^ So which one are you? Grasshopper or ant? Disney inteprets the classic fable for the 20th century: The Grasshopper And The Ants (1934).
I am horrible with money. Always have been. I won't even go into the ugly details but suffice it to say that there are, I'm sure, others who are even worse than I.
I own no real estate, partly because I can't stand the complex responsibility of loans, mortgages, equity, re-financing, and other terms quite foreign to me. I prefer to rent. I own no car (so far) because I don't like the idea of paying insurance, especially if I get into a collision with another driver or Ganesha forbid, a pedestrian, and the insurance company pays them and in turn jacks up my premium.
Life is expensive. I'm much better balancing states of mind than my checkbook. I stopped using credit cards years ago and only spend the money I have instead of money I don't have. I detest the social and cultural pressure of owning things to impress others, the idea that having material things equals success on many levels. But that's how the world has been set up, for better or worse.
I could say that my decided insularity renders me immune to the current disaster of home foreclosures and investment banking worldwide. Just as well. If I had bought a home I probably would've been as stupid as many other Americans and borrowed on the equity to buy a stupid expensive SUV or vacation. I would've shot for a big showy house I couldn't otherwise afford on my salary. The temptation would've been overwhelming.
But that's not to say my avoidance of all that makes me an Ant. Grasshoppers also come in different shapes and sizes. Nowhere in Aesop's tale is there a third breed of character which, in periods where I'm able to save a bit and don't touch it, I can more readily relate to: an Anthopper.
I own no real estate, partly because I can't stand the complex responsibility of loans, mortgages, equity, re-financing, and other terms quite foreign to me. I prefer to rent. I own no car (so far) because I don't like the idea of paying insurance, especially if I get into a collision with another driver or Ganesha forbid, a pedestrian, and the insurance company pays them and in turn jacks up my premium.
Life is expensive. I'm much better balancing states of mind than my checkbook. I stopped using credit cards years ago and only spend the money I have instead of money I don't have. I detest the social and cultural pressure of owning things to impress others, the idea that having material things equals success on many levels. But that's how the world has been set up, for better or worse.
I could say that my decided insularity renders me immune to the current disaster of home foreclosures and investment banking worldwide. Just as well. If I had bought a home I probably would've been as stupid as many other Americans and borrowed on the equity to buy a stupid expensive SUV or vacation. I would've shot for a big showy house I couldn't otherwise afford on my salary. The temptation would've been overwhelming.
But that's not to say my avoidance of all that makes me an Ant. Grasshoppers also come in different shapes and sizes. Nowhere in Aesop's tale is there a third breed of character which, in periods where I'm able to save a bit and don't touch it, I can more readily relate to: an Anthopper.
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