Ch 5: More vs. Enough (Part I: overspending, 2 of 4)

A discussion of Chapter 5 of my book "Hunting, Gathering, & Videogames" - http://www.amazon.com/Hunting-Gathering-Videogames-Allen-Gates/dp/1601450443/...

A chapter-by-chapter summary of "Hunting, Gathering, & Videogames" (and thus an overview of the entire video series):

PART I: WHY DO WE HAVE TO WORK?

Chapter One
*Hunting, Gathering, & Videogames* gives a historical overview of why we've always had to "go to work," tracing the common link between the workday of the prehistoric hunter and gatherer, the first millennium B.C. farmer, the first century A.D. pottery-maker, the nineteenth century assembly line worker, and today's videogame programmer.

Chapter Two
*Surgery & Dental Floss* spells out the complications of bartering, and explains why communities with multiple goods and services always end up using some form of money (be it beads or dollar bills) to solve their trading problems.

Chapter Three
*Penguins & Peacocks* is about why the changes in our workday--the transition from hunting and gathering to the ages of agriculture, industry, and information--took place, even though some aspects of these changes were for the worse. It looks at the parallel between the history of our workday and the way evolution works in nature: how change is driven by the demands of the immediate environment, not by concerns for future repercussions.

PART II: WORK, WEALTH, & HAPPINESS

Chapter Four
*Emperors & Emptiness* gives an overview of three drawbacks of our modern work system: the alienation, the perception of deprivation that can come from being in a society overflowing with goods and services, and the way our increased number of career options has opened up a large window for failure--particularly when we tie our occupation to our identity.

Chapter Five
*More vs. Enough* offers an alternative to the unattainable American financial goal of "more is better" by outlining a flexible but precise definition of how much income is "enough." Level 1: enough to pay for all your daily, monthly, and yearly expenses. Level 2: enough beyond Level 1 to pay off your debts (e.g., credit cards, college loans) Level 3: build and maintain a reserve fund equal to about six months of living expenses Level 4: enough to make steady investments for large future expenses (e.g., a down payment on a house, retirement, and children's college tuitions)

Chapter Six
*Measuring Success* contrasts our culture's guideline for happiness--the wealth, status, and identity we derive from our careers--with a guideline that instead aims for a balance of our physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual dimensions.

Category:

Education

Tags:

• Money
• Life
• Dominguez
• Robin
• conscious
• spending
• credit
• card
• debt
• simple
• living
• voluntary
• simplicity
• budget
• work
• ToddGates

[ToddAllenGates]

2 of 2:

> [People] can only do so with the information they are given . . . Poor advice contributes to poor decisions.

True, especially when it comes to things like stock investments, where we're paying to "trust the experts."

That being said, there are plenty of areas where we can more readily resist media pressure: having the latest model car, fashions, electronic gadgets, etc.

[ToddAllenGates]

1 of 2:

> Just because we should expect companies to increase their profits at the expense of consumer welfare doesn't mean it's socially responsible or desirable to let them do so

Agreed—and if we look back to medicine in the pre-FDA days (before 1906), we see what happens without a watchdog: dangerous products that would make wild claims of miraculous cures with zero evidence behind them.

[LaughingMan42]

Just because we should expect companies to increase their profits at the expense of consumer welfare doesn't mean it's socially responsible or desirable to let them do so or to be untroubled by it. While I agree that people can make desicions for themselves they can only do so with the information they are given, we shouldn't allow them to be inundated with pressure to continue overspending and then blame only them for their poor decisions. Poor advice contributes to poor decisions.

[ToddGates]

> No impulse shopping for me. If I go into a store with a certain amount of money and a list, I am consciously deciding what to but and what not to buy.

It's not the American Way, and for that I say—congratulations!

> Great video!

Thanks!

[angelwings0428]

I am like krazycp - I use cash. It really helps me to decide what I am going to purchase and not purchase. No impulse shopping for me. If I go into a store with a certain amount of money and a list, I am conciously deciding what to but and what not to buy.

Great video!

[krazycp]

This is why I got rid of my credit card. While I still have a bank card, I started using cash for all my daily purchases, and have noticed I am saving more money.

[BayerLexan]

I view the money that I do make as a trade of my limited life span for the money, so I'm in no rush to squander the amount of my life I invested in obtaining the money.