Comments on: Eyes on the Prize

By: Randy

Randy — Mon, 25 May 2009 20:37:17 +0000

What an absolutely great post. Truly either the best or one of the best ever. I enjoyed this one thoroughly, and truly, we cannot take them with us. Let’s enjoy our families. Keep smiling all! This was inspirational in dark times.

By: chicago office space

chicago office space — Mon, 11 May 2009 16:01:21 +0000

Thanks for posting this, very wise words.

By: Do You Dave Ramsey?

Do You Dave Ramsey? — Sun, 03 May 2009 02:55:23 +0000

Good stuff Trent… we need to keep our focus on the right things… other things are simply distractions.

Thanks for sharing!
Dave

By: Strick

Strick — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 11:48:28 +0000

I wish I had a truck and a good friend with an Xbox!

By: alex

alex — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 05:40:51 +0000

Thank you Trent. I needed to read that. I’m 20 yrs old and now trying this new thing called delayed sef-gratification. haha this post has helped open my eyes more.

By: Sharon

Sharon — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 20:38:51 +0000

The best thing about having an old car that runs well? The thieves are going to go for the shiny new toys!

By: emma

emma — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 17:32:39 +0000

I have mixed feelings about delayed gratification. I save heavily for retirement, knowing this will be my primary income at some point. I am not much of a consumer, because I’ve never liked shopping and am not much of a “thing” person. My main money sink is travel and even though I do sacrifice throughout the year to save for our travels, I don’t begrudge my family the here and now pleasures. I could say about ANYTHING, “if I buy this, eat this, spend this, then I won’t have it to spend on another dream 10 years down the road.” I could take away nearly any daily pleasure that costs money to save for something I have my eye on 10 or 20 years from now. But I want to live my life right now, too, travel while my child is young and developing ideas about the world, have experiences that bond us. Many of those experiences don’t cost money, but some do. And even though we have long-term dreams as a family, we give ourselves generous amounts of short-term financial dreams, too. Yes, traveling to Africa takes away from the savings I might have put into retirement, but it gives us HUGE emotional/family non-monetary dividends right now that fortify us and educate us and give us thrill, passion, new experiences, wider-open minds, etc.

(though I agree that a new car, video game, etc. isn’t worth the amount it would subtract from dreams that have more substance in the long term… we drive old cars too, no tv, no video games… we sacrifice for things that matter to us).

By: Corporate Barbarian

Corporate Barbarian — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 17:25:06 +0000

I like the fact that you include lost time as an opportunity cost. I see many of my neighbors who are always so busy in what George Carlin called “meaningless structure”, that they miss out on the better things in life. It sounds like you’re very disciplined.

By: Evita

Evita — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 16:41:15 +0000

Great post! and food for tought.
About that old rusted Ford: keep it but make sure that it is still safe to drive! I kept my Tercel so long that the structure was ready to give out (and with barely a spot of rust on the paint to tip me off). When the mechanic showed me the “lacy” floor from below, I had the shock of my life (and bought a used car five days later).
Sometimes things are just too old to use!

By: Thrifty Momma

Thrifty Momma — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 15:41:08 +0000

We already live out our dream of owning a house and it’s on an acre of land. We are now expanding the garden along with planting fruit trees and bushes. I stay at home which is another goal we attained a few years ago. We live a much simpler life than many I know, but I’m also a lot happier than them. I don’t have the stress of working plus all the debt. We are very happy. We are also working on our goals of saving for retirement and fixing up our house. We both knew what we wanted when we got married. We were also fortunate to have a financial windfall that doesn’t happen to most people. I learned years ago to be content and happy with what I have and not worry about what I don’t.

By: Golfing Girl

Golfing Girl — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 15:24:44 +0000

A recent problem with Direct TV may be the catalyst that we needed. We’re talking about dumping the satellite and it’s huge bills for the basic of basic plans. That would get us to our goal $40/month at a time…and would probably free up a few hours/week since we’ll have fewer channels. It pains me to think back and add up how much money we’ve wasted over the last 6 years on satellite TV (enough for a trip to Disney World)…
But that makes me think that I sure don’t want to be telling myself that in another 6 years so I think we’re cancelling TODAY. See you soon Mickey… :)

By: Jeff@StretchyDollar

Jeff@StretchyDollar — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 14:54:33 +0000

I think a ‘prize’ for a lot of people is financial stability. They put ‘having things’ higher on their prize list than having money saved and preparing for retirement.

By: Lisa

Lisa — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 13:59:51 +0000

BUT, I should add, playing Ticket to Ride remotely defeats the purpose of it being a more social and interactive event. You can still chat online or skype, but that gets to a point of being pointless.

By: Lisa

Lisa — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 13:58:17 +0000

Trent, you don’t need an xbox to play Ticket to Ride. You can play remotely (against your friends if you wish) on the daysofwonder website. You already have the computer and internet access.

By: JJ

JJ — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 13:39:06 +0000

It’s not just about the Jones next door. It is about the Jones in your head, and the TV screen and screaming from newspaper and magazine and internet ads.

It is about finding what is right and what is important. Those that scream about credibility issues or forgetting the Prius in the driveway are truly clueless. That is an example, just one, about the choices we make to get through this life and about what is important to us and the tools we use to get there.

At least, that is my take on it. I will keep my 2 cents for my debt snowball, thank you.

By: Jo

Jo — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 13:09:23 +0000

It’s reasons like you state that my SO and I want to distance ourselves from buying a house in a subdivision. We, too, have our eye on the prize – a nice modest country home on 2-5 acres of land. And yes, there are plenty of those available for sale in somewhere PA.

I recently replaced my poor old ‘93 Eagle Vision with 180k miles, completely shot suspension system, all four tires in need of replacement, paint job gone. It was no longer driveable. We replaced it with a 2003 Honda CR-V and only 22k miles on it. We put over half down of the purchase price and got short-term financing from the credit union. My SO received a windfall from the VA – this was a long time coming, too. We could easily have paid for the vehicle with cash, but needed to set aside a certain amount for an upcoming move. Priorities…..

By: Kevin

Kevin — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 12:01:55 +0000

Hang on, I’m confused. Isn’t this the same guy who just FINANCED a brand-new Prius, even though he works from home?

And we’re supposed to take his advice about being happy with our old clunkers, so we can keep our eyes on a long-term prize?

WARNING! WARNING! CREDIBILITY DEPLETED!

By: liv

liv — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 05:20:59 +0000

This article is kinda true, but with really bad comparisons. You have a new Prius, and you have a Wii. So…saying you don’t need a new van and a 360 is pretty obvious, but also a little hypocritical at the same time. you probably didn’t need a shiny new prius or a Wii because those would also take your eye off the prize.

I can’t remember the commenter, but someone above said that you could’ve bought 2 used cars…i’ve been looking into used sedans and they are totally almost the same price as new ones. So not worthit at this point in time. new cars get my vote because of that (but i’m not buying one for another few years anyways).

By: Todd

Todd — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 04:44:19 +0000

Nothing can “literally give up the ghost”.

By: Foxie

Foxie — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 03:46:42 +0000

Eh, cars only matter to those who are into them… Of course, my husband and I seem to annoy a lot of our neighbors. We’re always buying and installing new parts on one or both of our cars. What people fail to realize is that much of our money sits in our driveway… I honestly think people think our home has a ton of stuff in it, which it DEFINITELY does not. (Biggest expenses are probably the fish tanks and computers… No LCD flat panel tv here, or pretty furniture sets apart from our bedroom set, or a kitchen full of gadgets like most of our friends’ homes.)

Of course, cars are what make us happy, so spending our money on our girls is in alignment with our values. :) If it wasn’t, it probably wouldn’t feel so right.

Then again, I’m an odd-ball when it comes to finances… I want to experience a lot at my age, but not go into debt for any of it. My car provides me with a couple of awesome clubs to get together with, and plenty of events to go to. This year, we went to Myrtle Beach to meet other owners. It was a blast, we made so many friends and I can’t wait to make the trek back next year. I’d rather enjoy some of my money now rather than wait until I’m older… “Youth is wasted on the young,” this is a phrase I take to heart and do not want to be wistfully repeating when I’m older. (A lot of the older guys we meet at our car get-togethers always smile at us, since we’re a fairly young couple with two nice sports cars… What a lot of them wish they could have at our age, since we have so many more years that we can enjoy them!)

I’m still saving, though. Having fun is great, but ya gotta work to play too.