Worst personal finance article ever?

[humandraydel]

Yahoo publishes some VERY bad personal finance articles, but I think this one tops them all:

How We're Planning to Save More Than $12,000 This Summer

Highlights include: spending only $400 on a summer vacation instead of the usual $5,000 - resulting in a "savings" of $4,600!

For some reason this article REALLY bothers me. Honest middle class people (including myself) looking for financial advice may read this article....only to be slapped in the face with "Don't spend $5k on a vacation". I find it insulting.

[snshijuptr]

My usual rule for "saving" articles is that the only way you can "save" a ridiculous amount of money is if you were spending that ridiculous amount in the first place. These people didn't do anything on their own and expected to do huge projects every year! They painted their house every year!

[WISEWOMAN]

I agree, that article was a joke right? I especially love "borrowing our neighbors tools to do the gardening this year". Classy!

[WISEWOMAN]

testing

[Joan.of.the.Arch]

The article reads like a big, fat fiction to me.

I also agree with snshijuptr's rule for articles about saving ridiculous amounts of money.

[disneysteve]

Originally Posted by humandraydel

For some reason this article REALLY bothers me. Honest middle class people (including myself) looking for financial advice may read this article....only to be slapped in the face with "Don't spend $5k on a vacation". I find it insulting.

I can see where you are coming from and I do think the article is poorly written but I also see the other side. As the recession has dragged on, it has affected people who were previously doing just fine and suddenly finding that even though things were basically stable, they still started feeling the need to cut back. For those people, giving up a $5,000 vacation in exchange for a $400 camping trip is a really big deal. I think it is commendable anytime people recognize that their spending is out of whack to their reality and needs adjusting. For some, that might mean clipping coupons and buying generic groceries but for others it might mean buying a pre-owned BMW instead of a brand new one. Both are perfectly valid cuts for those individuals.

Originally Posted by snshijuptr

My usual rule for "saving" articles is that the only way you can "save" a ridiculous amount of money is if you were spending that ridiculous amount in the first place.

True but "ridiculous" is a personal judgement. I think it is ridiculous to spend more than 30K for a car but I know lots of people who have done so. Of course, most of those people also earn a lot more than me so for them, 30K isn't nearly as big a deal as it would be for me.

[DebbieL]

I haven't read the article, but I have to say that $5k is about average for what we spend on a vacation. We usually only go every 2nd year. I don't consider it ridiculous, however we do live below our means, and travel is something we place high value on. Cars aren't important to me. My vacations cost more than my car.

[DebbieL]

Ha, ha - I did just read the article. Wow, they are saving over $1300 just on steak cookouts this summer, lol? That's about our entire grocery budget for 3 months. Saving over $1400 by shopping for her bathing suit and sundress second hand? Who on Earth paints their house exterior every year?

OP was right, the article is ridiculous. The only thing that my numbers would match on would be the vacation (and even with that we don't do it every year).

[disneysteve]

Originally Posted by DebbieL

The only thing that my numbers would match on would be the vacation (and even with that we don't do it every year).

We typically spend about 5K on summer vacations and that doesn't include travel we do the rest of the year, so I also don't find that number ridiculous. Of course, the numbers that will seem the worst to us are the ones that don't match our own personal spending habits. If we do it, it's okay.

[frugalgirl]

I think the mistake the author made - and the thing that seems objectionable - is to use the word "save" in the title. These people didn't save any money, they simply cut the fat from their budget.

[shanecurran]

Painting your house every year is just silly. It could actually do more harm than good by having a huge layer of paint that will one day start to peel and be a huge pain to remove.

[cypher1]

Originally Posted by shanecurran

Painting your house every year is just silly. It could actually do more harm than good by having a huge layer of paint that will one day start to peel and be a huge pain to remove.

I was just going to ask, who paints their house outside, annually? I thought good exterior paint lasts more than 12 months, even in extreme elements. I don't know how many members are in the writer's family, but 1400 for summer clothes sounds a little excessive. Then again, I don't have kids.

[shanecurran]

Even in extreme climates, quality paint should last around 5 years.