My husband and I saved money after gaining it the good old-fashioned American way: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yAMRXqQXemU
We moved to the land of Opportunity that California was in 1979, a bit behind the steep climb in housing prices, fantastic career opportunities, but we planted-and-thrived anyway, coincident to the year the Smith Barney TV commercial aired. Do you recall the ad, you Boomer you?
We entrusted a percentage of our hard-earned cash with an investment firm – truth be told, not Smith Barney – that has done well for us.
And, btw, they’ve done well by us, earning four figures in quarterly management fees.
Sort of like the cash extracted by our Uncle since we got on SS gravy train. Early. Because, even in the ’70s when we entered the formal workforce, we were of the belief that the cash wouldn’t outlast the Baby Boomer population explosion when all of them/us aged into the hand-out.
It’s our due to be on the dole; we feel entitled. (now I sound like my dad.)
In recent years, while we’ve foregone home renovations and carpet replacement, we’ve escalated the pace of our overseas travel: 1. because we’d computed that we’d hosted an aggregate of two months of houseguests yearly since ’79 and 2. because we realize that other nations do not have ADA (American Disabilities Act, a gift of Bush #1) accoutrements. Tourist spots are filled with stairs and one must walk and walk and walk. After our month in Australia and New Zealand earlier this year, my knees and soles complained.
But, as our travel budget expanded with reckless abandon to accommodate our fervent investment in memories and adventure, our checking and savings accounts shrank. We must reduce our cash flows release to a trickle, to not be crashing spillage over the dam. We have been sort of fleecing ourselves…
We realized that we Boomers were on a Spender Bender. So like our Uncle Sam.
What to cut, Constant Reader? Surely not my Starbucks chai tea ration?
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