Study: Twenty-something women spend big on fashion

From National Jeweler.com:

Women ages 20-29 spend almost half (48.2 percent) of their disposable income on accessories, fashion and beauty, according to a new study from Jane magazine.

Of that, about 16 percent goes toward purchasing jewelry and watches, the study finds.

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From Luxist:

many of these women are "children of the affluent baby boomers" and grew up expecting and appreciating luxury goods. 84% said that they had no problem with living beyond their budgets.
We hate to be the ones to break it to Mr. Lamadrid, but an appreciation of quality and style isn't worth all that much if you are living so far beyond your means that all of your "good taste" gets repossessed when you can't pay off your debt.

So they're spending a ton of money and not getting what they want. Good job. I love luxury items too, but pick a few and make sure you really want them. Create an identity and don't make it "the person who spends $2k a week on purses."

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Six (Worthless) Excuses to not save money

This article covers some of the big excuses people give for not saving more money.

1) I don't make enough money
This is just silly.  Everyone can find small things to cut out of their life that they don't need and can save them money.  Saving just $5 a day (most of us can cut that out of our food spending) amounts to over $1500 per year.

2) I'll get around to it later.  See my post linking on compound interest.  Saving earlier means saving more, even if you stop saving later!

3) I deserve a little luxury in my life.  I've posted recently  on rewarding yourself for financial decisions.  A little luxury you deserve, but be sure you are not just spending money on the first thing that you think you want.

4) Someone else will take care of it.  FALSE.  You are responsible for your own wealth production.

5) I've saving through my 401(k).  Great!  But you can do more.

6) This item or service will pay for itself.  There are some items that will do this.  The example I've given before is books.  A book that teaches you something about making money can generate a return on investment.  Most items (that cool exhaust on your car) will never bring you any return.

Check out the article for more examples.

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Read Quick wiki community

I just got a new site up and running.  It's a wiki site designed to share the notes and summaries 
of books you read.  Check it out at http://readquick.wikidot.com/.  Post article or book summaries (and links) your thoughts on them.  Users can then discuss the works in the forum page.

Send me your suggestions or just sign up and start using the site!

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