We are living in a material world and men and women are materials boys and girls. At the end of the day when we are faced with money trouble or debt we only have ourselves to blame. We have to learn how to curve our spending sometimes for a rainy day. For example, you might find yourself out of a job. No one said it was easy. Of course we want to enjoy the luxuries of life. Have a nice car, fancy clothes, and nice house. But is it for our benefit or to impress others? Maybe a little bit of both. When social media comes into play this is also the issue. Advertising is very contagious and pulls us in. For example, you might see an ad regarding a new watch that has just come out. Watch reels you in? Free shipping, deal ends this weekend.
According to Bloomberg, purchase rates have increased 0.3 percent in the U.S. This also has to do with income growth. The more you make the more you spend? The purchases of durable goods like cars have increased approximately 0.9 percent in the month of July. I can see why; certainly, because more and more younger adults are purchasing cars at a younger age. They want that freedom and independence.
In my opinion the craziest time of year for spending all around the world is December and I think you know why. Christmas is probably one of the busiest times of the year for malls. Every year it seems like people are spending more and more money on gifts for their family, friends, and partners.
According to Trading Economics, the U.S. is not the only part of the world that has spending issues, Canada is also part of that category. Consumer spending in Canada was about $513712.86 Million from 1961 until 2016, reaching an all time high of $1011970 Million in the first quarter of 2016 and an all time low of $16 2251 Million in the first quarter of 1961. As we can see spending in Canada has skyrocketed. As individuals I don’t think we know what a luxury and privilege for being able to spend so much money. Countries like Africa, where kids are happy enough to just have clean drinking water. So if you can’t afford to buy that luxury car or two-storey house you wanted think about the kids in Africa.
From month to month stats have shown that the comparison of consumer spending versus disposable income shows that consumer spending has been higher. At the end of the day, we have to be realists. Most people would rather spend money than save it, but we have to act and think smart. Life is built that we go to school so that we can get a good education. Why do we need a good education? So that we can get good jobs. Why do we need good jobs? So that we can earn ourselves a living so we can be able to afford things.
It doesn’t help that the housing market has skyrocketed for both Toronto and Vancouver, which is why we need to make good incomes. But this is why it is so important that we have to be good with money. So don’t fall into the trap of overspending. I find some people who are modest and that have a lot of money don’t show it. They don’t have mansions, but they spend their money in different ways. For example traveling. According to MoneySense, on average, retired Canadians are spending $2,400 a month, or $28,800 a year as exposed by the BMO Wealth Management Study.
