Money-eaters

By Author: Fred Robinson
Total Articles: 26
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‘Life is short’ or ‘you only live once’ are phrases commonly heard when people discuss spending money in a critical way. Why would you worry about spending money, even if it’s spent on totally unimportant things? Your answer to that might be that you can only spend money once or something similarly meaningless.

Why people are willing to spend a significant part of their fortune on expensive things they don’t really need, is a better question. Why does someone buy a new car, a designer kitchen or a diamond engagement ring, if you can be just as happy with less?

New cars

Beside the masses of people who drive company cars, there is still a considerable group of people who privately buy new cars and constantly keep investing in their car. The advantage of that continuity is that after a long time, it doesn’t feel like spending anymore, unless the owner’s income shrinks.

The motivation may be that there’s always a decent and reliable car available, but the same holds true for an as good as new second hand car with some mileage that you replace every few years. Is it about prestige? ...
... Is the fact that it’s a new car more important than what brand and model it is? The most odd phenomenon in this respect is to drive a new car until it is ready for demolition and buying a new one of the same make and model name. Where’s the logic in that?

Designer kitchens

A designer kitchen is a space so well designed that only after a while you discover you can actually use it for cooking. Whether the cooking can be done efficiently or not, is an entirely different issue. But that question doesn’t bother the buyers of designer kitchens much. Many of them don’t intend to even fry an egg; for them the design-factor is crucial for their decision to spend more than double the amount that they would spend on a ‘normal’ kitchen.
Something nobody seems to consider, is the fact that kitchens that are rarely used, last a lifetime. So they’re bound to become old fashioned; the appliances surely will be obsolete.

Engagement rings

One of the expenses that is very hard to understand from a logical point of view is the engagement ring. It is inevitably followed by a marriage ring, that is equally or even more expensive. A good reason to celebrate your engagement in an appropriately modest manner, you might say. But nothing can stop the lovers from investing heavily in engagement rings, even if the price is well above their budget. There’s only one expression that makes sense here: ‘love is blind’.

What moves people to spend serious money on things they don’t really need? This article looks for plausible motives, using three big expenses as an example: new cars, designer kitchens and engagement rings. ”verlovingsring” “verlovingsringen”.