness AIUI. Rather than saving up any extra money you're better off spending it soonish, whether that "spending" is on holidays, things, or just taking a sabbatical.
- cloakandswagger 11y ago
  I used to hoard money as the feeling of security and preparedness it gave me out-weighed the pleasure I got from consumerism. Now I spend freely and without concern. That's the only tenable game plan in our Keynesian economy: spend your fiat before it's inflated away or redistributed during the next financial crisis.
rhino369 11y ago
>If you're an average American who works 50h a week,50 weeks out of the year Not to be pedantic (but im going to anyway), the average full time worker only works 1700 hours a year. Not 2500.
- aianus 11y ago
  Where did you see that? At 8 hours a weekday, that's ~47.5 days off a year. Doesn't sound like the average American full-time worker to me. edit: s/workday/weekday/
  - pessimizer 11y ago
    https://duckduckgo.com/?q=average+annual+hours+worked https://duckduckgo.com/?q=average+annual+hours+worked
- dalke 11y ago
  http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.t18.htm http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.t18.htm - " Average weekly hours and overtime of all employees on private nonfarm payrolls by industry sector, seasonally adjusted" says it's about 34.5 hours per week. Assuming 2 weeks vacation, 34.5 * 50 = 1725 hours, which is about what you said. However, that's all workers, including part-time. You said 'average full time worker'. From the 2014 Gallup poll at http://www.gallup.com/poll/175286/hour-workweek-actually-longer-seven-hours.aspx http://www.gallup.com/poll/175286/hour-workweek-actually-lon... : > Adults employed full time in the U.S. report working an average of 47 hours per week, almost a full workday longer than what a standard five-day, 9-to-5 schedule entails. In fact, half of all full-time workers indicate they typically work more than 40 hours, and nearly four in 10 say they work at least 50 hours.
  - pc86 11y ago
    Including PT workers is going to skew the numbers quite a bit. Most PT workers will not have paid time off, so if you're part-time you're likely to work 51 or 52 weeks unless you are employed seasonally. And 34.5 hours may be the mean, but most workers are either going to be full-time 40+ hr/week or substantially less than that. Most PT job ads I've seen are for 10, 15, or 20 hours of work a week. 30 is very high, so the vast majority of workers are not going to work any close approximation of 34.5 hours a week. Most of the sources I can find online are either using the "any type of worker" number of 1750-1800 hrs/yr, or 2k+ for FT only (which is approximately 50 wks/yr).
Lawtonfogle 11y ago
>Beyond having a rainy day fund and moderate retirement fund I don't really see the point in saving. Earlier retirement. If you lower your lifestyle, not only can you put more into savings, the amount you need in savings to maintain your cheaper lifestyle in reduced. Financial independence is a great goal to work for.

by aianus 11y ago

MaulingMonkey 11y ago

> And not in green paper IOUs but in goods and services? Beyond covering my basic needs and having some toys, I don't really see the point in spending all my income. Goods and services? I already have those - more won't bring me happiness. Financial security means one less stressor in my life. A sunny day / early retirement fund means I can take more time off between jobs, on vacations, and be more aggressive about getting job terms I like. I can go out and have more experiences. I don't need to save up to buy the things I want, because I haven't wasted my money buying things that don't bring me happiness.

lmm 11y ago
> Financial security means one less stressor in my life. A sunny day / early retirement fund means I can take more time off between jobs, on vacations, and be more aggressive about getting job terms I like. I can go out and have more experiences. I don't need to save up to buy the things I want, because I haven't wasted my money buying things that don't bring me happiness. Early retirement isn't great for happiness AIUI. Rather than saving up any extra money you're better off spending it soonish, whether that "spending" is on holidays, things, or just taking a sabbatical.
cloakandswagger 11y ago
I used to hoard money as the feeling of security and preparedness it gave me out-weighed the pleasure I got from consumerism. Now I spend freely and without concern. That's the only tenable game plan in our Keynesian economy: spend your fiat before it's inflated away or redistributed during the next financial crisis.

rhino369 11y ago

>If you're an average American who works 50h a week,50 weeks out of the year Not to be pedantic (but im going to anyway), the average full time worker only works 1700 hours a year. Not 2500.

aianus 11y ago
Where did you see that? At 8 hours a weekday, that's ~47.5 days off a year. Doesn't sound like the average American full-time worker to me. edit: s/workday/weekday/
- pessimizer 11y ago
  https://duckduckgo.com/?q=average+annual+hours+worked https://duckduckgo.com/?q=average+annual+hours+worked
dalke 11y ago
http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.t18.htm http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.t18.htm - " Average weekly hours and overtime of all employees on private nonfarm payrolls by industry sector, seasonally adjusted" says it's about 34.5 hours per week. Assuming 2 weeks vacation, 34.5 * 50 = 1725 hours, which is about what you said. However, that's all workers, including part-time. You said 'average full time worker'. From the 2014 Gallup poll at http://www.gallup.com/poll/175286/hour-workweek-actually-longer-seven-hours.aspx http://www.gallup.com/poll/175286/hour-workweek-actually-lon... : > Adults employed full time in the U.S. report working an average of 47 hours per week, almost a full workday longer than what a standard five-day, 9-to-5 schedule entails. In fact, half of all full-time workers indicate they typically work more than 40 hours, and nearly four in 10 say they work at least 50 hours.
- pc86 11y ago
  Including PT workers is going to skew the numbers quite a bit. Most PT workers will not have paid time off, so if you're part-time you're likely to work 51 or 52 weeks unless you are employed seasonally. And 34.5 hours may be the mean, but most workers are either going to be full-time 40+ hr/week or substantially less than that. Most PT job ads I've seen are for 10, 15, or 20 hours of work a week. 30 is very high, so the vast majority of workers are not going to work any close approximation of 34.5 hours a week. Most of the sources I can find online are either using the "any type of worker" number of 1750-1800 hrs/yr, or 2k+ for FT only (which is approximately 50 wks/yr).

Lawtonfogle 11y ago

>Beyond having a rainy day fund and moderate retirement fund I don't really see the point in saving. Earlier retirement. If you lower your lifestyle, not only can you put more into savings, the amount you need in savings to maintain your cheaper lifestyle in reduced. Financial independence is a great goal to work for.