‘You Don’t Have To Be Rich’ - Book

[dArKeR]

In her new book, Jean Chatzky explores what makes a happy, successful life and how much money you really need to have one

Do you have to be rich to be happy? Would being richer make you happier? Does money buy happiness? Not the sort of questions you usually hear from a personal finance expert, especially one as popular and respected as Jean Chatzky, of Money magazine, the “Today” show, and JeanChatzky.com. But in these difficult times, when many of her fans are struggling with job insecurity, declining investments, and fear of the future, Chatzky decided to write a different kind of personal finance book.

INSTEAD OF JUST explaining what to do with your 401(k), Chatzky set out to explore the big picture: what makes a happy, successful life and how much money you really need to have one. Read an excerpt of “You Don’t Have to Be Rich,” below to learn that your money doesn’t have to be a source of stress, but can instead be the path to comfort and financial freedom it was always meant to be.

TAKING BACK YOUR FINANCIAL LIFE
IT’S TIME TO take back our lives. And in order to do that we need to take back our money. Not just the manner in which we manage it by learning, once again, to live within our means, however modest or expansive those means happen to be. We need to regain our financial power if we feel we’ve ceded it. Or to grab hold of that power, even if we’ve never paid much attention before. And we need to do it in a way that will allow us to feel good — not compromised, not guilty, not second-rate — but good, happy, smart, and confident about our choices.

http://msnbc.com/news/972354.asp?0cv=CB20

[mhr]

1. I Agree But

I wonder if these books are really designed to reduce expectations through rationalization.

My thought is that the "elite" to keep getting richer must find ways to keep the little people down.

She may well have good intentions. She may also be manipulated by others with a far different agenda.

[jafap]

2. I agree with you as well

but the question is - what is "down"?
I make about $13,000 a year from a part-time janitor job. Does that mean my life needs to suck? Why? How much more money do I need for it to not suck? Would another $20,000 a year do it? Webster Hubbell did not think so. His father in law got a "job" helping Jim McDougal "locate and bring to Madison various real estate deals" and Web wrote that he was paid a "nominal" salary. That means "existing in name only, not real or actual" or "virtually nothing; much below the actual value of a thing". The salary - $35,000.
Most working people that I know have cars, cell phones, DVD playas, and lots of other stuff as well as lots of friends. I mean, why can't we find some way to have fun and be happy that doesn't require having more money and more stuff.
Americans, in general, have been fed, and accepted, a warped, twisted, materialistic, selfish, commercial, grasping definition of the good life. As Paul Wachtel said: a recipe for personal, social, and environmental disaster. Fu%& the rat race and the Bushes and the Joneses and the Cadillacs they rode in on. Daddy never was the cadillac kind.
The rich cannot keep us down if we do not let them put us down. "No one can make you feel inferior without your consent." (Eleanor Rigby)

[Karenina]

3. (Eleanor Rigby)

I think you mean "Roosevelt."

[jafap]

5. I either mean what I say or see what I eat

It all averages out, if you know what I "mean"? I had the, perhaps erroneous, thought that it would be funnier as "Rigby". Instead of finding it funny, you felt that it proved my stupidity. I refuse to accept your insidiously incendiary insinuation that either my intellect, my alliteration, or my sense of humour are inferior.

[mhr]

4. For Example

A median home in my area will run you 200,000 dollars.

A 20,000 dollar a year slary is not going pay for that home.

For what it is worth, I do not own a home but would like to.

I cannot ever see making enough money to achieve that goal.

These two examples might help put my original comment in perpsective.

[jafap]

6. I have no idea what a median home is here

Personally, I think my $35,000 home is better than my sisters' $180,000 homes in many ways. Why does life have to suck in a 1/10 median value home? If you have seen the movie "It is a Wonderful Life" I know George Bailey got tired of that railing which always broke off when he grabbed it, but he sure had a beautiful wife and lots of friends. He had a wonderful life, but he did not appreciate it because he wanted to go places and do big things.
I would like to see more communal living. If houses are big and expensive (like my sisters') maybe you have a friend or a sibling or cousin you can buy a house with. Then, theoretically, you need half as much stuff.
I am just trying to say that there are possibilities and more money is not the only solution to a desire for better housing. No matter what your income, if you buy a $200,000 home you will pay over $800 a month to interest, insurance, and taxes. That money, plus home repair bills, goes down the same rat-hole that rent payments do.

[mhr]

9. I Do Understnd Your Point

However, a 100,000 dollar home here is a rat hole. You would be looking at 30,000 or so just to make it liveable.

This same house would cost 300,000 in parts of California.

Regardless, neither home will be affordable on a minimum wage salary.

Its just not doable.

[DuctapeFatwa]

7. Learning to live on a globally competitive wage

It will be a challenge for many Americans who were used to 5, even 6 figure incomes, housing, complete with running water and electricity, daily meals - to transition to the lifestyle that 50 cents a day will buy in the average US city.

Fair is fair though, and we can count on our compassionate corporations to do their part to help out. Something as simple as making some changes to the dress code can go a long way toward helping an IT specialist learning to live without showers or a change of clothing know that he is valued!

Some generous companies may even provide transportation - let's give the suits a break, guys. They know you can't afford a car, or even a bus on $2.50 a week, well, $1.30 or so after tax and social security withholding...

[SoCalDem]

8. Real title of the book

"You Don't Need to be Rich"
(but I do, so BUY THIS BOOK)

I always love it when people of "means" get on their high horse and tell the "little people" how money does not matter..

IT MATTERS..

$8.00 an hour x 40 hrs (if you can GET full time) = $320.00 before taxes

$320.00 x 4 = $1280.00 a month (no taxes taken out, remember)??

assume 15% overall = $192.00

So now you have $1088.00 a month to live on..

---

car...

most places in the US , you NEED a car.

1. buy a used car for cash and pray that you got a "good one" or the repair costs will eat you alive

2. buy a new one and you can knock another $350-450 off that $1088.00..)I included insurance *estimated)

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gotta buy gasoline for that car.. If you are lucky to llive close to work, you might get by on $40-50 a month..

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food..

If you are frugal and use coupons and do not eat out much, you can probably get by with $50 a week.. You will not get much fresh fruit , since the prices never really come down.. There are not many "cheap in-season" bargains anymore..

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BTW.. you are down to $838.00 now and you still don't have a place to live.... we got you the used car.. assuming that a family member loaned/gave you the money to pay cash for it

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housing..

If you live in California, you will spend $600-$1,000 for a 2 bedroom apartment.. Lets assume you find a $600.00 one.. It's gonna be in a bad neighborhood, will not have a garage, and you will need about $1500.00 CASH to even move in..

---

So you have $238.00 a month "left over".. But you may want a phone, you will need electricity, gas, water, trash collection, and sooner or later you will need to buy some clothing..

Can you be happy?? Maybe? Would you be "happier" if you were not worried silly every month about being able to pay your bills?? Probably.

PS.. you have no health care, so if you get sick.... well..feel better soon :)

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OOPS.. I forgot to charge you car insurance for that used car.. We'll estimate $60.00 a month... Now you have $178.00 left over.. sorry :(

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This is not "my" circumstance.. I quit a $17.00 an hour job 7 years ago because it was killing me.. I stay home now and do whatever I want... But most families cannot afford to have a wife stay home..

[jafap]

10. you left out the costs of cigarettes

Or was that part of your $50 a week in groceries? Who spends that much on groceries for one person? Why underestimate the income and over-estimate the expenses? Monthly income is $1386, not $1280. It is $320 x 52/12.
Since I graduated from college in 1986 I have lived in Utah, Wisconsin, Nebraska, and now Kansas - without a car. I bought one in 1986 so I could goto my brother's wedding, and I bought one in 1996 because I hoped it would improve my love-life. There's $4,000 I wish I had back.
I currently make $3,000 a year less than your hypothetical example, and I have all kinds of unnecessary expenses - 3 dogs, internet service, ancestry.com, phone, kiwanis club, a sponsored child, and I just bought a new Trek 7100 (okay, it's on my credit card. I have not paid for it yet. (The pay in full to avoid finance charges date is the 20th of Oct)).
I have saved at least $1300 since May, and I have always figured that if I can do it, so can anyone else. True, I cannot figure how anyone can live in California, nor why anyone would want to, but since people are not trees, living in California is a choice, just like buying a car. Don't do it if you can't afford it.
Of course, there is also the point that our economy is built around unnecessary spending. A big surge of frugality would destroy millions of jobs. A cousin of mine wrote economics textbooks where he quoted a sociologist from 1908 who said that our struggle was about jam, not about bread. I am pretty sure that the book in question is aimed at the 2nd to the fourth quintiles and not so much at the 5th. People above the median income need to hear a non-materialist message because it will leave more for the rest of us if they stop taking more than they need.

[teryang]

11. This article is bullshit IMO

First of all, where you live and what your bills are not always under your control. In fact your job is probably one you settled for because you were desparate. What if you became ill or disabled? Is having a neat desk going to help?

Most unhappiness is vocational. If your job sucks, then life sucks. It is specious to say that this is unconnected to money. The psychologists advise there is always an option, you just can't accept the downside- unemployment.

Take back your financial power! Shut off the electricity. Shut off the water and sewage. Shut off the garbarge service. Disconnect the phones. Stop paying rent. Stop buying food. Stop seeing the doctor for those medical problems. Stop buying those expensive medications.

The less money you have, the less options you have. The less options you have, the less freedom you have. The less freedom you have, the unhappier you are.

Get real!