Wait, he earns $500K and has ONLY $1M in assets? Unless he's 22 years old, that's a problem. I'm guessing he's made a few frivolous buys in the past.

That said, I wouldn't do it. I don't even wear my engagement ring because I'm afraid I'll lose the diamond in it. (It happened to my mom, but fortunately I just happened to notice something flying off of her finger while we were eating lunch at a restaurant, and discovered it was the diamond out of her engagement ring. I'm scarred.)

Also, when I was leaving the house to go to work my big indulgence was Starbucks 3-4 days a week (when I went into work) and a good hairstylist. I knew it was an indulgence and determined that, as the saying goes, I was worth it. So as long as it's "mindful" frittering away your money on ephemeral stuff, go for it!

The thing I could never get behind was routinely spending a lot of money on eating out. First of all, if it's routine there's no specialness to it. Second of all, I can't help but think about where all that money will end up in a few hours...

[Edit: I just realized the person in question is a female. Replace 'he' with 'she'. TY. )

I wondered the same thing, Nina, but the article says this:

quote:

My kids have their private college tuition and retirement fully funded, and I have an additional $1 million in investable assets in various bank and brokerage accounts.

The sentence is awkward (they funded the kids retirement? Or is she saying the parents have their own retirement covered?)

In any event, I'm guessing they have other assets like a house (or houses), along with the above.

Nina's comments about indulgences and routines make sense to me.

The thing I could never get behind was routinely spending a lot of money on eating out. First of all, if it's routine there's no specialness to it. Second of all, I can't help but think about where all that money will end up in a few hours.)[/QUOTE]

I know a couple with big bucks, they eat out daily in Vail, Newport, etc. . Have spent weeks with the husband eating every meal out. I longed for a bowl of cereal quietly n my room in which ever of their properties we were staying in somedays.

As someone who has "frivolously" bought art/pottery/stuff from living artists and from gallerists who bring antiques back to life, it's just another economic activity that contributes to someone else's ability to put a roof over their head and send their children to college.

Frivolous is a loaded word that usually says more about the person using (or lobbing) the term ... i.e. about their attitudes, ideas, sense of justice, personal life experience, and so on.

The "latte" problem is usually only a problem when you then hear the person who spends $10 on coffee per day complaining about being financially straitened, and carping about fairness blah blah and other peoples incomes. Then you point out how their own "frivolous" spending is getting in the way of the financial security they seem to cherish.

This person was careful to lay out the facts, that this particular frivolous purchase was just one step above their pin money.

I wonder about that column though. It almost seems like the guy writes the questions himself so he can pontificate about life, the universe and everything.

Got to be word salad and I stopped reading.

Just buy it if you want it. Or stop obsessing about it.

Jewelry doesn’t interest me, but I recently dropped some coin on something that is mighty hard to justify.

For the last thirty years, I have started my morning by making myself a latte. I have a reasonable machine, but I never invested in a grinder. It seemed extravagant. I bought beans at the local coffee shop and had them ground. Only rarely was the grind right, and the coffee sucked.

Well, I finally dropped $400 on a grinder, and my life is complete. It makes all the difference.

So I can’t criticize this fellow over a stupid bracelet.

quote:

Well, I finally dropped $400 on a grinder, and my life is complete. It makes all the difference.

If you want good espresso, it certainly does!

Did he not look at the news..and an omen..

Pandora Diamonds

The thing about buying diamonds retail, is there is practically N*O*T*H*I*N*G which loses market value as fast and as drastically as diamonds (now, especially, I'm afraid - personal loss figuring in this consideration. ) *

Not that anybody can resell a Latte, of course!

*Besides which, diamonds ARE a special instance, though, considering that for the first time, mined diamonds have had their ("diamond is forever") value artificially inflated not merely through mark-up, but because artificial diamonds are now overall indistinguishable from real ones.

And the "overall" only because real diamonds often have minute flaws which increase their value by proving their authenticity. (Now real diamonds are being laser engraved from mining through their lifespan, at an additional cost - to prove their authenticity. )

Only the movement in the diamond market (right now! Check out "Pandora") is towards big dealers selling artificial diamonds instead of mined ones.
Why? Because not only are the two indistinguishable, but the "real" ones are mined at terrible human cost in the lives of the miners (Why else are they called "blood diamonds"?)

Another reason why the buying and selling of a $30K bracelet can rightly be considered immoral and not merely extravagant.
(Briefly recalling that coffee too is often sold at an immoral mark-up, also at terrible human cost - though not always. But that just complicates what is otherwise a simpler contrast.)

It would depend. Aside from her somewhat convoluted question, some bracelets sell at the 30k price point and hold their value (Oscar Heyman, New York). Others not so much. Very easy to go wrong at almost all price points buying jewelery.