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MJ DeMarco
I followed the science; all I found was money.
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Read this article through a Fastlane lens...
Notice any common denominators?
Sidewalk... Spend everything you earn. Lifestyle improvement. Keeping up with the Joneses. Boats, cars, oh my!
Silicon Valley Homeless Feel The Grip Of Recession's Long Reach
Her explanation of what happened ... "Life Happened"
Uhh... no... how about you spent everything you earned??? And then more!
Once again the Sidewalk proves that financial discipline is blind to income.
If you're earning $300K/year and your spending $400K/year, guess what? Yea, you'll end up at a homeless shelter eventually.
Fastlaners would be saving 50% of it so they could retire decades early. Sidewalkers? Nope ... lets buy another car and upgrade the house. :shruggie:
Notice any common denominators?
Sidewalk... Spend everything you earn. Lifestyle improvement. Keeping up with the Joneses. Boats, cars, oh my!
Silicon Valley Homeless Feel The Grip Of Recession's Long Reach
Together, they brought home more than $100,000 a year, she says.
They owned a speedboat, three cars and a 3,200-square-foot home on a quarter-acre lot. Tall, slim and outgoing, she was a Girl Scout leader. She and her husband both coached softball. They took their three children on annual vacations to Disneyworld.
"We lived pretty much the American dream," she says.
Her explanation of what happened ... "Life Happened"
Uhh... no... how about you spent everything you earned??? And then more!
She specialized in marketing customer relations software, used by businesses to track interactions with customers. During much of the 1990s, she was bringing home $150,000 a year. One year, she earned $300,000. This was how she was able to buy a house in Menlo Park and put the BMW in the driveway.
She was spending with abandon, going out to eat for nearly every meal and often taking her colleagues along. She favored swanky Italian restaurants and high-end seafood places, where the tab for six or seven people could reach $1,000.
She got used to relying on her expense account. She was clueless when it came to managing her own funds, she says, and overwhelmed by the imperative to succeed -- sleeping little, drinking much, working virtually around the clock.
"There's a lot of stress," she says. "You have to be better, produce more. The pressure is just immense."
Once again the Sidewalk proves that financial discipline is blind to income.
If you're earning $300K/year and your spending $400K/year, guess what? Yea, you'll end up at a homeless shelter eventually.
Fastlaners would be saving 50% of it so they could retire decades early. Sidewalkers? Nope ... lets buy another car and upgrade the house. :shruggie:
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