Author Topic: XKCD not doing me any favors  (Read 3551 times)

sheepstache

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XKCD not doing me any favors
« on: November 30, 2013, 07:17:51 PM »
The spouse has been chilling around the house for the holidays and revisiting the XKCD archive.  At one point he turns to me, indicating his screen, and says, 'yeah, this is kind of how I feel about it.'
http://xkcd.com/947/
And I gave out a Shatner-esque "MUUUUNROOOOOE"  Like, it's hard enough arguing to the spouse that he needs to save money now rather than counting on making more income in the future without, like, the most respected comic on the interwebs being all flippant about compound interest.

iamlindoro

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Re: XKCD not doing me any favors
« Reply #1 on: November 30, 2013, 07:29:42 PM »
My reply to your spouse would be:

"Who's stupid enough to leave money in an account earning only 2% for ten years?"

I earn 8-11% a year on my money, so that $2158 to $2839 sounds pretty damn good to me when all that's required of me is nothing ;)

sheepstache

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Re: XKCD not doing me any favors
« Reply #2 on: November 30, 2013, 07:54:39 PM »
Yeah I show him my spreadsheet each month to point out how well my money in the market is doing but he's very conservative and probably wouldn't invest.  Maybe because saving money feels like a sacrifice to him, he's not comfortable with the idea of losing any principal.  And I can't really do a hard sell telling him he should invest, because I can't take responsibility for any money he loses in the market and each person's risk tolerance comes down to what lets them sleep at night.

Yep, this is where the anti-consumerism pillar really matters.  I'm like, "But when you spend all your money to eat out for lunch, you're losing 100% of your principal!  And not getting anything in exchange!"  Him: "But you're getting lunch in exchange!"  Me: "Right, like I said, you're getting barely anything in exchange."

Thanks for the idea, though!

iamlindoro

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Re: XKCD not doing me any favors
« Reply #3 on: November 30, 2013, 08:22:30 PM »
Yeah I show him my spreadsheet each month to point out how well my money in the market is doing but he's very conservative and probably wouldn't invest.

One might make the point that not investing it means inflation eats away at it every year-- every day it's not invested somewhere that beats inflation (3% is usually quoted) it's actually money lost.  Not very conservative/responsible to me :)

Aaaaaanyway, I know I'm preaching to the choir.

arebelspy

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Re: XKCD not doing me any favors
« Reply #4 on: December 01, 2013, 08:34:15 AM »
What I'd be saying to that is "$219 free dollars!  Sweet.  Now let's scale it so that interest covers all our living expenses!"

Once you have enough, saving all the surplus leads to good things.  If you had spent the $1000 on crap you don't need, you wouldn't be any happier (on the other hand, the financial piece of mind of having some money in the bank may actually do so).  If you invested it, even only at 2%, you get that extra $219.. for doing nothing but have your money work for you.

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dragoncar

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Re: XKCD not doing me any favors
« Reply #5 on: December 01, 2013, 12:36:46 PM »
If you base life decisions on a web comic you've already lost.

I wonder if there is a relevant xkcd to convince you...