An introduction

This blog is meant to be my thoughts on personal finance, sport, random ruminations and visceral reactions. The name refers to the general concept of spreading consumption evenly across life, but there is a slightly more specific motivation. A few years ago, I was enjoying a bitter--even though it wasn't nearly as bitter as a good American beer--in Waxy's Little Sister debating some ridiculous thing or another. The beer was being bought on credit, and the evening's entertainment (the long running play "The Women in Black") was on credit. My lodgings were being paid for with credit, and even the rather expensive purpose of my trip (a short course) was also on credit. What's more, the form of credit is a familiar one--visa rather than student loans, and I had NO intention of paying it back in the near term (beyond maintenance payments). At said time I was a student, and I was accruing the credit card debt, which we frequently hear about as being the scourge of America's newly educated.

Anyway, a few years later I've graduated and am gainfully employed. I still haven't paid off that debt, but it doesn't exactly hang over my head. To lay it out again, that particular evening I ran up debt to pay for beer. America's newpaper columnists will tell me that I was being irresponsible (maybe) and careless with money (nah), but I'm quite convinced it was the right thing to do. I borrowed against my future to pay for the present. The net result was a good play, and some persistent friendships which I value more than, say, 100 quid at 3% interest. So this raises questions. Was I too sure of future earnings? Should current earnings be used for consumption or savings? If they are spent on savings, which kind: debt reduction, short term savings, IRA, etc? Those are some of the things I want to explore.

Well, that is that lot.