As my income grew from my days working part time jobs in college to now working a full time job in a relatively senior role, the one thing I realized was that my expenses also grew. The sad part of course is not having a pile of savings to boast of for all the years of earnings.
Well maybe am not the best example, because most of my savings didn't deplete due to frivolous spending. Medical expenses, housing, family responsibilities and taxes can be devastating on their own for those of us who don't have certain privileges.
Yet for privileged and normal people alike, we are so often caught up in the various products and services on offer today. We all know about the attention economy, and how companies now pour a lot more research and development into engineering their products and services to grab our attention, yet we don't seem to thread with the caution it deserves.
I think we need to teach ourselves and others to guard our attention and critically analyse products and services from these various companies regardless of whatever their product on offer is. Whether it's our time or wallet that is hurt, what matters oftentimes is the level of 'damage' it costs. Offers that provide no post usage value for us and sometimes fill us with nothing but emptiness and regret.