I had to ditch out of a wedding recently, one that would’ve cost my wife and I around $1500 minimum to go to across the country. I told them that I couldn’t afford to go, even though in six months I have a trip to Europe scheduled with my wife.
Now, in order to appease the folks in the sub Reddit, my wife and I put away around 41% of our after-tax income, and we have a mortgage.
Could I afford to go to the wedding? Absolutely. If I prioritized it and went bare minimum and didn’t save anything , I could afford to buy a Lamborghini every year if we wanted to. Or, rather , I could afford to eat out and order in every single day. Or I could afford a far more expensive place. I could afford to buy and do A whole host of things.
** The issue is that all of us have different priorities, saving, spending, everything**. So when someone says you can’t afford something, or you can’t afford something, it should be appropriate to interpret that as something simply not being a priority. I shouldn’t be made to feel like an asshole for triaging the money I have left after savings and prioritizing my wife and I over a second tier friend in a far away city
January 21, 2018 at 10:25PM
