Adam McLane

Two quick axioms about money

Photo by Alan Cleaver via Flickr (Creative Commons)

  1. If the average American spends 3-5% more than they make in a month– making more money is not the solution to financial woes. If you made $1 million and spent $1.05 million a year, you’d be the same fool with money you are today.
  2. If the financial institutions of our country were as diligent about collecting information from customers as the average retail clerk, we wouldn’t have had as many bad loans in the housing market. “Do you want to open a credit card and save 5%? Would you like to make a donation? Would you like to buy the extra insurance?“

Got any observations about money lately? Share them in the comments.

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Adam McLane

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3 responses to “Two quick axioms about money”

  1. Mike Lyons Avatar
    Mike Lyons

    Adam, think about the dollar implications of spending 3% more than you make at $30,000 a year ($900) versus a million a year ($30,000). The richer Americans get, the poorer we think we are. The average annual income worldwide is $7,000 (according to the Boston Globe).

    Americans are among the richest people on earth. Meanwhile, a child dies of hunger or preventable disease every three seconds. Those kids are part of God’s family, too. There’s something terribly wrong with us if we don’t care about that–and most of us don’t.

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  2. adam mclane Avatar
    adam mclane

    Well, I don’t think we’re among the richest people on the planet. At least not when you factor in debt.

    We have access to more cash than other countries… but that doesn’t make us wise.

    If you look at net worth, I would assume that most Americans have negative net worth. People go hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt for a house. Tens of thousands in debt for a car. Tens of thousands of dollars in debt for education. That’s why preachers say, “Do you own your debt or does your debt own you?”

    I read a report today that said the average American has $4000 in debt. What a crock. That excluded house, vehicle, and education debt.

    So, we touch a lot of money… but we don’t really accumulate net worth. (The only measure of being “rich.”)

    Until people wake up and figure out how to live on less than they make, they are just getting more and more poor.

    We’re trying to live on 80% of our income. (10% for church; 10% for savings.) It doesn’t even hurt.

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  3. Shannon Avatar
    Shannon

    I was in that category that spent more than I took in. I spend nothing now, because I am still unemployed. But yes. I agree with you. Americans are silly when it come to how we manage money. We think acquiring stuff and spoiling our kids (see your Baby-God series) seems to be more important. So we’re now passing on a legacy of debt to our children who think that’s just the way it’s supposed to be.

    I have a cousin who is adamant about this “If you don’t go into debt, you’ll never have nothing.” Aside from the blaring double negative I feel she sums up a philosophy most of the US has.
    I have learned to live frugally in the past few years and I will grant that I’m still learning, but it really is freeing to NOT spend. And i have Luke 16:11 posted by my computer to reflect on daily, and that helps as well.

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