Back in year 2003-2004 I worked at an enterprise technology company and was part of the outside sales team. There was two individuals that worked on the inside sales team…basically the group that offered sales support. The first guy let’s call him N. Singh and the second guy let’s call him J. Singh. These two individuals are real, NOT fictitious and it just so happens by coincidence that their last names are both Singh. They are also not related.
Let’s start with the character N. Singh, he worked in the inside sales team and from the first day at work had a big chip on his shoulder. He would come into work all deck out in designer wear, talking big and acting like he was on top of the world.
One day he came to work in a brand new BMW 3 series. Telling everyone in his team to come out to the parking lot and take a look at it. His face brooding with pride. After the initial ego high of owning a brand new BMW wore off the financial reality began to set in.
The fact that new reps in the inside sales team only makes an annual salary of $35,000 CAD unfortunately did not equate into N. Singh’s buying decisions. After tax income is around $28,000 CAD, so bring home net pay was around $2333 and after paying rent, groceries, gasoline and BMW loan payment of $420/month he probably was not left with much. Not to mention the maintenance / parts on luxury cars are highway robbery. It’s safe to say that this guy was living way way beyond his means.
N. Singh needed to show the world that he was a big shot, a somebody so badly that he had to go out and buy a brand new BMW. He was a pauper that had an ego problem, making $35K gross a year and this decision was clearly based on emotion. After about a year, he realized he couldn’t afford the BMW 3 series and had to let sell it. So, it was a very expensive lesson for N. Singh, basically he realized that a person making $35,000 a year cannot afford the payments and maintenance for a new BMW, if he wanted to eat and have a roof over his/her head. Hell, I was making $60,000 a year at the time and I couldn’t afford a new BMW, there was no way I was falling for that luxury car trap.
Now let’s talk about the next Singh, his name was J. Singh. J Singh at least was a little smarter, he went out and financed a slightly used red BMW 3 series. His payments may have been a bit less than N. Singh, but none the less it was up there around the $350 range. However, J. Singh also made the same salary as the other Singh, basically $35,000 before tax and $28,000 after tax and I could tell that he was probably barely scraping by.
I organized an outdoor sales event one week that cost each individual $50 and require individuals to drive themselves to the location outside the city. J. Singh approached me in the office and ask “Hey, can someone give me a lift to the location of the event?” I said to him that he probably should check with someone in the group of attendees, because the location was quite out of the way. Then I asked him “Don’t you have a car?”, in which J. Singh replied…”Ya, I do but I can’t afford the gas going that far.”
I wasn’t surprised as I had an idea that he was probably too far stretched with car payments and couldn’t even afford gas to drive to this event. That is a sad situation when an individual buys a car, just to portray an image of “I am successful” and couldn’t even afford to put gasoline in the car to get somewhere for an event…PATHETIC. In reality, J. Singh was not that successful, he was actually a pauper trying to look like a million bucks and was really over stretching himself.
So as you can from the examples above of the two Singhs, that trying to live the LAVISH life on a low salary is not a good move, and if you choose to go down this road it can be a very expensive lesson. Some people actually do not learn and over a long period of time they keep living beyond their means by financing the lavish lifestyle with more debt. Don’t get suckered by media into that rich lifestyle if you truly can’t afford it, it will lead you to bankruptcy.
As you can see by the current economic climate, that more debt can become such a burden that eventually the lifestyle will collapse. That is exactly, what a lot of people in the western world have shockingly realized over the last 2 years as they de-leverage their household income.
by Das Brain
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