This is something I live by in all parts of my life. I’ve found more and more that no material good can bring me a lifetime of utility and enjoyment but rather it is the experience that do. Traveling is my passion and I generally want to do it for as cheap as I possibly can manage so I can do as much as possible. BUT this doesn’t mean I want to do it for the sake of doing it, I will camp or stay in a hostel and skimp on everything else if it allows me to go surfing in Sydney or skydiving in New Zealand- the experiences that will truly provide me happiness for the rest of my life by just recollecting the feeling I had doing these things. Those things are the ones I want to invest in.

I worked out what is the best criterium to use when purchasing kitchen gadgetry – what do professional chefs use?

So if the lesser briefcase lasts three years, you’d could theoretically assume you’d need to replace it every 3 years. So let’s say you put the $450 in a CD at 5% interest a year, over the three years you’d have $520.93 assuming ($450 with no additions, compounded yearly for 3 years, not factoring in inflation). Now you’re ahead ~$20 (less after taxes and whatnot).

As a person who’s just started out I’d say the most important thing before even being a savvy consumer is a strict saver. Once you have a little money saved up then you can think about spending money on luxuries. I know people who don’t manage their money well and often get overdraft fees on their accounts because of it. So on top of having no money until their next paycheck comes, they’re actually in the red until it does and those penalties add up. It’s easier to make money with money and a lot of young people don’t realize that.

Many of the things the articles list that you can save on are really commodities rather than necessities. One of the easiest ways to save money early on is to recycle. Why buy trash bags when you could just as easily use the plastic bags you get from groceries (doublebag and make more trips to the trashcan but you save money)? Reusuable tupperware is much better than ziploc bags; there are few things you can store in bags that you can’t store in tupperware.

I didn’t expect the inflation issue to overturn the result, but it does make for a better model.

Thank you for a thoughtful and courteous response.

Especially when first starting out, it makes so much sense to buy used stuff. You can buy a new cheap (crummy) vacuum at a department store for $100, or pony up $600 for a really nice new one (highly doubtful), or go to a thrift store and buy a decent vacuum that originally cost $150 or so and you pay $20 for it. Americans love to buy shiny, new, better things, when their old ones work just fine–those end up at the local charity shop!

While this sounds like nit-picking, it can result in significant variances. For drugs like (most, not all) antibiotics, a variance of 10-20% in received dosage is probably not going to make a difference, but for antidepressants, and cardiac drugs (as examples), a 5% difference can affect efficacy or side effects.

In one American report, the 150mg dosage of Wellbutrin XL from one generic company was approved by the FDA after analysis, with the 300mg approved without analysis, the assumption being that it would also meet standards. The 150mg dosage worked properly, with appropriate extended-release characteristics, however the 300mg version released the entire drug dose within a couple of hours. Numerous patients were adversely affected by this.

In a Canadian report, different generic versions of ramipril (an antihypertensive) contained varying doses of the drug, with one batch containing no active ingredient whatsoever.

The bottom line is that I tell my patients that they should always watch for a change in their health and symptoms if they notice that the manufacturer of their medication has changed. Generics aren’t necessarily bad, but it’s important to understand the difference in standards.

An a not on generic brand names – some names are generic in one region but not in others. My store carries Best Choice which is a generic brand in the south, but in my mom’s home state of Michigan, its a high-end brand. Also, we have accidentally received our competitor’s store brand by mistake, from the same warehouse that supplies us.

First Richard, I apologize for responding to the posts out of order. Alex’s post displaced my attention.

One need not assume the $450 is invested. If it is, then it’s making you money. If it’s not, then it’s either interest lost or it’s interest you are paying because of it not being applied to lessening the debt on which you’re paying interest. There is a lost potential in that plane ride on which you will always pay interest. If we’re lucky and good the plane ride offers more potential either in the joy of the experience or perhaps in furthering professional goals.

With respect to guaranteed investments, there are none and never have been. I chose a time frame commensurate with the posited durability of the briefcase and over the past fifty years 10% average return on a portfolio is a relatively conservative. It is a common rule of thumb that if a business doesn’t return 15% on capital that it’s better to let the money work elsewhere.

I would like to reiterate that in spite of these numbers I chose the beautiful briefcase. I’m looking forward to a plane taking me to see loved ones and that I can’t personally realize fifty years of returns – my mortality limits me.

Thank you for your clarifying questions.

Jim Collins

I stand corrected by Alex’s point– thank-you.

It does raise the interesting question of how one would calculate the depreciation of the longer lasting briefcase. Ought it to be as 1/50th of the current replacement cost or of the original cost? The depreciation question is simpler for the cheaper briefcase as one is depreciating more or less current dollars.

When I apply the U.S. Consumer Price index for the last fifty years I find that the $50 briefcase and the $500 briefcase would inflate to $223 and $2230 respectively. This corresponds to an average inflation rate of 3.05%. Assuming the same interest of 10% I used in my last post the cost after fifty years is $33,000 for the succession of cheap briefcases while the $500 briefcase costs $65,000 over fifty years if one depreciates the original cost and $70,000 if one depreciates at the replacement cost. The original outlay still dominates the long term cost.

Thank you once again for your cogent point. Even better than the counsel of numbers is the counsel of thoughtful people such as yourself.

Jim Collins