On Dec 10, 11:03*pm, Vic Smith
wrote:
On Sat, 10 Dec 2011 17:40:45 -0800 (PST), DerbyDad03

wrote:

" But I say if you cut your own grass instead of paying somebody
else to do it, you earned the difference in net worth."

My net worth is zero.

I'm flat broke. Not a dime or possession to my name. I'm squatting on
a piece of land owned by some guy in another state who doesn't know
about me or my cardboard box.

The grass was getting pretty long. When the family down the block went
to church I snuck into their shed and borrowed their lawnmower. My
little piece of paradise looks much better.

Even setting up ridiculous scenarios that have nothing to do with the
original scenario won't help you.
You'll never run away from *plus and minus signs.
What you quote above offers two choices: pay expense or do it
yourself.
So in your new scenario the squatter can become indebted $35 by
promising to pay a landscaper later, or do it himself.
If he pays, he's $35 in debt, net worth -$35.

What's my net worth now?

Since you (the squatter) mowed it yourself, your net worth is still
zero.
In other words, $35 more than if you hired it done.

All that work made me hungry. Can I go spend
my earnings on some food?

Assuming your credit limit is $35, you can now borrow $35 to buy food.
If you hired the mowing, you go hungry.
You're tapped out.
Why is this hard for you to understand?
Do you pay to have your lawn mowed, as BobR did?
Check this year's expense for that, which debits your net worth.
Fire your mower and do it yourself next year.
Then check at the end of next season for that debit.
It's gone! *And you net worth increased by what's no longer debited.
You can then decide if you earned the difference, or it had nothing at
all to do with your labor, but was all caused by some wonderful good
magic you have no control over.
If you already mow your own, hire it done next year, then check how
that expense affects your net worth.
Then decide if that debit to your net worth is because you didn't mow
your lawn yourself, or because it's just some kind of black magic
happening out there that you can't control.

--Vic

That has got to be the stupidest financial logic I've ever heard.

I'll lay it out plain and simple one last time. If you don't get it
after this, we'll just let you go on thinking that you have
*increased* your net worth by not spending money.

The numbers just don't get any simpler than this. We don't need any
formulas, we don't need to play any semantic games. It's as simple as
this:

If you start with nothing and you don't pay someone to do something
for you, you will still have nothing. If you then do that "something"
yourself, you will still have nothing.

If you start with $1,000,000,000,000 and you don't pay someone to do
something for you, you will still have $1,000,000,000,000. If you then
do that "something" yourself, you will still have $1,000,000,000,000.

In both cases there was exactly $0.00 change in your net worth.

It's just numbers and you can't fool them even if you have no problem
fooling yourself.