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Editor's note: For the holiday, we're publishing a series of classic essays from Steve on "how to achieve the rich life." Yesterday, Steve recommended "one of the best books ever written on getting rich." Today, he'll show us one secret to living well...
What's the Point of Investing?By
Thursday, November 24, 2011
"Nice to meet you... Hang on a sec... Let me text my husband."
My wife and I stood there waiting. The girl busily tapped out a text message on her new iPhone.
She wasn't so quick with the typing, but we knew what was going on... She was just showing off that she owned a $500 phone – hot stuff in rural Georgia.
We saw her arrive... She drove a black Suburban of some sort, with enough chrome to make a Detroit drug dealer blush.
She and her husband were young... probably in their late twenties. He was apparently a builder in Georgia. Of course, homebuilding in Georgia died several years ago... But even though their income must be down, their spending hadn't changed.
These aren't the only people out there sporting an iPhone and a blingy black Suburban. What's going on here?
Me? I don't have an iPhone... or a blingy Suburban... But I probably have one thing these conspicuous consumers don't: The house I live in is fully paid for.
I handle my money differently. I could buy an iPhone or a Suburban tomorrow. I wouldn't need a penny of debt to do it. But I won't... Why? Because I know those things won't make me the slightest bit happier. I'd be the same dolt I was before... only I'd be $50,000 poorer!
It took me a while to get to this point in my life. But I'm glad I made it... I'm at the point where I can buy what I want. But I don't. It's an important point to reach.
I don't try to keep up with the Joneses. I'm doing the opposite, actually. I'm downsizing. I'm reducing my "stuff."
Think about this... What good is all this stuff, really? You can't take it with you when you die... Legendary newsletter writer Doug Casey says it best:
"I've never seen a hearse with luggage racks."
Doug is extremely wealthy... and has been for a while. But he doesn't drive around a decked out Suburban, chatting on an iPhone.
My friend Bob Bishop is a wealthy guy like Doug. Bob wrote the excellent Gold Mining Stock Report newsletter for a few decades. He retired a couple years ago. Bob decided to sell some of his extraordinary possessions... for no particular reason that I could see. He didn't need the money. And they weren't really taking up space. I asked him why he was selling. He said...
"After a while, you don't own your stuff... Your stuff owns you. Steve, you're young... so you're probably in the accumulation phase. Me? I've been there. Now I want to downsize and simplify. I don't need all this stuff."
Bob can buy anything he wants. But, like Doug, he doesn't drive a blingy Suburban, and I doubt he's got an iPhone. It's just stuff!
This brings me to the point of this essay... What's the point of saving money anyway? What's the point of investing?
When you get older (if you're not already older!), just what are you going to buy with that money you've saved?
Jonathan Clements gave a good answer to this in his farewell column for the Wall Street Journal in 2008. (Clements has written more than 1,000 columns for the Wall Street Journal.)
Clements says your savings "can deliver three key benefits." Even better, he says, "you can enjoy this trio of benefits even if you don't have great wads of cash." Here's how:
When I think about it, these three things are exactly what Doug and Bob are doing with their lives. The great thing is, it doesn't (usually) take millions of dollars to spend time with friends and family or pursue your passions. You don't need a fortune to live well.
But in order to get there, the Georgia-homebuilder couple needs to skip out on his and hers blingmobiles.
The quicker you grasp this about saving versus spending, the quicker you'll be able to start living like Doug and Bob... even if you don't have many millions of dollars in the bank.
You might think it's hard to stop buying ultimately useless stuff... You might think it's hard to stop keeping up with the Joneses.
But actually, it is quite liberating... And even better, you'll be financially free much quicker. So give it a try...
Good investing,
Steve
Further Reading:
You don't need a fortune to live well, Steve says. It's not about the "stuff" you buy… it's about the experiences you have. Find Steve's three simple keys to "living well" here: The No. 1 Secret to Wealthy Living.
Market NotesA SUPER-BARGAIN LEVEL FOR GOLD This month, the U.S. dollar has spent its time rallying... which means precious metals are falling.
Regular readers are familiar with the long-term drivers of the 10-year bull market in gold. One, Asian countries like India and China are growing richer... and accumulating more and more gold. Two, folks are taking a good look at the debt-loaded government balance sheets of Europe and the U.S., becoming terrified, and buying "real money" insurance in the form of gold.
But every long-term bull market has its short-term shakeouts. Bull markets always try to kick out as many people as possible. That's just how markets work. And since gold trades opposite the U.S. dollar, the November dollar rally has sent gold lower. The question for gold buyers now is, how much lower does gold go before it's considered a great bargain? Where do we consider stepping in to buy more?
The two-year chart of gold below provides a clue. This spring, gold spent its time trading around $1,500-$1,550 per ounce. In July, the European crisis helped produce a huge upside breakout that took gold to $1,900 in two months. But it has backed off to $1,675 in recent days. If this "backing off" takes gold back to the $1,500-$1,550 level, we'd consider it a heck of a bargain.
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