$500 boots
Posted on February 28th, 2008 – 3:17 PMBy Kara McGuire
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).
15 Responses to "$500 boots"
I would have acted shocked and poked fun at my own situation with a comment like, “$500 Dollars!?!?!? I wish! In my world that is about 1700 diapers!”
(And really, I do kind of wish I had $500 to spend on something ridiculous.)
Yikes! (Trying not to whimper, looking down at my battered $24.95 Fleet Farm snow boots…)
Folks, even in casual conversation with baristas, let Miss Manners is be your co-pilot. In this case (a clear case of Absolutely None Of My Business And Who Died And Made Me Ben Bernanke Anyway?) I too would murmur something pleasantly noncommittal and go sit down before congratulating myself upon my (relative) financial sobriety.
While sipping that venti latte, which I could have made for pennies at home…
I nod politely and then may re-tell the story to a fellow cheapskate. Even more funny if when someone pulls out the airline miles credt card…or complains about the price of gas yet doesn’t know their monthly expenditure.
Well… I suppose if she keeps them forever and ever and passes them down to her kids. I myself have never bought 500 dollar boots (I did spend $200, though) A birthday present to myself. On the flip side, I’ve wasted alot of money buying crap that was on sale and didn’t last or settling on something I didn’t really want because it was cheaper. I’ve decided to stop doing that because I think in the long run that is a bigger waste of money. I would rather have fewer things that are of good quality that a bunch of flashy, cheap, trendy junk. Then again, when I was in my mid-twenties I wasn’t spending that kind of money on depreciating assets. I was putting it in my retirement account and paying closing costs on our first house. Different strokes for different folks, I guess.
I would have laughed at her.
But I would have thought to myself: no wonder why many people will be working into their 70s.
ah, and you (or your $ planner) were paying how much for a cup of coffee that cost pennies to produce? 
If she doesn’t have children or family responsibility, I’m all for it. Spending your entire 20’s and 30’s saving money preparing for a time of your life when you very well may be consuming a cocktail of meds every day and fighting wrinkles and grey hair, you need to embrace the later years of your youth sometimes.
I would have asked her what kind. I don’t know a person’s financial details, so I don’t jump to conclusions. Personally, I swear by my Ferragamo dress shoes. Comfortable, stylish, well made, and a perfect fit. Taken care of, they last perfectly well in the salt and snow.
Even if I had a six figure income I still wouldn’t pay $500 for any kind of clothing unless my profession called for it such as a CEO. That is where I draw the line. This barista in my opinion is either trying to impress wealthy men, posers at nightclubs, other upscale people, or is just plain stupid with her money. You see a lot of twenty somethings working in cafes who in reality are offspring of upscale upbringings and materialism. Working at a cafe is about the most acceptable “blue collar” job they will accept.
Jack: I’m taking a four hour financial planning course after getting up at the crack of dawn and working six hours. I’ve decided the $1.50 I pay on my small black coffee is just part of the cost of getting smarter. It’s sure a lot cheaper than that $132 textbook and I wouldn’t want to fall asleep like the student sitting next to me did last week!
Steve: You bring up a good point. I’m an advocate of spending on what means a lot to you or what you believe in. And if you believe in those shoes, go for it!
I would just hope that she was also putting $500 into a savings account.
I think the question of manners comes up in her quoting the price at all. Certainly $500 for anything short of car repairs is quite a large amount, so for anyone to tell me in casual conversation they were planning to spend that (whether a barista or a CEO), I would find that to be in bad taste, as if they were either trying to prove something or just blissfully unaware of what a large amount that is to most people (in my case, more than my monthly mortgage).
I agree that Miss Manners needs to be your guide in this kinds of a situation. I personaly don’t agree with that kind of an expenditure unless your debts and savings are taken care of confortably, but I also know that you can’t lead a horse to water if they don’t want to drink. Personally I’d pray that this barrista had a savings plan and debt management plan in place and this was an out of the ordinary splurge, but then I’d head home and thank my husband for being on the same spending track that I am.
I think cafes are worth it if you hang there and read, have converstaion etc. It’s a great spot to network, run into friends and neighbors, and be in a space that is conducive to thought and community.
I just like to poke fun at those who stand in line at the high end coffee shops on a daily basis and pay those prices.
I also buy my cofee every weekday but it’s a 20oz for $1.30 as the gas station. Not bad coffee either.
I’d be interested at what you covered in your 4 hour class as it seems like every imanginable financial planning topic has been covered in depth by the mainstream media.
to the smug coffee-shop haters: why? Even at minimum wage, that double grande mocha latte costs an hour of work a day. Having fresh hot fancy coffee makes many people smile. It might even make them more productive for the rest of their day. Why the schadenfreude at their putative financial ruin?
