In the world of Save. Spend. Splurge.
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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. […] 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. […] Discount luxury goods, then, are an oxymoron.”
Exactly. Buy the real thing, don’t settle for a cheap or a fake substitute.
Two.
How much is enough? — How much do you need to retire? The 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. — A short rant by a self-proclaimed rich kid. The comments are also a good read.
(Thanks to Bridget for sharing!)
Four.
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? 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.
Homeless vs. The World — What would you do if you were homeless? Have you ever thought about it?
Six.
How do you compete with “Free”? — You sell something worth paying for, that’s how.
Seven.
I love peeking into closets. This is the perfect post for that.
Eight.
Discretion about your personal finances and your situation 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 consulting — 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
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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 🙂 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.
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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.
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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. -
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.
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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 🙂 Thanks for the mention. Enjoy the weekend.
J. Money
Glad you enjoyed that post 🙂