The Wall Street Journal has an article on "Debt Habits of the Rich." A free version is available online, courtesy of Yahoo! Finance. The gist of the article is that rich people use debt a little more wisely than regular people, but the "merely" rich are stretching themselves to keep up with the "obscenely" rich.
What they report shouldn't come as a surprise. Humans have a habit of taking their current lifestyle for granted and comparing themselves to their superiors. A person who earns $20,000 a year wishes for the $50,000 paycheck, thinking that that amount is more than sufficient to pay for his current lifestyle, and more. Except, once he's gotten the $50,000 salary, he goes out and buys a new car, or gets cable, or some other life luxury. Pretty soon, he's adjusted to that lifestyle and now covets a $100,000 salary. The cycle continues.
One would think that there could come a point when people say, "enough!" I have as much money as I could possibly want and I would know what to do with it. But, with inflation, fear sets in. What's enough today definitely isn't enough tomorrow. That, coupled with our natural competitiveness, leads to the hunger for ever higher income, and more exclusive toys.
February 07, 2007
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1 comments:
You said it, dollface. The sooner joes and jills learn to be happy with what they have, the sooner they'll know that how much dough they make isn't the key to a big, fat smile. Congrats on getting accepted to be a doc. Here's looking at you, kid. www.debtective.com
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