Comments on: Frugalism vs. Capitalism

By: AJC @ 7million7years

AJC @ 7million7years — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 23:15:43 +0000

I’ll show you how a frugal capitalist works:

I sold one of my businesses, so I decided to reward myself by buying a car: I COULD have afforded a new Ferrari (circa $250k), instead I bought a slightly-used (current model … only 1,700 miles on the clock; saving $35k off list) Maserati Gransport Spyder for $90k …

… top down, wind in the hair driving: pricelss!

Frugal Capitalism … for all the things that merely SAVING can’t buy ;)

By: Spend Less Than You Earn Or Earn More Than You Spend?

Spend Less Than You Earn Or Earn More Than You Spend? — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 15:27:04 +0000

[...] others have pointed out, the difference may be how one decides to spend their time dealing with their [...]

By: Hi, My Name is Greg C. and I'm a Frugal Capitalist « The Frugal Capitalist

Hi, My Name is Greg C. and I'm a Frugal Capitalist « The Frugal Capitalist — Mon, 19 Mar 2007 03:16:04 +0000

[...] had several debates on Frugalism vs. Capitalism and Credit Card use with other bloggers- like Lazy Man and Money and The Prince of Thrift. I ended up reading these blogs ( and other blogs they link to and so on) [...]

By: The Digerati Life

The Digerati Life — Fri, 22 Dec 2006 06:59:45 +0000

First time I’ve seen it writing what I’ve been vaguely aware of. I enjoyed your analysis. I see myself being in the middle of the spectrum on this one.

By: Lazy Man

Lazy Man — Fri, 22 Dec 2006 05:29:29 +0000

Enough Wealth, I agree entirely. Rich Slick had implied that they were distinct personalities and it is impossible to look for a cheap deal while trying to maximize your income. It’s a common theme in the person finance world. If I have to expose that the two are not nearly the same through satire, then so be it.

I am looking for ways to increase my ROI as well, but thus far I’ve been relatively unsuccessful. It seems like most markets are efficient – by that I mean in order to get a better ROI, you have to take on more risk (at least from what I’ve found). It’s still worth the time it takes to try to increase ROI, but a lot of time can be spent with no gain.

By: Rich Slick

Rich Slick — Fri, 22 Dec 2006 01:55:56 +0000

Cheers Lazy Man….

I enjoyed the rebuttal and I wish there were more of it out in the PF blog world so keep challenging (even satirically) the conventional wisdom and everything you read.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays ;)

By: Enough Wealth

Enough Wealth — Fri, 22 Dec 2006 00:53:54 +0000

I think it’s important to differentiate capitalist (ie. investor) from consumerist (ie. spender). I agree that you can be a frugal capitalist, but some people get so focussed on being frugal that they limit their potential to increase their wealth. Sometimes you have to spend money to make money (eg. education is often a valid example).

The main limitation on frugalism as a wealth creator is that you are limited to saving a maximum of 100% of what you currently spend, whereas increases to earning or ROI is, theoretically, unlimited. For example, I earn around 80K and save 30K of this. I could go beserk with frugalism and save some more out of the 50K pa, but it is generally more worthwhile to spend my time researching ways to increase ROI on my current NW than to spend the same amount of time on new ways to be frugal. Increasing my ROI by 1% would have a bigger impact than cutting my expenses by 20%.

Also, sometimes spending goals are the motivation for attempting to increase one’s NW (eg. having a nice(r) house to live in beats having more $ in the bank but living in a cardboard box).

By: Lazy Man

Lazy Man — Thu, 21 Dec 2006 23:32:52 +0000

It’s a Devil’s Advocate argument. It seemed like the idea was to pay new for everything and not to recycle for fear that it put someone out of job (even though recycling is a job).

My assumption about the capitalist over-extending himself was a parallel “the frugalist.” Also things like “He won’t concern himself too much with the cost of an item” led me to believe that.

I really like Rich Slick’s website and stuff (Rich, if you are reading this it meant as satire with a little truth behind it).

I live in the middle. I don’t try to save every single penny possible, but I also don’t bet my life savings on starting a new company. I save some money here and there while I try to find more places to make more money.

By: Deyl

Deyl — Thu, 21 Dec 2006 21:52:11 +0000

Good thoughts. Although I don’t know why you make the assumption that the capitalist overextends himself, and that he consumes and consumes without heed for the environment.

I’d have to agree with Get Rich Slick’s post from a worldview standpoint. Saving my way to riches doesn’t excite me or get me jazzed to devote my life to that. Starting businesses and creatively working to earn passive income by seeking out investments gets me up in the morning!

thats just me though :) Merry Christmas!

By: Frugalism vs. Capitalism II » Get Rich Slick

Frugalism vs. Capitalism II » Get Rich Slick — Thu, 21 Dec 2006 21:37:58 +0000

[...] Lazy Man & Money replied with a counter argument to my post regarding Frugalism vs. Capitalism and the old chap put on a good show but I have to issue a response and here it is: “That extra dollar will be taxed” Are you seriously arguing that you shouldn’t earn extra money because you’ll be taxed for it? I think this epitomizes why frugalist won’t ever achieve superior wealth (note I’m not saying they won’t achieve a level of wealth – just not superior wealth) because they focus on the cheap and not on making the extra buck. [...]