I was in line at a coffee shop the other day with a financial planner. We started chatting with the barista, a fashionable gal who l guess is probably in her early to mid twenties. She was talking about how she was glad it was almost payday. Not because her rent was late. Certainly not because her piggy bank was hungry. Because she wanted to buy a pair of boots that cost nearly $500!

But what about the salt stains she’s going to get on those puppies or the fact that she must have worked a full week if not longer to buy a single pair of shoes?

I’m an opinionated sort but I’m also polite to strangers, so I managed to hold my tongue.

But I asked the planner what she thinks when she hears such remarks from people, including her clients. She said it’s like nails on a chalkboard. But she didn’t advise the barista, mostly because when it comes to spending, she says people often do what they want to do.

Who knows? This coffee peddler could be wealthy and making lattes for fun. And if she’ll be wearing those boots until the day she dies, I suppose the price could be right. I doubt it on both points.

What would you have done? Do you nod politely when people mention financial decisions that you think are foolish? Or are you one to speak your mind?

(And if you want to know how to make a boot and other cool origami out of money, check out this Tao of Making Money blog post).

This entry was posted on Thursday, February 28th, 2008 at 3:17 pm and is filed under financial psychology, shopping, spending. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.