Ok, so this is a rant, but it is a rant about a particular article I read on Yahoo today. To read that article, please click HERE. So take a few minutes, peruse the article and then come back to me. I’ll wait… go right ahead.
Now that you’ve read the article, let me talk about the people therein. They have the ability to save money because they make a lot of money! But they make it sound like we’re just being incredibly ridiculous that we aren’t saving big bucks. Now if I made a lot of money, that article might not be that bad. I’m broke every month because I don’t even make a fraction of what they do. Let’s look a little bit deeper at some of these people.
First we have Ed Haskell who is a retired Air Force officer and Debbie who is a college professor. They can afford to buy $100,000 and $200,000 houses in cash. Me, I’m lucky to make 1/4 of the former' amount in a year. So Ed and Debbie are frugal people. Sure, they could afford bigger and more expensive cars, but hey, they’re content with the things they have. Well gee Ed, you don’t say. If I had a $200,000 home I would be pretty content. Apparently he could afford a million dollar home if he wanted. Well congratulations Ed for holding back on that. You’re practically a hero.
Nicole and Mitch are next on my hit list. Nicole is a director of marketing for a clean energy technology company, so you know she makes a goodly amount of cash. Mitch is the manager for county government in Oregon so you know he’s got top notch benefits and lives in an area of the world we define as “nice”. They budget $250 a month for vacation and $400 a month for entertainment. Must be rough to only have $2750 a year for vacations. Oh, and did I mention they put away $250 a month for their daughter? Don’t tell me about saving money please. Work off of $2000 a month with a family of four and then tell me how to save please. Next!
Tiffani Murray is a Recruitment technology manager for a major consumer products company. She’s probably the most down to earth of the bunch and that’s not exactly saying much. She uses coupons and does rebates and just is a pretty smart consumer. She also earns a 6 figure income, so once again, pretty rough, eh? To find more money to save she does extra work on weekends which adds up to $25k per year. Hell, I can’t even get that out of my job! And once again, we hear the line that she could afford a bigger house and fancier car. Quite the martyr for the cause Tiffani.
Coming in next on our list, Marcus and Shiela. Marcus is a lieutenant colonel in the Army and Shiela is a project manager for a training company. Once again, two sources of income and neither what I would call a “low paying” job. They live in a townhouse rather than a mansion. Oh, the things people do to themselves to save money! I could shed several tears for them!
Finally we have Julie who is a stay-at-home mom. Good for her, about time we see a sensible person. Oh, she also founded rubbingnickels.com which talks about how to save money. Pretty good site from what I’ve seen, so she makes money off of teaching people how to save money. Not a bad deal at all. Kudos to her. Oh, and her husband Ralph is a lawyer. Well, I should have seen that coming. We almost had a turn around on this last one.
Sorry Yahoo Financial, you do not have your finger on the pulse here. Right now it’s the people making anywhere from $20k to 50k that are trying to figure out how to make ends meet. They’re the ones trying to save money and provide for their families. You have one of those families try and make it on my income and it won’t work. I’m not complaining that I’m poor, that’s just the way it is. These people made something for themselves and great for them. However, do I really want Yahoo telling me that these are the guys who have “EXTREME” saving methods? How out of touch are they? Good job Yahoo. Must be rough in your neck of the woods.
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