Money and New York City (Why I Chose Biz News)

I like shoes. Mostly black and brown, but I have a few pairs of gold sandals I wear. Oh, and my favorite winter boots, knee high black suede boots from Nine West. They were fifty bucks on sale and since they are pretty smoking, I feel like I’m still following “The Rules” of New York City.

Yes, there are rules, and I really want to talk to the person who made them up. Rule number one, because of a certain television show, is that many New York women feel that spending 500 dollars on a pair of shoes is ok. Yes, America, that is not uncommon in Manhattan.

Rule number two is that spending a thousand dollars for a purse is normal. A friend of a friend just paid 1,800 dollars for a purse at Barney’s. It came in some special bag to “protect” the purse. My question was if you continue to protect the purse, doesn’t that mean putting it in a glass case?

New Yorkers that are spending hundreds if not thousands of dollars on clothes, purses, jewelry, and shoes, are not the uber wealthy. There are what nine million people in New York City? They all don’t come from trust funds. It’s the opposite. They are regular working people, and they are living way beyond their means.

The credit card companies must love my city. They must stare out of their offices on 5th Avenue and say “thank you people of New York” for being obsessed with the finer things.

Some of the hottest, most stylish people I know are doing the stupidest thing: charging everything on their credit cards knowing they won’t be able to pay it off when the bill comes. Ask anyone here what interest rate they are paying, and most will tell you, they have no idea.

The first, most basic lesson of getting your finances together, is wrapping your head around the reality of a) who you are b) what you make c) that your credit card is not free money.

Sometimes I feel that New Yorkers are trying to impress each other and the world, no matter the cost. But, the cost could someday be your savings, your credit rating, your retirement funds, and your dignity.

I love television, I love shoes, and I love New York. But, I also love not being indebted to a credit card company and knowing that I have a safety net of cash just in case this whole television/journalist/blogger thing doesn’t work out.

CC