Wasteful spending has become a commonplace in society today. We are a consumer-based generation who want more than we are able to afford currently. We lack the patience to save and have been given access to credit so that we have no need to learn to acquire this patience at all. We are raising children who have no understanding of solid financial principles and are lacking in wisdom and savvy regarding money and how to use it to their best advantage.
My father-in-law was an incredibly smart man in terms of spending and saving. He taught those around him the mantra, “You can’t spend three dollars if you only have two” and he truly lived by this rule, discarding the available credit and loans that he could have used. Because of this, he kept his money in his own pocket, rather than giving it away to various companies and corporations for nothing. He also avoided the stress of being in debt and worrying about how to pay tomorrow for what he couldn’t afford today.
The current “buy now, pay later” philosophy is one that many people are taking advantage of. It is not because they need to, but because they have never learned how to save for the things that they want. While saving actually makes you more money as you gain interest, it does cost something and that is patience, a character quality that is in short supply today. The “gift” of credit is one of the biggest robberies that we can fall prey to, but it is wrapped in everything that we want and think that we need to have right now.
What we often neglect to assess is the cost that is associated with this “buy now, pay later” opportunity that we are being offered. Paying various costs that are tacked on to these spending habits, such as interest and loan origination fees, can take our actual purchase price to a level that we never anticipated and may never even realize unless we sit down and take a moment to figure out. For example, many vehicle loans will have the buyer paying twice as much as they thought that they were going to by the end of the loan term. Over a five year term, they may have wasted tens of thousands of dollars. This does not seem like a bargain at all!
This wasteful spending is a curse, no matter how beautiful the wrapping around it may seem to be. It is taking away the money that we have to work with throughout our lives. It is using up the inheritance that would have once been left to our children. It is also taking from us the opportunity to build great character qualities. Overall, the giving of money today for the chance to pay tomorrow is only a way for large corporations to take what should never have been theirs and leave the consumer with a stressful load of debt that will have to be paid, whether it is today or tomorrow. There is nothing free, and buying on credit is one of the costliest ways to spend.