The day is short, the night is long.
Why do we work so hard to get what we don’t even want?
We work so hard to get ahead of the game; work half our lives until we’ve won. And then one day, we sit at the edge of our bed and think: Lord what have I done?
The day is short, the night is long.
Why do we work so hard to get what we don’t even want?
Man in a suit, comes home and kisses his babies goodbye. Daddy’s gotta go on a trip honey, oh no don’t you cry. He’s gone for a week and then he’s home for a day. Well, pretty soon the babies won’t cry when daddy’s gone away.
The day is short, the night is long.
Why do you work so hard to get what you don’t even want?
You know we go to the mall and we go from store to store, yeah. Everybody seems to be wasting time until death walks through the door. And then you look at all your merchandise and you see. We’ve paid too high a price, you’ll see....
The day is short, the night is long.
Why do you work so hard to get what you don’t even want?
Why do you work so hard to get what you don’t even want?
Jearlyn Steele.
This is just a timely song, heard in a film called "A Prairie Home Companion" which reminded me how often we replace things we already have with things that do the same job, but "better". This endless upgrade cycle, often motivated by the need to impress "other people" is often at the root of our financial problems or shortfalls.
I know that I have been "victim" to the desire of always wanting something better, working hard at work to earn money, selling flesh, bone and time and then rushing out to quickly dispose of that paycheck on the latest temporary, fizzy gizmo.
So..
Why do we work so hard to get what we don't even want?
Thursday, December 27, 2007
Sunday, December 23, 2007
Buy one set of pans.
The blog is not really about making lists of all the things you can do to save a penny here and there, the internet is a vast resource for that sort of advice, however, there is a trend in our consumer driven society that encourages waste, so I thought I'd catalog a few concepts based on what my mum and dad did that made perfect financial sense.
The first being that you only ever need one set of pans.
Apply this thinking to a lot of things in life. If you buy a quality set of pans, good guage stainless steel, good lids and good handles, then you should never have to buy another. Then add the advice of our Scottish member, Jimmy; "buy great pans, but buy them at the best price". As I said, apply this concept to other things, but use your noggin about what is "best" for you, don't listen to the system, listen to your financial mind.
Common sense again? - well, don't forget that it's not just parents that "teach" you common sense, in a consumer driven society the system has a hand in educating you and a lot of that valuable information is the very information you should ignore.
As an example, why buy one mop (like mother did) and use it for ten years, when you can go out and buy a "Swiffer" every two months. Mother quietly went about using that simple mopping device without "educating" the kids that it was all you need, and now, with TV and the constant onslaught of media, young adults are being told to "throw that old fashioned thing away" and get the new, convenient, easy Swiffer.
Well, I don't know about you, but to me, mopping is mopping and I'd rather buy a quality, sturdy, "old fashioned" ten dollar mop that will amortize out at a dollar a year for the next ten years, than a fragile eight dollar Swiffer, that besides needing replacing in two years, needs "convenient" refils every month or so.
It's not better because they tell you it is.
The same is true with the pans especially if the only reason you're going to buy a particular set is because Jamie Oliver endorses them as pucker. In addition, for reasons known to themselves, the big retail stores like Sears tend to occasionally offer these valuable eight hundred dollar pan sets, to the shoppers, at seventy five percent off, that is you only pay two hundred bucks.
A great deal?
You should take your time, as with all things that affect your long term financial health, do your research and due diligence and then buy once and forever at the best possible price.
The first being that you only ever need one set of pans.
Apply this thinking to a lot of things in life. If you buy a quality set of pans, good guage stainless steel, good lids and good handles, then you should never have to buy another. Then add the advice of our Scottish member, Jimmy; "buy great pans, but buy them at the best price". As I said, apply this concept to other things, but use your noggin about what is "best" for you, don't listen to the system, listen to your financial mind.
Common sense again? - well, don't forget that it's not just parents that "teach" you common sense, in a consumer driven society the system has a hand in educating you and a lot of that valuable information is the very information you should ignore.
As an example, why buy one mop (like mother did) and use it for ten years, when you can go out and buy a "Swiffer" every two months. Mother quietly went about using that simple mopping device without "educating" the kids that it was all you need, and now, with TV and the constant onslaught of media, young adults are being told to "throw that old fashioned thing away" and get the new, convenient, easy Swiffer.
Well, I don't know about you, but to me, mopping is mopping and I'd rather buy a quality, sturdy, "old fashioned" ten dollar mop that will amortize out at a dollar a year for the next ten years, than a fragile eight dollar Swiffer, that besides needing replacing in two years, needs "convenient" refils every month or so.
It's not better because they tell you it is.
The same is true with the pans especially if the only reason you're going to buy a particular set is because Jamie Oliver endorses them as pucker. In addition, for reasons known to themselves, the big retail stores like Sears tend to occasionally offer these valuable eight hundred dollar pan sets, to the shoppers, at seventy five percent off, that is you only pay two hundred bucks.
A great deal?
You should take your time, as with all things that affect your long term financial health, do your research and due diligence and then buy once and forever at the best possible price.
Tuesday, December 18, 2007
Hands in your Pockets
If you cruise the net and ask the question "How much money do I need to retire" then you'll spend a lot of time reading reports from banks, insurance companies, investment firms and other official bastions of financial hopelessness.
In the early nineteen nineties, so called self made advisors were preaching at "free" seminars that we Canadians would need a couple of million dollars to retire, and not to expect anything from the Canada pension plan or the old age pension scheme.
In 1991, according to one statistical website, the average wage of a Canadian was around $35,000 and if one of those individuals was attending the related seminar by the Papes, Costellos or Givens of that time, they would have been educated as to the hopelessness of their situation, however, that very hope could be purchased, in book or newsletter form, from the speakers minions at the end of the show.
"I'm not a financial advisor, but I play one on TV"
I don't think times have changed in the last fifteen years as far as the financial industry selling hope, they are slick and sophisticated and basically want to extract your hard earned cash from you with their MERs, commissions and fees.
As they preach that "you can't do it alone" and "we'll help" you have to take a step back and smell the coffee, see the wood from the trees and do anything you can to hold onto your money. They will use loss leader methods to snare you into one of their custom plans, lock your money away with skewed past performance figures and then quietly extract their two or three percent each year while your money stagnates.
In one pocket, out the other, that extra couple of percent you carefully save ends up on an insurance company or banks profit sheet.
So, take a deep breath, because you can do it, you don't need a couple of million bucks (unless you're going to retire at 30) and you don't need to pay, over and over, for the advice and guidance from the financial industry. All you need to do is start thinking for yourself about money, dedicate some serious time to the topic, use online resources (with a pinch of salt) and be strategic.
If you want to learn more, send $29.95 plus shipping and handling to.......
In the early nineteen nineties, so called self made advisors were preaching at "free" seminars that we Canadians would need a couple of million dollars to retire, and not to expect anything from the Canada pension plan or the old age pension scheme.
In 1991, according to one statistical website, the average wage of a Canadian was around $35,000 and if one of those individuals was attending the related seminar by the Papes, Costellos or Givens of that time, they would have been educated as to the hopelessness of their situation, however, that very hope could be purchased, in book or newsletter form, from the speakers minions at the end of the show.
"I'm not a financial advisor, but I play one on TV"
I don't think times have changed in the last fifteen years as far as the financial industry selling hope, they are slick and sophisticated and basically want to extract your hard earned cash from you with their MERs, commissions and fees.
As they preach that "you can't do it alone" and "we'll help" you have to take a step back and smell the coffee, see the wood from the trees and do anything you can to hold onto your money. They will use loss leader methods to snare you into one of their custom plans, lock your money away with skewed past performance figures and then quietly extract their two or three percent each year while your money stagnates.
In one pocket, out the other, that extra couple of percent you carefully save ends up on an insurance company or banks profit sheet.
So, take a deep breath, because you can do it, you don't need a couple of million bucks (unless you're going to retire at 30) and you don't need to pay, over and over, for the advice and guidance from the financial industry. All you need to do is start thinking for yourself about money, dedicate some serious time to the topic, use online resources (with a pinch of salt) and be strategic.
If you want to learn more, send $29.95 plus shipping and handling to.......
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