Comments on: A dollar is a dollar

By: Beth W

Beth W — Mon, 12 Oct 2020 16:10:08 +0000

Another shout out for ALL THE MONEY IN THE WORLD here. It is a great book.
Another shout out for not having your nails done, either. I was in a group professional photo recently where the women were in the front. I momentarily felt self-conscious because of my nails but then shrugged it off. My husband and I drive older cars and haven’t had a vehicle payment in years. This opens up a lot of possibilities 🙂
I think one of the discussion points that is perfect for the intersection of time and money is the role of time in the value of money. A dollar earned, saved and invested today is indeed more valuable than a dollar saved in 10 years. This should be a huge motivation for people to save now and grind it out in the earlier years–stay in the workforce, make sacrifices if necessary–so it isn’t as difficult later. Saving for retirement or some big goal gets MORE EXPENSIVE as the years roll on. Related but also…inflation. It isn’t a sexy topic but when you tell someone it will cost $300,000 a year to maintain their $70K lifestyle when they are 100, their ears perk up.

By: smh

smh — Tue, 06 Oct 2020 18:11:06 +0000

I like the fungibility of money posts, too, and think you have great insights about how to use $$ as a tool to build a good life. Sadly, it seems that most Americans are letting money run their lives (read: debt) rather than the other way around and need quite basic personal finance advice, e.g., budget and live below your means.

By: Kathleen

Kathleen — Fri, 02 Oct 2020 03:23:27 +0000

In reply to Laura Vanderkam. And bless you for skipping the couponing-type angle! A few months back you had the How to Money guys on the podcast. I’d love to hear interviews with some professional women who are intensely interested in the intersection of personal finance and building a rich, fulfilling life. Optimal use of time and money resources based on a core set of personal and family goals/values. I find this endlessly fascinating and am always innovating with these concepts myself, so it would be neat to hear how others are too!

By: Kathleen

Kathleen — Fri, 02 Oct 2020 03:17:33 +0000

In reply to Laura Vanderkam. Haha, Laura, we are peas in a pod there. Around age 35 I admitted “I am not the kind of person who will ever give two bits about nails, and that’s ok.” Looking around (pre-COVID) conference rooms where all the women seemed to have tasteful neutral manicures, I’d just shrug and think “that’s $30 and 30 free minutes I save every Saturday!” There’s great freedom I’m not giving a ... hoot. :-)

By: Laura Vanderkam

Laura Vanderkam — Thu, 01 Oct 2020 19:39:48 +0000

In reply to Kathleen.

@Kathleen – I’m very interested in personal finance content. I’m just always looking for ways to explore it that are interesting and helpful and feel authentic for me too. It’s a shorter list than the usual content (no grocery store coupon stuff…) but I keep looking for ideas.

By: Laura Vanderkam

Laura Vanderkam — Thu, 01 Oct 2020 19:34:25 +0000

In reply to Kathleen.

@Kathleen – I have never spent time or money on my nails. I never have. It has never been part of my experience or world view. So who knows, maybe people have been silently judging my hands as unpolished or inferior for years…and I will never know!! Oh well.

By: Laura Vanderkam

Laura Vanderkam — Thu, 01 Oct 2020 19:33:03 +0000

In reply to Sarah K. @Sarah K- consider this your permission to buy the dress :)

By: Laura Vanderkam

Laura Vanderkam — Thu, 01 Oct 2020 19:32:40 +0000

In reply to Grateful Kae. @Grateful Kae - excellent, I hope you enjoy it!

By: Grateful Kae

Grateful Kae — Thu, 01 Oct 2020 14:10:03 +0000

In reply to Kathleen. I've read lots of Laura's books, but not this one! Adding to the top of my list!

By: Sarah K

Sarah K — Thu, 01 Oct 2020 09:25:12 +0000

Good point! I loved this book by the way.
I had a lot of experiences like this when we were building a house. Everything was so expensive that I stopped reacting to huge bills- $10000 here, $20000 there. It was all relative. But now I question whether I should buy a $300 dress I love. I should probably just buy the dress.