Beware The Steady Drip

Beware The Steady DripOn October 10th, 2018 hurricane Michael ravaged the shores of Florida and Georgia.  It caused massive damage, and the death toll was 31.  On that same day, approximately 110 others died in car crashes across the country, and another 120 died by suicide.

Which do you think the media focused its attention on?

Exactly.

We humans have a strong tendency to focus on the sensational, the big.  Granted, the hurricane makes for stunning images and causes massive financial losses, more so than car crashes. 

It’s interesting how fatalities from the storm become a headline story, while the much larger body counts from other things continue every day, with very little coverage.

In the end, all of those victims – whether from the storm, the crashes, or suicide – are dead.  And it’s tragic no matter how you slice it.  But it’s clear where the focus of the media, and thus the country, goes in these cases.

Big disasters and tragedies in which people die will always happen.  Tornadoes, hurricanes, floods, and shootings will continue to kill people, and make headlines. 

But behind the scenes, around 220 people per day are killed by cars and suicide.  When it comes to fatalities, car crashes and suicide are the steady drip. 

 

Unhealthy Drips

Beware The Steady DripSteady drips exist in many areas of life.  I’m constantly fighting a battle with foods that I ideally shouldn’t eat. 

I recently attended FINCON and treated it as a cheat week from my normal diet.  I knew I’d be eating out every day, and it’d be impossible to avoid all of the parties and meet ups.  And why would I want to?  Those things are what make FINCON fun.

I went all in, and ate a lot.  I had liberal amounts of sugary sweets and conference booth giveaways. 

But my cheat week at FINCON was expected, and the equivalent of the hurricane in the opening example. 

In reality, the steady drip of excessive snacking and too many packaged foods in my everyday life is the problem I have to deal with in regards to my diet.  It’s a constant fight.  I’m a sucker for high calorie nuts and chocolate covered espresso beans.  I’m challenged to walk past them 3 times in a row without taking some.

This fight against excessive calories is one most Americans can probably commiserate with.  It’s not the big birthday dinner out with friends that’s the main problem, it’s the constant steady drip of snacking in everyday life.

 

Squash Your Financial Drips

If the stock market tanked tomorrow and it lost say, 30%, it would be huge news.  And it would hurt.  If you care about your money and your financial future you would no doubt at least look at your net worth or your statements and internalized it.

Hopefully you’d be smart and do nothing.  Or even smarter and perhaps buy on the dip.  But it would demand your attention for sure.

However, is there a steady drip with your money that’s not getting your attention?  Is it your daily overpriced coffee?  Perhaps you have an actively managed mutual fund with excessive fees?  Or maybe you have a lot of cash sitting in a bank account earning less than inflation. 

Maybe it’s a monthly gym membership you never use.  Or perhaps you choose to overpay your income taxes every year and get a refund, incurring substantial losses from inflation and from not being in the market.

When a 30% crash comes, you’re probably going to behave just like the media does with a hurricane.  You’re going to focus on the immediate, the sensational. 

And you’re also likely going to continue to ignore the steady drips that are pulling on your finances.

In the end those drips all added up could possibly be hurting your finances just as much or more than a big market downturn will.  After all, the market will recover, but the money lost from those drips is gone forever.

The sensational will come and go, start focusing on the steady drips.

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Dave @ Accidental FIRE

I reached financial independence and semi-retired in my mid-40's through hard work, smart living, and investing. This blog chronicles my journey and explores many aspects of personal finance including the psychological and behavioral factors that drive our habits.

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31 Responses

  1. Mr. Tako says:

    Oh hell yes! I couldn’t agree more Dave! It’s all the small things in aggregate that add-up together into something big, yet we ignore them because they’re “small drips”.

    Well, those small drips certainly added up to millions for me!

    Keep at it Dave — great post! 🙂

  2. A good reminder to keep coming back to the basics!
    Thanks!

  3. Man, you’re not kidding about the FinCon snacking and overeating. I still haven’t taken off the weight I gained from all the free crap there! But I agree that all those small amounts add up to huge amounts over time.

  4. xrayvsn says:

    Great analogy Dave. The media basically loves the sensational because it is click bait. It drives up views and thus revenue.

    The steady drip stuff which can be more harmful does not garner the public’s interest as much and thus gets little lime light.

    I too tend to binge eat when going out or on vacation which thankfully is not that often. In my mind I can compensate for this with the typical more healthy eating I do at home.

    • Dave @ Accidental FIRE says:

      Ah click bait…. they dish it up and the public acts like fish in a pond. Pulling that bobber down.

  5. bill says:

    Old news is no news. Suicides and MVAs are old news. Natural disasters are new news.

  6. remember that BP oil spill? 11 humans died and all they did was show up to work? oily birds are nasty but hardly a mention of lost human life? but i digress. man, i love snack foods and that’s why i beg mrs. smidlap (who mostly shops for food) not to buy them. you’re right about the steady drips robbing you of your rightful rewards. do you know any families with 300 dollar dumb-phone bills? i do. i know you and i both squandered plenty of future potential wealth at denny’s in our misspent youths.

    • Dave @ Accidental FIRE says:

      Oh man, don’t get me started. Pretty much every night after drinking ourselves silly we would either go to a private diner or Denny’s. Because hey let’s be honest, you’re not really doing it right unless you’re also shoveling a ton of horrible food on top of the 2,000 calories of beer you just consumed. There’s nothing like a great mixture of IPA, sausage, and maple syrup in your stomach at 4 in the morning to help you sleep well right?

  7. Financial Imagineer says:

    Ahhhh… Fincon! I missed those chocolate covered expresso beans and should order some right away! Sounds great!!! Most of today’s news need to be “clickbaity”, “clickworthy” and standing out from the “norm”, dripping is the norm. Everything else is a standout. Sad but true. And super important to be reminded of this once in a while: Stand out and don’t fall back into the “norm”!

  8. Tawcan says:

    Great reminder! I tried to eat as healthy as I could at FinCon but there were a few meals that were definitely on the greasy, not healthy side. You’re so right about dealing with money and finances, don’t forget about the steady drips!

  9. That’s the same story with water leakage too. The small drip is what will cost you. The big leaks get fixed right away, but the small drip just leak away.
    Good analogy. That’s why the latte factor matters. You probably have many little drips. They all add up.

    • Dave @ Accidental FIRE says:

      Very true Joe, I had a very slow leaking faucet that I ignored for a long time, after I fixed it I noticed my water bill go down

  10. JMFS says:

    When I was making $29k/year, I literally got my start toward FI by steadily dripping 1% of my income into a savings account. Friends scoffed at the dollar amount, but I believed in the process. I ratched the percentage up as I got comfortable living on less, reducing the drips that were in the wrong direction. I am doing well, and the work continues to compound. Still getting scoffed at, lol.

  11. Abigail @ipickuppennies.net says:

    I too struggle with snacking. And it’s why my weight never budgets very far down the scale (or when it does, I then have a spate of snacking and it goes right back up). I look for steady financial drips too, though there are some I actively choose (like takeout once a week — not great for my waistline or budget, but not so frequent as to kill either one). I’ve been lucky in that I don’t like coffee or wine or beer. So I’m saved from a lot of small expenses that way. I work out at home, saving the cost of a gym membership. But the snacks themselves, those add up too. It’s important to remember it’s not just calories, it’s the cost of those calories!

    • Dave @ Accidental FIRE says:

      I hear ya Abigail, the struggle is real. There’s just too much availability of cheap junk in our country. And it’s too convenient and enticing to pass up sometimes.

  12. PJ says:

    So true.

    Here in London we have a knife crime “epidemic”. But still, every day, many more people die in car accidents than from knife crime. In fact, if you are not in a drug gang or buying drugs your chances of encountering knife crime is very very small.

    Guess which of knife crime and car accidents makes the headline news? This screws with peoples thought processes. For example, my daughter went to London recently with a friend for a concert and the friends Mum insisted on driving them there due to the perceived knife crime risk. I pointed out driving them was far more dangerous than catching the train but the Mum insisted.

    I had not connected the relevance to FI of the drip vs explosion so thanks for the thoughtful post. I am pretty fit and eat healthy but my kryptonite is chocolate. Chocolate covered Brazil nuts is my crack cocaine!

    • Dave @ Accidental FIRE says:

      Yes your knife crime epidemic has made the news here so I’m familiar. And it’s funny, or not funny, that she thought driving her there would be safer.

      Chocolate covered Brazil nuts is a good hill to die on 😉

  13. Great points! I finally lost the 10 pounds I gained from working full time a couple years ago. They had about 8 bins on the breakroom counter filled with the most awesome Trader Joe’s types of snacks (peanute butter filled pretzels were my absolute weakness). Just little bites daily added up. Like you said, it’s not those big one-off events (like Thanksgiving) that get you. Now to be as good about my money lately as I have been with the snacking!

    • Dave @ Accidental FIRE says:

      If you’re TJ’s is set up like mine they keep all the sweets on the top shelves. I’m 6’4″, so this is bad. The shit is at eye level for me. I love shopping there but I have to stay hunched and looking down to avoid seeing it.

  14. I’ll have to watch myself now as winter comes and I’m not doing big long distance backpacking trips burning 1000s of calories and eating very little 🙂 BUT of course this is now trail running and MTB season for me so I have an excuse to keep eating.

    As for a drip, well I won’t be renewing that gym membership as I didn’t really end up using it. I didn’t like being indoors as exercise for me was best spent outdoors.

    • Dave @ Accidental FIRE says:

      Ha, you know that song “it’s 5 o’clock somewhere?” Well, it’s backpacking season somewhere… But yes, for folks like us it’s always “something” season. I eat a shit-ton of calories but burn them too. I’m the lightest I’ve ever been as an adult right now and eating more than ever, probably because I’m doing more HIIT workouts. And exercise is always best outdoors, always

      • PJ says:

        Hey Dave. I also eat and exercise loads. However, I am not the lightest ever and the reason for this is I am literally never full up. There has never been a plate I have not emptied. (I kinda blame my Mum as we were brought up as kids to eat it all!) I once discussed this with a doctor at a health check – she asked how much I eat and I replied all of it! She told me to play more sport (I had just given up soccer and was piling on the pounds) which was actually great advice for lots of reasons.

        I am interested in hearing from someone who also does tons of exercise. Are you ever full up after eating or do you have to stop yourself from going back to the trough? Thanks!

        • Dave @ Accidental FIRE says:

          Ha – how much do you eat? “All of it?” love that

          Oh yeah, I can fill up and do pretty often. But on days where I do a long ride on my bike which is usually 3 or 4 a week, the feeling of being full will only last 30-45 minutes and I’ll be hungry again in about 2 or 3 hours. Like, really hungry. My metabolism just gets revved up. But if I don’t exercise it’s very very clear how quick my metabolism slows down. I have to go easy on the calories or I’ll gain weight very quickly.

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