Recently I saw a show called “Princess” on TV and it is based on spoiled individuals (90% girls) who walk around spending hordes of money with their income, with debt, and with other people’s dimes. It is hosted by a famous Canadian TV personality and finance guru, Gail Vaz-Oxlade. This show is shocking to me because, I have never seen anybody spend 75% of their income on wants and not needs. What are the typical wants they spend their money on: Manicures, hair-do’s, shopping sprees, massages, eating out and drinking.
On a recent episode, one of the young ladies that was featured last week did not know that if you pay with debt that the purchases made on the card accumulates interest on a monthly basis. Now if she applied for the card and never read the fine print, how many more people are this naive. She didn’t even know how to do a budget. This young lady has been living a reckless life, spending carelessly and on top of that did not even make a single effort to repay her debt. Thankfully this show is a half hour long for the viewers because by the end of it, and after 4 weeks time span she finally learned some personal finance basics and can now be more of an adult.
Who is to blame for this young person not knowing a basic money foundation principle, like interest repayments? Her parents for the most part are to blame, because they spent the majority of the time with her throughout the years. Have you heard of the saying- it all starts at home, well this girl all she got from her upbringing was spoilness, if that’s even a word. What a world we live in where another little princess in another episode, is currently making $2800 dollars a month, spends $4000 a month on things that do nothing for her, but increase her vanity and this went on for years. How did she get to spend so much month after month, by borrowing from her parents, her boyfriend, her sister, her credit cards, and (the icing on the cake) her poor old grandma. Can you believe the gaul of this individual. My jaw dropped as I couldn’t believe that 85% of the $4000 grand went to wants, and not a dime went to debt repayment.
So if you know a princess in your life please teach her what interest is and send her a link to Moneywatch101 or the thousand other personal finance websites, so that she can do better with her finances. The majority of the princesses I’ve seen on the show are in their late 20’s, and have $0 net worth. That is just unacceptable. This is just an example of the times we live in where hyper consumption is the norm and superior marketing tactics by the major companies in this world are legally stealing millions from the hands of the people in this society.
Be smart, Be frugal, Be strong, and Be resilient.
Watch your Money
Photo credit to Slice TV show Princess
