Saving Money

The case for metering

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The case for metering … 🎰

If I had a restaurant it would operate much in this fashion:

  • You would pay the clerk upon entry your budgeted food amount, such as $30.
  • The menu would list food options by an easy to multiply interval by gram or kilogram. For example, if you wanted Marconi and Cheese, you might see that the cost was $2 per 500 grams including all taxes, fees and tips.
  • You could order any amount you wanted (such as 450 grams), and the kitchen would produce a portion based on your request and bill you based on your request (you might get 472 grams due to difficulty of dividing the portion, but you’d pay only $1.80).
  • When you made your order, the amount you the total cost of your order would be displayed on a big LED digits over the table.
  • If you reached your budget, there would be no more food served.
  • If you were below your budget and were you were still hungry, you could always order a side or desert, but your total bill would be prominently displayed on screen until you paid it and left.
  • If you were below your budget while leaving the restaurant, the clerk would pay you back any unspent money.

Such radical transparency and flexibility would force consumers to be responsible on what they ordered, and not get a portion bigger then they could eat or had budgeted for. It would make people thoughtful about their meal choices and how much they bought. There would be far less food waste and fewer people leaving the restaurant, upset that they spent more then they planned to spend.

Too much of America exists today on an “All You Can Eat” rule — either you pay a fixed fee before you enter, or they keep a tab running, and only at the end of the night do they tell you what your tab is. This is incredibly wasteful, it causes people to eat and drink to way too much, and not think about the consequences of their consumption both financially and on environment.

I really enjoy watching consumption and meters, and figuring out how much I can spend out of my allotted budget. Much like programming microprocessors, where memory and CPU speed is limited, it forces me to be thoughtful about my consumption. Indeed, that’s one of the really appealing things about eventually owning an off-grid home — watching the battery bank, my energy consumption in propane, wood, and other easily measurable uses.

Why Even Americans Who Earn $100,000 Struggle With Bills : NPR

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Paycheck To Paycheck: Why Even Americans Who Earn $100,000 Struggle With Bills : NPR

Today, amid the pandemic, a third of U.S. adults say they are having difficulty covering everyday costs such as food, rent or car payments. While people with the lowest incomes face the biggest challenges, even some households making above $200,000 are straining to pay basic expenses.

For many families, walking the tightrope of financial stress, with little to no savings, is hardly a pandemic-specific condition. Over a year ago, more than a third of Americans said they could not cover an unexpected $400 home repair or hospital bill without going into debt — or at all.

Mystery Surrounds $7 Billion Outflow From Vanguard S&P 500 Fund

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Mystery Surrounds $7 Billion Outflow From Vanguard S&P 500 Fund

A record outflow from one of Vanguard Group’s biggest exchange-traded funds is stirring speculation over who was behind it and why.

More than $7 billion was pulled from the $172 billion Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (VOO) on a single day this week, according to data compiled by Bloomberg, about 4% of the fund’s assets. But trading volumes were below the one-year average and there were no obvious outsized transactions, while the U.S. equity benchmark rose on the day -- making a mass exodus less appealing.

2017

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The Wealth of Households: 2017

Wealth is an important indicator of economic well-being that provides valuable insights into a household’s economic health. For example, during financial hardships, such as unemployment, illness, or divorce, wealth is a source of liquidity to pay expenses and bills. This brief uses the Survey of Income and Program Participation to examine household wealth in 2017.