Passive Income

When I was in college, I simply had to have a new truck. It did not matter that I could not really afford it. It did not even matter that the $220 a month payment would be about 50% of my take home pay. Add in over-priced auto insurance, and I was a walking time bomb. It still amazes me to this day that the dealership would give me a loan at all, not to mention 100% financing to a 19-year old kid.

Last night I got to thinking about what that truck said about me as an individual. Sure, I could have bought some broken down beater that would get me to and from school just fine. My friends did not care what kind of vehicle I drove, so what was the motivation behind that purchase? I am not sure, but I felt really, really good behind the wheel of that truck. Looking back on it now, that truck wasn’t all that great. It wasn’t a particularly big truck. It did not even have large tires or custom rims. No. The more I think about it, the more I come to understand that was the selfish child in me screaming for attention.

When I look around society today, I see hundreds of adult children just like the old me. They can barely put food on the table, yet they drive, or even worse, lease a car that is entirely out of their income bracket. I am not saying that people should not have nice things, I am just saying that the things you choose to buy really speaks volumes as to what you truly value.

Where are you spending your money? What does that tell you about the things that you value most in life?

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It seems to me that we live in a country that allows ridiculous things to continue to happen. We meander along with our lives, never questioning things that are wrong or seem out of place. Why do we do this?

According to Yahoo, crude oil dipped below $100 a barrel today for the first time in 5 months. A few months ago, it was at $147. Does this mean that gas prices will be dropping by approximately 50%? Will we be paying $2 a gallon again?

 Of course not, and guess what, most people will not even care.

Instead of doing anything about it, we will continue to drive our SUVs, 30 miles each way to work (in the snow – grandpa reference), while drinking our $1.75 20 oz. cola or our $5 Starbucks coffee. We will visit the local gas station once a week and merely shake our heads that it now cost $70 to fill up the Ford Explorer.

Sometimes our refusal to care is so bad that we do not even ask for what should rightfully be ours.

Did you know that the IRS has increased their fuel reimbursement recommendations to $0.585 cents per mile? For every mile that you drive your personal car for your employer, you should be receiving 58.5 cents. Are you getting this? Or is your company still paying 48.5 cents (the rate from 6 months ago)?

Why do we let the prices of items go up faster than we demand them to come down? Why is it OK for the consumer to continue to pay for gas as if a barrel of crude still cost $147? I am not sure why we allow this, but we do?

What do you think? Why is it so easy to raise prices but so difficult to reduce them once the price of the underlying commodity comes back down? I would love to hear your opinion on this.

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