The Amateur Financier

Well, it’s Friday again, and around these parts, that means it’s time for another list of suggestions on how to save money while still living the good life.  This week, we’re looking at one of the biggest expenses in many people’s lives, at times a seeming black hole of expenses that can drain your wallet if you give it the opportunity: children pets.  (Don’t worry, we’ll get to children eventually.)

Yes, pets, those wonderful, frequently furry animal companions we keep around for companionship and enjoyment.  While they can provide years of companionship and enjoyment, they also do require a great deal of time, attention, supplies, and care, much of which in turn requires an expenditure of money.

You can avoid these costs by not having a pet, of course, but many of us can’t imagine life without dog(s)/cat(s)/hamster(s)/ferret(s)/anaconda(s)/etc in our lives, and would gladly suffer through a lack of money or other hardship if it enables us to have our animal buddies.  The last thing I want you to do is not to own a furry (or scaly…) friend, but there are ways to have your dog and eat more than Ramen, too.  Here is one BIG suggestion on how to make getting a pet less expensive (and help out animals to boot):

Adopt rather than buy: Probably the easiest way to save money while getting a dog or cat (and possibly other types of animals, depending on what your local shelter accepts/people bring in for adoption), simply going to the nearest animal shelter and choosing one of the animals there will enable you to have an animal companion, help out an abandoned animal, and save you the cost of purchasing a dog or cat on your own.   It’s a win for you, the shelter, and of course, your new pet.

Besides, who could resist this face?

Now, it’s not a perfect process; the shelter will obviously only have those animals that people have chosen to give up, which means likely an older population (few puppies are given up, at least before they have a chance to grow up), and possibly animals that have behavioral problems due to abuse or neglect (a sad, but unfortunately true, fact of life).  If you have your heart set on a purebred, particularly a rarer or harder to find breed, you’re also likely going to have trouble finding such a dog in the pound.  (Although, there are organizations called ‘purebred rescue groups‘ that attempt to find homes for specific breeds of dogs, so depending on your particular desire and location, you might have luck there.)

Those problems, though, shouldn’t be enough to deter you from considering adoption.  Many animals are put up for adoption merely because their previous owners didn’t realize how much work was involved in owning and caring for them (and though I’d like to have words with more than a few of those owners, that’s beyond the scope of this article), meaning that they are perfectly healthy, happy, and otherwise ready to be loved, but just had the misfortune of being adopted by someone who didn’t know what he or she was getting into with the animal.  Simply adopt, take home, and enjoy your new companion and pet to the best of your ability.  While we’re on the subject of pet adoption, here’s a more issues to consider:

Get your new pet spayed or neutered – Unless you’re planning to breed your animal, there’s really no reason for them to be able to breed.  Spaying or neutering your pet (besides being Bob Barker’s go-to cause) will help avoid increasing the stray animal population, and can help you avoid discovering that your animal is ‘in the family way’ at some point in the future.  Luckily, most shelters do this for new arrivals anyway, so you probably don’t have to do much more than double-check on the shelter policy when you adopt.

Avoid Puppy Mills: If you’re adopting from a shelter, this shouldn’t be an issue, but if you do decide to purchase a pet dog, do it directly from a breeder and make sure that you check on the facilities where the animals are kept to ensure that they are sanitary and the animals are kept well, happy, and healthy.  On the same note, look into puppy friendly pet stores for purchases of supplies and food for your adopted animals.

Support the Humane Society and local shelters: This article ended up being more of a pro-adoption pitch than the ‘save money on your pet expenses’ blog entry I was shooting for when I started (funny the way that works out), but while I’m on the subject, I’m sure that the Humane Society or shelter in your community could use help, either monetary or physical, and would more than appreciate anything you can do to support their mission.  If you love animals and have time (or money) to devote to charity, helping out in an animal shelter could mean a world of difference.

Don't make them beg (until you get them home and have treats available)

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America is a young country.  Compared to the long histories of European countries like France, Germany, and Greece, we’re barely teens.  Like these older countries, we’ve created a national mythos that helps define who we are and what we believe.  Images of the patriots in the  Revolutionary War, cowboys in the Old West, and even gangsters from the days of Prohibition are the images we reference in our national conversation.

But there’s one icon that is perhaps more deeply ingrained in the national psyche than any other: the self-made man.  (With apologies to any feminists who argue, correctly, that the modern version should include the ‘self-made woman’ as well, I’m going to stick with the male term for simplicity and ease of writing.)  Most prominently popularized by Horatio Alger and his rags to riches stories, the ideal self-made man comes from a poor background, and through hard work and his own efforts, manages to become a tremendous success.  The moral of the story: if you work hard and believe in capitalism, you too will be a success.

There’s only one problem: it’s not the whole truth.

Note: Bootstraps not a good alternative to a supportive, nurturing environment

Now, before you start flooding me with examples of people who started with little and ended with a lot, please understand: I’m not saying that you’re destined to stay in the same social class as your parents for the rest of your life.  Nor am I saying that there aren’t success stories of people from ‘ordinary’ backgrounds gaining fortunes as a result of their efforts.  There certainly are, and they are an inspiration to everyone who hopes to become wealthy one day, myself included.

The Problems with The Myth

The self-made man myth wouldn’t be such a problem if it weren’t for the flaws it creates in your view of  the world.  First, a self-made worldview ignores the roles of society and government in setting the stage for success.  It alters the public conversation about society and government from ‘Is society doing the right things, in the right proportion, to help individuals succeed?’ to ‘Why is the government taking MY money, which I earned entirely on my own?’  It leads to people forgetting the help and advantages provided by a good government (in the form of schools, public utilities, and rules to ensure openness) and an encouraging society (one in which accumulating wealth is not only allowed by private individuals, but encouraged) in building their fortunes.

Second, a self-made worldview ignores the contributions of others in our successes.  From parents who provide an education and solid home life (or at least keep us from working twelve hours a day in the mines) to the employers who give us our first job, there’s a whole array of people who make our success possible, whether we acknowledge them or not.  (To say nothing of the influence of a higher power, for those of use who happen to believe.)  If we feel that all we have is due to our own efforts, we’re that much less likely to help out our fellow people, making it that much harder for them to succeed, as well.

Finally, the idea of a self-made man creates a lack of sympathy for the less fortunate.  If all it takes to be a success is a willingness to work hard, then it stands to reason that people who don’t have much money must be slackers.  As a result, there’s no reason to give charity to them, as their lot in life is the result of their own efforts or lack thereof.  (This is similar to older cultures that believed that material wealth was the result of the favor from the god(s); if you were wealthy, God loved you, if you were poor, it must be because you sinned.)  Such a worldview leads to less charity and more harshness towards the destitute.

The True Lessons of the Self-Made Man

I don’t expect to change one of the American cultural archetypes overnight.  In fact, there are good lessons to be learned from stories of the self-made man, as well.  Hard work, a willingness to not give up, and a positive outlook on your efforts are all good lessons that you can learn from such tales.  (To say nothing of how inspirational they can be to those of us who aren’t incredibly wealthy…yet.)

However, when you read through such a story, or feel the desire to claim that you made it ‘all on your own,’ stop and think for a moment.  Did you benefit from a public school, either for yourself or in not having to start from scratch when training your employees, as a report from some of the nation’s wealthest people touts?  Did you benefit from parents or other mentors who pushed you in the right direction?  Did you have the advantages of wealth and a high class education, or simply the luck of being born in the right place at the right time?

Congratulations, you just realized some of the factors, other than hard work, that go into being a success.  Now, go out and spread the word, and remember that not everyone had the same advantages that were available to you.

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(Warning: The following blog entry discusses illegal actions and other unethical deeds.   I do not recommend doing anything described in the following entry; it’s simply a discussion of some of my moral views.  Your views may vary, and if so, please let me know what you think.)

One game I’ve always thought looked interesting was Scruples.  The point of the game is to discuss how you would react to a variety of ethical dilemmas.  One of the more interesting example questions listed on the official site asked how you would react to your spouse day trading, if doing so was profitable but caused your spouse to be stressed.  Ignoring the obvious objections many of my readers will raise to the whole idea of day trading, the underlying question is interesting: would you want your spouse to sacrifice his/her mental well being in return for money?

These sorts of moral questions got me thinking: what wouldn’t I do for money?  What is so beyond my ethical standards that no amount of money would convince me to do it?  It’s an interesting thought; you can gain a lot of insight into yourself and your ethics by considering what you will and won’t do for money.  So, what have I come up with?

Things I WILL NOT do for any amount of money:

• Murder: Killing someone in cold blood for money is the top of my list of things I will not do.  While I might conceivably kill in self defense or to protect my family, killing someone for money is definitely beyond my ability.  And not just because I’m a horrible thought; I can’t abide the thought of taking someone else’s life, particularly for money.
• Maiming: In the same vein, I can’t picture myself doing serious, permanent damage to anyone.  Torturing someone is (mostly) out.  I might be willing to cause someone pain under the right circumstances, if I felt that the good that could be done exceeded the harm.  There is one exception, of course…
• Harming a Child: I can’t hurt kids.  That, more than even these previous points, is a guiding principle in my life; until someone becomes a teenager, there’s no amount of money you can pay me to do any harm to them.

Things I Would Consider, In the Right Circumstances:

• Kidnapping: This one is pretty questionable; I’d only seriously consider kidnapping if I were doing something like reuniting a parent with her offspring.  Of course, the number of circumstances where this is actually the case is probably pretty small, and verifying the parent’s story would take time and effort on its own.
• Theft: This is easier; given a substantial reward and something to take from a rich enough target, I have no moral qualms with theft.  That said, I doubt my skills in this area would impress anyone.
• Blackmail: Here, I’m torn; if it’s something illegal, I would lean towards turning the blackmailed person in to the authorities.  If it’s simply immoral, I’d consider blackmailing someone.

That’s probably enough for now.  Of course, all this is off the cuff speculation; if I actually had the skills and techniques to do any of these things and faced the opportunity, my decisions would likely be much different.  That leads into a bit of catch-22: the only way I could get the skills would be to do these actions, but the only way I would do anything on these lists is if I were offered quite a bit of money from an outside source.  So, the chance of me becoming an expert cat burgular or superb blackmailer is rather slim.  (Hear that, FBI?  You’ve got nothing to worry about from me.)

That brings us to the $64,000 dollar question: what would you be willing to do for money?  What are you unwilling to do?  What circumstances would make you reconsider your opposition?  It’s an interesting question to ponder, and I’d like to hear what you think.

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