<< If you live in a poor neighbourhood no one will laugh at you there, as they are all poor. >>
Actually, if you drive around some of the impoverished areas I'm near, its common to see a $50,000 Cadillac parked in font of a run-down house that is worth maybe $30,000. The kind of car you drive is a popular measure of one's worth or prestige no matter what your socio-economic status. That doesn't mean you "must" embrace this popular measure of prestige or 'image'. Again, its a choice of priorities. What's more important, impressing the neighbors or the security of knowing you can retire comfortably when you reach the average retirement age?
Short story: Two brothers, both employed in the same industry, both made the same amount of money, both with comparable families. One brother bought modest vehicles and drove them until the body distintegrated away from the frame due to rust. He had modest tastes in everything, bought his clothes from discount stores, drank only on rare occasion, took simple vacations once every few years, rejected lottery tickets as a retirement plan, saved his money and put them into IRA's (at the time, what is known today as "traditional" IRA was the only IRA available), bought some blue chip stocks when he could afford to, packed his lunch every day and ate at restaurants infrequently, did most of the work on his home and vehicles himself, always looked for better deals instead of impulse buying, etc.
The other brother bought new cars every 4 to 5 years, and trucks, oooo gotta have a new 4x4 truck every 3 years, a Harley, oooo gotta have a fishing boat! He took vacations every year, was fond of going to the casinos an average of twice per year and liked to party it up or go fishing (aka "party") on the weekends, always paid to have any repairs done instead of doing it himself, never looked for a bargain, blew his money on whatever he wanted, and relied completely on his company-provided pension for retirement. He also liked to poke fun of his brother and his conservative ways. Every new "toy" he bought, he had to stop at his brother's house to gloat and show off.
Guess which brother was completely dumbfounded at how the other brother could afford to pay off his home early, retire at 60, move to California and build a brand new home? Not a fictional story, this is the true story of my father and his brother; my father being the more conservative of the two. But, it just as well may be the story of tens of millions of Americans.
Guess who is laughing now??
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