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Very touching post. Good luck with your life. I wanted to point out a funny thing though. Living in a post-soviet country I can sense my bias that tells me tha
by spdionis 11y ago
Very touching post. Good luck with your life.
I wanted to point out a funny thing though. Living in a post-soviet country I can sense my bias that tells me that this is totally ridiculous. Probably the difference between here and America is just so big. This situation is just inherently absurd by the simple fact that selling that iPhone would give me enough money to survive for 2 months paying a rent in a cheap apartment and buying another cheap phone.
Besides that, the most important difference is that we never take such big loans here. Big loans are scary for us. I understand how important they are for developing an economy, but all around me most people would hardly get a loan to buy a car. Even if the economy is poor, people are much more free because they don't take insane debts. I think american culture really needs to remember that debt is dangerous.
Just a quick thought about the abyssal difference between the 2 mentalities.
- shakycode 11y agoI've learned my lesson when it comes to debt loading. Now if I can't afford something, I simply don't buy it. I don't even have a car note or mortgage. Everything is paid for in cash or I simply go without. I'm glad you enjoyed my post as much as I did writing it.
- mzjs 11y agoThere is a persistent short-term mentality though. When the economy is doing well, and people see others taking risks and getting rich, people forget that one day it won't. Also, popular culture is very focused on the idea of having lots of "stuff", which leads to people spending more than they should.
- spdionis 11y agoTotally agreed on the lots of stuff argument.
- girvo 11y ago> Even if the economy is poor, people are much more free because they don't take insane debts. I think american culture really needs to remember that debt is dangerous. One of the greatest things my very successful Grandfather taught me was to never go into debt for anything that doesn't make you money, and even then be careful. He was right, too, and it's helped me through some times in which I've been tempted to go and get that nice car, buy those nice toys, get that $10k limit credit card. I don't even use a credit card, and I'm 24 and relatively successful; if I need a "loan", then I loan it to myself out of my savings account. When I was 17, I was homeless. I lived out of my car for 6 months, got a job delivering pizzas to pay for my own food. I wouldn't wish homelessness on my worst enemy, but living through it has helped me learn how to be properly self-sufficient and has given me the mental tools to tough out some pretty crappy situations over the years. It's interesting how that goes.
- kranner 11y agoI was taking one of these life self-assessment quizzes yesterday. It has a number of questions which you ponder and respond to in essay form. You can do it in a text editor so it's private and is just an opportunity to think about your life. One of the questions was "how much credit card debt do you have, and how are you planning to reduce it?" I found it pretty strange that the quiz assumed that the reader would be certain to have some credit card debt; indeed enough that they would need a plan to reduce it gradually. As an Indian I find this a strange way of looking at things. To me a credit card is a convenient payment method, not a facility to award myself discretionary loans.
- spdionis 11y agoSame here. If I actually needed a small temporary loan I'd reach out to a friend, but never a credit card like that. We actually don't have such credit cards here, although we have other options for micro-crediting.
- kranner 11y agoIt's much the same in India. Credit cards are not easy to qualify for, and in most cases you can only expect to get one if you're employed somewhere full-time. As a self-employed person for a large part of my career, I would always have to ask other people to use their credit card for occasional use where no other payment option existed (and pay them directly). I finally got one after having put a significant amount of savings in the bank.
- nindalf 11y agoDebit cards solve the payment problem for me. They're accepted everywhere, so I've never seen the need to get a credit card at all.
- channikhabra 11y agoI prefer doing online payments with a credit card for the shear possibility of disputing the payment.
- galfarragem 11y ago> Big loans are scary for us. I understand how important they are for developing an economy, but all around me most people would hardly get a loan to buy a car. Even if the economy is poor, people are much more free because they don't take insane debts. Great words. I really understand what you say, I've lived for some years in a post-soviet country and I never felt so free. There are other flavours of freedom besides the one offered in America. It's so confusing for me that he didn't have any family/friends that could help him out offering a temporary shelter. Is this normal in America? If I had to take a lesson from his words it would be: focus in relationships. All the rest is not important.
- Shengbo 11y agoIt's not essential to the point of your comment, but if my question is not too indiscrete, would you mind telling us which post-soviet country it is? There are pretty large differences between some of those countries in terms of cost of living and I can't think of any where the cost of a used iPhone could pay for 2 months' rent and utilities.(Other than Ukraine, maybe? But things are looking pretty grim over there right now.)
- spdionis 11y agoMoldova. I considered a sell price of around 400 euro.
- pjc50 11y agoDebt is an accelerant. It gets you things more quickly, but it can also get you into trouble more quickly. I'm in the UK and my only debt is my mortgage, because I'm in the last generation not to have to pay for higher education.