April 15, 2005
Sarah Kaplan

I try to live more simply in order to feel good and have fun, not to
deprive myself. A major part of that is using bicycles as my main
form of urban transportation. A huge proportion of advertising
dollars are spent on car ads, which sell the idea that driving a car
gives you freedom and convenience, when in rush hour city traffic,
it's just the opposite. The expensive, two-ton steel machine powered by gasoline is not necessary to go four miles to work or to the grocery store, and more expensive, larger vehicles are just more unpleasant to be around. Because I have the freedom of not owning or having to maintain a car, I save a huge amount of money (thousands!) every year, which means I don't have to worry as much about spending money on going out to eat or other entertainment, and it's much easier to save. Wouldn't it seem like a sign of wealth to own five cars? Well, since I love bicycles and see cars as a burden instead of a desire, I feel fabulously wealthy to be able to acquire as many bicycles as I have a use for (right now I have 6 that work, all very different.)

p.s. I forgot the best part! With the money that I saved from choosing not to own a car, I purchased a share in a housing cooperative. Instead of a car, I own my own home!

---

April 11, 2005
Bill

Now in my fifties, I feel comfortable about my family’s situation. But if I wanted to search for things to worry over, I am sure I could find some. A key lesson is finding the right balance of controlling your desires and enjoying life. My mother taught me that for the people I found better off than me, I could find plenty less fortunate. I try to be happy without having the best and latest thing.

The marketing today is very strong and starts with very young targets. Their goal is to create a demand for the products and they know how to influence young people. They are pushing products and services by convincing people these things are part of a lifestyle full of excitement and joy. Much of it is just an illusion.

After the basics, I think money spent on travel is rewarding. The travel can be just to a nearby park, woods, or lake. Memories of fun places and events can be replayed for free.

Some money in the bank sounds boring, but I think it is better than the scary feeling of paycheck to paycheck which I don’t miss.

---

March 18, 2005
John Pater

The value of money can only be taught to children at the home. Parents must involve the children starting with simple financial decisions like “If you want to buy something we have to go to your piggy bank and get the money out from doing your chores to pay for the item”. If the child only sees the parents using credit cards then they have no idea how the item is actually paid for.

The advertising media (all forms) is the worst place for anyone to
learn about money. Especially nowadays. The media is only about
spending. They survive by enticing the reader/viewer to spend money on their advertisers products. They entice the American people to buy things that they don't need with money that they do not have and then finance it for them.

A couple of solid books to read on this subject are: John Cummuta's Are You Being Seduced into Debt or Transforming Debt into Wealth. They are available at several libraries in the area so you don't have to buy it.

One of our greatest burdens is a mortgage. The mortgage is advertised as “everyone has one” or “the last great tax write-off,” so people just accept having one without running the numbers to see how much money they are wasting on interest.

Einstein once commented that compound interest was the greatest
invention. Well, this greatest invention is working against the
mortgage borrower in a massive way. I had to re-engineer my thinking about savings and loans to understand this. I used to believe that it was more important to save a little for retirement while paying massive amounts of interest on my mortgage. After spending a few minutes with an amortization program and a calculator I found my thinking to be severely incorrect.