I was told a story once that stuck with me.
My stepdad went to buy his first CD player/sound system. He went into the store and eyed up a system. It was perfect, great quality (in fact he still owns it to this day). He didn't have the money for it at the time and had every intention of putting it on credit. The guy at the store however told him that he needed to go home and put the money away for the system. That he would feel better about buying it outright.
Now this guy, probably lost commission that day, but I think he was being smart, because he got a life-long customer out of him.
My stepdad, he went home and saved up the money and went back and bought it. I think he did feel better. He also took better care of the system, he knew how hard he had to work to get it.
Now a days, debt is expected and accepted.
Few of us ever save for anything.
It has to stop. We can't keep doing this...we aren't teaching our kids to work for what they want, we aren't teaching them how to delay gratification, how to have patience.
Credit has become our answer, nay, our way out of the marshmallow test.
My stepdad went to buy his first CD player/sound system. He went into the store and eyed up a system. It was perfect, great quality (in fact he still owns it to this day). He didn't have the money for it at the time and had every intention of putting it on credit. The guy at the store however told him that he needed to go home and put the money away for the system. That he would feel better about buying it outright.
Now this guy, probably lost commission that day, but I think he was being smart, because he got a life-long customer out of him.
My stepdad, he went home and saved up the money and went back and bought it. I think he did feel better. He also took better care of the system, he knew how hard he had to work to get it.
Now a days, debt is expected and accepted.
Few of us ever save for anything.
It has to stop. We can't keep doing this...we aren't teaching our kids to work for what they want, we aren't teaching them how to delay gratification, how to have patience.
Credit has become our answer, nay, our way out of the marshmallow test.
Loans, credit, they cover everything from emergencies to: cars, vacations, weddings, new furniture, fancy meals, new clothes, that fabulous pair of shoes that you just 'had to have', the top of the line stroller-you name it, we charge it.
So what do you do? Fancy something new. Whatever is it, price it out...how much do you need to set away to get that item?
If you were going to put it on VISA and pay $50 payments until it was paid off, how about saving it up instead.
Saving it up--> 64GB iPod touch costs $400.00, you can put away $50/month $400/$50=8 months, you have it free and clear...
Throw it on credit--> 64GB iPod touch costs $400.00, you put it on VISA with a 18% interest rate (pretty average) with a min. charge of 2%, it's going to take 62 months to pay off, and cost you $215 more...that's $615 and 4.5 years MORE of your life...
You do the math-was that worth it? Stop being cool with credit-save yourself the $$$.
No comments:
Post a Comment