Cutting retirement?

**disneysteve** · 07-10-2008, 06:13 PM

Many people have forgotten how to distinguish Wants from Needs. They consider their cell phones and cable TV and car payments to be Needs. They consider the hair and nail salon to be Needs. They consider the landscaper and exterminator and car wash to be Needs. All of those things and more are actually Wants. You can do just fine without them. Either do the tasks yourself, if they actually must be done, or don't do them at all. Most of us, myself included, could trim hundreds or thousands from our budgets if we really needed to (or wanted to), without ever touching the money going to savings.

**LivingAlmostLarge** · 07-11-2008, 07:47 AM

And yet they feel like the answer to get out of debt is no retirement savings for 1-2 years and yet they haven't given up everything else first.

**disneysteve** · 07-11-2008, 07:58 AM

Originally posted by disneysteve View Post

Many people have forgotten how to distinguish Wants from Needs.

Originally posted by LivingAlmostLarge View Post

And yet they feel like the answer to get out of debt is no retirement savings for 1-2 years and yet they haven't given up everything else first.

My point was that they won't give up something that they consider a need. Heck, you must have a cell phone, right? And you have to be able to watch TV. And you've got to have a car.

Of course, very few people actually need a cell phone unless their job requires it. In most places, you can watch TV without cable. If you do need cable for reception, you can get the $10/month plan instead of the $75/month plan. And you probably do need a car. But it can be a $5,000 car that you bought for cash or a $30,000 car that you bought with a 7-year loan.

Nobody wants to make any sacrifices. They aren't willing to give up anything or scale back their lifestyle at all. They'd rather sacrifice their future financial security to keep living the good life today.

**Ima saver** · 07-11-2008, 08:32 AM

Well, I never had or wanted cable until I moved to the mountains where you can't get even the basic channel like NBC. I have the $39 package. I never have had a cell phone. I never got my hair or nails done. I wish I lived some place where I could walk like I did when I was a kid. (We lived 5 blocks from town, not 10 miles)
My mother taught me at a very young age that you pay your bills first, then you can buy food. No unnecessary frills! I never saw her buy herself anything for the entire 10 years after my father died. (That is when I got married)

**disneysteve** · 07-11-2008, 08:41 AM

Ima, we all know that the folks here are the exception, not the norm.

At another site, there was a poll once about cell phones: luxury or necessity. The vote was overwhelmingly for necessity. Now what all these people did 10 or 15 years ago when cell phones were rare, I have no idea. How a cell phone suddenly became a necessity is beyond me. I've got one, but if I couldn't easily afford it and still meet all our financial goals, I'd get rid of it for sure.

**tripods68** · 07-11-2008, 08:51 AM

I completely agreed with you DS. Unfortunately, the culture in the US is to SPEND SPEND SPEND and NOT SAVE SAVE SAVE. For intance, Japanese savings rate is 20% per median household. Whereas in the US saving rate, is the negative ZERO. How can that be. The reality most Americans aren't willing to forgo their latte' at Starbucks, or give up buying their favorite new designer jeans. That is why I appreciate this forum that focuses on "living within your means" mantra rather than continue on day-to-day living towards the path of personal destruction. We can all live rich and have normal lives but most Americans lack the tenacity of common sense and personal responsibility.

Off my podium box

**stressedmama** · 07-11-2008, 08:56 AM

I totally agree with everyone. I was talking about finances with a group of moms the other day and one lady was going on about everything being expensive and that occassional her parents help her out when something big goes bad such as the washing machine breaks. Yet at the same time they just bought a brand new car to replace their old one (4 years old), husband and her both have cell phones, cable, etc.

When I made a comment that people should give up their cable, cell phones, not go out to eat, drive cheaper cars, cut your kids hair, etc. everyone just basically said they could not do that because most everything I mentioned they either needed or couldn't possible go "backwards", however these were the same people who were talking about how they thought it was impossible for 20 and 30 year olds to save for retirement and kids college at the same time. Give me a break. My husband and I combine don't make 6 figures, get no help from famil for anything, and do are able to save and live a normal "middle" class life. However, we had to sacrifice for the first 5 years of marriage and live w/o cable, cell phones, new cars, huge houses, etc to make it happen. It just seems so many people's priorities and views on wants/needs are so skewed these days, and no one is willing to make any sacrifices now to make the future better for themselves or their kids.

**tripods68** · 07-11-2008, 09:25 AM

To have "Will Power" one has to live "Life". Unless people live the way people live before cable, or cell phones like in the 1950s, most Americans will not live "backwards"; cutting their cables, or cell phone subcriptions. I don't think our culture is built this way and the idea of "Consumerism" dictates our culture must moved forwards along the way while adapting new technologies that also comes our way. To instill the 1950s living of today are rare but something to cherish and remember; how tough those period were Post War Era of "simple living" that is hard to replicate in the absense of Will Power.

**disneysteve** · 07-11-2008, 09:43 AM

I don't think you need to go as far back as the 1950s. Even the 1980s or early 1990s would be fine. I got my first mobile phone in 1992 when I was a resident and started being on call outside of the hospital. I needed to be reachable 24/7. At that time, virtually nobody but doctors had mobile phones. The whole cell phone culture is a very recent development - within the past 10-15 years.

Car leasing also took off in the past decade. Leasing used to be something only corporations did. It was rare for an individual to lease. Now, leases are extremely common. Most people use a lease to get a better car than they could otherwise afford and end up with eternal car payments.

**PrincessPerky** · 07-11-2008, 10:38 AM

Even those who are mostly frugal fall to the whole need vs want..really the only true needs are food and shelter, but so much 'stuff' in America makes life so much better. (like computers with decent hard drive space...)

**jIM_Ohio** · 07-11-2008, 10:40 AM

Most people look at current problems before long term problems.

My financial POV is to always fund the longest term goal first. You need to fund the long term goal while it is long term, because if it is mid term or short term and underfunded, the risks are to too large.

**Ima saver** · 07-11-2008, 10:41 AM

Leasing a car is usually a terrible idea.

**Gruntina** · 07-14-2008, 02:09 PM

It's called 'Instant Gratification'! Saving for retirement is a delayed gratification and not a lot of people want to worry about the future unfortunately. I also think of it as gambling in a sense.

**maat55** · 07-14-2008, 03:10 PM

Originally posted by LivingAlmostLarge View Post

And yet they feel like the answer to get out of debt is no retirement savings for 1-2 years and yet they haven't given up everything else first.

In case you are refering to DR. He say's give up everything and live on beans and rice to get out of debt. That includes all of your listed examples. Dr's plan is a plan to change your behavoir. He wants you to use your heart and mind in your personal finances, not just your mind.

Living debtfree is a lifestyle, not just the math. Thats where you and I differ.

Cutting retirement?