Amanda's Take Five for Tuesday

Personal Finance

What do you mean you don't have a bike?; Only yourself to blame; A $147K debt reduction story; Abnormality; Not enough water for meat

28th Aug 12, 11:40am by Amanda Morrall

A new bike accessory?

By Amanda Morrall

1) Who needs a car anyway?

I'm not big into the cult of worship although I do remember waiting in line to get an album signed by The English Beat. The drummer gave me a peck on the cheek and I just about died. I don't do queues anymore, if I can avoid it, instead I've taken to writing emails.

A while back I fired one off to Margarent Wente a columnist for the Globe and Mail. Told her I loved her work and that I linked to it all the time. I didn't think she'd read my email or care for that matter (she has a massive fan base) but guess what? She wrote back and said she was flattered. I was tickled in turn.

On the weekend I had another teenage moment when I found an email from another writer whose work I have come to adore. You may know and love him too. It was...drum roll please....Mr. Money Moustache. I've linked to his blog so often I thought I should drop him a line of gratitude and applause. Again, I didn't honestly expect he'd reply because he's become something of an personal finance cult hero in the U.S.

Low and behold Mr. Money Moustache knew exactly who I was because of all you faithful readers out there.

MMM told me how keen he was on NZ and how he almost moved here because he thought Kiwis were such a fabulous breed of humans. I agreed but told him it was just as well he didn't move here because the cost of living would've blown his thrifty little mind and big moustache to bits. I used the price of petrol as an example.

His one-line reply:

"Who needs a car anyway?!"

A good moustachian kick in the butt for Amanda who needs to get back in the saddle now that it isn't raining 24/7.

This link is for you PDK. "What do you mean you don't have a bike?!"

2) Only yourself to blame

According to my mum, I was notorious as a kid for blaming others for my misfortune. Bad grades for example, (very unusual for Amanda:) "But the teacher doesn't like me."

I still have the odd moment of externalising when I feel aggrieved but I know now that everything comes down to me; the state of my personal finances included.

Here's Forbes.com with five reasons why Americans are not as wealthy as they could be. The same can be said for Kiwis. It's all about taking personal responsibility.

3) Goodbye debt

In a similar vein, here's how one couple took charge of their own personal finance destiny by nailing their US$147K debt. It's all about your mindset, supported by concrete action.

4) Abnormal

I don't believe there's such a thing as "normal.'' We have averages, and medians and trends and masses but I tend to think economies, not unlike families, work on a sliding scale of 'normality.' Hate to step on the Gloomster's patch but nor can I ignore reality altogether. Here's a good precis and deconstruction of the psychotic "new normal" global economy from The Economist. Now don't get all gloomy on me, I have another '80s video to come.

5) Going meatless - by force

I don't much like cooking it but I do enjoy the odd roast or burger. My minimal meat diet might serve me well according to new research which suggests there won't be enough water in the world to support the voracious appetite for tasty animals when the population spirals out of control to 9 billion in 2050.

Time to get my veggie garden back in action, and my bike.

Another blast from the past.

To read other Take Fives by Amanda Morrall click here. You can also follow Amanda on Twitter @amandamorrall

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13 Comments

by StanGoodvibes | 28th Aug 12, 12:17pm 1346113041

#1 I haven't had a car for years. I currently live and work in the Sydney CBD and am a member of Go-Get, a car-rental-type-thing where whenever I need a car I book on my phone and wander down to the nearest car (about a 5 minute walk) and use it for as long as I booked it (at about $7/hr).

Longer term I plan to settle on my lifestyle block north of Auckland, but it's going to be full-on solar and wind powered and the only car/bike/quad bike I will buy will be fully electric. Petrol cars and commuting are SO last century.

#5. That's where the lifestyle block comes in handy...

by Amanda Morrall | 28th Aug 12, 1:11pm 1346116260

Very cool. I've heard about those collaborative consumption models for car sharing. Very sensible. Sounds like you've got a good plan there! Nice one. StanGoodVibes - you're the man:) Great you are following us from Sydney.

by StanGoodvibes | 30th Aug 12, 10:59am 1346281195

Cheers Amanda. I work at The Reserve Bank and found your site via Macrobusiness. Always interested to read good financial advice from NZ.

(I have a bike too for those mid range trips around Sydney that don't necesitate using a car :-)

by Andrewj | 30th Aug 12, 11:02am 1346281349

Well why you are on the site Stan perhaps you could explain the record profits being made by the Banks while my parents suffer low interest rates and my farming friends go broke.

by StanGoodvibes | 30th Aug 12, 11:08am 1346281715

Ivan, I biked across London almost daily and never got hit, and have biked across Sydney consistently for the last year or so no worries. Maybe it's luck, maybe it's all about having an aggressive attitude - they coined the phrase 'bike rage' when I was in London due to aggressive cyclists, I suspect I helped with that LOL.

There's more than one UK porsche owner who had to go fix a broken wing mirror after a 'collision' with a certain cyclist ;-)

Over here in Australia it's the holden driving bogans who actively have a go at cyclists - I think it's from insecurity as they are a dying breed (V8 drivers I mean, not bogans. The Bogan will never die out - they are like dinosaurs) and they are just lashing out blindly at what they see as the threat to their lifestyle (they are not known for rational thought).

The advent of micro-sized video recorders is changed the game for cyclists - cyclists here now often have a small helmet cam (or bike cam, or even video sunglasses) and drivers are starting to get wary now they know that it's no longer just their word against the cyclist. Video evidence has been nailing loads of drivers for dangerous driving of late. It's brilliant.

by steven | 28th Aug 12, 6:44pm 1346136255

Uh, I would say it was.....

regards

by steven | 28th Aug 12, 6:43pm 1346136215

5. While Im on a low meat diet as well I really dont see how its going to be enforced except on price.

So lets say NZ has an abundance of crops relative to our population (probable), just how do you force a vegie diet expect via Govn edict or price? Now sure I can see price might be a factor but frankly any pollie who didnt put embargos or export tariifs on when voters complained would be dust....so I cant see edict...

Even before we get to that stage you just have to look at 2008 and haiti as an example....simple, the 3rd world will be left to starve.

The only viable players in the future are the holders of oil and food....the likes of Saudi and the likes of NZ / OZ. Assuming no fighting of course....NZ might be lucky its quite a long way for the chinese army (say) to swim....

Interesting that you pick up on water, yet seem to ignore the bigger one in your calculations, oil. And lets not forget fat americans buring corn for ethanol.

Oh and as the climate warms its going to get more and more volitile weather so the average crop output is going to get volitile as well, that means regular starvation, 9 billion, not a chance IMHO, I dont even see 5billion.

regards

by powerdownkiwi | 28th Aug 12, 7:30pm 1346139057

Good bike link. I've lost track of how much mine have saved me. I did my years in Bondi, working in Mascot, with just a bike. A horrible steel-wheeled NZ Healing 10-speed. Kept me fit, though, and enough money left over to build a boat and cruise up the coast.

Nowadays I suggest 2nd hand, expensive-when-new, MTB, no rear suspension, to beginners. Our road tandem is a ton of fun (you need a good relationship :) and recumbents are the best for the traffic-savvy.

Steven beat me to it - you can produce unlimited amounts of water (desalination/pumping/piping) if you have unlimited energy available. Currently meat is 1 calorie of steak to 27 calories of fossil oil. Veggies (commercial) are only a bit better - 1:10.

Home is better, but ou have to look at everything; we do the chook/egg thing, but buy 'mash'. Which is BigAg / unsustainable. So we are growing grains. Which need fertiliser, long term. How many calories will I expend, bike trailering seaweed up 250 metres, over 5 km? Will the trailer-load represent a profit in nutrient terms?

by steven | 28th Aug 12, 7:51pm 1346140307

"How many calories will I expend, .....8><-----.... a profit in nutrient terms?" Yes, thats one things Im trying to get my head around, growing my own daily food actually seems to be a poor energy return. Im aiming more at "luxury" stuff with the view to value barter. Hopefully a handful of pine nuts get me way more back in say carrots. I can see that the area I have is actually in-adequate, need 800m2+ I think, just how the squashed HughP slums will do is mind boggling. Meanwhile the local dorks are beautifying the neighbourhood by planting natives that feed no one like duh.....

We have to go organic there is no other viable option, you grow on land and rotate crops, back to the 1940s? in terms of output and tactics....Meanwhile the NZ farmers it seems think they can sell more lamb patties to McDs as the future....ho hum. I read about a piece on cadmium poisioning as well....thats a worry....

I have a new warehouse bike, well it was new 6 or so years ago...still in good nic but yes not used a huge amount.......I ogt a his and hers figuring I'd canibalise one and get a better bike if it got used....

I'd do chooks but my wife is highly allergic to eggs so cant have them near.....sadly, god I miss eggs.....I sneak out sometimes....egg foo yung, egg benedict.....yum....

;]

regards

by powerdownkiwi | 28th Aug 12, 8:00pm 1346140855

Actually you can do well with glasshouses, from about New Plymouth south. Controlled, frost-free, season-shoulder-extending, and we use insulated (100mm Bondor) panel as a raised-bed, with the glasshouse atop that. Adds about 3 degrees to soil temp, while giving you more headroom.

We are the end of the food-chain, though, and chose big brains (rednecks excepted) as a genetic trait, which need a lot of feeding. Ex fossil-fuels, the 'easy' part will get 'harder'. No :) brainer..

by steven | 30th Aug 12, 11:14am 1346282057

So the bonder is your floor slab?

Agree on the glass house, I find the wind (in particular) and cold is killing many sorts of planting I try in wellington. So I want to create a conservatory/greenhouse out of part of my deck/yard. Its concrete slab so some sort of spacer arrangement off that then a "floor" then the rets. About 30sq M water fed from the roof (and itself) at least 2 water butts.... Neighbours and in turn council will I think spit tacks....so I may have to build 3 x 10m2 "temp buildings"...

;]

regards

by powerdownkiwi | 30th Aug 12, 11:23am 1346282602

No, it's the side-walls of the raised bed. 600mm high, all around. There's a walkway down the middle at ground level, the beds are each side and each end of that, and there's one side-entrance doorway. There's no 'floor'.

by SWRA | 29th Aug 12, 8:31am 1346185899

Just a comment on the $147K debt. Unsurprisingly a large part of the debt was a large mortgage.

For those astounded or depressed by the the speed of success remember the USA allows homeowners to deduct their mortgage interest on their tax return (it is true: see below!) AND in some places treatment of rates is approached in a way we would consider generous. (Though rates can be significantly higher too as t hey can fudn schools in the area and other local amenities).

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/20/us/politics/why-americans-think-the-tax-rate-is-high-and-why-theyre-wrong.html

In addition some states allow you to claim 30% of your travel on public transport to work.

Be careful not to be put off by that incredible story in your own goals! Just saying...