Comments on: Are You Afraid of Money?

By: wealthy_1

wealthy_1 — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 23:04:59 +0000

I can’t get over how appropriate this post is for me and my family. My husband and I make more than the median income and yet we’re in debt. We don’t live large, but we have a comfortable home, transportation, and of course food and clothing. But up until now, it seems that if there was “extra money” it had to be spent.

Like you, I’m just starting to have a more positive relationship with my money. I do have to keep reminding myself that money in the emergency fund is for emergencies.

If I won the lotto, I would abandon my job and head for Hawaii!

By: plonkee

plonkee — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 20:01:33 +0000

I’ve thought before about what I’d do with a windfall. It involves finishing off improving my house, and travelling (preferably on the Trans-Siberian Express). So, with my extra cash, I’m going to do exactly those things, just a little more slowly – the Trans-Sib might have to wait for another year though.

By: Adfecto

Adfecto — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 23:13:48 +0000

I don’t think that I have a fear of money, but I absolutely notice how my expenses rapidly climb to meet my income. In the last 36 months I went from making $8k per year to making almost 10x that amount, but I still have the same weekly allocation of spending money I did before ($200 a week for food, gas, and fun). Of course before, I had virtually no expenses and now I have my own household and a wife to keep up. The biggest changes are $12k /year for a 401(k)/Roth IRA, $12k /year for a mortgage, about $20k for taxes too.

I have very little use for money for money’s sake but I sure can think of a few great ways I would spend a few million. One of my favorite time wasters is to sit down and fantasize about my future house. I nearly went into architecture (except that I can’t draw to save my life) so I love the idea of making a building that matches your lifestyle and includes a bit of art and luxury. Who can argue with a massive oversize shower with a dozen jets or a dedicated home theater with a 100″ screen. My dream house gets built over and over in my head. It would only cost about 4-5 times my current livings arrangements so I aspire to own it lottery or no.

By: Randall

Randall — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 18:33:47 +0000

@All,

The ‘coolest’ thing I’ve read about was one of the winners that set up a ‘family fund’. It gave out $12k/year to every member of the family. $12k isn’t enough to impact your life very much, but it is enough to make sure you don’t starve. That sounded very neat to me. Help, but don’t OVERhelp.

By: Mrs. Micah

Mrs. Micah — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 18:33:13 +0000

It’s a good point, Randall, we’re all sort-of millionaires. We’ll probably handle at least a million bucks over the course of our lives. The key is handling it well.