The Virtue of the Ordinary

[pknopp]

Actually it's more like many people believe the hype that they have to buy buy buy more and more and more stuff and that will make them happy.

It's both.

IMO.

 

[pknopp]

A person of average income who lives very modestly his entire life in order to save enough to retire somewhat comfortably - let’s say $500,000 - is NOT ordinary.

You are confusing an average with ordinary.

 

[Lisa558]

Wrong.

You can be what you want to be. But what is the point where it's enough? What is the point that your striving to be better than everyone actually reduces the quality of your life?

Average is pretty bad these days. The average person cannot write decently. He cannot locate Illinois on a map. He cannot do basic math. He doesn’t know basic consumer finance.

What’s wrong with striving to be better than “pretty bad“?

 

[Lisa558]

You are confusing an average with ordinary.

The average person who saves $500,000 for retirement is not ordinary.

 

[Blues Man]

Average is pretty bad these days. The average person cannot write decently. He cannot locate Illinois on a map. He cannot do basic math. He doesn’t know basic consumer finance.

What’s wrong with striving to be better than “pretty bad“?

And yet that average person has access to all the information he wants for free. So his lack of knowledge is his choice.

The ordinary person in this country knows how to read and write and can learn anything he wants for little or no cost.

 

[there4eyeM]

Being fulfilled would seem to be a worthy goal. Unfortunately, the wildly grotesque materialism we suffer under renders such a concept virtually impossible.

 

[Blues Man]

The average person who saves $500,000 for retirement is not ordinary.

You still don't get it.

If that average person was not dissatisfied with his position because he believed he had to have a nicer car, more clothes, more grown up toys then he would be able to save and probably much more than 500K

 

[Blues Man]

Being fulfilled would seem to be a worthy goal. Unfortunately, the wildly grotesque materialism we suffer under renders such a concept virtually impossible.

Thank you.

You actually got what I was talking about.

 

[Lisa558]

Sure he is.

It's the people who spend more than they make that are not ordinary

Nope. It is the people who live beneath their means for 40 years in order to fund their retirement years - which takes about $500,000 - who are not ordinary.

Median retirement savings is $87,000.

Average Retirement Savings in 2025: How Do You Compare? | The Motley Fool

What's the average retirement savings? We dug into the statistics to find out the average retirement savings by age, income, and more.

www.fool.com

 

[Lisa558]

You still don't get it.

If that average person was not dissatisfied with his position because he believed he had to have a nicer car, more clothes, more grown up toys then he would be able to save and probably much more than 500K

…and that person would not be ordinary.

 

[pknopp]

The average person who saves $500,000 for retirement is not ordinary.

I didn't save that much but was still able to retire. I am of the last groups that had a pension sadly. I retired owing no one anything though.

Those who did the exact same job I did that were hired after 2007 will not have a pension. The only thing I did was being born before they were.

 

[Blues Man]

Nope. It is the people who live beneath their means for 40 years in order to fund their retirement years - which takes about $500,000 - who are not ordinary.

Median retirement savings is $87,000.

Average Retirement Savings in 2025: How Do You Compare? | The Motley Fool

What's the average retirement savings? We dug into the statistics to find out the average retirement savings by age, income, and more.

www.fool.com

And this is a recent thing.

Look back hundreds of years not just 50

 

[Lisa558]

And yet that average person has access to all the information he wants for free. So his lack of knowledge is his choice.

The ordinary person in this country knows how to read and write and can learn anything he wants for little or no cost.

The ordinary person in this country is fast becoming someone who does not know how to read and write. Unless we reverse things, in 10 years an ordinary person will be an indoctrinated high school graduate who has been brainwashed with “equity” nonsense and has marginal writing skills and reading comprehension.

 

[Lisa558]

I didn't save that much but was still able to retire. I am of the last groups that had a pension sadly. I retired owing no one anything though.

Those who did the exact same job I did that were hired after 2007 will not have a pension. The only thing I did was being born before they were.

Oh….wait…..new information. You had a pension. People with pensions could be ordinary.

Very few get pensions these days.

 

[Blues Man]

…and that person would not be ordinary.

Yes he is because he is no different than anyone else who earns a similar income and does save for retirement.

instead he is choosing to fall into the consumerist trap because he like you has been duped into believing being ordinary is shameful

 

[Blues Man]

The ordinary person in this country is fast becoming someone who does not know how to read and write. Unless we reverse things, in 10 years an ordinary person will be an indoctrinated high school graduate who has been brainwashed with “equity” nonsense and has marginal writing skills and reading comprehension.

It's not that they can't read it's more like they don't read.

And this has nothing to do with equity being forced on people.

 

[pknopp]

Oh….wait…..new information. You had a pension. People with pensions could be ordinary.

Very few get pensions these days.

People don't get pensions today because too many believe they have the right to the wealth more than those whose labor created it.

One of the reasons that pushed me to retire was the idea that I got tired of hearing "shareholder value" over and over and decided I could live on what I had and no longer contribute to "shareholder value" which was just a code word for "you are going to accept less for more work".

 

[Blues Man]

People don't get pensions today because too many believe they have the right to the wealth more than those whose labor created it.

One of the reasons that pushed me to retire was the idea that I got tired of hearing "shareholder value" over and over and decided I could live on what I had and no longer contribute to "shareholder value" which was just a code word for "you are going to accept less for more work".

What people don't seem to understand is that if you have no debt then it's not that expensive to live comfortably.

 

[1srelluc]

Sure he is.

It's the people who spend more than they make that are not ordinary

Given the amount of CC debt people have piled-up I'd say they are the ordinary ones. Those that don't maintain a massive debt load are now extraordinary.

Of course in this clown world not having any debt to speak of works against you.

 

[Blues Man]

Given the amount of CC debt people have piled-up I'd say they are the ordinary ones. Those that don't maintain a massive debt load are now extraordinary.

Of course in this clown world not having any debt to speak of works against you.

That's a symptom of the dissatisfaction people have with a simpler life. Buy more and it will make you happy is the lie they have been sold just like the lie that being ordinary is shameful.

And you're wrong about debt.

I have a credit card that I use but I pay it off every month and my credit score hasn't dropped below 820 in 2 decades.