Roused

Anyone read the cover story of today's Sunday Times, "Under 30 and $50k in debt."?

The lure of credit and the ability to spend money that isn't there is really great. According to what I see, hear and feel, (without any empirical evidence) I find that many young people are spending more than they can afford to. In many cases, spending money of the future. I have to agree that there are definitely things you would want to enjoy now by taking up a loan rather than save up to pay for the lump sum. A couple of good examples would be buying a house or a car. But is there a real need to spend thousands and thousands on bags every other month? Keeping up with image? I don't know.

I recalled my aunt was telling me that one of her friends said she was lousy, because she was earning a lot, but yet is a spend thrift who doesn't know how to enjoy life. She claimed that it is a type of lifestyle to enjoy life. However, my aunt wasn't convinced. Neither am I. Lifestyle is something very subjective. It is up to an individual to pick any lifestyle he or she wants to lead. I can earn 10k/month, but spend only about 1.5k/month and yet lead a simple but fulfilled life. Or I can indulge in luxuries and get myself in a truckload of debts and be stressed out when I'm unable to pay up.

I recalled seeing this somewhere, but I'm not sure where. "There is a new religion rising, it is consumerism." I may be a buddhist, not a devout one, but a buddhist nonetheless. But I too am falling prey to this new religion. It is indeed very powerful and persuasive. There are times I buy on impulse, on things that are, well......, not necessary. And many times, I dig into my savings to finance my expenditure.

I don't mean that the buying of luxury goods is wrong, but shouldn't such indulgence fall within your budget? Like maybe, we save up a bit a month until we have enough to buy?

At this point in time, I really understand why MoneySENSE is trying hard to reach out to youths to educate them on financial literacy. At the same time, planning their personal finance.

Here is a link to MoneySENSE's publications:
Money Management -> http://www.moneysense.gov.sg/publications/guidestier1.html
Financial Planning -> http://www.moneysense.gov.sg/publications/guidestier2.html
Investment Know How ->http://www.moneysense.gov.sg/publications/guidestier3.html
General ->http://www.moneysense.gov.sg/publications/guidesgeneral.html

It's never too late to start planning your finance. Better late then never.

ps. This post is totally random, maybe inspired by the article from today's Sunday Times, but it is not targetted at anyone in particular.