[deusex_]

There’s an old story about a guy taking a smoke break with his non-smoking colleague.

“How long have you been smoking for?” the colleague asks.

“Thirty years,” says the smoker.

“Thirty years!” marvels the co-worker. “That costs so much money. At a pack a day, you’re spending $1,900 a year. Had you instead invested that money at an 8% return for the last 30 years, you’d have $250,000 in the bank today. That’s enough to buy a Ferrari.”

The smoker looked puzzled.

“Do you smoke?” he asked his co-worker.

“No.”

“So where is your Ferrari?”

[nerdponx]

s/Ferrari/several years of retirement income/

[arcturus17]

- Do you have several years of retirement income in the bank?

- No, I spent it all on $SOMETHING_ELSE

I think that’s the point...

[lukego]

It's a naïve joke though because while few of the non-smoking colleagues are driving around in Ferraris many of them are discretely funding a secure retirement. So the joke really is on the smoker.

[lazylizard]

There is no joke. Some prefer drink. Some prefer food. Some prefer cigarettes. People have different things to spend on thats all.

[darkerside]

And some prefer saving. You don't actually _have_ to spend that money you know.

[fingerlocks]

Saving is just spending at a future date.

[abstractbarista]

Por que no los dos?

[oars]

This is perfect for explaining my current situation (not related to college nor smoking). Thank you for sharing.