Two facepalm-worthy moments I recently had:
1. On a different message board, someone was discussing employment taxes and benefits in Canada. He claimed that Employment Insurance (unemployment) payments "aren't worth much - they're a token amount". I asked him to explain, given that my wife and I each received EI payments of around $500 per week when we went on parental leave. It's certainly less than our regular income, but I wouldn't call it "token"?
His response: "For someone making $2500 a week working in tech, $500 doesn't even cover your mortgage".
Yikes, I hadn't realized mortgage payments were pegged to your income :-P
2. My company recently added an employer-sponsored retirement plan with contribution matching (yay!). The financial institution they'd partnered with sent in an advisor to present the details of the plan and go over retirement fundamentals in general. The audience was a mix of folks who have been around the block and know what's what, and young employees who may not have been exposed to retirement planning before.
The advisor explained that "generally, you spend what you earn". He touted the advantage of the employer-sponsored plan in that you never see the contributed funds in your checking account, and are therefore not tempted to spend them. He acknowledged that some people are disciplined enough to not have this problem, but admitted that he himself doesn't have the necessary discipline, despite being a Certified Financial Planner.
To be fair, I think that had he instead walked into the room and started laying down the full Mustachian gospel, it would have been counterproductive. His job is to introduce very basic financial concepts in a way that resonates with pretty much everyone in the audience. Still, a talk like this seems like a great opportunity to introduce people to the idea of living below their means, and to the opportunities that they open up by doing that (and conversely, to warn them of the risks of living without any savings and relying on consumer debt).