To truly become rich, you need to stop acting like it
What a world we live in, where 86% of the non-millionaires are apparently able to afford a luxury vehicle. That's fantastic news, that means that money is no longer as important as it used to be for simple stuff like that. Either luxury vehicles have gotten cheaper (what's a luxury vehicle anyway) or banks are stupid enough to give lots of money to people that can't afford to pay the interest (forget about the principal) when it's due.<p>Any statistic like that can be bent to make it say whatever it is that you want to say.<p>Before Henry Ford made the first production automobile even the millionaires couldn't drive them and now such luxury items are within reach of most of the gainfully employed people in large parts of the world. That doesn't mean they should stop doing it, what point is there in having money if you can't enjoy it, whatever floats your boat I'm fine with you having it, but there is a catch.<p>Here in the EU there used to be a save first, spend later mentality. The only thing people would think of borrowing money for were houses, and if you couldn't afford to buy a house then you would be renting one (or if you didn't want to own a house).<p>Over the years that has changed, with people spending first their own money, and then their banks money on 'conspicuous consumption'. Cars, boats, furniture, package holidays and so on. Little by little the save-first, spend later mentality has been replaced by spend as much as the bank will let you borrow, worry about the consequences later.<p>Those people that are buying those automobiles they can not afford are being allowed to do so by lending institutions that are pushing cheap credit, no make that ramming, down peoples throats. That's where the real problem lies, given the opportunity to borrow money at initial rates that are designed to lure people in with the nasty consequences written in very small print in gray on slightly-less-gray backgrounds people will fall for it every time.<p>Banks are the problem, not the people that think they in fact <i>can</i> afford this stuff.