Ooh, I Need That...

“It’s on sale!” you say. “I’ll never get it cheaper!” Or perhaps you are more inclined to rationalize with, “I’ll use that for lots of things, and I don’t have one. I practically NEED it.” Yes, I too practically needed an XBOX 360, Nintendo Wii, cordless finish-nailer, and an iPhone. While these are all great things, and I use them all quite extensively, I can’t really say that I needed them. In fact, as I bought 3 of 4 on credit, I ended up paying a lot more than retail for them, even though I bought them on sale (I’ll explain this some other time when I talk about compound interest).

Some people think debt magically appeared about the same time as credit cards. But debt has been around for a really long time; thousands of years in fact. Why is that, do you think? I believe it boils down to one simple thing. We see something we want, and we’ll do anything to get it. It doesn’t matter that we don’t have the money for it. It doesn’t matter that we don’t really need it, that by buying it I’ll actually increase my expenses just by having it, or that it doesn’t really match anything I own so I’ll “need” to go buy some other stuff now to match it.

Deep down we believe that stuff brings happiness. We are not content with our lives. We compare ourselves and our stuff to the people down the street, down the hall, or down the aisle at church. By having newer, better, bigger stuff, people will think more highly of us. Isn’t that important? Uh, no. Have ever really sat back in your chair and contemplated how great so-and-so is because of the stuff they have? If someone is nice they’re nice. If they're a *@$^~# then they’re *@$^~#. They’re stuff has nothing to do with it.

So why do we chase "stuff"? It’s very easy to blame it on our society. With all the advertising and slick marketing campaigns, I don’t think it’s wrong to place some blame there. But the majority of the blame rests with us, you and me. We decided we'd go with it. We decided to buy that, and that, and maybe even that over there. No one made us. We can continue to ride the tide of stuff and status, or we can stop, stand in the water, and take our licks as we go against the waves that will try to pound us into submission and conformity. You will probably fall, I have. Some of the waves are pretty big and they pack a mean punch. But I have gotten up again, and so can you. I can see the beach ahead of me, and I’m going to make it. Will you allow the tide to pull you off into the middle of the ocean where there’s nothing to do but drown, or will you stop, stand up tall, and take your first step?

~Kevin