Why You Should Contain Your Envy

Humans are envious by nature, and there is a strong tendency in our society to take advantage of this reality for the sake of financial gain. Your typical American citizen is bombarded daily with images of what appear to be impossibly excellent people living impossibly excellent lives, and subsequently encouraged to get as close to that ideal as possible by spending all that they can.

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This consumerist ruse is effective, and that is understandable: I know a good hustle when I see one, and I can’t knock it too much. Here at ROK, however, we’re in the business of looking behind the ruse. That means looking for the truth behind the facades that drive our consumer culture, and using that reality you discover to form your own understanding of society as it really is.

L’Wren Scott’s recent tragedy has provided some recent insights into the reality behind the image you’re sold.

To look at her carefully curated Instagram feed, designer L’Wren Scott was a 1-percenter, a gold-plated member of the international elite: There she was on vacation in India with boyfriend Mick Jagger; at his retreat on the island of Mustique; about to board a chartered helicopter; lounging poolside in gold jewelry and designer sunglasses; stretched out on a private plane, using her $5,000 Louis Vuitton handbag as a footrest.

“I always say luxury is a state of mind,” Scott told The Sunday Times of London last November. “Because for me, it really is. It’s legroom, it’s a beautiful view, it’s great food at a great restaurant you’ve discovered because you obsessively read Zagat, as I do.”

And then, last Monday, she committed suicide, hanging herself in a $5.6 million Chelsea apartment that likely did not belong to her. Within hours, Scott’s life was revealed to have become an elaborate facade — her business at least $6 million in debt, her fashion-world friends and celebrity clientele unaware of her despair.

“Ironically, last week I said to three different people, ‘I wish I had her life, look at her life — she’s always somewhere fabulous and fancy,’ ” stylist Philip Bloch told WWD. “You think, here’s someone who has it all. You just never know.”

Though it turns out that Scott may have actually owned the apartment, she was indeed in a pretty poor financial position. Her seemingly glamorous company was on the verge of collapse, she was being forced to cancel appearances at London Fashion week and her tab to creditors totaled nearly $8 million. She was married to a very rich and successful man, but was a colossal professional failure in her own right. The dream she’d spent a lifetime working to create had, for all of the glitz and glamour on its surface, amounted to nothing but a financial catastrophe.

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Scott’s story has gotten the conversation about false displays of success and opulence going in the mainstream media, but hers was far from the first warning of its kind. People don’t realize how many of our society’s most envied are really just fronting. Take typical comments like the following:

“Oh my god, look at that dress she wore on the red carpet! so beautiful! she must be so rich to be able to afford that! I need to be her!”

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Reality: dress is a loaner for promotional purposes, designer gets it back after the awards. Same goes for the jewelry, by the way.

“Man, Justin Bieber got arrested! but look at that Lambo he was driving, that shit was fly. I’m gonna get it like that someday or die tryin’!”

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Reality: Justin Bieber rented the car, it doesn’t belong to him. This is a common practice in the entertainment industry – many of the famous stars who talk about the fast cars they have don’t actually own (or even lease) them; they rent them for short terms or get them loaned from labels. For all you know, your favorite entertainer can’t even really afford as much as you think: he or she may be pulling in millions, but you can bet that they’re often spending millions too. They live expensive lifestyles that necessitate that high income. And when that income declines, few are ready to deal with it.

“Yo, look at [insert name of well known pro athlete here]’s house! And those whips! Dude is ballin’ so hard!”

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Reality: dude has a mortgage on that place and many others, he doesn’t own them and probably never will. His monthly expenses are astronomical. He lives paycheck to paycheck despite having a seven figure contract. The sick cars you see in front of his house are probably leased and, in some cases, are loaners given for promotional purposes in return for meeting certain advertising obligations (which many athletes often fail to meet, often getting their cars taken back). The majority of NBA and NFL athletes you see will be broke or close to it soon after they finish playing.

When former NBA guard Kenny Anderson filed for bankruptcy in October 2005, he detailed how the estimated $60 million he earned in the league had dwindled to nothing. He bought eight cars and rang up monthly expenses of $41,000, including outlays for child support, his mother’s mortgage and his own five-bedroom house in Beverly Hills, Calif.—not to mention $10,000 in what he dubbed “hanging-out money.” He also regularly handed out $3,000 to $5,000 to friends and relatives. Former big league slugger Jack Clark filed for bankruptcy in July 1992 while still playing, listing debts of $6.7 million and ownership of 18 cars—17 of which still had outstanding payments.

I’m sure that the lifestyles Anderson and Clark led impressed a lot of people, but what was really there? Not much.

As previously stated, average folks are constantly faced with images of people who seem to live lives that vastly surpass the quality of their own. These images are put in front of people in order to stoke the human being’s natural tendency to envy its fellow man, and it works. The goal is to get people to strive to meet the standards displayed in these images, and to spend accordingly to close the gap. The end result is a culture in which the image of an elite few has a tremendous impact on the way everyone else seeks to live their lives, as so many are willing to go to almost absurd lengths to close the perceived gap between themselves and the ideal individuals they see on television or on social media. Unfortunately, most fail to realize that the ideal lives they seek to mimic are mere facades, often generated at great personal cost to their owners. Too many are content with the mere appearance of success (tenuous as it may be) and too few are willing to take the time to ensure that solid, legitimate foundations underlie the image.

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It is imperative that every red pill male recognize these truths and avoid the dangerous pitfalls associated with them. The road to true self-improvement is a long one, and there aren’t any shortcuts. You might never succeed entirely in this battle: as I noted before, man is wired to want to “keep up with the Jones’” to some degree and there are going to be times at which you will give in to the temptations presented by that trait. And, of course, there will be times at which playing the game serves a purpose for you: it’s not a bad idea to market yourself, provided you’re not mortgaging your future in order to do it.

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It is alright to indulge a little, so long as you do not lose sight of the bigger picture. By understanding the nature of our envy and seeking to build the self-discipline, awareness and control necessary to contain it, one can successfully ensure that they are never led to financial, emotional or social ruin by its ravages. You will see the images of extravagance put in front of you and, instead of running blindly to mimic it at all costs as you count stars that may not exist (as many athletes, entertainers and other often idolized individuals have done, sometimes with fatal results), you will understand the existence of facades and take the time to slowly construct your own excellence on top of a real foundation of true self-improvement, never compromising your financial or professional security in the process. It is this restraint that will ensure that your success will be one that can last for a lifetime and will be for more than just show.

Read Next: Why Money Can No Longer Save The Beta Male

122 thoughts on “Why You Should Contain Your Envy”

  1. America was always known to be a cultural vacuum. Not a cesspool, because a cesspool is filled with something, but a vacuum.
    America from its beginning was a culture founded on rebellion, criminality, greed, and murder.
    Unsurprisingly, the only thing that kept humanity running until say the 1940’s was religion (and with it the nuclear family model).
    After the 40’s pretty much the only thing that supported marriage / beta males were the fumes of religion and the relevant traditions that drew from Christianity.
    From the 60’s onwards religion was thrown in the garbage can with pretty much nothing left to replace it, and the government has grown increasingly hostile to beta males.
    From the 90’s until now, the only thing supporting beta male dreams or marriage have been fairy tales about what women really are, ala, loving “good, hardworking guys.”
    Now that that is gone, people are going to simply believe “ballin’” and “stuntin’ on whips” is the best way to get a wife / companion / tail. However, that’s proving itself to be unreliable too.
    In 2014 there is practically nothing left to contain our society from becoming a complete free-for-all Hunger Games type situation.

      1. Top 10 – 20% of physical specimens
        Powerful / rich men
        Guys who don’t have to put a concerted effort into getting laid

        1. Pro-athletes chose to serve the enemy class instead of using their physicality for the working class struggle.

        2. Exactly, I agree. None of the top athlete earners give much money back to the ghetto. Mutombo is the only example I can think of who gave back to his native country. I admire him immensely beyond words.
          Most of the guys who start out struggling and make it to the top suddenly don’t give a shit about the little people, they join the elite in their harems and excess…

        3. “working class struggle”
          Dude, put down the Marx & Engels and take a deep breath. That leftist commie speak type stuff pulls no weight any longer.

        4. False. Have fistfuls of money, pal, and all without running around going on about “working class struggle”, heh.
          Slainte

    1. In my opinion, mass religious worship is a threat to the government. I think that’s why the Cathedral(Govt, Corporate, Mass Media) are essentially responsible for the collapse of not only religious traditions e.g. marriage, stoicism, virginity etc. but the respect of religious institution. Being religious in this day and age is equivalent to being batshit crazy in the matrix.
      e.g. Being a Christian- “pedophile”
      Being a Muslim- “terrorist”
      Being a Jew-“greedy pig”
      Our Pop-culture is fundamentally atheistic or satanic. Religion is bashed by our entertainers, tainted by our so called religious political leaders and mocked by pseudo-intellectuals.
      What incentives are there for a man to be moral, selfless instead of selfish, generous instead of greedy, good instead of bad when he does not believe in a higher power? Especially in the modern world when its good to be bad and bad to be good.
      In the manosphere, we tend to stigmatize and ridicule beta males when in fact, they are the fuel for civilizations. A society with a majority of ‘alpha’ males is essentially destructive.
      Religion restrains rampant alpha male seeking behaviors from females which creates disillusioned beta males that wonder ” Why the fuck do I work so hard for so little?” Beta males are actually more important to a society than alpha males.
      Essentially the only thing a guy wants in life is steady supply of pussy without a fear for his own wellbeing and assets.
      Religion did just that through arranged marriages, marriage’s(pre-1960), Polygamy etc Hence all the beta males were happy, or at the very least content as their hard work wasn’t devalued.
      R.I.P Religion

      1. Not just a steady supply of sex, but children, a woman to love, someone to “love” him, and something to come home to after work that wasn’t Sasha Grey and microwave pasta.
        I know SO many beta males that aren’t married closing in on 30 and have a miniscule chance of doing so. They’re all holding out for some slut that cheated on them in the past, or in the hopes that NAWALT and their princess will come along at age 32. And these cats all have decent paying comfortable jobs, while I struggle with my own business but am married to a decent foreign woman and live every day as happily as I can.

    2. > From the 60’s onwards religion was thrown in the garbage can with pretty much nothing left to replace it
      What the fuck are you on. Church attendance is higher than ever. I’m willing to accept that the religions changed (Christianity was way more masculine and serious and not nearly as feminist back then) but religion wasn’t “thrown in the garbage bin”. Religion is actually one of the main sources of all our problems. From the feel-good female-worship cult known as modern Christianity to so-called “traditional conservatives” who peddle their bullshit little ideas and philosophies and call them “red pill”. And don’t even get me started on Islam.
      I agree with the gist of what you’re saying though.

  2. McGinnis, I can’t believe you come out with this milquetoast shit after trolling so hard and causing a firestorm with your anti-semitism post … step your game up son! I was hoping your next post would be “Why Black Dysfunction Is Not The Cause Of Detroit’s Decline” or some shit like that …

  3. Great article. This concept is well explained in MJ DeMarco’s book The Millionaire Fastlane. He calls it living on the sidewalk and its characterized by sacrificing tomorrow for a little pleasure today.

    1. what a crock of shit that book is. i found it full of platitudes and rehashed advice from the ‘older’ get-rich-smart books. but meh, your mileage may vary.

  4. This society behaves like a bunch of bitches, the men included. The culture and economy are almost completely based on conspicuous consumption, comfort, luxury, one-upmanship, and other female-driven desires.
    Utility, thrift, minimalism, self-control, restraint – male qualities – were tossed in the garbage decades ago as it was realized that wasn’t profitable. I now hear grown men whining about “well this should be softer, or this
    should be a different color, or this should be a different material”
    like some housewife. Everyone is a critic and an expert on their chosen gadget or material item.
    The result: A society that’s up to its neck in debt, in which 70% (or more) people live paycheck to paycheck, and spend their entire lives buying and re-buying the same useless garbage over and over again. Just take a trip down to the local mall or Big Box store and watch what people are buying. The women and the men are usually buying useless garbage, much of it stuff they already have or don’t need, but they need to “upgrade” because the TV told them to, and are trying to fill a hole in their souls created by advertising. The parking lots are full every weekend.
    They then haul this useless crap down to their fleeced (leased) or “only 60 more payments and this baby is mine” ugly, fatass, gas-guzzling SUV or cookie-cutter sedan, and drive to their McMansion that is taking most of what they make to pay for in order to keep up appearances.
    They then wonder why they aren’t happy when every dime they make goes to creditors to pay for this “lifestyle” and there’s no money left over for anything else. And heaven forbid one of them lose a job or get sick while they’re on the payment treadmill, running like rats. ALL of it driven by the very female need to out-compete the other women in her social bubble/circle. Their employers have absolute control over their lives because they can’t move and they can’t find a job that pays as much in town.
    It’s so bad that even if you have $1,000 in savings and no payments you are already better off financially than something like 80% of the American public. An interesting sidenote is the fact 78% of of luxury cars (BMWs, Mercedes, etc.) are fleeced (leased) by people who can’t really afford them. I know a dealer who said most of the people who come in to “buy” one of these monstrosities are up to their neck in payments already, and teetering on the financial precipice, ready to tumble over the edge. They are NOT wealthy. But they are good at pretending they are.
    I then go to other countries and see people who are barely getting by, but who are happier, less judgmental, not jaded, and who have empathy, living much simpler and happier lives without the burden of all this worthless garbage.
    Men should have stood up to the rising tide of this faux materialistic, consumeristic lifestyle, but alas, the battle has been lost. We are now just playing out the string.

    1. Capitalism can’t exist without consumption, actually it requires an ever growing need of consumption. We need to come up with the next form of economic model, and fast. Communism and Capitalism are the 20th centuries’ form of economics.

      1. Technological anarchy will be our future with open source projects, file-sharing, 3D printing, and personal internet based businesses leading the way. I know people who are starting to buy their own solar panels for their homes.

      2. There are only two types of economies – controlled (every “ism” out there) and the free market (as defined by free exchange of goods and services without government interference at any level). If you reject the free exchange of goods and services, then you’re just going to “invent” another “ism” that will be little more than an other exercise in controlling human beings.
        No thanks.

        1. There is no such thing as a “free market” in practice. All government have rules that limit “free market” in order to make it free in practice.

        2. I’m not talking about anarchy, I’m talking about government staying out of the regulation and onerous taxing policies business altogether. They provide the legal framework which is necessary without question and I was not talking about that ideally minimal involvement.

        3. You are spot on right. The so-called free market is just another facade. The reality is that it is controlled by powerful government forces and industries with the ability to influence it. We are nothing but pawns in the whole scheme of things in this “wonderful” free market environment.

        4. Wrong again Sir.Supremely wrong.It exists most definitely.Ever bartered one item (a guitar perhaps) for another another(vintage playboy mags,say)?Was the government part of this transaction?No, you say.Then voila that is your Free Market.Happens all the time on Craigslist,the black market and garage sales.Hell, the ultra conservative estimate is that the US underground economy is around 2 Trillion and that is what is keeping things going.Heck even smuggling would be considered free market since lots of risk is carried out to avoid interference from a thieving third part:aka Government.
          http://listdose.com/top-10-most-smuggled-things-in-the-world/
          Your mistake,which is common among the economic dunces,is to assume that it is an all or nothing proposition.That in an entire economy unless each and every transaction is free from Government interference only then do free markets exist.Even the most totalitarian regime has free markets,because Governments are inept and the bigger they are the more inept they become.

        5. I don’t think you understand. A Free-market economic system is all but absent in the economies of the world (Singapore? Hong Kong?). What we are talking about here is not something present but something ideal.

      3. Er,no. Capitalism is not predicated on ever increasing consumption.
        Consumption cannot be satisfied without Production.Obvious,isn’t it?It does not stop being Capitalism if people desire less,because they simply produce less to compensate.Alternatively,if the masses want to consume more, then they have to produce more.Capitalism is not simply mass production, but mass production to satisfy the needs of the masses.And these ‘needs’ have more to do with people’s behaviors and values rather than the economic system which merely facilitates these desires and values.Capitalism works just as well for the materialistic whores of the Kim Kardashian kind as it does for the Buddhist monasteries.

        1. I think there is some confusion here. Free Market does not equal capitalism.
          Capitalists will not hesitate to use the government to punish their competitors, and are blindly pursuing profit at the expense of long term gains.

        2. It depends on how you define these terms.A free market is that which is free of coercion from an unrelated party to transactions between two consenting parties.This coercing party is almost always the Government. Capitalism is an economic system in which the Free market is a default mode of occurrence.Yes, so called Capitalists can use the force of government to gain unfair advantage,and this is similar to bribing referees at a sport to help one team win over the other.

    2. You are obviously not much of a reader of history. In the landed classes, the opulence of men would often ruin respectable families. In the newly minted bourgeois, men would work themselves to death trying to keep up with the gentry. For the poor, men would spend money they didn’t have in the public houses – ignoring that they had starving children at home. And, of course the women were often as spendthrift. This acknowledgement that greed and material one-upmanship is an inherent trait of men AND women is critical in fighting it. Simply rationalizing this failing by fobbing it off as “cuz of the wimminfolk” is to not take responsibility. We are more often than not greedy fuckers. Own it. By owning it you can then fight against it. You say that the qualities of thrift, minimalism, self-control and restraint are the qualities of men. I do not think they naturally are, but that they should and could be.

      1. Ah, the lowly ad hominem attack. Attack me instead of the message.
        And you obviously have never worked in marketing, where it’s well known that women drive 80% of purchasing decisions in our society. Just turn on the TV and see what products are being marketed and to who they’re being marketed to. You’ll see almost constant sales pitches to women.
        In those historical cases, who was driving the opulence of men? Was it the men themselves? Or their wives, since most men in those ages and throughout history were married.

        1. That wasn’t an attack. If you think it was you clearly don’t engage in these forums much. I was stating an opinion based on the content of your comment. However, if you want to blame five of the 7 deadly sins on 20th century marketing/women’s rise as consumers/feminism in america – be my guest. I am merely pointing out that based upon my my own humble readings, envy, greed and materialism goes a little deeper and way back than today’s special cluster-fuck of commercialism and social issues. Also, your fabled American “male virtues” aside, men are fully and equally capable of these vices on their own without help from women (I think the over the top extravagance and avarice of the Popes and the Holy Roman Church is a fine example). As this article is primarily about self-improvement, and Red Pill is in part about understanding our own natures, then laying the blame outside,continually outside of the self is less than helpful. At the end of the day I still believe we are envious, greedy, competitive fuckers by nature. In some ways its good and helps progress, in other ways its destructive. By acknowledging that we can move to control our natures. All the marketing in the world would not work if this were not true.

        2. I agree with a lot of what you are saying here. I guess our point of contention is this: I see women as resource exploiters and men as resource producers, generally speaking. Unfortunately, women are now free to exploit to the fullest while men can only produce so much at a time.

        3. Yea, women do drive excessive spending, but yes, it does take two to tango.
          There is an old American expression: “Cuffs to cuffs in three generations.”
          Making sleeve cuffs in your apartment for tailors was a classic start from the bottom job … anyone could do it, and often did.
          The person who created a fortune often started from the bottom in America. His son was able to maintain the family fortune because he was trained by him. His grandsons generally pissed it all away.
          The spendthrift trust was invented to help prevent this … a lot of full-time socialist retards are trust babies these days …

        4. Relampago2013, you should really place blame where blame should be rightfully placed – on the global elite the top 1% or top 0.1% who is driving this. Women are just tools the elite uses to bring about certain trends in society which is of benefit to the elite 0.1%. Yeah, women should have the sense to see it for what it really is, and walk away from it. Similarly, men should stop trying to appease their women when they can see it as a path to ruination.

      2. I’ll also add, professor, that these “male” qualities I mention were well-established in America through the first part of the 20th century. Just look at how goods were marketed up through the 1920s. They were sold on durability, utility, and thrift. That is, until marketing figured out it could bypass the male and market goods directly to the female, who to this day drive 4 out of 5 purchasing decisions. Marketing then became more about how this product makes you feeeeeeel and what your neighbors will think when you buy it.
        Feminism was a side effect of this push. It started with something as simple as a cigarette smoking campaign in the 1920s as a way for young suffragettes to light up “Torches of Freedom.” Once the dam broke, society in America changed forever. Back in those days, women would influence decisions through manipulating their provider husbands. But that wasn’t enough. FInally, it was determined if you could completely take the male out of the equation and double the workforce at the same time by sending women out of the home and into jobs, you could sell even more products.
        Of course, this means that women were no longer going to be good housewives, and instead of sexual dimorphism and strong, nuclear families you’d have degeneracy and sexual androgyny develop. I’ll add that Anglo society, more than most others, has always harbored a deep-seeded contempt females have against males in the society as another root cause.
        But it’s too lengthy to discuss here and I really do have more important things to do right now than bicker on a message board. The bottom line is, it doesn’t take much imagination to see how what I’ve mentioned led to the clusterfuck we have today.

        1. That was pretty simple, stauy-at-home wives.
          In 1900, only the really wealthiest could afford to be the providers with stay-at-home wives.
          With the post-war prosperity? A lot of wimmenfolk with plenty of time to go shopping instead of working.

    3. Hear, hear! Every vice comes from cunts. The virtues are all male. Men need to stand up to cunts and force them back down into their filth.

      1. I think you are looking for the White Knights R Us site, you should go there and discuss your views rather than continuing to troll this one.

        1. I am agreeing with you. Do you normally consider people who agree with you “trolls”, or don’t you read?

    4. The idea that you have to flaunt your wealth is, itself, one of the most misguided and stupid ideas you could possibly have. Advertising that you are wealthy is just a way of attracting people who want to take your wealth from you. If you have a million dollars, there are a million people out there looking to rip you off. It’s like a sheep strutting up to a wolf pack out showing off his fine chops. You may think of yourself as the wolf, but you’re probably the sheep. No matter how smart and charming and experienced you are, there are people out there who are smarter, more charming, and more experienced, and who are psychopaths to boot. Just look at the following categories of people: lottery winners, movie stars, pro athletes. All people who lived well once the money flowed and who sank to shit once the gravy train ended. Because they surrounded themselves with “agents” and “lawyers” and “business partners” who skimmed them dry. Observe how Warren Buffet and his ilk live. They know how to make money and KEEP it.
      If all you want to do is impress some chicks, forget it. Do what the bros at wall street do and consult with women who make a living out of giving comfort to men. They’re professionals and when they rip you off, at least they tell you the precise amount they are ripping you off beforehand.

  5. “We buy things we don’t need with money we don’t have to impress people we don’t like.”
    -Fight Club

  6. Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure nineteen pounds nineteen and six, result happiness. Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure twenty pounds nought and six, result misery.

  7. I live in Miami Gardens in an apartment complex with nothing but late model sports cars and luxury vehicles in the lot. Almost all are leased, and it is not uncommon to see repositions. Sad state of affairs. The worst thing here is the clubs, 1500 dollar bottles in the VIP on credit cards, 500 dollar pool parties at The Standard on credit, and 1000 dollar sunglasses for south beach and you make 45,000 dollars a year? Dipshits.

  8. This article mainly refers to our psychological conditioning brought on by the consumerist culture, but the aspect of envy can apply everywhere else in life: relationships, sex, work, skills, your looks and background, etc. It’s good to learn from the best and get a little envious to motivate yourself to change what you can, but beyond that you’re just burning yourself out and poking holes in your happiness.
    Simply put; never compare yourself with others. If you want to measure yourself and your life’s progress, compare yourself from how you were 1 year ago or 5 years ago.

  9. This is not a binary situation. It is not supposed to be “either you live beyond your means for material possessions, or you’re a man whose life more resembles that of a monk in a hermitage in the year 1254”. There is a third way.
    Work smart, get ahead financially, don’t get into debt, and live a good life. It’s not difficult and all it takes is resolving to not borrow money. Save for things you want and pay cash. Have a zero balance every month on your one credit card (always have only one, just for emergencies and to keep your credit score high). Pay off your car loan then drive that thing into the ground until it’s nothing but rust and duct tape, meanwhile keep putting a “car payment” in the savings account every month. When the car dies, have it hauled off then buy your next new car for cash and then continue to make “car payments” to your bank account. If you must get a mortgage then get one, but pay extra every month towards principal and get that note paid and burned as soon as possible.
    The world of the treadmill vanishes like tears in the rain, men, it really does AND you get to enjoy material possessions (within reason of course). Just live within your means and avoid excesses.

  10. Still driving my 2001 Toyota Tacoma, with 170,000 miles. I will drive it till it falls apart. Love it and hate the day when I have to buy a new vehicle.

    1. Good man. We do the same thing. Haven’t had a car loan since the early 90’s.

    2. My man. I have an ’02 Taco with a 5spd manual transmission. I also intend to drive her until she dies.

      1. A used car dealer told me 2001-2004 Toyota Tacomas were the best they every built.

  11. Do the same with women. Whenever you see a beautiful woman, don’t think “damn, I have to get me a woman like that”.
    Instead, think “yeah, she’s beautiful, but somewhere out there is a guy who’s sick of her shit too”.
    Having the proper perspective, on both stuff and women, is crucial.

  12. The “trick” to living the good life without extravagance is to know yourself. What is the good life for YOU? Those athletes — they’ve spent a lot of time on the practice court, in training, and on the road. They finally get a big check, and . . . they have no idea what to do. Their idea of “the good life” is basically college beer parties writ large, with some elements drawn from rap videos and snippets of TV and movies: expensive cars, bling, Cristal, etc.
    They don’t know what they want because they don’t know who they are, so they just do what they see on television.
    I will say that this is a problem I see in the Manosphere, particularly the PUA wing: men who want to “go their own way” and “live life on their own terms” describe . . . doing stuff they saw on television. Expensive cars, bling, Cristal, etc.
    If that really makes you happy, fine. But frankly I doubt it. Socrates recognized that true happiness comes from doing what you’re good at. Those athletes are probably happier when they’re on the court than partying desperately. The rappers they’re imitating are probably happier in the studio. The actors mentioned in the article are happiest on the stage.
    Learn who you are. Learn what you do best. Do that.

    1. > They don’t know what they want because they don’t know who they are, so they just do what they see on television.
      Bingo. That sums up a lot of people, not just pro athletes. Most people have no fucking clue what to do with money.
      It’s all just a game of monkey see monkey do. Another schmoe gets a million dollar paycheck and takes the exact same steps that made the schmoe before him go bankrupt, inspiring a new generation of even bigger schmoes. The cycle continues.

  13. Damn this is one impressive piece, Althone.
    Speaking of NFL Athletes, most suffer from severely damaging injuries and most get numerous surgeries, which drive their healthcare to the point that all of their salary becomes trite and meaningless. Who knows, that homeless beggar on the street could have been a NFL player faded into obscurity.

  14. Nice piece, AG. Taking responsibility for your money and properly managing it are a big step in attaining one’s personal freedom.

  15. We are not animals. We are human beings. We have to evolve beyond the “survival of the fittest” capitalist paradigm if we as a human species are ever to have a hope at long term survival. Human beings are entitled to basic human rights- food, water, housing, clothing, and so on. You can look at the mind numbing poverty in many different places worldwide and wonder what can be done to end poverty.
    What is Guaranteed Basic Income?
    It is a system of social welfare that guarantees that all human beings have a basic income that covers their basic needs- food, water, clothing, housing, utilities, and so on.
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guaranteed_minimum_income
    Why you should support a Guaranteed Basic Income
    1. It is the humane thing to do.
    -In the 21st century, no human being should be homeless or have a want of food and basic necessities.
    2. It will help stop poverty.
    -If everyone’s basic needs were taken care of, crime would almost vanish because criminals who commit crime due to poverty would no longer be in want due to food or shelter.
    3. It will be good for the economy
    -If people have money, they have money to spend, thus promoting economic growth and sustainability.
    As technology continues to advance and replace many jobs that used to be done by humans, it is a fact that there will never be enough jobs for all human beings. A Guaranteed Basic Income will insure that everyone is about to live in dignity and that their minimum living conditions will be taken care of.
    Famous people who have advocated for Guaranteed Basic Income
    -Thomas Payne, one of the founding fathers of America
    -Napolean Bonaparte, one of the former great political leaders of France
    -Robert Theobald, author of the book “Free Men and Free Markets”
    -Martin Luther King Jr., American civil rights leader
    A few recent articles about Guaranteed Basic Income:
    http://www.economist.com/blogs/democracyinamerica/2013/11/government-guaranteed-basic-income
    http://www.bostonglobe.com/ideas/2014/02/09/should-government-pay-you-alive/aaLVJsUAc5pKh0iYTFrXpI/story.html
    http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/12/10/rethinking-the-idea-of-a-basic-income-for-all/?_php=true&_type=blogs&_r=0
    http://www.salon.com/2014/03/19/5_reasons_to_consider_a_no_strings_attached_basic_income_for_all_americans_partner/
    http://americablog.com/2014/03/five-reasons-consider-basic-guaranteed-income-americans.html
    “No army can stop an idea whose time has come.”
    -Victor Hugo
    Humanity must continue on it’s forward evolutionary march and the time for the idea of a Guaranteed Basic Income has come.

    1. Go preach your effeminate leftist crap somewhere where people give a shit about it.

      1. I was just about to post the same thing.
        Humans change the world. Beasts adapt to it. He wants us to change, rid ourselves of the basic meaning of being human and turn ourselves into well-adapted animals.
        rewarding mediocrity.

    2. The first thing to do is to get the rest of the world to stop this fucking nonsense of cunts being human beings. These rights belong only to men, not to cunts.

    3. You socialist twats know nothing. The best way to end poverty is to free the markets, decrease regulation, end taxes and eliminate the state (or at least shrink it).
      No one is entitled to anything other than their lives. And, no, that does not mean that they should have everything handed to them. People need to make the effort to provide for themselves and their families, or find someone who’s made the decision to help them through that person’s free will, like a friend, family member or charity.
      Get the fuck out of here with your idiotic, emotional bullshit.

    4. And you are willing to take money from me at gunpoint to pay for this tripe?
      Apparently the poster’s admonition about envy when right over your pointy little head.
      I suppose wanting the government to do it for you is fairly smart … if you tried to “tax” me personally for your socialist scheme, I would have to kill you.

    5. Get this goddamned commie NWO shit out of here. This is nothing more than UN/george soros talking points.
      Isn’t it funny how the richest people in the world that actually hire people to wash their assholes for them after taking a dump are the ones that make a big deal about micro lending, the poor, minimum wage, or insert the “white guilt cause of the day”
      Human beings are not “entitled” to a fucking thing. Not a bowl of rice or a cup of water. Nothing.

  16. This was on the Gangstalicious episode of the Boondocks; Riley finds out his favorite rapper doesn’t actually have fly cars, cribs, or bitches…

  17. The greatest Irony is that these are the people today whom we trust to give advice on politics, social issues, what you should buy, marriage, financial advice, and all other forms of leadership.
    Some brain-damaged basketball player mumbles something about the environment and we force the entire country to add thousands of dollars to every car by including a catalytic converter that does exactly nothing.
    Some bimbo that thinks polypeptides is a type of toothpaste gives advice on science policy. Some woman that has adopted 12 foreign kids and ‘given them back’ cause she couldn’t handle it is dictating family and medical law, and some anorexic twit is taken seriously telling people not to eat meat while she dies of malnutrition and crack addiction.

    1. Comment of the day. It is surprising how all these betas and females give celebrities so much cred lol.

  18. AKA…..Live within your own fucking means !
    Im 27 and I don’t have a credit card, the only debt I have are student loans (buyer’s remorse) and a car payment (which I’m probably going to trade in for something cheaper)
    The only clothes I buy are from a skateshop I work on the weekends at 40% off (i work a corpo job m-f).
    I don’t have a need to pop bottles or show off. Fuck all that, I’m getting rid of my debt asap and always finding ways to make new money.

  19. Think of all the sales taxes these fools paid on their cars, bling jewelry, etc.
    I find it easy to avoid wasting money on crap. My approach is simply that I want to reduce the amount of money I pay to the feminist state to the bare minimum while still not breaking the law.
    When I do spend, I often do so outside the US. And outside of Europe. These blood sucking feminist statists already take enough of my income through federal taxes that I cannot fight back against. So, why pay sales taxes, licensing fees, and gas taxes on, for example, an expensive car? Makes no sense.

  20. I used to valet at one of the fanciest restaurants in my city. I was shift leader one night and we had to use this outdoor ramp because our normal one was under construction. Towards the end of the night this chick came up to get her Mercedes back. After waiting about 10 minutes one of my runners came back and told me it wasn’t there. I was like “what the fuck do you mean it wasn’t there!?” I had him go check again and sent someone to our other ramp just in case. Still couldn’t find it. I started freaking out. We had lost a fucking Mercedes! I filed a police report and everything only to find out the car had been repossessed because the chicks daddy wasn’t paying his bills. She knew what had happened, but was too embarrassed to tell me. I almost had a heart attack because she didn’t want to tarnish her image.

    1. Wow, assuming this story is true, we shouldn’t feel so bad about our stations on life, yeah?

    1. Good for you. I once owned a used Bimmer … it was a nice car, and I ran the poor thing to death … engine gave up at 300k finally, and I sold the carcass to an enthusiast.

  21. “so many are willing to go to almost absurd lengths to close the
    perceived gap between themselves and the ideal individuals they see on
    television or on social media.”
    That simple statement explains so much… even beyond financial.

  22. So true, envy is the forerunner to communism. On the other hand, vapid materialism, consumerism and nihilism breaks down the spiritual and moral fabric of a nation. Combine the two and you have America 2014. Humans engage in some of the most complex mating rituals out of all the species. Most expensive cars, jewelry and restaurants are a means of impressing so-called “high quality women.” The women engage in this activity for not only security, it’s beyond security, but to set themselves apart from other women. Let’s face it, I agree with the sentiments, but America’s crass materialist proclivities should be reined in somewhat. There has been a serious moral breakdown with every new trinket and gadget introduced to the public.

    1. hey lance, not trying to be a dick here, but has anyone ever told ya that you kinda look like Mr T? all that’s missing are the gold chains. not a diss though, keep up the good work.

  23. Thanks for the reminder Athlone. Great article.
    It’s easy to get envious, but true that so much of someone’s “net worth” is over rated, and this includes Forbes every time they try to evaluate a celebs net worth.
    And in the final analysis, every man has the exact same net worth once he passes, which is a rockem-sockem $ 0.00 And no one gets outta here alive, and you can’t take it with you.

  24. The best decision a modern man can take is a minimalist lifestyle. Minimalism is the best way to avoid the monster of debt. Women have it much easier than men in today’s world. Her boyfriend pays for her, her boss pays for her, her father pays for her, her sexual clients/sponsors pay for her, and the state also pays for her. If she’s beautiful, then men will line up to do the spending for her.
    For a man, it’s different. The consumerism of modern society has made it even more difficult for men to avoid the bait of spending. You got a chick on your hands, things get even more complicated. This article makes perfect sense and is a must read for every man.

    1. Stoicism promotes this as well, for a number of reasons.
      I’ve been taking steps to get rid of MUCH of my possessions and feel much better having that off of my back. It’s comforting to start to see the different feeling of relief and greater understanding that comes from letting go of what one doesn’t really need.
      Of course, minimalism requires a certain mentality and requires crossing that line where we are willing to give up some things and make sacrifices. Not easy to do, by any means.

  25. Quality writing thanks.
    Never owned a new car but once in my lifetime(youth and ignorance to blame) Investing in travel, learning languages, your own business, income producing assets, making your mind and body better. Most of all having your honesty in tact, real gold in an ever increasing corrupt world.

  26. As Warren Buffet says… forget about buying a fancy car, save the money until you can afford a private plane, because they really makes a difference.

    1. Or another warren buffet gem “I pay more taxes than my secretary”. What does the billionaire suggest we do to fix this travesty of justice?
      He said “the wealthy, those who make over 100K/year” should pay more taxes.
      Fuck warren buffet.

      1. Agreed. Warren Buffet has structured his finances so he does not pay any taxes. And he practially sucks Obama’s cock.

    2. Another Warren Buffet saying – Paying millions in fines for laundering money through Wachovia(he owns) is peanuts when you have friends in high places….

  27. Buying anything on credit is mindless – especially any consumer credit items!
    Mortgages are only a good deal if you can rent it out at a price that is 100% above what you are paying on the mortgage and has potential for good rental income (people moving in etc.) for the next years.
    Unless you are doing a STEM study at a top 20 universtiy or study law or business at an Ivy League you should never EVER have a student loan! Going freelance, learning a trade or studying for free online beats the majority of studies.
    Consumerism is idiotic. There are extremely rich people who can easily afford 100 times the toys that the entertainment stars are using, but they are not shown in the media for many reasons.
    Best book for wealth accumulation over lifetime – works even if you have an average job: The Richest Man in Babylon (Book is 100 years old, but still the best).
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Richest_Man_in_Babylon_(book)

  28. There is a difference between envy and aspiring. We like to get off at these celebrity failures but there are also many real success stories. Look at nba player Jamal Mashburn who owns 35 outback steakhouses, 37 papa johns, and some car dealerships. What was the point of this article? To massage one’s own ego by looking at the misfortunes of others? This article reads more like shaudenfreude than controlling one’s envy

    1. Jamal Mashburn is an idol of mine as well. This article is not about schadenfreude; ambition is great and it is not a bad thing to aspire to have more, so long as you are not mortgaging your future in order to do so.
      Always seek self-improvement, but don’t totally compromise your economic future in order to do so. That’s the point of the article.

      1. Jamal Mashburn said after he paid his taxes the first thing he did was called the 70/30. 70 percent of his money he put into trusts, low yield low risk investment and real estate. 30 percent of his money he lived on, played the stock market, put in high yield high risk ventures, and had his fun. When you make good financial decisions like that success is sure to follow.

    2. Props to Mashburn for not blowing all his NBA earnings like so many players do but I’m not buying that he’s some kind of financial genius … I don’t think he’s a fraud like Lenny Dykstra but more likely his investments are actually managed by his Jew financial advisor/accountant … you see a similar thing in the business world — a woman (e.g., Sheryl Sandberg as a glorified HR administrator at Facebook) or a black guy (e.g., Magic Johnson “buying” the Dodgers) is played up as the central figure but the truth is the real masterminds just like to remain in the background (in the case of Facebook, Zuckerberg hates dealing with the media and it makes for great press that a woman is seen “running” Facebook and of course Guggenheim Partners is the real owner of the Dodgers but everyone loves Magic and not some private equity barons from out of town) …

  29. Courtney Love did an article on how the music industry scams these recording artists:
    http://www.salon.com/2000/06/14/love_7/
    One amazing and frightening bit is the mechanism by which “work for hire” got slipped into the legislation. Go read the article.
    CL is not the first person to have written on the topic, of course. KLF’s “The Manual” covers similar themes. The money is not in art, it’s in managing the money.
    The point is: what’s true of the music industry is true everywhere else in our sick, sick society. The genuinely rich don’t get rich by doing anything useful – they get rich by manipulating the laws and controlling the money (which amounts to the same thing).

  30. so true… I have always lived in a blue chip suburb, and I see this everyday. I have met so many people who are posers, but ask them for 15,000 in cash in a couple of hours and they change the subject. yet, I know very modest people with seven figure bank accounts, that you wouldn’t second glance and write off as average. as I have written in a previous post, I haven’t had a job since I was 36, this represents true freedom to me. I know if I purchased all the trappings and crap to show off, I would still be in a job. id have to be to keep up. living modesty is not promoted, being a wanker to impress people you don’t like or even care about, is. father had a great saying, you can tell a persons real character by the way they treat someone that can do nothing for them..

    1. Damn… I love that saying your Father used to tell you. Its so fucking true

  31. The death of L’Wren Scott brings to light fashion’s dirtiest secret: there is no money to be made as a fashion designer.
    Every year thousands of aspiring fashionistas enroll in FIT, Parsons, and smaller technical colleges that offer training in fashion design. Nearly everyone has the same goal of being a top tier designer. It’s a growing trend, especially now that countless celebrities, including male rappers like Kanye and Pharrell are inspiring men to start designing. To get to the top, your competition is so vast it’s like you are a high school athlete with aspirations to make it to the NBA or NFL.
    The difference is that athletes that do make it to their rookie year are guaranteed generational changing money. You can make in one or two years what 80 percent of what people will earn in their lifetime. Fashion designers like Scott who achieve fame won’t make as much as athletes, and in many cases they end up in the red. The problem is that high fashion requires you spend money to maintain your status. You spend cash to keep up appearances and the clothes you make cost a lot of money in materials, time working and high marketing costs.
    Other successful designers appear to have fallen in the same trap. At the time of Alexander McQueen’s suicide in 2010, his company was £32 million in debt. Coincidence?
    The only way to make money is through high volume sales with low profits (AKA selling mass marketed perfume and collections for Target). Low volume high profit clothes won’t make you rich for all the work you put in.
    Despite the harsh realities women face once they get to the real fashion world most people are blind to the real workings of fashion. Maybe because it sells people the biggest blue pills out of anyone. It’s really like the Devil Wears Prada, minus the money.

  32. The self improvement emphasis of this website is important for several reasons, one of them is that the more someone improves as a person, the better they can utilize material resources to make more of an impact. The people who live with the most style and attitude are not the richest.

  33. Well Gentlemen, We just paid off the house 2 weeks ago and I am impatiently waiting for USBank to send me my title papers.
    What a relief!!

  34. New Red Pill married man. Any thoughts anyone on how this impacts a long-term marriage when your wife hears your envy? Or thinks you are envious of other men b/c she hangs around them/spends time with them even though she may have no intention of sleeping with them?
    http://p36husband.blogspot.com

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