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From David's questions...; I'll start at least one
Topic Started: Apr 15 2007, 05:16 AM (555 Views)
John D'Oh
Member Avatar
MAMIL
All I need is to not be worried about money. To be able to afford to buy my kids the stuff they need and some of what they want, and to have a little bit left over at the end of the month to be a bit silly with or to save up and be a bit more silly with in a year or so. I've got everything I need. Unless things change dramatically I'm never going to have a beach front, or a massive house, or a fantastic car and I'm never going to try to get 'em.
What do you mean "we", have you got a mouse in your pocket?
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plays88keys
Pisa-Carp
It's a good question. My take on it is not so much chasing to acquire more or just for show, but to upgrade what you already have for something that will improve the quality of your life: like trading in your cheaper not-so-comfortable mattress that maybe makes your back hurt in the morning for a really good one that not only improves your sleeping comfort, but has side benefits like renewing your energy so you can go through your day without dragging. Money used for this purpose is worth pursuing, IMO.

Money used for life experiences, such as world travel, watching your child graduate from college or attending Elena's Carnegie Hall recital is worth pursuing.

I recently found out that acquiring a windfall gave me the means to pursue money in the manner I outlined above. Beyond that it means little more to me than added security. It came at a time when I had lost a most precious friendship, and I honestly mean it when I say it brought very little joy or excitement - I'd much rather have my friend in my life. It taught me that money truly cannot buy many things that matter most - they are all intangible.



You can never get enough of what you don't need to make you happy.
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David Burton
Senior Carp
I’m right now imagining all of us sitting along a big picnic table out somewhere nice – maybe TomK’s backyard – and enjoying some wonderful fall off the bones ribs or something else he cooked up in his big green egg discussing this subject while we get our fingers nice and sticky, making comments when we have space and time between bites, swallows and licking our fingers. The beverage of choice probably depends on the weather. For me – in an ideal world – it would be either a Swiss beer or a good peaty single malt watered to perfection with some great east Tennessee branch water.

I had my own answers to these questions, but the money one has come up first and so here it goes:

Of course money represents freedom, but it can also represent slavery. I recall vividly my time fresh out of college when I hadn’t figured out quite what to do with the rest of my life, was good at test taking and did well on the GRE but somehow was just too damn tired of school. I had very little money and consequently didn’t eat much and lost a lot of weight. I was in fact so mal-nourished that whenever I got up quickly enough I felt faint. It helped me seem attractive to more girls though and I got laid a lot back then though to be honest few of them were really any good at the art of love. But above all it was a time of freedom unlike any that I have had before or since.

About a year after graduation I decided it was time to get serious about something so I went back to school intending on getting some sort of business degree. I went in a hippy socialist and came out a convinced capitalist. My dad and I got along better and I cut my hair. Eventually I got my first real job working for a Fortune 500 firm whose name everybody knows. They taught me the business and I began making some money, not serious but money nonetheless.

I discovered about this time that as far as education and entertainment went these things were pretty much done in spite of institutions and other people not because of them. I was an avid reader despite being practically blind – will never see well enough to drive a car – and was able to put together concepts in my own inimitable fashion. I also recall that my college advisor, a particularly fastidious Englishman, told me I couldn’t write. Doubtless some of you may disagree with him, especially after you read my book, which is in editing mode right now.

Anyway money is something we all need to survive but beyond maintaining enough of a lifestyle to seem “with it” according to community standards, what more does one need? I have had my experiences of extravagance, mostly at the hands of rich friends who didn’t think twice about spending the money. It was another kind of education for me; why spend $100 on something that should only cost $20 and could cost that elsewhere, etc. I found that money also separated them from the rest of us which is another kind of freedom I suppose.

OK, I’ll take another rib off the stack. The other questions are probably more interesting than this one. Oh well …. (chomp, smack, lick, “mmmmm”).
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Mikhailoh
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If you want trouble, find yourself a redhead
Agreed. I've had the world's finest wines, much of the finest food and other things. All in all, very little beats my mother-in-law's Chicken Casserole with a nice cheap Spanish grenache or an old-time California Zinfandel. I enjoy a good moderately priced Italian restaurant probably more than a five star joint like the Maisonette. I at least feel I'm getting my money's worth.

In other words, there is very little qualitative difference in many things for a HUGE difference in price. As my father-in-law loves to say, 'You can't eat prestige'. I like nice things, but can certainly do without them. My happiness is not based upon them, and I do not like conspicuous consumption. If one is purchasing things for the effect they have on others one needs to take a good look in the mirror. For the record I don't know of anyone on this board that I think needs that look.

Once in his life, every man is entitled to fall madly in love with a gorgeous redhead - Lucille Ball
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Axtremus
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HOLY CARP!!!
Just copying-and-pasting from my response in David Burton's "Going to Confession" thread:

questions posted by David Burton
Axtremus' answers in bold

...
[2] What does it matter to spend so much time chasing more and more of this world’s goods and services when you will only have to lose them eventually anyway?

It matters that you get to be secure in knowing that your cache of worldly resources will not run out before you depart from this world. The more you have accumulated, the more you get to consume with less worry. If you have dependents and loved ones whom you believe will out live you, then you would also be accumulating worldly resources for the security of your dependents out of love and concern for your loved ones. That's why it matters, a lot.
...
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Aqua Letifer
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ZOOOOOM!
Mik,

I didn't mean to nitpick, that was just my reaction to what you said. If you want me to have a go at answering David's question, sure, I'll bite.

Quote:
 
"What does it matter to spend so much time chasing more and more of this world’s goods and services when you will only have to lose them eventually anyway?"


Like money, this world's goods and services are a means to an end, and they are worthless if (sound) reasons for attaining them are not defined.
I cite irreconcilable differences.
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Fizzygirl
Fulla-Carp
Money, although a necessity, can be the evil undoer of men. It can often lead to selfishness and greed. Sometimes I think life would be a lot more pleasant and people wouldn't be judged so harshly for their enormous wealth or lack of it if we went back to bartering for the things we need.

Thinking about this reminds me of my grandfather who was a dentist. He was not rich, but comfortable even though during the depression many of his patients exchanged chickens or other items for their dental work. One fella, a photographer, gave my grandfather free portrait sittings for the family in exchange the his dental work. I currently have 2 of those portraits of my mother. I should try to take a picture of the portrait and post it here. In the portrait, my mother is about 10 years old. One day I asked her why she wasn't smiling in the picture. She told me she hated that man because he always made her tilt her head and she thought that was stupid. She just didn't like that man. But she was stuck posing that way anyway.
Cats are intended to teach us that not everything in nature has a purpose. ~ Garrison Keillor


My latest videos.

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