(03) 9020 2905Dateline: 2001. Mrs DebtMan and I had just bought our first home. We were financially struggling to fill it with furniture. As you do.
We invited some friends around for take-away Thai, including one unpopular girlfriend. There were three first-home buyers, including Miss Unpopularity, so furniture shopping was the topic of conversation.
“Oh, no, I won’t have any cheap tacky trash from (major furniture retailer) in my house,” she said. “I’m completely filling my house with (horrendously expensive boutique store).”
I bit my lip, then went to get a beer. So did my brother-in-law. We’d both just apparently part-filled our homes with “cheap tacky trash”. But mummy and daddy were paying for her furniture, as no doubt they had her home deposit also.
“Do you have a baseball bat?” I was asked rhetorically.
While she didn’t meet that baseball bat, she’s thankfully not part of the group anymore.
Stupid snobs top my list of bad money manners. And I’ve met a few.
I’m a fan of money, obviously. And of people being wealthy. But some people, who neither earned nor deserved it, are simply too stupid not to brag and often don’t know when they’re being outright rude.
“Lifestyles of the rich and the famous, they’re always complaining
And if they start whingeing about money, that’s when I want the proverbial baseball bat.
Australians are, generally, pretty private about money. We don’t ask people what they earn, or how much something cost. For the same reasons, we don’t like money braggers.
It’s pretty simple. Be humble and respect privacy. Most people get that.
Bruce Brammall is the author of Debt Man Walking (www.debtman.com.au) and principal adviser with Castellan Financial Consulting.