I have two very close girlfriends, one rich and one poor. One has received excellent education, is extremely intelligent, and holds a doctorate degree. She once completed a four-year undergraduate program in less than two years, then furthered her studies at Sun Yat-sen University, and received various strange scholarships; in contrast, my other girlfriend didn't even finish college.
It should be said that both of my girlfriends' careers are quite successful, and up to now, they both work diligently. One is the client director of an advertising company, while the other opened a small flower shop in her own neighborhood, so both have substantial incomes. However, one of them, as she puts it, "for her entire life," struggles with personal financial issues, while the other became one of the richest women in her circle. One girlfriend bought her parents a serviced apartment in the city center, while the other's inbox is always filled with unpaid bills.
Lehman Brothers collapsed, Merrill Lynch declined, the grand U.S. bailout plan was put on hold, ExxonMobil began cutting human resources, and the white-collar workers in the big city slowly realized their wallets were emptying. Some of my girlfriends even started inviting me to join a private afternoon tea session called the "City Discount Sharing Session." Ironically, this afternoon tea session was initiated by my wealthy girlfriend who didn't finish college, and the impoverished yet powerful girlfriend actively responded and promoted the session using her social skills, making it lively for a time.
I couldn't help but start thinking about this issue: if financial status and academic ability are not proportional, does it mean our lifestyle has certain problems? Both of my girlfriends live in the city center. One rents the most luxurious serviced apartment in the city, with her makeup counter piled high with newly purchased La Mer, outdated Estee Lauder, and Dior bought a month ago... Of course, this is the poorer one; the other owns two two-bedroom apartments in the largest residential community here, one for rent and one for self-occupation. The self-occupied house is painted with ordinary paint, the bathroom is well-decorated, and the rest of the areas are functionally separated by soft furnishings. The total decoration cost is almost equivalent to the poorer girlfriend's monthly rent, but it looks cozy. There are two bottles of Mei Jia Jing in the living room, one for hand cream and one for moisturizer, and a bottle of Nivea toner, nothing else.
I describe the above scenarios and associate them with their respective owners simply to tell you that although great wealth isn't saved up, the correct consumption view can improve your financial situation, which happens to be a problem most women easily overlook - either being overly frugal to the point of penny-pinching or extravagantly spending today's money for tomorrow's luxury brands. Two extremes. Women who understand balance are the smartest.
Of course, I cannot say my poor girlfriend is not intelligent. She is learned, but in fact, she knows about FOB prices, understands Giffen goods, and understands the theory of marginal utility, but she can't match the only "Latte Theory" of the rich girlfriend.
The rich girlfriend's theory comes from David Bach's best-selling book "The Automatic Millionaire." The book points out that if you can save the $5 spent daily on Starbucks lattes and pastries, over several decades, you could become a millionaire. Later, this became one of the hottest topics among office workers every day, and thus was cited by my astute rich girlfriend.
When I learned about this beautifully named (knowing that latte is my favorite) and mysterious content theory, I couldn't help but want to try it out on myself. Carefully calculating, I drink coffee every day. If I only need one cup of coffee a day, but somehow I drank three cups... Also, regarding cosmetics, I know Dior's skincare is actually useless, but after hearing colleagues say "Recently bought Guerlain's Orchidée Impériale, it looks super luxurious," I get tempted. Seeing something new, I buy it. In fact, more than just excessive desires, the results are far from satisfactory. If two people are 25 years old now, A drinks one cup of coffee costing 10 yuan per day, and B drinks three cups, with two extra cups that are desired but unnecessary. Then in 20 years, A will have over 500,000 yuan more retirement funds than B. This 500,000 yuan is just from fixed deposit compound interest, not including investment returns. At this point, A can retire at 45, while B has to continue enduring the boss's wrath.
In fact, the daily expenditure difference between my poor and rich girlfriends is certainly more than just one cup of coffee costing 10 yuan, and the final result shows differences within less than 20 years— I have a high-ranking, unable-to-clear-monthly-bills poor girlfriend, and a self-made, operating a small flower shop in the neighborhood rich girlfriend. It's that simple.
"In this era of financial tsunami, we really should reflect on ourselves." The career achievements of the rich girlfriend come from continuous summarization and reflection. Her advantage is seeing problems and being willing to solve them. After last month's afternoon tea session, the rich girlfriend told the poor girlfriend, "You finally begin to understand the principle of 'buy what's right, not what's expensive,' just like the motto of my flower shop, pursuing good value for money is indeed a virtue. We can try it, starting with skincare products. Your Dior isn't really that great, right? Admit it. With your good skin foundation, if you purchase a set of 'Mei Jia Jing x 2 and Nivea x 1' property, as long as you don't slack off and stick to not buying others, after half a year, I can guarantee your skin will be just as good, and I can also ensure your bill will be much less."
Before the six months are up, only two weeks have passed so far, and my poor girlfriend wrote to me saying she noticed the cash staying in her wallet longer recently. Actually, whether achieving the "Latte Theory" of turning one cup of coffee into a millionaire or achieving the "Makeup Table Theory" of transforming from extravagant waste to simplified practicality, financial intelligence doesn't rely on saving. Accurately determining the cost-effectiveness is key, and this "cost-effectiveness" refers not only to the ratio of performance to price but more importantly, the ratio of performance to value. If you're a smart enough woman, I believe you understand what I'm talking about.