"What are you? Married?"

The following took place between a professor and a student, who just happens to be one of my classmates:

Professor asked the class: " Can you live on $20 million a year? Can you make it last a lifetime?"

Student: " No!"

Professor: "What are you? Married?"

Of course after having said that the professor quickly apologized to the girls in the class saying that he was just kidding. I personally felt there was no need to apologize as I found it rather amusing and perhaps there's a bit of truth to that.

Women are spenders by nature, I don't think I spend as much as many other women, but when I do, I guess I can make a dent here and there.

Which leads me to this question "What would be considered extravagant?" The New York Times reported a couple of years ago that 20% of households that make more than $77,000 spend more on "entertainment" than health care, utilities, clothing or food eaten at home. I found this to be quite funny. Now I am a woman, so I guess I would group "clothing" into the "entertainment" category. And quite honestly, no woman can admit that she does not find any pleasure in shopping especially for herself. She would be lying and any man who does not at least acknowledge that is probably out of touch with reality. lol

People sometimes get all worked up over how much somebody has spent on something. I'm one to believe that if it's YOUR money than you should be free to spend it as you chose. And yes I do think it's outrageous to spend $6000 on a shower curtain, and $2000 for a trash can, especially with money that was stolen (Ahem... Mr. Ken Lay). That still does not answer the question of what is considered to be extravagent. I mean, is it ever okay to spend $2000 on a trash can? If so, when? I don't know.

I think it all boils down to one's perception and ability to spend. To someone from a third world country who makes $300 a whole year compared to someone in the U.S. who could walk into a store and drop $600 on a hand bag, it can be quite disconcerting,no? But I once heard an argument that should the person in the U.S. refrain from buying the handbag or anything else that is over $100 just because somebody else somewhere in the world could use that money? I guess if you send someone in the third world country $300 then would that make you feel less guilty about dropping $600? Would that be reasonable? Hardly. If that were the case, then we might as well adapt the Socialists' views on how society should operate.

Anyway...I digress...back to the professor's comment. What he said has a bit of truth to it. But then again there are some single men who probably spend more annually than married men. But for the most part, I do believe that when a man is married, depending on the woman that he marries and the lifestyle that they have, she can certainly speed up the spending activities. :::Chuckles::: That's why I was one of the few people in class who laughed at the professor's comment. Well I should say I was one of the few girls, because all the guys laughed.

It has also been brought to my attention that the reason why married men spend more than single men it's because they have the issues of children at hand. And yes, though I don't have any kids myself, I can understand having kids can be quite an expensive endeavor...although some people seem to make a habit out of it.


I guess I'll sum it to in the words of what a gentleman once told me : that if he can spend his money and not miss then it's okay.