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Tightwads Unite! By Stephen J. Butler

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I was recently offering some financial advice to a retired woman with over $1 million of assets when she asked me if I thought it would be OK for her to buy a new couch. "Of course," I said, "but be sure to invest in one of those clear plastic slip covers to protect it." We all understand that people need new couches periodically, but many other consumer goods can be postponed indefinitely.

It can pay to revisit how we're spending money these days, because it is a great time to be investing whatever we can manage to save. While the economy depends on a continuing engine of consumer spending, we don't all have to be cogs in that machine. There are those of us who don't buy lottery tickets or spend $4.00 of after-tax money on frappachinos at Starbucks. Those of us in this group are generally capable of some cost-benefit analysis, and we gain some enjoyment from knowing that we are receiving good value whenever we spend money.

Studies show that people who are unhappy with their financial situations generally feel that just a 10% increase in income would satisfy the shortfall in that feeling of entitlement. Most of us, in other words, don't let our financial situations get totally out of control. Reading about the excesses of America's Most Wanted CEO's left me wondering why on earth someone would want to live in a 15,000 square-foot home with a $6,000 shower curtain. Who can imagine rattling around in what must feel like a hotel? When the income scale is huge by anyone's standards, the needs just expand proportionately. This explains why Mercedes is introducing a $350,000 automobile. It's to meet the needs of, as their marketing people put it, those people who wear $30,000 watches.

Beyond being entertained, there is something constructive to be gained from reading about excessive spending. What if the press suddenly made OUR spending habits and purchases public information? Do we see any excesses that would be an embarrassment? Where in our spending patterns can we detect any waste? How much do we spend that we hope our spouses don't notice? I made a big mistake years ago when I bought a bright red Italian motorcycle as a "surprise." My wife took one look at it and called it "obscene." I wound up selling the motorcycle and buying a living room rug as "punishment," and I learned my lesson once and for all.

Habitual spending is the most insidious, because when we get in the habit of something, it loses some of its "value-added enjoyment factor" as it becomes part of a routine. When some expenditures become routine, they stop being special when compared to buying something new and different with the same money. It drives me nuts to see working people spending two dollars a day of after-tax money on coffee ($400 a year) when that could be the equivalent of another $600 or more in pre-tax contributions to their 401(k) plans.

There are a number of good books on how to be frugal. One of the best is "The Tightwad Gazette" written by Amy Dacyczyn from Maine, a state that imposes the highest tax rate and thereby breeds frugality. Barnes and Noble has lists of similar books and these books are important for the motivation they engender as much as for their specific ideas.

This is not to say that we need to stop indulging ourselves. None of us want the economy to completely tank. We all need to do our part as consumers. However, to the extent that we spend money at all, this is a time to be circumspect. We should review the mental checklist of what makes us feel good about ourselves before we spend the next dime. Furthermore, a little patience may also yield progressively better bargains on just about everything in the months to come.

Mexico has one of the highest per capita savings rates of the industrialized world. By contrast, The National Bureau of Economic Research divided Americans up into ten income groups and discovered that 10% of the highest income bracket had saved nothing. Twenty percent of each of the other groups had saved nothing. This amounts to a lot of people with no savings who have made a lot of money. A 40-year lifetime of earnings for the average family making $50,000 adds up to $2,000,000. How hard is it to save and invest some of that? And what better time than now?

Kevin Spacey in the movie "American Beauty" says while waving at the interior of his home, "This isn't life; this is just stuff." Speaking of interiors, when we once returned from a vacation a new house-sitter asked with a disapproving tone, "Do you know that your dogs sleep on the furniture?" For her benefit, we pretended to be shocked, absolutely shocked, at that information. However, there is more to enjoying life than filling it with consumer goods and struggling to keep them in new condition. Our dogs do sleep on the furniture, but given our state of mind, there's nothing we can do about it. And?those clear plastic slip covers are out of the question.