I just dropped off my car at the repair shop for the biannual checkup that is mandatory hereabouts. There are also some minor repairs that must be done before I get that sticker on the license plate, and the repair guy told me I´d get the car back tomorrow at the earliest because they will have to procure some replacement parts first- "we don´t keep all of the parts for the older models in stock any more".
What that tells you is that I don´t drive the most recent model. But, I have wheels. And they are paid for.
Which is more than a lot of people can claim.
It never ceases to amaze me when I see those big, latest-model, expensive new cars, and behind the steering wheel, there´s some waif of a twenty-year-old girl, or a male of the same age with heavy tattoos on his arms, dressed, invariably, in clothes with visible brand names on them, and holding the latest model smart phone. Now I know one shouldn´t judge a book by its cover, but most of those young people don´t look as if they were earning as much in a year as those cars cost. So, they are most likely paying through the nose for a car loan on an asset that has, just by being driven off the dealer´s lot, lost some ten to twenty percent of its monetary value on the day they bought it. Those same young people are patronising electronics stores, clothes stores, and they don´t hesitate for a moment to spend twenty bucks at a fast-food restaurant instead of cooking two or three home-cooked meals off the same amount. There´s a reason why someone dubbed the sixteen-to-forty-year olds the "advertising relevant target group".
In our consumerist society, a lot of people have forgotten- or worse, never learned- the difference between something you want and something you need. Even kindergarteners clamor for the most recent brand name dolls or clothes, and brand name logos on jeans or sneakers appear sometimes to be more important to the teenaged wearers than the garments themselves.
What these things create for the owners is an external semblance of wealth.
The story behind the scenes, most of the time, is a different one.
Consumer debt has been steadily on the rise for several decades, and the number of people who reach the point of having to file for bankruptcy before they reach the age of thirty along with it.
And then, when it´s too late, they are forced to learn and apply the difference between a want and a need.
Because most of those consumerist goodies are just wants.
Someone defined "needs" as "food, clothes, transportation, and shelter". While I agree with that definition in general, it doesn´t cut it when trying to determine what to cut out of a too-tight budget.
Food is a need. Eating out in a restaurant is a want.
Clothes are a need. Brand name tagged jeans are a want.
Transportation is a need. A brand-new Porsche is a want.
Shelter is a need. A five-bedroom-condo for two people is a want.
Being reachable by phone may be a need. The most recent I-Phone (TM) is a want.
Come to think of it, most of the things we acquire are, strictly speaking, wants. If we could live without it, it is expendable.
Now if you can afford the price for a want, there´s nothing wrong with indulging. But by that I mean, can you pay for it in cash? Or do you have to put it on your credit card? Because then you really can´t afford it. You are instead betting on your future self to be able to afford it, whatever it is, plus cumulative interest, which can make those credit card purchases a lot more expensive than the price tag on the item.
That alone should be reason enough to revive that strange ancient tradition of saving up to buy something, because that will keep your future self from cussing you for being fool enough to pick up such a load of debt. Besides, you might even find you don´t want the item any more after a while. Guess what, it´s cheaper to find out the interest in a thing was short-lived before you have dragged it home to clutter up your habitation and mess up your credit card balance.
And the needs? If you remove the wants from the budget, you might just find you have enough to get on by. At the very least, you´ll have a bit more breathing space.
And always remember that the very best things in life mostly come without a price tag.
Julia
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