Save. Spend. Splurge.
http://bonjourart.blogspot.ca/2011/02/hermes-birkin-bag.html

In the world of Save. Spend. Splurge.

http://bonjourart.blogspot.ca/2011/02/hermes-birkin-bag.html

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One.

Understanding luxury goods — “The owner of a $12,000 Birkin bag might tell you that it’s worth every penny.ย […] A Birkin bag is at its most valuable when your friends admire you for owning it, not when they admire its ability to carry your stuff.ย […]ย Discount luxury goods, then, are an oxymoron.

Exactly. Buy the real thing, don’t settle for a cheap or a fake substitute.

Two.ย 

How much is enough?ย — How much do you need to retire?ย Theย answer seems to be around $1.2 million to retire, with roughly $400K saved at the age of 45 and assuming you spend about $51,000 a year.

Three.

I am not going to pretend to be poor to be accepted by you. —ย A short rant by a self-proclaimed rich kid. The comments are also a good read.

(Thanks toย Bridgetย for sharing!)

Four.

http://lifestylehunters.com/real-coat/

I am selling this similar coat right on my blog here.

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Would you think I was nuts that I went to Holt Renfrew a while ago and tried on this exact $2000+ Max Mara camel hair coat, and fell in love with it?ย IT WAS SO. SOFT.

Then the saleslady who saw $$ in her eyes, said it was only really meant for Autumn, so I stuck it back on the shelf because that season does not exist in Canada.

Alas. Saved myself $2000.

Five.ย 

Homeless vs. The Worldย — What would you do if you were homeless? Have you ever thought about it?

Six.

How do you compete with “Free”? — Youย sell something worth paying for, that’s how.

Seven.

http://wearingittoday.blogspot.ca/2013/08/my-fabulous-friends-wardrobes-part-1.html

I love peeking into closets. This is theย perfect post for that.

Eight.

Discretion about your personal finances and your situationย is the name of the game, especially if you’re not blogging anonymously.

Nine.

How I went from $100-an-hour programming to $X-000 a week consultingย —ย For those of you who are dying to know how to go from being a “simple” programmer to being a consultant, here’s a good post to get your juices flowing and to be motivated to follow in Patrick’s footsteps.

I did not follow his path by the way, because I am not a programmer, but it sounds awfully familiar.

(Thanks to Rockstar Finance for posting this!)

Ten.

I talk a lot about my parents, specifically how they chose to live their lives, but truth be told, I am also secretly happy they did all of that because I may not have ended up the same person I am today, had they done everything “right”.

I should probably cut them more slack, but it’s hard to see the forest for the trees.

So for me, it was great to read this heartfelt post on whether or not your parents can really take any of the blame for screwing you up.

13 Comments

  • J. Money

    Glad you enjoyed that post ๐Ÿ™‚

  • Michelle

    I have been at FinCon and just discovered you included my link! What a huge honor. Thank you very much and I’m really happy that the post resonated with you ๐Ÿ™‚ I find myself thinking about this question a lot because there are so many people who are homeless and I wonder if they had ever thought about the possibility of homelessness happening to them? Did they ever pretend that they didn’t see someone approaching them on the street because they were homeless (before they became homeless)? I also observe how people treat the homeless and think we are all in this together to some degree. Then, I just think that I’m very, very fortunate.

  • Tania

    While I think a Birkin is definitely a beautiful classic bag and I wouldn’t kick a gifted one out of my closet, I don’t think any bag is worth $12K although one could argue its worth is what someone is willing to pay for it. Scarcity is one reason for the higher price. And I like luxury goods and do understand the cost involved for handmade construction and materials. I believe in paying for quality but not for status.

    Max Mara is always beautifully made and that coat would be lovely for one of my favorite cities, San Francisco. Ok, off to check out some of the links, thanks for sharing.

  • ArianaAuburn

    Looking at that bag, I would not have guessed it was a Birkin bag. It looks nice though.
    The numbers needed for retirement are way off- very few people can raise that much to retire with unless their portfolios became profitable. But that is if luck is with them.

    • save. spend. splurge.

      @ArianaAuburn: It’s because it’s open ๐Ÿ™‚

      That $1.2 million is based on today’s numbers if you plan on retiring in 20 years. That said, it also depends on what your company / government kicks in (if any).

      I myself am aiming for that, actually more than that because inflation will mean I will need about $2 million give or take.

  • Jane Savers @ Solving The Money Puzzle

    If I was homeless I would have to live with one of my sons and I would consider that a complete fail. My goal is to have enough saved to take care of myself.

    According to your retirement estimate of 1.2 million dollars to retire I am totally screwed because I am no where near that.

    Katie Holmes, seen modelling your dream coat, is dating Jamie Foxx. He could do better.

    • save. spend. splurge.

      But what if you didn’t have your sons? Where would you go? That’s the real question that I think about.

      Well, $1.2M is for people who want to retire at 65 and have a comfortable retirement of about $50,000 a year. You will probably end up working longer, and retiring a little bit later (5-10 years later? like my mom and aunts), and not have such a cushy retirement.

      • Jane Savers @ Solving The Money Puzzle

        @save. spend. splurge.: Then I guess I would just be homeless. Something drastic like that would be because of some world wide apocalyptic event or because of some form of mental illness that I develop. I would hope that I could find other groups of homeless people to camp with for safety in numbers.

        I am going to retire on much less and just be a very low income retiree. I know lots of them through my work. I could live pretty well on 20K per year and I do have the equity in my home to top my up.

        My house is worth about $220,000. I could live for a few years on the money from the sale of the house and not touch my other assets and delay taking my government pension.

  • Liquid

    I think Ms. Sacks of Cash shouldn’t have taken her the situation so personally. We can’t expect strangers to be nice all the time. Lots of productive criticism in the comments lol. Nice looking Max Mara. That one coat is worth more than my entire wardrobe haha. Can’t wait for Nordstrom to start opening up stores in Canada next year ๐Ÿ™‚ Thanks for the mention. Enjoy the weekend.

    • save. spend. splurge.

      I agree. Not everyone is very kind to you all the time, and I wear nice things, sometimes they’re designer like a Burberry trench coat and I’ve never felt any animosity towards me.

      Have you really tallied up your wardrobe total? You’d be surprised at how fast $2000 adds up. I myself am way beyond $2000, but that’s another point for another day ๐Ÿ™‚

      You’re welcome!

      • Liquid

        @save. spend. splurge.: I estimate all my clothing (used) is worth about $2K, but not including shoes ๐Ÿ™‚ But I’m a guy with minimal fashion sense, and most of my attire is composed of free t-shirts and generic items from Winners, haha. I’m sure I could try to be more stylish, but I don’t really have a good eye for fashion. I don’t want to spend $500 on something that’s not really worth it. Your wardrobe is probably worth more than $10K lol. A couple weeks ago you mentioned it’s common for you to spend over $1,000 a month on clothing. Hey, maybe you can think about including the value of your clothes in your net worth (^_^)

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