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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2024 Activity Tracker
Cycling: 4703 Miles
Running: 278 Miles
Hiking: 33 Miles
Paddling: 83 Miles
Climbing Days: 1
2023 Activity Tracker
Cycling: 5400 Miles
Running: 472 Miles
Hiking: 37 Miles
Paddling: 96 Miles
Climbing Days: 6
2022 Activity Tracker
Cycling: 5408 Miles
Running: 321 Miles
Hiking: 43 Miles
Paddling: 40 Miles
Climbing Days: 7
Turnip FIRE! Disclaimer:
Turnip FIRE! is like, real fake news. I mean, there’s fake news that’s meant to be real, and then fake news that’s meant to be fake. The fake news that’s meant to be real is like, actual fake news. Turnip FIRE! is fake fake news…. okay now I’m confused…. Anyhoo, don’t take any Turnip FIRE! stories seriously. Just don’t.
boom!
boo-yah!
Haha, yup.
I think it has to do with understanding: cost of gas is straightforward and you interact with it a lot. You know what it’s for and what the value is to you.
$45K SUV? Uhh… It probably does a lot of things. Lots of computers. Many possible uses. Plus all the safety! Right? Who wouldn’t pay to be safer! Add to the general lack of understanding what all an SUV encompasses to the fact that people don’t buy vehicles very often and you’ve got the perfect case for someone just rolling with it.
My old $5k beaters got groceries just as successfully as the redonkulous $45k SUVs. And I burnt less fuel and took up less room.
Ha ha ha. That deserves three Ha’s.
Friends do the same with electricity with keeping their house on the warm side during the summer. If you are trying to conserve and do well for the planet, great or if you like it that way. Don’t tell me you are trying to save money when you buy TV’s, cell phones, and cars every three years… Again, you are trying save $10/month in summer for four months, but buy a $45K SUV. Hmmm, the math is just not there.
So true, and hundred bucks here and there off a utility bill is nothing compare to eating out 5 times a week or a ridiculous unnecessary vehicle!
Dave,
You chart made me laugh. All comes down to what we value. I had no problem with paying a substantial amount to a tree removal company. However, McDonald’s $1 vanilla cone was raised to $1.50 overnight and I had a cow! Who in the world raises price by 50%??? Dang, they got me. It takes so good and refreshing on 90 degrees crazy hot days!
Screw McDonald’s, that’s ridiculous… Glad it made you laugh!
People I know get anxious and irritated about paying $9.99 per month in service fees at their bank but think nothing of forking over $25 per day on Skip The Dishes. When I suggest they switch over to a no fee bank and maybe make their own sandwich for lunch, all I get is a baffled stare.
So true, I have a friend who uses Blue Apron but insists on only going to the bar at happy hour.
Love it. The gas one has always cracked me up as people, particularly when gas prices are higher, agonize over a 2 cent difference from one station to the next. I had coworkers who would drive about 30 minutes each way to a station because it was cheaper.
My brother is guilty of driving way too far to save 2 cents per gallon. I presented him with the math, yet he still does it.
Yes, we are basically giving gas away and this is what people worry about. You can always move to a state that doesn’t tax gas as much. Looking at you PA!
When the bottled water in the gas station quick-mart costs 4x more than the gas itself, you know we’re lunatics
Believe it or not I just bought a small $45k SUV from Vroom sight unseen. Of course Vroom only sells used cars, so for this three year old sport crossover with low mileage I only had to pay a little over $21k. But in 2017 it had a sticker price just over $45,000. $21K is still a lot to spend on a car but I’m going to die with millions in investments some day so I thought I’d get a newer ride than the $7,000 car I was driving that just turned over 200,000 miles. I drive a lot and 200,000 is getting up there for a car we take on long distance road trips of thousands of miles. I wired the money a couple of weeks ago and still don’t know when the car will get here. It kind of amazes me that people pay close to $50k for a new car when they can get a slightly used one, identical, for less than half the price. Oh, I also have a $1,300 phone, not $1,200. But I didn’t have to pay anything for it.
You’re FI and a multi-millionaire, so it doesn’t matter. But even so a $21,000 vehicle is still WAY less that the absurd average cost of $33k that Americans pay for a new one. And the average of those Americans is already in debt before taking out the auto loan!!
Good one Dave! It’s so true… people worry about pennies and ignore the thousands of dollars they waste on having a luxury vehicle or phancy iphone.
people are weird
Excellent drawing, Human spending includes conditioning yourself to a mix of excitement about that new
Gadget, New car.. new…
Examples:
You always hear about the new car smell as a cause of buying new car.. why not buy new
air freshener for your 10+ years old beater every time you have that urge. it will save you ton of money.
Examples:
New flagship iphone .. which has 3 cameras instead of two.. and look how great those pictures are …
We all now professional photographers and NEED 3 cameras in our phones.
the new car smell thing has always baffled me, it’s so silly and illogical. but I guess it says a lot about us humanoids.