A small story…When I was a kid, my dad wanted to get me a BMW bike. So he asked what I wanted. Not knowing any better and knowing my parents were very conservative in spending, I thought what the heck, get me the $60 Team Murray bike from Kmart. Brought it to school the next day, and for the rest of the two years had to endure just about every single ridicule imaginable from every other stupid kid, because their parents had bought them $250+ BMX bikes. Personally, I didn’t understand what the big deal with. A bike for all purposes took me from point A to B after school, and none of the other kids ever raced. But it was hell for me. Never told my parents about it, because I didn’t want them to feel bad, but I felt pretty crappy about it…. Until I got older and realized that my parents basically gave me food, shelter, the opportunity to attend a great college, and everything else I needed to succeed. To this day, my dad still doesn’t understand why I won’t throw away that red bike that’s hanging in his garage.
The issue is that American kids are mean and stupid. It becomes a popularity/fad contest, and their parents feed into this culture buy spending unnecessarily on trendy things. The entire comparing to the Jones down the street happens when we’re kids. And it gets more ridiculous as we progress. Can you imagine a 5th grade teacher telling students to make sure to turn off all cell phones before class starts? That’s just ridiculous. I see so many parents with their kids feeding into the trendy thing. And I take a look at them, and I can’t imagine they have the income that can sustain this.
Now in my 30ies, with a decent career and where money isn’t really a probably for most things (except possibly a McMansion in La Jolla shores), I guess I have my parents to thank for the fact that I’m so conservative in spending. And thankfully my spouse is exactly like me. But living in CV doesn’t help because while I really don’t want to be like so many other CV folks, I really don’t want my kid to grow up with esteem issues that may happen if I don’t at least partly play the game. So, I’m going to have to figure out this one.
As far as people that are financing their way to ruins. Well, they really won’t get much sympathy from me. Folks like that already gave me enough grief when I was a kid. And I frankly won’t have a problem taking their assets away from them if they’re reckless and irresponsible.
