As it turns out, our faith in the American promise of mutual fund investment growth was false. We gave $400 a month through payroll deduction to a TSA( Tax sheltered anunity) program for 25 years. Thanks to our recent economic woes our "Guaranteed" promise of gain has resulted in a $30K "paper" loss from our total historical contributions. I know this loss seems small to many, but this was real hard earned money that we confidently gave as investment in our future. I guess I am to blame for listening to our advisors who continued to say that the values will return. I feel as though we have been robbed and experience bitterness to those who have used people like us to further their failed agendas with absolutely no accountability. We will spend the rest of our poor insignificant lives looking for the silver lining in this cloud. All the while there are many who walk away with their fortunes in protected investments. Now we will regulate after the activity that has been largely to blame for this, after the fact! My only hope is that this has taught something to my children and for their sake that my wife and I don't become too large of a burden to them as we grow old. The cynic in me thinks the Republicans have just gotten away with the largest tax increase ever, or the biggest crime ever perpetrated by a few people on a large segment of population. The sad part for all of us is now what I believe to be a nation that is no more secure, more likely less secure because of our weakened economy, Our infrastructure and our educational system is worse off and behind more now than before "No child left behind". I feel as though we have all been lead blindly to the slaughter by the leadership who still honestly believes it healthy for America to engage in wars, spend billions on smart weaponry and other welfare programs that prop up our defense industry. In the meantime we have sacrificed many lives devastating our military families, the health and welfare of our general population and created further havoc on our environment. If our country was ever ready for a change in leadership it is now.
Shopaholics’ Dilemma
How tough economic times are affecting compulsive shoppers.
HOLIDAY SHOPPING
Are You A Shopaholic?
Take our quiz to find out how your behavior squares with the current research--and whether you might need to curb your shopping habits.
- Share:
-
Email To A Friend
Please fill in the following information and we'll email this link.
Most of us like to shop, but how many of us know when to stop? According to a 2006 survey by the Stanford University School of Medicine, 5.8 percent of the U.S. population—about 17 million people—are compulsive shoppers, a label psychologist April Lane Benson applies to those who "spend so much time, energy or money on shopping that it's impacting [their] life in a negative way." But during a recession, does a compulsive shopper learn to curb his behavior, or does it just make spending habits worse? NEWSWEEK's Christina Gillham asked Benson, author of "To Buy or Not To Buy," what makes someone a shopping addict and how compulsive shoppers can survive a recession. Excerpts:
NEWSWEEK: Many of us think of ourselves as compulsive shoppers. When does an infatuation with
buy
ing shoes, f
or
example, turn in
to
something m
or
e serious?
April Lane Benson: When it impairs your life. When it's costing you significantly—not necessarily financially, but if you wreak havoc with your interpersonal relationships. A lot of marriages break up over overspending; children can get neglected, people can get fired from jobs for browsing for shoes on the Internet all day long.
Does the typical compulsive shopper fall in
to
a particular socioeconomic class?
No. One survey found that a greater proportion of compulsive shoppers had incomes below $50,000, but other surveys suggest that compulsive buying occurs all along the income spectrum. It's an equal-opportunity, all-purpose mood changer.
We think of shopping addicts as primarily women, but your book dispels this
not
ion.
Yes, according to one study, it is almost equally distributed between the two genders.
How do men and women differ in their shopping habits?
There is a difference in what they shop for and how they shop. Women shop as recreation. They like to go and browse and do it socially. For men, they shop in the same way they work: they know what they want and they go and get it. But I really think that that's changing. The men I've worked with, some of them browse a lot on the Internet; they do a lot of comparison shopping, so it's not always a straight shot. But the compulsive buyers I have worked with tend to shop alone because they are often ashamed about what they're doing. They don't want anybody judging them.
How might the recession affect overshoppers
'
spending habits
—
does it improve them
or
merely exacerbate them?
If I had to say one thing, it would be that, because all of us are tightening our belts, the compulsive buyers I know feel less isolated. And the fact that they're one of millions of people that are having these concerns has been allowing them to let go a little more, because they feel more a part of a community. One of my clients said, "I feel really, really guilty. I feel so lucky I have my house paid for, I have a steady income, and I really feel bad for people who are losing everything. I'd feel really horrible making a big jewelry expenditure with the way the economy is. It would be like kicking dirt in somebody's face."
But couldn
'
t the recession also have the opposite effect because st
or
es are reducing their prices? Isn
'
t the prospect of acquiring cheap goods even m
or
e likely
to
drive compulsive shoppers
to
the mall?
Yes, absolutely. I'm finding [that] with one or two of my clients. But more often, I'm finding that they have gotten to the point where they realize that they can never get enough of what they don't really need. It's costly to keep buying things that can't solve those issues.
- 1
- 2
- Next Page »
- Share:
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
