In the rat race that we've come to know as the American Life, things have changed dramatically since the 1950's. The Greatest Generation that went through the Great Depression and then signed up in droves to fight in WWII wanted their children to experience the abundance that they never had. This sense of entitlement and desire for more and more has since been carried on to future generations.
For most of human history humans may have been caught up in the desire to accumulate, but it wasn't simple material possessions it was in the form of assets or wealth. How much land did you have? How much cattle did you have? How many positive cash flow businesses did you have? The entire pursuit of these assets were of course two things, power and women. Although I think the power issue could ultimately be linked back to women as well. And from their ultimately to child rearing, thus spreading your wild oats to pass on your genetics. Genghis Khan had 40 sons after all. According to DNA record there have been 16,000,000 of his descendants over the past 800 years. Quite impressive Mr. Khan!
Things have changed though. You're not arguably the greatest conquerer of all time and there were no retirement plans back then. So change your mindset! Instead of buying garages full of crap that you don't need and will eventually fill up a landfill. If it makes you feel better buy for quality and not quantity. Just make sure it's true quality. Toyotas and Hondas actually have better quality ratings than Mercedes and BMW.
If you know for a fact that you're going to use a product for many years and decades to come, then there's nothing wrong with buying the high quality product. Hell in the long wrong it'll probably save you money. This applies to things like power tools, tires, appliances, beds, computers, pots/pans, yard equipment, etc.
For most of human history humans may have been caught up in the desire to accumulate, but it wasn't simple material possessions it was in the form of assets or wealth. How much land did you have? How much cattle did you have? How many positive cash flow businesses did you have? The entire pursuit of these assets were of course two things, power and women. Although I think the power issue could ultimately be linked back to women as well. And from their ultimately to child rearing, thus spreading your wild oats to pass on your genetics. Genghis Khan had 40 sons after all. According to DNA record there have been 16,000,000 of his descendants over the past 800 years. Quite impressive Mr. Khan!
Things have changed though. You're not arguably the greatest conquerer of all time and there were no retirement plans back then. So change your mindset! Instead of buying garages full of crap that you don't need and will eventually fill up a landfill. If it makes you feel better buy for quality and not quantity. Just make sure it's true quality. Toyotas and Hondas actually have better quality ratings than Mercedes and BMW.
If you know for a fact that you're going to use a product for many years and decades to come, then there's nothing wrong with buying the high quality product. Hell in the long wrong it'll probably save you money. This applies to things like power tools, tires, appliances, beds, computers, pots/pans, yard equipment, etc.
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