Dropping Shopping
“Shop 'til you drop” may be the mantra of our culture, but an anti-consumerism movement is growing. For Foolish investors this poses something of a dilemma. We know we should consume responsibly and only after making sure our savings goals are funded, but consumerism is the fuel that powers our economy and drives stock prices higher. Still, is that any reason to overspend?
By Ann Coleman (TMF AnnC)
November 24, 2000
Friday, the day after Thanksgiving and the biggest day of the year for retail sales, has been declared Buy Nothing Day by AdBusters, the folks that bring us TV Turnoff Week every April. So let's take a break from shopping and consider just what we really need to buy for the upcoming holiday season.
I've been thinking about consumerism rather a lot lately. As anyone who has seen me dressed for work can tell you, I'm not one to haunt the malls in search of the perfect shoes for my new outfit. But even so, I manage to spend most of what I make. And I certainly have friends who spend more than they make, which is a problem.
Actually, that's a somewhat different problem from consumerism, per se. The anti-consumerism guys focus on the idea that consumption by the developed world is damaging to the prospects of the rest of the world.
I don't think I buy that (sorry -- couldn't resist). I'm sure that one could find examples to support the case, but you have to also consider that consumerism powers developing economies just like it powers ours. It provides jobs and, in an indirect but very effective way, creates the wealth for the folks who get those jobs.
So today, let's not focus on the political aspect of consumerism, let's look at how it affects us. The problem with over-consumption is it costs money and too many of us are letting self-indulgence drag us into the pit of debt.
I am just hell on debt, folks. Charles Dickens explained the principle succinctly in David Copperfield when Mr. Micawber explains to David: "Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure nineteen (pounds) nineteen (shillings -- 20 to a pound) six (pense), result happiness. Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure twenty pounds ought and six, result misery." Mr. Micawber was in debtor's prison at the time. We don't have debtor's prisons anymore, but too much debt can feel like prison.
It's tough enough when debt comes as a result of illness, unemployment, or other unforeseen disasters. (Got your rainy-day fund fully funded with three to six months of expenses?) But there is just no excuse for anyone going into debt for nonessentials. I'll exempt the mortgage and I'll grudgingly exempt car payments and student loans, but vacations? New cars because the old one wasn't cool enough? Expensive holiday gifts because they are "expected"? Toys that you know you will be throwing away before the year is out?
So never mind the politics of the anti-consumerism movement. The point isn't to fight over a political ideology that would likely put people out of work in the name of helping the world. But we can all think about what works for us and for our family and for our future.
Let's start with this holiday season. Think you could get through the season of giving for just a hundred bucks? (Please, don't laugh -- that's not the punch line.) Bill McKibben thinks it can be done. Hundred Dollar Holiday promotes the idea, but look for it in your public library -- in keeping with the spirit of the book.
I'm not taking the pledge on that one. I have kids. But measuring the value of a gift by its thoughtfulness rather than its price tag is an idea worth remembering when shopping for your sister-in-law, the one who always buys you jewelry. And the idea that kids can live without constant infusions of technology is something to keep firmly in mind when the requests for a PlayStation 2 start to escalate. My plan this year is to simply give everyone books. What could be better? And they are so easy to wrap!
My favorite holiday idea comes from those AdBuster folks. It's the Gift Exemption Voucher. You can download it and send it to all those people who buy you stuff you hate anyway, or, let's be nice, from whom you would prefer to receive a nonmaterial gift like some quality time or that ratty old chair that they ended up with but that you really loved as a kid. Wouldn't that be great?
I hope you are enjoying your leftovers and relaxing this weekend. Next week we'll go back to talking about the latest Foolish Four research and the new Mechanical Investing Portfolio.
Fool on and prosper!
