As I've branched out from my normal investing blogs to some more general personal finance blogs, I've noticed that many people have to work at being frugal. On the surface, this struck me as odd since I am naturally frugal (my wife says cheap). Sometimes I have to remind myself it may be me that has the defective "frugal" gene.
An interesting observation (albeit non-scientific) I've made over the years, is that opposites really do attract. It seems that in many, if not most, marriages there is one relatively frugal person and one person that, well, likes to spend a little more freely. It is not a male/female thing, but seems to be evenly dispersed with maybe a slight lean to females being the more frugal ones. I guess this is the way the good Lord takes care of us. Consider the other combinations:
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An interesting observation (albeit non-scientific) I've made over the years, is that opposites really do attract. It seems that in many, if not most, marriages there is one relatively frugal person and one person that, well, likes to spend a little more freely. It is not a male/female thing, but seems to be evenly dispersed with maybe a slight lean to females being the more frugal ones. I guess this is the way the good Lord takes care of us. Consider the other combinations:
- Frugal + Frugal: This would be an awesome wealth building machine. Taken to the extreme this would not be good for the economy. In a world made up of people like me, there would be little spending on consumer goods. There would be no upgrading of houses, cars, appliances, etc. Eventually, the economy would grind to a standstill.
- Spender + Spender: It doesn't take long to see where this one is going. Can you say 'bankruptcy'? Like Frugal + Frugal, taken to the extreme this too would not be good for the economy. If everyone spends themselves into bankruptcy then retires with nothing, our financial system would collapse trying to care for the broke retirees. Also, if you are bankrupt, you can't spend so once again the economy would grind to a standstill.
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I know my sister and her husband both have the "spender" gene. They can't seem to save a thing.
I've kind of noticed this phenomena as well. I guess people who always spend don't survive to pay the bills. And people who never spend anything die of starvation. But the more successful financial relationships seem to be the ones where there is a balance between spending and frugality.
I think in a world made up of me, there would also be almost no spending on consumer goods or plastic pumpkins from China. There would be a lot of reading of used books, though!