Be Prudently Frugal

BE SELECTIVELY EXTRAVAGANT, BUT PRUDENTLY FRUGAL

Reviewed by Jamiu Akangbe and CodeSwitcher

The author asserts that, to accumulate wealth, you have to learn how to save and how to spend wisely.

He said being frugal with money does not mean being a miser. It’s fair to be define ‘miserly’ as going far out of one way to save very little money. He gave an example thus, if you are at a fast food restaurant and order a small drink, knowing that refills are free, that’s frugal. Its easy to save money, and its takes very little effort to get refill. But on the other hand, batting only weekly to save water, soap and laundry expenses for towel are miserly.

A scenario of Jeffery Graber who did not contribute to a pool to buy the boss a Christmas gift, his immediate supervisor called him a cheap Jew. This action led to litigation where Graber was awarded $10,000 from 3 supervisor and $2.2 million from his employer due to its neglect of monitoring its supervisor that created hostile environment.

One key lesson here: Graber said “I was raised a Jew, and I’m proud of my heritage”.

A further research shows that Jews give twice the national average in charity. In education, Jewish students attend expensive elite institution in greater numbers; Jewish people spend their money and move into more expensive neighborhoods. Also the “Verbal Confidence” manifest itself when they feel there is room for negotiation or they are not treated fairly at the cash registry.

JEWISH SPENDING HABITS

A 1993 survey of subscribers of the Exponent, the Philadelphia weekly Jewish newspaper, gave a clear picture of Jewish wealth and also of Jewish spending. Such surveys are decidedly unscientific, but the results show that Jews are conservative, yet they spend for things that they value.

ACADEMIC RESEARCH: AMERICAN JEWISH ETHNICITY AND ITS RELATIONSHIP TO
CONSUMER BEHAVIOR

A controlled scientific study by Elizabeth Hirschman, in 1981 to test several hypotheses about American Jewish consumer behavior.

“When one is born a Jew, he or she is born into a culture and a religion simultaneously. One set of values is developed both by informal social interaction and religious instruction; therefore, the Jewish individual experiences a much more similar upbringing than many other groups.

Her research confirmed four exploratory propositions as outlined below:

Proposition 1: Jewish ethnicity is positively related to childhood information exposure.
Specifically, Jewish children receive more exposure to reading material, special training and instruction, and group participation.

Proposition 2: Jewish ethnicity is positively related to seeking information as adults. Specifically, Jewish consumers expose themselves to a greater quantity of information sources. Adult subjects were asked about their recent media exposure, including radio, television, magazines and newspapers.

Proposition 3: Jewish ethnicity is positively related to the willingness to innovate and be early adopters of new product. Jewish consumers are more willing to adopt new products independent of the judgment of others. To measure this, subjects were asked to indicate their willingness to adopt new products in a variety of consumption domains, independent of the judgment of other people who had purchased the products. Fifteen consumption domains were explored, ranging from specific personal items (a new hairstyle) to general ideologies (religious and political ideas).

Proposition 4: Jewish ethnicity is positively related to the transfer of product information to others. Jewish consumers talk more about what they buy and pass their experiences to others. Using the same consumption domains used to investigate the third proposition, researchers asked the groups about their frequency of providing information to others in particular product domains.

KEY LEARNING FROM THIS CHAPTER

Be proud of your lineage and heritage. If you don’t know about yours, you can start it.

Plan that your wards attend elite institutions, if you can; and if you can’t, instill the thought in your children.

Choose your resident location very carefully and strategically.

Be a good listener, speaker and negotiator.

People spend on things that they value. Then the question, what do you value? Education, Fashion, automobiles, gadgets etc. Whichever, choose Education.

Your chances of breaking even depends a lot on what know. This is why we the reviewers of this chapter would advise that all our members approach this book club not as an expression of their love for reading but as an investment, for the more you know the less lose money to wrong choices and this is a sure way to not just becoming wealthy but also staying wealthy as the Jews have done over years.

Thank you for reading.