How many days of your hard-earned income will you spend that could otherwise be used to pay off long-standing consumer debt or added to your emergency savings?
A great look at how much it costs our budget if we give too many gifts, without a budget. Let's take a critical look at our budget and see if there are ways to reduce our spending or at a minimum refocus towards "the least of these".
Too many Americans are what Stanley calls "aspirational spenders" -- people who spend money to make themselves look richer or more successful than they are.But their "hyperconsumption" effectively torpedoes any chances they would have at accumulating real wealth, which typically requires spending significantly less than you earn and investing the difference
The "keeping up with the Joneses" mentality means the fancier the neighborhood, the less wealth we may accumulate, Stanley said. The opposite is also true: When our surroundings are more modest, we tend to spend less, regardless of our incomes
Yes, people have cut back their spending because of job losses, less access to credit and the desire to build up savings, Stanley said. But that cutback is likely to be reversed as the economy improves, he said