Sunday, August 19, 2007

The Zeroeth Law of Financial Security.

CNN reports that Tony Snow may be stepping down. No this is not turning in to a political blog. From the CNN article:

"I'm not going to be able to go the distance, but that's primarily for financial reasons." Snow said. "I've told people when my money runs out, then I've got to go."

According to The Washington Post, Snow makes $168,000 as the White House spokesman.


$168,000 is more than the income of the vast majority of Americans. Tony Snow-job took a cut in pay from his job at Faux News. And it would appear has not changed his spending habits, so has depleted whatever savings he had which appear from the article to include college money for his kids.

Financial security isn't what you make. At any income level, it's also what you spend. So let me restate it:
The Zeroeth Law of Financial Security "Spend less than you earn."

Why not call it the first law? Even Dave Ramsey doesn't include it in his list of "Baby Steps". It's so elementary that it shouldn't need to be stated. Unfortunately, too many people forget it and end up in trouble. At least Tony Snow has his eye on his situation.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I can hardly disagree with a statement like "Spend less than you earn," but I'm guessing that's not Tony's problem.

I suspect his cancer diagnosis is more serious than he lets on, and that he wants to make maximum amounts of money for his family before he dies.

Just a guess on my part.

Engineering My Finances (EMF) said...

His cancer may be part of it, but I suspect not due to this statement which is in the article I linked:
"I've told people when my money runs out, then I've got to go."