But maybe it is looking at the situation and deciding if it’s hopeless.

People without money or are ‘bad’ with money feel defeated and hopeless.

I’ve been there in both situations.

Having money and learning more about how it’s a tool rather than a problem to get, makes you more optimistic that you can earn more because you’ve saved enough for a cushion to make the right decisions.

Builds confidence when you see the results of of saving and being frugal.

But if you aren’t confident with yourself, your skills… you don’t think you can make more, even if you can… it becomes the problem.

BF and I know tons of people like that.

And then those people just spend and feel helpless because they can’t see the forest for the trees.

And Savvy, I agree people who make a lot can live beyond their means easily! It’s easy to get sucked into a lifestyle.

Dog interesting about not going out to dinner with kids. But if they have kids, are they spending money that could be saved for other purposes? Or are they well off enough to afford everything?

Fengshui, most of these people have finished a md or phd and years of training. They are not making even as much as your friends, the starting salary is $30k. Yep that’s right $30k in a HCOLA. They definitely should go out and get jobs with commensurate pay. It’s ridiculous to think that they can long term live on that salary. We’re talking people who could be making easily 2-3x that amount but choosing not to.

Meg agreed. One thing I’ve found is that even without more education you can make more money. You can make yourself more valuable at work and get raises. There is also constantly networking to find a better paying job. It’s not what you know, it’s who you know.

Participating in toastmasters improves public speaking skills and presentation skills. It’s free and a great way to network. So is going to business meetings, or things like Women in Science. I’ve done both and so does my DH. Networking is a great way to find a position that might pay more or pay for you to get more educated.

I know plenty of friends who live paycheck to paycheck and would love to make more money but simply can’t afford the schooling it would take go to get a better job. Sometimes the cost of training is only a few thousand dollars, but quitting work to take the classes is a greater expense and risk.

But of course, a lot of people are frugal because they know that doing what they want to do means living on less. Perhaps those are the richest people of all.

This isn’t always true. I have many friends that have masters degrees, but work for non-profits, such as being a nurse practitioner at a free clinic, and she could easily be making twice what she does, but she loves her job, and feels like she is “making the world a better place”…. So, not everyone is greedy and only sees the $ at the end…. I’m in the middle of that road. I want to be compensated fairly for my education, but I still want to love my job. I could probably get a job in middle or upper level managament at an insurance company and make 6 figures, but I don’t want to sell my soul to the devil.

As far as a connection of high salary and being frugal. I can say that I am becoming more frugal as I am begining to earn more. I think that it is because I was disillusioned when I was younger, where I thought that I could use my cc’s in college because I’ll be “making good money when I graduate” and I’ll pay those right off. Well, it is easier said than done when you compound that by buying a new car and living in an overpriced apartment. So, I am learning, later than most (I’m 32), that debt sucks and I don’t want to have any, or at least very little….

That is, I have had some pretty high bar and dinner tabs. Can’t do that so much with kids, so lunch it is, for them.