Chris Farrell: The New Frugality

Berkeley Arts and Letters

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Partner:: Berkeley Arts and Letters
Location:: Hillside Club
Berkeley, CA
Event Date:: 01.21.10
Speaker:: Chris Farrell
Tags:: economic crisis; economic recovery; climate change; money; frugality

Summary: According to Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, The Great Recession may technically be over. But what's clear is that, no matter what the GDP may be, people are hurting financially. In The New Frugality, Chris Farrell, personal finance expert for American Public Media's "Marketplace Money" and contributing economics editor for BusinessWeek, presents a new paradigm for surviving the greatest economic crisis in a generation.

The embrace of what Farrell calls the New Frugality signals that half a century of people spending with abandon and borrowing as much as possible is done. Profligacy is out. Frugality is in. Also, The Great Recession comes at a time of another great crisis related to our over consumption: global climate change. This convergence of crises creates opportunities and new ways to be frugal. In everyday money decisions, it turns out that being frugal and being green are synonymous.

Farrell suggests we should focus not only on what's affordable in the short term, but also on what's sustainable in the long term. If you're thinking about getting rid of your car and buying a bike to save money, there's no reason you should buy a two-wheeled clunker from Craigslist that needs a trip to the bike shop every other day.

As Farrell demonstrates, there's a difference between being frugal and being cheap. We'll still need places to live (do we buy or rent?), to save for college, and every now and then go into a little debt. How we make these choices will be as important as the choices themselves.

The New Frugality offers smart, sustainable, and ultimately more fulfilling ways to approach our personal finances and get more out of spending less.

Frugality: The Original Act of Sustainable Green Living?

05 min 33 sec

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01 hr 05 min 52 sec

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1 Comments

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David Cinnamon

Posts: 1

Posted: 06.10.10, 08:53 PM

04 & 06. That's so me! I'm 28, and I feel this moral obligation to be careful with my money and think about the consequences of spending it versus saving it. I hate debt and the idea of losing money from having to pay interest. Meanwhile, I'm getting so much mail solicitation from 30 different nonprofit do-gooders ever since I made a donation to Amnesty International. All these different causes make me prioritize and think about what causes are most important and what I want my impact to be.

Debt makes me worry so much. My state is in debt. My country is $12 trillion in debt. And the average American has $1000 in credit card debt.It all hurts out buying power and fiscal wellbeing in the long run.

07. Right on about the massage thing. I would so love to see the economy head more toward that postindustrial service-oriented economy. When compared to consumerism, it makes much better use of finite commodities and yields more money/added value out of every megawatt of energy we consume.

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