Money Makes the World Go Round

 Every consumer needs to have money in order to buy goods and services. They need a job to have income and be able to spend money on necessities such as groceries, transportation, and shelter. If they have dependents such as children and pets, they need money to support them as well. A survey was done in the U.S. with 450,000 respondents and the majority agreed that making $75,000 annually would give them a comfortable life. As prices continue to rise, this number may rise eventually. The money that individuals have left over after living comfortably is called discretionary income. 

After the Great Recession of  2009, consumers have been wary about the health of the economy. Recently, stocks have declined due to COVID-19. The pandemic has left many individuals without jobs and many businesses to permanently shut their doors. There tend to be two extreme type of spenders. The first are called tightwads. They hate spending money. Generally men, older people, and individuals with a lot of education are tightwads. The second are spendthrifts. Most often they are women who enjoy buying everything in sight. 

Psychologically, people equate money with success or failure, social acceptability, security, freedom, sex appeal, and love. Individuals may look for partners who make the same amount or more money than them. I notice that some women are attracted to a man who flaunts his wealth by wearing nice clothes, jewelry (watch or chains), expensive sunglasses (ex. Oakley), and drive sleek cars. Many individuals, especially college students, are working towards a college degree because they want to be successful and make a lot of money. They associate wealth with success. It is apparent that the more money you make, the more secure you feel. You can save more money and/or invest it in stocks. Sometimes people need therapy for conditions such as peniaphobia (fear of poverty) and harpaxophobia (fear of getting robbed).