Money Woes Makes for Poor Decision Making

[CLHC]

Heard this on the news the other day.

http://www.sciencemag.org/content/341/6149/976

http://www.consumerismcommentary.com/financial-problems-create-cognitive-impairment/

http://www.slate.com/articles/business/moneybox/2013/09/poverty_and_cognitive_impairment_study_shows_money_troubles_make_decision.html

http://www.princeton.edu/main/news/archive/S37/75/69M50/index.xml?section=topstories

Here's an excerpt:


a person preoccupied with money problems exhibited a drop in cognitive function similar to a 13-point dip in IQ, or the loss of an entire night’s sleep.

[Safetyhit]

Tempting to suspect that anything pressing heavily on one's mind in a negative fashion and also for an extended period of time will diminish it's functional capacity to some extent. The tangible distraction factor alone will do it, let alone any others.

[Sensei]

My Dad gave me some great advice that kinda relates to this topic. He said, "Sensei, 2 savers can be together and be happily rich. Two spenders can be together and be in blissful poverty. But, if you mix a spender with a saver - watch out!"

Money woes are like any other stress. It screws with the serotonin and dopamine at the synapse. The result is cognitive dysfunction and emotional lability. So, next time your wife is acting like a crazy bitch after going shopping...

[TMS951]

Stress impedes cognitive ability.

The farmer is under stress before a successful harvest, a poor person is under stress trying to make ends meet.

[brickboy240]

In my 20 years of marriage, I have had quite a run in bringing my wife to realize the advantages of living below one's means. She comes from a family of spendthrifts that would make great Congressmen! LOL

But now as we enter our late 40s and we have no debt and her siblings are also near our age but still owe tons on mortgages, cars and credit cards...she now sees the light.

Yes....it is quite a fight to get someone to "see the light" on being frugal...but it can be done.

-brickboy240

[Eurodriver]

Its hard to save for retirement when you're pretty much convinced that your peers are going to vote for the guy that wants to steal your IRA and redistribute it to them.

I'm half tempted to just give up and join them.

Edit: I'm being serious.

[Pork Chop]

Its hard to save for retirement when you're pretty much convinced that your peers are going to vote for the guy that wants to steal your IRA and redistribute it to them.

I'm half tempted to just give up and join them.

Edit: I'm being serious.

A lot of people are.

It's also hard to save for retirement when your own leaders advocate and install policies that drive up the cost of food and energy while systematically destroying the value of the few dollars you've already saved.

It's beyond depressing. Just one example, our family grocery bill has risen from an average of $175/week to near $300 and we've changed nothing. Fuel and household energy continues to rise while I hear nothing but "no keystone pipeline" and "coal fired electricity needs to die".

It's completely demoralizing. It very much makes a man want to say **** it. Why am I working so hard?

But, that's what they want in the end, so I refuse to submit. It's the last measure of freedom we'll have left.

[duece71]

So true, if the government doesn't have a problem with out of control spending, why should joe American have a problem with it?