Gifts
I read a comment recently by someone who said, "Once you can afford to buy yourself pretty much anything you want under $1000, getting gifts is a lot less fun." This is true to a point, but I think there is more to it. In the last few years, I have come to appreciate the dynamics of gift-giving a lot better. Obviously, a lot of gifts go to kids. With kids, buying gifts is simple: you buy them something that they want but cannot afford. This is not too difficult, since they want everything, and they have no money to buy it with. With adults, this principle rarely applies. You have to be quite a bit wealthier than someone to buy him something that he cannot afford. The thing is that, if he really wants it, normally he can buy it if he's willing to give up something else. If you really love seafood, you could probably afford to eat it almost every night — provided you were willing to save less for retirement or your kids education, drive an older car, or live in a smaller ...