AUTHOR: Mike Gaynes on 4/5/2026 FIRST: Doug C on 4/5 | RECENT: R Quinn on 4/13
Comments
It's an interesting internal conflict, Jeffrey. In the same paragraph you talk about contentment and angst from the same cause, having more than enough money. When you used the word "angst" I thought of this Schopenhauer quote: "Money is human happiness in the abstract."
Jonathan spent 20 years in a house he never much liked. We spend 75% of our lives at home. That's 15 years of his life in the wrong house. Everyone makes their own choices, but I would never, ever have purchased a domicile I didn't love. I'm in my fifth and probably final home now, and I've been crazy about all of them. Some were financially unwise purchases, but to me the warm, happy feeling I had walking in the door or just hanging out in the place was, and remains, worth more than money. By the way, size never mattered. It was all about the water. View was my #1 priority. Still is.
Lovely reflection, Andrew, but don't ever beat yourself up about not figuring things out sooner. You had to go through that life experience in order to sort those priorities. It wasn't going to happen organically. The test question is: Are you happy with your life now? If the answer is yes, then have no regrets over past mistakes. Had you done things better back then, your life would have taken a different path, and who knows where you would be now. Today is all that matters. Cherish it and be grateful for the past that brought you here. Including the mistakes. Maybe especially the mistakes.
No, Dick, you certainly "can’t do anything about being fortunate and avoiding financial disasters," but your blithe dismissal of those less fortunate is striking considering you have held yourself deliberately unacquainted with them. You have no interest in even conversing with anyone who has been through layoff, divorce, uninsured medical crises or other unavoidable financial catastrophes, conversations which might inform and balance your views. Instead, you write entirely about those whose financial problems are self-inflicted, and compare them to yourself with derision. That you intentionally pass through life without awareness -- let alone understanding -- of the true nature of most people's financial lives is striking for someone who writes for a site dedicated to serving its readers with helpful information.
More than 60% of Americans self-report in surveys that they live needing their next paycheck to cover their monthly bills. This may be more a reflection of the economic pressure that working Americans feel at the gas pump, grocery store and doctor's office. A study by Bankrate instead placed that P-to-P figure at 34%, and pointed out the varying definitions of the term "paycheck to paycheck." The Federal Reserve found that 54% of American households have emergency savings to cover three months of expenses, which means of course that almost half do not. However, the fanciful idea that the lowest income quartile can lift themselves out with "prudence" would only be publicly expressed by someone who has never seriously conversed with a member of that quartile. One morning -- just one -- of volunteer work at one's local food bank would promptly dismiss that idea forever, but one must be willing to expose oneself to real life for that to happen.
The experiences I illustrate may be "far from everyday occurrences" in your rarified atmosphere, but in a nation where 41% of Americans carry medical debt (according to the Kaiser Family Foundation) and much of that debt resides on credit cards, it's very much a daily reality for millions of people who have been anything but irresponsible. But clearly that message isn't getting through. Sadly, smugness is incurable.
Spread out over five cards at a time when I was hospitalized with cancer, both the assets and the income dried up in a hell of a hurry. And the debt stayed on those cards for a very long time. But I didn't lose the house. What you call "a bunch of crap" is the real-world life for real people.
Obviously you never had to pay for a surgery out of pocket because your health insurer wouldn't cover it. Or $70K in storm damage to your house because your homeowner's insurance refused to cover more than $12K. Or got laid off after three months on the job because of "market conditions." Mazel tov on your good fortune. “What are others worth that they have the nerve to sneer at any human being?” ― Graham Greene
Comments
It's an interesting internal conflict, Jeffrey. In the same paragraph you talk about contentment and angst from the same cause, having more than enough money. When you used the word "angst" I thought of this Schopenhauer quote: "Money is human happiness in the abstract."
Post: Taking It With You
Link to comment from September 5, 2026
Jonathan spent 20 years in a house he never much liked. We spend 75% of our lives at home. That's 15 years of his life in the wrong house. Everyone makes their own choices, but I would never, ever have purchased a domicile I didn't love. I'm in my fifth and probably final home now, and I've been crazy about all of them. Some were financially unwise purchases, but to me the warm, happy feeling I had walking in the door or just hanging out in the place was, and remains, worth more than money. By the way, size never mattered. It was all about the water. View was my #1 priority. Still is.
Post: Jonathan’s Parting Thoughts: No. 7
Link to comment from September 4, 2026
Lovely reflection, Andrew, but don't ever beat yourself up about not figuring things out sooner. You had to go through that life experience in order to sort those priorities. It wasn't going to happen organically. The test question is: Are you happy with your life now? If the answer is yes, then have no regrets over past mistakes. Had you done things better back then, your life would have taken a different path, and who knows where you would be now. Today is all that matters. Cherish it and be grateful for the past that brought you here. Including the mistakes. Maybe especially the mistakes.
Post: Finding A Balance
Link to comment from September 2, 2026
No, Dick, you certainly "can’t do anything about being fortunate and avoiding financial disasters," but your blithe dismissal of those less fortunate is striking considering you have held yourself deliberately unacquainted with them. You have no interest in even conversing with anyone who has been through layoff, divorce, uninsured medical crises or other unavoidable financial catastrophes, conversations which might inform and balance your views. Instead, you write entirely about those whose financial problems are self-inflicted, and compare them to yourself with derision. That you intentionally pass through life without awareness -- let alone understanding -- of the true nature of most people's financial lives is striking for someone who writes for a site dedicated to serving its readers with helpful information.
Post: This would be a great posting on a web site with the name “HaughtyDollar.”
Link to comment from September 1, 2026
More than 60% of Americans self-report in surveys that they live needing their next paycheck to cover their monthly bills. This may be more a reflection of the economic pressure that working Americans feel at the gas pump, grocery store and doctor's office. A study by Bankrate instead placed that P-to-P figure at 34%, and pointed out the varying definitions of the term "paycheck to paycheck." The Federal Reserve found that 54% of American households have emergency savings to cover three months of expenses, which means of course that almost half do not. However, the fanciful idea that the lowest income quartile can lift themselves out with "prudence" would only be publicly expressed by someone who has never seriously conversed with a member of that quartile. One morning -- just one -- of volunteer work at one's local food bank would promptly dismiss that idea forever, but one must be willing to expose oneself to real life for that to happen.
Post: Americans and their credit cards
Link to comment from August 28, 2026
Versus irresponsibility or frivolity, yes. Without question.
Post: Americans and their credit cards
Link to comment from August 26, 2026
We all know people like that. We also all know people who endlessly cite people like that as justification for sweeping, universal opinions.
Post: Americans and their credit cards
Link to comment from August 26, 2026
The experiences I illustrate may be "far from everyday occurrences" in your rarified atmosphere, but in a nation where 41% of Americans carry medical debt (according to the Kaiser Family Foundation) and much of that debt resides on credit cards, it's very much a daily reality for millions of people who have been anything but irresponsible. But clearly that message isn't getting through. Sadly, smugness is incurable.
Post: Americans and their credit cards
Link to comment from August 26, 2026
Spread out over five cards at a time when I was hospitalized with cancer, both the assets and the income dried up in a hell of a hurry. And the debt stayed on those cards for a very long time. But I didn't lose the house. What you call "a bunch of crap" is the real-world life for real people.
Post: Americans and their credit cards
Link to comment from August 26, 2026
Obviously you never had to pay for a surgery out of pocket because your health insurer wouldn't cover it. Or $70K in storm damage to your house because your homeowner's insurance refused to cover more than $12K. Or got laid off after three months on the job because of "market conditions." Mazel tov on your good fortune. “What are others worth that they have the nerve to sneer at any human being?” ― Graham Greene
Post: Americans and their credit cards
Link to comment from August 25, 2026