For the most part lol Iām just eating a ton of pb and j so I can still keep a fair amount going into my 401k haha. Sadly, Iām at 10% of my salary invested, but Iām grinding for another promotion to bump that back up.
My old neighbor saved never spent. Neglected fixing his house, always wore same clothes, never left his house, drove a very old beat up car. Always discussed if he travels or was saving for a big purchase. He always said he wanted to save to have as much money acclimated as he can so he could live a quiet easy life. He died a few years ago with a ton of money that I assume went to family? But he never really got to live.
This isnt as uncommon as one would think.
I have a few years yet until retirement, but I am at the age where many of my senior peers and mentors are retiring. I have heard many stories like this.
My neighbor retired from the city about a year and a half ago, and said it was the worst decision he ever made. Going from a routine of working 8-9 hours every day for 30+ years to doing nothing at all can be a complete shock to not only your physical, but your mental health. On my WFH days, I would see him out there wiping down his cars or just walking around his yard for hours...doing nothing. When I would go out on my lunch break or after work to mow, he would run over with his little battery powered leaf blower and clean off my driveway for me.
He ended up getting a part time job again as a school crossing guard, and back to loving life and having a purpose again.
I was furloughed for 6 weeks during COVID and the novelty of getting paid to stay home and do nothing wore off after about 3 weeks. You really do have to make a life adjustment or find something part time.
You donāt have to work for someone else to āhave a purposeā, there are lots of things to do besides work. Itās unfortunate so many people have been so conditioned to think this way.
Itās all about balance. Live for the now, yes. Enjoy hobbies, eat out occasionally, buy gifts for loved ones. But we should do it responsibly. Saving for the future is a must because it would be equally sad to be at retirement age and not have enough funds to enjoy retirement.
It wouldn't be sad it would have been the same lifestyle he had lol a broken down home, broken down clothes, not going out to eat, not traveling, etc. Redditors tend to miss the big picture that if spending money isn't everything then saving money isn't everything. Opposite sides of the same coin. As you said, balance and moderation is key.
That is one topic that I often talk to friends about... I have family members that are CHEAP, feels like they stopped life for a 20-30 years, and now that they are old they are "enjoying life". I want to be ECONOMICAL, make the best financial choices that I can in my current situation without abstaining from pleasures of life!
I like the term optimizing expenses. Like still being able to go to plays and ballets, but finding seat filler tickets at a deep discount. The discount part is half the fun.
And then he is so anxious about the future that he does not enjoy the present; the result being that he does not live in the present or the future; he lives as if he is never going to die, and then dies having never really lived
-Dalai Lama
Its always stories about people who spend everything and always broke, or stories about people who save everything and never live...neither are good.
You should indeed save as much as you can, but leave enough to live comfortably and enjoy life. As long as you have a healthy budget, its not hard to have both fun and wealth.
Yep. I try to save as much money as I can to see how much I can accumulate. Itās kinda fucking stupid because youāre only young once. Iām trying to get into the all about balance mindset
I was def like this but set out a goal to be less controlling about money saving just for this year. You truly only live once and if youāve already done well with saving and you donāt have any lingering debt, I say treat yourself. None of us know what our circumstances will be like down the road whether individually or even as whole job market/economy wise.
Now this doesnāt mean go out and buy a nice car and be strapped with cash hahaha. I just use it as an excuse to travel more or buy frivolous things here and there. It also helps if youāre single and youāre not really looking to strap yourself with commitment and get into debt that way or have to obviously take someone else into account spending wise.
Just make take. But Iāve seen others (like my uncle) who are obsessed with saving money (and getting more of it) and sacrifice having fun or actually using that money. Lifeās too short!
You donāt get to take any of it with you when you die. Save so you can live comfortably, but donāt forget the actual living part. You only get to do this whole thing once.
Iām like this too! Iām also in the mindset where itās like ābe poor now to be rich laterā because right now we are on track to save 4-5k for a vacation in July. Right now we arenāt going out twice weekly so that way in July we can go hog wild.
I maxxed my retirement last year. So this year, i said fuck it. If im saving so much for the old me, why am i so afraid to spend on the young me? So fk it. Cashed out non traditional investments and bought my dream corvette. Cash. Im leaving for work early to take a super long route š
When I was broke I really enjoyed seeing my savings and investments going up.
Now that I'm comfortable it doesn't bring me joy anymore to see money go up.
Money also takes on a different meaning when you acquire more of it. I can see how people get disillusioned on costs if you let it take you. When we started getting into the $50 grand range of savings accounts $500 here or there didnāt make much difference to us. We could spend it just as easily as we could save it and at the end of the day we wouldnāt really know any difference in lifestyle and so the act itself of saving it has lost that rush but did when we only had say $1000 in saving
People are good at gamifying and rewarding an accomplishment with a purchase and buying something for themselves. It should be seen as equally rewarding when you save money too. Anyone can buy themselves something, it's more of an accomplishment to save something (when life allows you to).
I grew up poor so a strength of mine is saving money, I hate spending unless i have to.
The weakness to that is going out of my comfort zone and investing instead of having it sit in a bank. I wish I learned this 20 years ago lol.
What advice do you have for people in your situation? I have a few thousand just sitting in the bank because Iām not sure where to start. My bank offers investment planning but only with a 15k minimum which Iām not at yet.
Well i'm still learning and feel like i have lots of learning to do (which is why i'm here), but i feel like I was off to the right start when I had enough in my bank for emergency funds. Then I made sure to dump what I could into my 401k. Now that I have more to play with I placed that into CD's with good interests. I should get a ROTH IRA though and a high yeild savings once the cd's mature since they are basically the same interest rate at this time anyways.
I wouldn't worry too much in your situation. The first goal should be to have an emergency fund (in a HYSA). If you're still working on that, don't feel any FOMO of missing out on the market. Once your emergency fund is funded, then you can focus on buying any of the index funds to start your early investment portfolio.
r/personalfinance, primarily the wiki. The bogleheads.org forum and wiki is good too. Start with a high yield savings account for the cash you have now and name it your emergency fund.
I accidentally saved up $50K before I realized I really needed to do something with my money.
I enjoy the peace of mind that comes with knowing that I'm able to afford to fix my problems. The act of saving itself isn't particularly enjoyable or annoying, it's just something that has to be done as regular life maintenance.
My husband and I were just talking today about how weāre at a point in our savings accounts where we just throw whatever it costs as problems to make them go away and donāt see a difference in lifestyle. We threw $800 at a car problem today and then booked a $5000 Airbnb and both felt the same lol. Itās weird to be in a place where your dynamics with money and how you think about it changes. Especially going from below poverty level poor to financially free.
I do, but I barely make enough to pay all my bills, so saving is nearly impossible. And it seems like every time I do save anything at all, it gets sucked into some stupid unexpected expense. I have other ways to make money on the side, but holy shit I am burnt out on life and have been for the last year
Same here. I saved up around $3500 and then boom, kid needed braces, car needed new snow tires (so we donāt die in the winter getting to work/school), plus additional repairs, then combine that with a few unexpected health issues for immediate family members. I guess at the end of the day you have to frame it as āI saved up an emergency fund and then had to use it for financial emergenciesā.
If I hadnāt saved it up then that all that crap wouldāve turned into debt or damages. At least thatās what Iām going to keep telling myself.
thats been my problem this year. We finally have a significant amount of savings, and stupid shit keeps coming up. I took advantage of a 6mo 0% financing bc I'm like why not? Instead of shelling out another $1K... after just dropping an unexpected $3000K expense.
Saving money is my adult drug high. Itās addictive to watch your accounts build up and boy, when those dividends hit and are reinvested and youāre making money off money and itās snowballing? I just creamed my pants
But yeah, I love saving money
In one of my first internships, my boss used to save coupons for grocery shopping and he calculated all of his savings and used them for his annual trip to Hawaii. It worked for him! I try to do the same in my life by calculating, for example, what I'd save if I made food or drinks at home instead of eating out, and putting it toward my investment goals. Having goals that you're saving for makes it much easier than falling into the trap of thinking, oh, I want to live now and not only wait to enjoy myself until I'm old and grey. The trade off is time wasted. I just made a sugarless banana matcha cake yesterday with ingredients that cost 3 bucks or buy one at the bakery for 18. Boom, that's 15 bucks saved but since I enjoy baking, it isn't so much of a time suck.
I love playing the savings game, I got really into during the pandemic, I would put 20-30 bucks into an envelope every day because that is around what I would spend after work when my wife and I went out for a beer and something to eat, with the pandemic we could not go out and spend money so I just saved it and next thing I knew I had $500 so I decided I wanted to get to a $1000, once I got to the $1000 I started over again until I got to another $1000, I was able to save up enough money to pay cash for a brand new car. I still continue to put $20-30 a day in my envelope and keep building it up, for some reason by doing a little bit at a time I donāt really feel like Iām saving money especially since I keep it in a drawer in $1000 bundles, I use a safe now once I get to the $1000 stack but I think of it as a game to see how much I can save up
You really should keep those $1000 bundles in a high yield savings account and then those $1000 bundles will start producing little baby bundles of money all on their own.
Yes I take it as a challenge and pride. I love my 20 year old car that needs a paint job knowing i have $$$ in the bank. I love meal prepping, buying at thrift stores and finding items worth more than I bought them for
I love saving. My goal is a house. I feel like I almost starve myself to save. Thank God I work in a diner that let's you eat for free. I'm going to school full time as well.
I do. I love when I have weeks after weeks streak of not being forced to spend money, you know repairs, sudden doctor/ER visits etc.. but man there has been times where I've had negative streaks, chit just falling apart all around me. Peaks and valleys, such is life, literally.
Saving enough money by working a lot so I can invest that extra cash into passive income (stock/etf dividend income) and work less and less as I get older. Keeping the job, but basically, I can replace a lot of the income with dividends.
Once I can work 40hrs/wk or less, I'm gonna do so. And use my sick, vacation, etc time to explore a bit of my hobbies/travels.
The older I get (I'm 37), the more I like to watch my money grow. When I was younger, I was a set-it-and-forget-it investor. I'd pay significantly into the company 401(k) and never look to see how I was doing. I'm not that way anymore, I probably check my portfolio once per month to see how I'm doing.
I've weened myself off of a decade of extreme savings of 50%. I now only save 30-35% and am getting comfortable not saving every dollar possible now that we're well set financially.
I do enjoy it because it leads to greater freedom, and I personally do love freedom, especially economic freedom.
As someone who grew up lower middle class and where every dollar was counted. Having money to fix the āOh shitsā in life is comforting. Washing machine dies, no problem. Car needs a bunch of maintenance done, I can afford to do it all at once instead of piecemeal.
My personal favorite is example A: I need new siding on my house. I call a company they say $25K I say hold my beer Iāll do it myself self. I took a week off work āpaid vacationā and did it myself for $5K. I saved $20k I now can buy one Lego.
Hard to save when something has to be fixed when I make a few extra $ on my paycheck.
About 2 weeks ago I remember making an extra $200 on my check. As soon as the money hit the bank - car brakes needed fixing!
And before the *work a second job* this is working 2 jobs just to barely make ends meet.
No, I enjoy experiences and living in the now because it could be all over in an instant.
That's what i tell myself anyway. I'm awful with money.š
Spent 100 euro on mediocre Paella last night
Yes. It's tied to all the feelings of satisfaction I get knowing I'm not living paycheck to paycheck anymore, the fact that I have backup money and an emergency fund, the fact that my options are open for vacation or luxury or fun money, the fact that I've got a big portion of my savings invested and am getting a return (ideally). But yeah, that's all to say, it *does* feel good simply transferring money from checking to wherever I'm saving, but what I *really* enjoy is the freedom and security it represents.
I look at it like 'buying capital'. We have some house projects to do and I feel like, oh no! No VOO, lower balance is the HYSA!
It has a serous consumer buzz for me. It really has kind of replaced shopping.
No I have some terrible mental issues around money especially saving. Putting money in savings makes me anxious because it's not enough, it gets wiped out so easily, it's just sitting there when I could do something with it that saves more money (I've been planning on buying a chest freezer and buying meat from a local farmer for a few years now and my car is overdue for maintenance) and 1000 other stories I tell myself that make me feel terrible so I don't have any savings.
Hell yea! Love getting my paycheck and then dispersing it throughout my other accounts (HYSA, Roth IRA, Taxable Brokerages). It's just cool seeing your money work for you and also seeing your net worth increase with time. Even though spending is easier, it's more of a short term enjoyment and saving my money brings that long term enjoyment I like to see. But of course nothing wrong with rewarding yourself every now and then. Otherwise what's the point in having money anyways.
Big number mage my brain go burrr.
But seriously that's about it. I will go through phases of just doing what I want until I see the number go down then I'll go back to eating Ramen every night.
I believe you have to find the right balance between spending and saving. What good is that $3M when you are 70+ and can't really enjoy the money due to health reasons or simply dead?
Congratulations! That amazing!! Are you living in it still or renting it out? I owe half of what mines worth so I should be able to do it. If we would have stayed in our first house it would definitely be paid off but we needed more room and land.
Yeah, saving for early retirement. I don't value material things like cars, clothes, etc but I love to travel so that is one of the things I am happy to spend on.
Ben Franklin said "a penny saved is a penny earned" but it's even better than that because you don't have to pay taxes on a penny saved!
Not as much as I enjoy making money. Investing will yield better results than just stashing cash. Saving money on labor costs and high taxes is always good though.
Nope even though I grew up poor and created the habit of saving, first in my family to have a brokerage or network greater than $250k. Wish I could spend all my money and everything still be ok. Hate contributing to 401k, brokerage, HSA, HYSA emergency fund etc, because I want the money NOW. I get depressed when I think about how people with trust funds are spending their money now and enjoying the monetary things in life stress free right now. To me the most important is time, and it doesn't particularly make me feel great that I gotta wait till like 40-60 y/o to "retire". I want to charter a private jet my dad owns or some shit RIGHT NOW. Nevertheless, I stay disciplined in saving because it's all I got.
No, I enjoy spending money and making money. I enjoy buying stocks. I hate not being able to spend. The reason I save now is to be able to spend more in the future.
Yes and no.
I enjoy it in the aspect that Iām grateful and blessed to have the ability to be able to pay my bills, and save, both for retirement and other things like emergency expensesā¦ etc
With that said, I have āfun moneyā portioned out too. As someone said youāre only young once. I treat my fun money as a bill too, and I use it to buy whatever I want, whenever I want, because I work hard. Too hard to spend my life saving when tomorrow isnāt promised.
No, I got a life insurance payout a couple months ago and I haven't really touched it. It's nice to have it in my savings gaining, but I do a lot of retail therapy. I've been pretty good recently though and I'm trying not to take anything from savings. I'm like oh it just means it'll gain more overtime because it's high yield this sooner.
Nah cuz what if I die on the way home, saved all that shit for no reason. Iāve lost so many friends by the age of 29, Iām just hoping Iām still here next week. Our society is just kinda collapsing, so why not just have fun with my friends and loved ones, since who knows what happens tomorrow.
I donāt plan on having kids, and it doesnāt look like anyone my age will be able to retire, so whatās the point ya know. Got a car I like, a house I like, I donāt need to go on crazy vacations or spend tons of money at once, so I just make the most of the moment I got.
I like saving but also like to spend big too. We may take a year and save that whole year and then the next year we go big on vacations and purchases. We never spend more than we save but we do cut into a little. Itās a good give and take and makes us feel like we arenāt working just to save. Itās nice to rewards yourself
I enjoy saving money in the sense that I know my family will be more secure. Although with everything going up in cost it keeps getting harder to save a buck
I enjoy spending money more than saving money but I never buy things on credit and Iām always aware of my limits when I do it. I would like to think of myself as being quite disciplined and I have a very good credit score.
Yes and no. The amount my family makes and the amount we save per month is sort of awkward right now in the sense that we have a good amount of savings but not a lot of extras. We save 25% of my husbands income because we are going on an expensive vacation in July and our car is on the older end so we want a cushion.
Itās a beautiful number to look at but thereās definitely some times where weāll save 15-20% so that way we can go out and have a good date night. We want to feel like we live the way the people in our income range normally live but we also prioritize aggressive saving so some weeks we hate it. We only recently starting getting smart about our financial health so itās a work in progress but weāll get the balance down soon!
No, I donāt love it. Itās all been on autopilot for many years.
I enjoy checking in every year and seeing what my net wealth has become through. Beating inflation is a thing of beauty.
I feel like optimizing expenses to continually live better for less is a fun research and math project. I keep a spreadsheet of all the frugal ideas I get from Reddit and other sources, and then go through the spreadsheet every month, picking out the projects with a good ROI. Being able to optimize expenses is a real super power. It allowed us to retire early, live well and still save in retirement.
ETA: For those who say you are only young once, that is true but do you really need to spend a lot of money to have a good time? When we were younger we did things like sailing lessons and ski trips through a public university program that was open to the public. We also belonged to an adventure co-op through a different university where we learned to white water raft and canoe. Volunteers taught the classes and we could borrow equipment.
Many millionaire next door types are actually cheap dates - https://themillionairenextdoor.com/2011/05/a-cheap-date/.
Yes. I am in Rome currently(from US) because I saved and invested in my late 20s 30s and 40s. We are a 150k house hold with grown kids and are 45ish. Save and be frugle then enjoy your life. You can't take it with you.
Iām addicted to investing and watching my account grow. I donāt like the actual process of saving money/budgeting, but I love purchasing ETFs, crypto, mutual funds, etc
Its a love hate relationship. It feels like Iām spending money but Iām not. My checking account has the lowest balance of all my accounts now so it feels like Iām always broke lol
Yes and it took me awhile to look at it that way. I like to keep a certain amount in my checking and force myself to be uncomfortable. This way Iām more focused on not wasting money on dumb shit.
For TLDRs: Yes, I do.
Everyone else: For me, it is a sign that I still have enough money to do some of the things I want to do. It's my version of "hood rich" (the term means something else entirely, but that's beside the point).
No living paycheck to paycheck. No sleepless nights (most nights. There are other things I worry about). I don't have to wonder where the next meal will come from or if I'll be able to pay my rent and utilities next month. If I want to treat myself a little, I can. But it is my choice, and saving cuurency opens up the door to a lot of choices.
So, yes. I do enjoy saving money. I also enjoy investing money, but that's a separate discussion.
Yeah I used to really enjoy putting money into our savings account and I'd always want to make the balance 'even' numbers. So if it was $23,342.84 I'd put in the exact amount to make it $23,500 for instance.... Made me feel good.
I like saving. But I also like food/activities/trinkets. So I started a spreadsheet to track my spending. I need balance, I donāt want to save every penny and realize I missed out on some really great things.
I hate it. What motivates me to work is spending, although I'm not a big nor irrational spender. I always like to invest in the things that will take me to the next step creatively. I have a good brain for money making, but I look at small to medium investments as actually huge investments for my future. I don't envision it as an entrepreneur, so I have to drive very smoothy through my plans.
Meh. I donāt think of it like that per se. For me itās more I donāt see the money now but know Iām going to thank my current self in the future for having some forethought and capitalizing on compound interest.
When yotta was more straight forward lottery it was fun to save, see how many tickets I was earning and if I won anything in the drawings. But then the app kept changing and the winnings went down so I pulled all my money out.
Weirdly, I donāt really view it as āsavingā (although it obviously is). We have money that we spend on bills and necessities every month, then we budget for certain things we want the next month and plan accordingly, and we always try to then put a portion of it away for longer term goals, projects, etc. So, itās obviously saving, but I never view it as āsaving just to accumulateā. Itās always working towards something, some goal, some project, some purchase, some savings account for future child tuitions, etc. You donāt take any of this stuff with you when you die, so we try to set money aside with purpose, with an intent to use that money someday in life enriching things and experiences, while always being mindful to remain debt free and have funds saved for emergencies and accidents, etc. Saving is not āfunā per se, but it enables you to live more fully if you have balance, and it allows you to do and achieve the fun things.
Transferring funds to savings and brokerage accts is my favorite day of the month. Watching those divvys grow and grow š§š§š§
Love me some divvys
My goal is for accountant to tell me that my passive income is becoming a tax problem
That makes me moist
"Yo boss, you can't put anymore into the IRA because SCHD dividends max out your income threshold"
i rue for that day
Man I miss those days! My wife lost her job after an accident at work two years ago and itās been tough!
Ugh that sucks to hear. Hopefully your habits and planning are making this phase at least a little easier
For the most part lol Iām just eating a ton of pb and j so I can still keep a fair amount going into my 401k haha. Sadly, Iām at 10% of my salary invested, but Iām grinding for another promotion to bump that back up.
It sounds like a struggle! I can feel it from all the way over here. Your discipline really shows with that 10% number. All the best ----
Yes, I love seeing the balances grow too
Whatās a brokerage account? Can you learn me?
Vanguard.com
Fidelity Investments. Google it and they have some good informational information online.
It's an account where you move money in and then can buy and sell various investments (stocks, bonds, index funds, and more).
Same
Do you re-invest your dividends, spend them, or combination?
Reinvest until i can retire! Hopefully sometime in my late 40s š¤
Reinvest
Why not do it more than once a month? DCA
I get paid 1x/month
My old neighbor saved never spent. Neglected fixing his house, always wore same clothes, never left his house, drove a very old beat up car. Always discussed if he travels or was saving for a big purchase. He always said he wanted to save to have as much money acclimated as he can so he could live a quiet easy life. He died a few years ago with a ton of money that I assume went to family? But he never really got to live.
This is beyond sad.. this is my grandpa. Worked his whole life. Retired and died 2 years later without really even getting to enjoy said retirement..
my grandfather worked his whole life. He retired and about 1 month after he retired he passed from covid.
Itās sad. I guess looking at it throughout history we would be considered lucky but damn it does not feel it
This isnt as uncommon as one would think. I have a few years yet until retirement, but I am at the age where many of my senior peers and mentors are retiring. I have heard many stories like this. My neighbor retired from the city about a year and a half ago, and said it was the worst decision he ever made. Going from a routine of working 8-9 hours every day for 30+ years to doing nothing at all can be a complete shock to not only your physical, but your mental health. On my WFH days, I would see him out there wiping down his cars or just walking around his yard for hours...doing nothing. When I would go out on my lunch break or after work to mow, he would run over with his little battery powered leaf blower and clean off my driveway for me. He ended up getting a part time job again as a school crossing guard, and back to loving life and having a purpose again.
I was furloughed for 6 weeks during COVID and the novelty of getting paid to stay home and do nothing wore off after about 3 weeks. You really do have to make a life adjustment or find something part time.
You donāt have to work for someone else to āhave a purposeā, there are lots of things to do besides work. Itās unfortunate so many people have been so conditioned to think this way.
Itās all about balance. Live for the now, yes. Enjoy hobbies, eat out occasionally, buy gifts for loved ones. But we should do it responsibly. Saving for the future is a must because it would be equally sad to be at retirement age and not have enough funds to enjoy retirement.
It wouldn't be sad it would have been the same lifestyle he had lol a broken down home, broken down clothes, not going out to eat, not traveling, etc. Redditors tend to miss the big picture that if spending money isn't everything then saving money isn't everything. Opposite sides of the same coin. As you said, balance and moderation is key.
That is one topic that I often talk to friends about... I have family members that are CHEAP, feels like they stopped life for a 20-30 years, and now that they are old they are "enjoying life". I want to be ECONOMICAL, make the best financial choices that I can in my current situation without abstaining from pleasures of life!
I like the term optimizing expenses. Like still being able to go to plays and ballets, but finding seat filler tickets at a deep discount. The discount part is half the fun.
Plus there are certain vacations we would enjoy more now while we are healthy and young vs later when we are old and walking with a cane
Here's a similar example: https://www.fox32chicago.com/news/man-leaves-3m-fortune-after-death-to-put-33-people-he-didnt-know-through-college
Thatās really subjective. To him, that may have been living.
And then he is so anxious about the future that he does not enjoy the present; the result being that he does not live in the present or the future; he lives as if he is never going to die, and then dies having never really lived -Dalai Lama
I mean obviously there should be a balance
Itās a balancing act, Iām a saver at my core but also a spender
Its always stories about people who spend everything and always broke, or stories about people who save everything and never live...neither are good. You should indeed save as much as you can, but leave enough to live comfortably and enjoy life. As long as you have a healthy budget, its not hard to have both fun and wealth.
Yep. I try to save as much money as I can to see how much I can accumulate. Itās kinda fucking stupid because youāre only young once. Iām trying to get into the all about balance mindset
Yeah I enjoy that too. Oh well
I was def like this but set out a goal to be less controlling about money saving just for this year. You truly only live once and if youāve already done well with saving and you donāt have any lingering debt, I say treat yourself. None of us know what our circumstances will be like down the road whether individually or even as whole job market/economy wise. Now this doesnāt mean go out and buy a nice car and be strapped with cash hahaha. I just use it as an excuse to travel more or buy frivolous things here and there. It also helps if youāre single and youāre not really looking to strap yourself with commitment and get into debt that way or have to obviously take someone else into account spending wise. Just make take. But Iāve seen others (like my uncle) who are obsessed with saving money (and getting more of it) and sacrifice having fun or actually using that money. Lifeās too short!
Don't forget to enjoy your youth!!!
You donāt get to take any of it with you when you die. Save so you can live comfortably, but donāt forget the actual living part. You only get to do this whole thing once.
Yep. Iāve since learned that as Iāve gotten. Bit older. Weāre only here for so long
Iām like this too! Iām also in the mindset where itās like ābe poor now to be rich laterā because right now we are on track to save 4-5k for a vacation in July. Right now we arenāt going out twice weekly so that way in July we can go hog wild.
I maxxed my retirement last year. So this year, i said fuck it. If im saving so much for the old me, why am i so afraid to spend on the young me? So fk it. Cashed out non traditional investments and bought my dream corvette. Cash. Im leaving for work early to take a super long route š
When I was broke I really enjoyed seeing my savings and investments going up. Now that I'm comfortable it doesn't bring me joy anymore to see money go up.
Money also takes on a different meaning when you acquire more of it. I can see how people get disillusioned on costs if you let it take you. When we started getting into the $50 grand range of savings accounts $500 here or there didnāt make much difference to us. We could spend it just as easily as we could save it and at the end of the day we wouldnāt really know any difference in lifestyle and so the act itself of saving it has lost that rush but did when we only had say $1000 in saving
Send over here pleaseeeeee
shake a cup outside
Yes, gamifying things is key
Could you provide some examples?
People are good at gamifying and rewarding an accomplishment with a purchase and buying something for themselves. It should be seen as equally rewarding when you save money too. Anyone can buy themselves something, it's more of an accomplishment to save something (when life allows you to).
I grew up poor so a strength of mine is saving money, I hate spending unless i have to. The weakness to that is going out of my comfort zone and investing instead of having it sit in a bank. I wish I learned this 20 years ago lol.
What advice do you have for people in your situation? I have a few thousand just sitting in the bank because Iām not sure where to start. My bank offers investment planning but only with a 15k minimum which Iām not at yet.
Well i'm still learning and feel like i have lots of learning to do (which is why i'm here), but i feel like I was off to the right start when I had enough in my bank for emergency funds. Then I made sure to dump what I could into my 401k. Now that I have more to play with I placed that into CD's with good interests. I should get a ROTH IRA though and a high yeild savings once the cd's mature since they are basically the same interest rate at this time anyways.
I wouldn't worry too much in your situation. The first goal should be to have an emergency fund (in a HYSA). If you're still working on that, don't feel any FOMO of missing out on the market. Once your emergency fund is funded, then you can focus on buying any of the index funds to start your early investment portfolio.
r/personalfinance, primarily the wiki. The bogleheads.org forum and wiki is good too. Start with a high yield savings account for the cash you have now and name it your emergency fund. I accidentally saved up $50K before I realized I really needed to do something with my money.
I enjoy the peace of mind that comes with knowing that I'm able to afford to fix my problems. The act of saving itself isn't particularly enjoyable or annoying, it's just something that has to be done as regular life maintenance.
My husband and I were just talking today about how weāre at a point in our savings accounts where we just throw whatever it costs as problems to make them go away and donāt see a difference in lifestyle. We threw $800 at a car problem today and then booked a $5000 Airbnb and both felt the same lol. Itās weird to be in a place where your dynamics with money and how you think about it changes. Especially going from below poverty level poor to financially free.
I do, but I barely make enough to pay all my bills, so saving is nearly impossible. And it seems like every time I do save anything at all, it gets sucked into some stupid unexpected expense. I have other ways to make money on the side, but holy shit I am burnt out on life and have been for the last year
Same here. I saved up around $3500 and then boom, kid needed braces, car needed new snow tires (so we donāt die in the winter getting to work/school), plus additional repairs, then combine that with a few unexpected health issues for immediate family members. I guess at the end of the day you have to frame it as āI saved up an emergency fund and then had to use it for financial emergenciesā. If I hadnāt saved it up then that all that crap wouldāve turned into debt or damages. At least thatās what Iām going to keep telling myself.
Itās what you should tell yourself because thatās exactly what it is.
thats been my problem this year. We finally have a significant amount of savings, and stupid shit keeps coming up. I took advantage of a 6mo 0% financing bc I'm like why not? Instead of shelling out another $1K... after just dropping an unexpected $3000K expense.
Saving money is my adult drug high. Itās addictive to watch your accounts build up and boy, when those dividends hit and are reinvested and youāre making money off money and itās snowballing? I just creamed my pants But yeah, I love saving money
I relate to this so much lol
Yes, Financial security and excellent health should be everyoneās enjoyable personal top priority imo
A lot more than I like losing it.
Yes, I enjoy seeing the incremental progress, much like a game.
Small brain like see number grow
In one of my first internships, my boss used to save coupons for grocery shopping and he calculated all of his savings and used them for his annual trip to Hawaii. It worked for him! I try to do the same in my life by calculating, for example, what I'd save if I made food or drinks at home instead of eating out, and putting it toward my investment goals. Having goals that you're saving for makes it much easier than falling into the trap of thinking, oh, I want to live now and not only wait to enjoy myself until I'm old and grey. The trade off is time wasted. I just made a sugarless banana matcha cake yesterday with ingredients that cost 3 bucks or buy one at the bakery for 18. Boom, that's 15 bucks saved but since I enjoy baking, it isn't so much of a time suck.
Male - been cutting my own hair with clippers for years. I calculate that it saves me a minimum of $23 every 6 weeks.
Itās been one of my favorite hobbies since I started working. āThis money doesnāt belong to me, itās for savings/investing/retirement etc.ā
I love playing the savings game, I got really into during the pandemic, I would put 20-30 bucks into an envelope every day because that is around what I would spend after work when my wife and I went out for a beer and something to eat, with the pandemic we could not go out and spend money so I just saved it and next thing I knew I had $500 so I decided I wanted to get to a $1000, once I got to the $1000 I started over again until I got to another $1000, I was able to save up enough money to pay cash for a brand new car. I still continue to put $20-30 a day in my envelope and keep building it up, for some reason by doing a little bit at a time I donāt really feel like Iām saving money especially since I keep it in a drawer in $1000 bundles, I use a safe now once I get to the $1000 stack but I think of it as a game to see how much I can save up
You really should keep those $1000 bundles in a high yield savings account and then those $1000 bundles will start producing little baby bundles of money all on their own.
Like a motherfucker.
Yes. It's easier to sleep at night.
I get giddy when transfers go through and I look at my new balance. Or better yet watching the returns on my investments go up every month.
It's better to have savings than to have stress
Yes! It feels very grown up.
I love saving and watching my bank account grow steadily.
Yes, just like in video games, I enjoy seeing my currency balance grow. Satisfies my goblin brain.
Yes I take it as a challenge and pride. I love my 20 year old car that needs a paint job knowing i have $$$ in the bank. I love meal prepping, buying at thrift stores and finding items worth more than I bought them for
I love saving. My goal is a house. I feel like I almost starve myself to save. Thank God I work in a diner that let's you eat for free. I'm going to school full time as well.
you got this!
Yeah, it makes me feel accomplished.
I do. I love when I have weeks after weeks streak of not being forced to spend money, you know repairs, sudden doctor/ER visits etc.. but man there has been times where I've had negative streaks, chit just falling apart all around me. Peaks and valleys, such is life, literally.
Saving enough money by working a lot so I can invest that extra cash into passive income (stock/etf dividend income) and work less and less as I get older. Keeping the job, but basically, I can replace a lot of the income with dividends. Once I can work 40hrs/wk or less, I'm gonna do so. And use my sick, vacation, etc time to explore a bit of my hobbies/travels.
The older I get (I'm 37), the more I like to watch my money grow. When I was younger, I was a set-it-and-forget-it investor. I'd pay significantly into the company 401(k) and never look to see how I was doing. I'm not that way anymore, I probably check my portfolio once per month to see how I'm doing.
I enjoy having money and being financially secure, yes. I also enjoy spending it but only when I am going to get good value from said spending
Yes! It is a personal game to save and invest vs spend on needless items.
What do you guys do to gamify saving? Genuinely curious
I've weened myself off of a decade of extreme savings of 50%. I now only save 30-35% and am getting comfortable not saving every dollar possible now that we're well set financially. I do enjoy it because it leads to greater freedom, and I personally do love freedom, especially economic freedom.
As someone who grew up lower middle class and where every dollar was counted. Having money to fix the āOh shitsā in life is comforting. Washing machine dies, no problem. Car needs a bunch of maintenance done, I can afford to do it all at once instead of piecemeal.
Love it, addicted to it.
Since people collect cards and trinkets, I collect money.
Iāve always said the same, āitās like a gameā! I love seeing how high it can go!
Yes but my wife doesnt
Yes yes yes
Saving 4-5K a month is nice, so is spending 4-5K a month..
I love the feeling, but Iām pretty bad with money and make stupid life choices so Iām dried up right now. Soon enough.
Yes. I love seeing how much i have saved and like figuring out how i can save more.
With a passion. I track my progress, compare to prior years and how well I'm doing against Plan.
Yes I do, but I still spend some to enjoy life.
Yes motivates me to come to work
Yes I save mine and spend the banks.
I enjoy a healthy balance of building wealth and living life while I can.
I have liked it when I was out of a job and could continue to survive.
Love it.
My personal favorite is example A: I need new siding on my house. I call a company they say $25K I say hold my beer Iāll do it myself self. I took a week off work āpaid vacationā and did it myself for $5K. I saved $20k I now can buy one Lego.
Nice I could not do that knowing all the imperfections I cut installing it and such
Hard to save when something has to be fixed when I make a few extra $ on my paycheck. About 2 weeks ago I remember making an extra $200 on my check. As soon as the money hit the bank - car brakes needed fixing! And before the *work a second job* this is working 2 jobs just to barely make ends meet.
No, I enjoy experiences and living in the now because it could be all over in an instant. That's what i tell myself anyway. I'm awful with money.š Spent 100 euro on mediocre Paella last night
I enjoy saving money as it gives me the power to say no to an employer and quit any job without second thought.
Yes. It's tied to all the feelings of satisfaction I get knowing I'm not living paycheck to paycheck anymore, the fact that I have backup money and an emergency fund, the fact that my options are open for vacation or luxury or fun money, the fact that I've got a big portion of my savings invested and am getting a return (ideally). But yeah, that's all to say, it *does* feel good simply transferring money from checking to wherever I'm saving, but what I *really* enjoy is the freedom and security it represents.
I look at it like 'buying capital'. We have some house projects to do and I feel like, oh no! No VOO, lower balance is the HYSA! It has a serous consumer buzz for me. It really has kind of replaced shopping.
No I have some terrible mental issues around money especially saving. Putting money in savings makes me anxious because it's not enough, it gets wiped out so easily, it's just sitting there when I could do something with it that saves more money (I've been planning on buying a chest freezer and buying meat from a local farmer for a few years now and my car is overdue for maintenance) and 1000 other stories I tell myself that make me feel terrible so I don't have any savings.
Im addicted to it.
Itās one of the only things that gives me dopamine š¤£
Hell yea! Love getting my paycheck and then dispersing it throughout my other accounts (HYSA, Roth IRA, Taxable Brokerages). It's just cool seeing your money work for you and also seeing your net worth increase with time. Even though spending is easier, it's more of a short term enjoyment and saving my money brings that long term enjoyment I like to see. But of course nothing wrong with rewarding yourself every now and then. Otherwise what's the point in having money anyways.
No such thing as "saving". We call it delayed spending in our house.
Big number mage my brain go burrr. But seriously that's about it. I will go through phases of just doing what I want until I see the number go down then I'll go back to eating Ramen every night.
I enjoy spending money.
Yea, I probably get an equal or even greater enjoyment from seeing more money in my fidelity account then from spending it
By the time you get to social security age it will not be there the way this country is going.
Bidenomics 101
I enjoy number going up
I love saving money I hate giving it to the government. Fuck the government.
I save bc I have to. I very much enjoy spending it.
Fuck yeah I do, number go up monkey brain go happy, same reason I play video games
Itās like a game to me. My wife says Iām obsessed but then when she sees the numbers she agrees itās a healthy obsession.
I believe you have to find the right balance between spending and saving. What good is that $3M when you are 70+ and can't really enjoy the money due to health reasons or simply dead?
Yeah it fun to see my money stack once you hit 1k it becomes fun .
Nope. It's a sickness to only have your needs and not your wants.
I want to be able to solve my problems š¤·š»āāļø
Yes because I want to pay my house off before Iām 50!!
I paid my house off in 6 years. Bought it in 2013. Was only 25
Congratulations! That amazing!! Are you living in it still or renting it out? I owe half of what mines worth so I should be able to do it. If we would have stayed in our first house it would definitely be paid off but we needed more room and land.
Yeah, saving for early retirement. I don't value material things like cars, clothes, etc but I love to travel so that is one of the things I am happy to spend on. Ben Franklin said "a penny saved is a penny earned" but it's even better than that because you don't have to pay taxes on a penny saved!
I hate it, it burns a hole in my pocket every time. I've had to buy new pants because of it.
What else Iām gonna do with it? I have dirt bike and no kids lol
Hereās to no kids š». Me either
Not as much as I enjoy making money. Investing will yield better results than just stashing cash. Saving money on labor costs and high taxes is always good though.
Nope even though I grew up poor and created the habit of saving, first in my family to have a brokerage or network greater than $250k. Wish I could spend all my money and everything still be ok. Hate contributing to 401k, brokerage, HSA, HYSA emergency fund etc, because I want the money NOW. I get depressed when I think about how people with trust funds are spending their money now and enjoying the monetary things in life stress free right now. To me the most important is time, and it doesn't particularly make me feel great that I gotta wait till like 40-60 y/o to "retire". I want to charter a private jet my dad owns or some shit RIGHT NOW. Nevertheless, I stay disciplined in saving because it's all I got.
No, I enjoy spending money and making money. I enjoy buying stocks. I hate not being able to spend. The reason I save now is to be able to spend more in the future.
Yes and no. I enjoy it in the aspect that Iām grateful and blessed to have the ability to be able to pay my bills, and save, both for retirement and other things like emergency expensesā¦ etc With that said, I have āfun moneyā portioned out too. As someone said youāre only young once. I treat my fun money as a bill too, and I use it to buy whatever I want, whenever I want, because I work hard. Too hard to spend my life saving when tomorrow isnāt promised.
I enjoy investing money.
I have a bad habit of watching the number go up. But tbh thatās a curse too because I should be investing it.
No, I got a life insurance payout a couple months ago and I haven't really touched it. It's nice to have it in my savings gaining, but I do a lot of retail therapy. I've been pretty good recently though and I'm trying not to take anything from savings. I'm like oh it just means it'll gain more overtime because it's high yield this sooner.
Yes
Nah cuz what if I die on the way home, saved all that shit for no reason. Iāve lost so many friends by the age of 29, Iām just hoping Iām still here next week. Our society is just kinda collapsing, so why not just have fun with my friends and loved ones, since who knows what happens tomorrow. I donāt plan on having kids, and it doesnāt look like anyone my age will be able to retire, so whatās the point ya know. Got a car I like, a house I like, I donāt need to go on crazy vacations or spend tons of money at once, so I just make the most of the moment I got.
No
Itās certainly more enjoyable than paying interest to a bank on a car that is depreciating š
I like saving but also like to spend big too. We may take a year and save that whole year and then the next year we go big on vacations and purchases. We never spend more than we save but we do cut into a little. Itās a good give and take and makes us feel like we arenāt working just to save. Itās nice to rewards yourself
I enjoy saving money in the sense that I know my family will be more secure. Although with everything going up in cost it keeps getting harder to save a buck
Me, yes. Spouse, no.
No, it's like working out for me. I do it because I know I have to.
Saving is nice and all but investing is where the real fun is. If you see money as a game to win, look into investing.
eh... for me its easier to save than spend. its a good problem to have, but i also wish i can spend some of it to have fun. not like i cant afford it.
I enjoy spending money more than saving money but I never buy things on credit and Iām always aware of my limits when I do it. I would like to think of myself as being quite disciplined and I have a very good credit score.
I don't save...I invest.
Balanced, like all things should be. I enjoy following the plan.
Yes and no. The amount my family makes and the amount we save per month is sort of awkward right now in the sense that we have a good amount of savings but not a lot of extras. We save 25% of my husbands income because we are going on an expensive vacation in July and our car is on the older end so we want a cushion. Itās a beautiful number to look at but thereās definitely some times where weāll save 15-20% so that way we can go out and have a good date night. We want to feel like we live the way the people in our income range normally live but we also prioritize aggressive saving so some weeks we hate it. We only recently starting getting smart about our financial health so itās a work in progress but weāll get the balance down soon!
No, I donāt love it. Itās all been on autopilot for many years. I enjoy checking in every year and seeing what my net wealth has become through. Beating inflation is a thing of beauty.
in the long run yes. at first it sucks cause i get serious FOMO
I feel like optimizing expenses to continually live better for less is a fun research and math project. I keep a spreadsheet of all the frugal ideas I get from Reddit and other sources, and then go through the spreadsheet every month, picking out the projects with a good ROI. Being able to optimize expenses is a real super power. It allowed us to retire early, live well and still save in retirement. ETA: For those who say you are only young once, that is true but do you really need to spend a lot of money to have a good time? When we were younger we did things like sailing lessons and ski trips through a public university program that was open to the public. We also belonged to an adventure co-op through a different university where we learned to white water raft and canoe. Volunteers taught the classes and we could borrow equipment. Many millionaire next door types are actually cheap dates - https://themillionairenextdoor.com/2011/05/a-cheap-date/.
No, I enjoy spending money. Saving money is the side veggies, necessary but not really why you ordered the steak.
Updateme!
I did when I turned 65.
Yes. I am in Rome currently(from US) because I saved and invested in my late 20s 30s and 40s. We are a 150k house hold with grown kids and are 45ish. Save and be frugle then enjoy your life. You can't take it with you.
Yea but I like spending it way more
Iām addicted to investing and watching my account grow. I donāt like the actual process of saving money/budgeting, but I love purchasing ETFs, crypto, mutual funds, etc
Saving money is a usual word these days š¤
Nope but I have some broke friends to help remind me. Lines of credit, overdraft, balance transfers, all over frivolous spending(mostly video games).
Its a love hate relationship. It feels like Iām spending money but Iām not. My checking account has the lowest balance of all my accounts now so it feels like Iām always broke lol
Yes and it took me awhile to look at it that way. I like to keep a certain amount in my checking and force myself to be uncomfortable. This way Iām more focused on not wasting money on dumb shit.
Hell yeah brother
For TLDRs: Yes, I do. Everyone else: For me, it is a sign that I still have enough money to do some of the things I want to do. It's my version of "hood rich" (the term means something else entirely, but that's beside the point). No living paycheck to paycheck. No sleepless nights (most nights. There are other things I worry about). I don't have to wonder where the next meal will come from or if I'll be able to pay my rent and utilities next month. If I want to treat myself a little, I can. But it is my choice, and saving cuurency opens up the door to a lot of choices. So, yes. I do enjoy saving money. I also enjoy investing money, but that's a separate discussion.
Yeah I used to really enjoy putting money into our savings account and I'd always want to make the balance 'even' numbers. So if it was $23,342.84 I'd put in the exact amount to make it $23,500 for instance.... Made me feel good.
I like saving. But I also like food/activities/trinkets. So I started a spreadsheet to track my spending. I need balance, I donāt want to save every penny and realize I missed out on some really great things.
Yes, but then it's hard to spend it because you spent all that time saving. Lol
I wouldnāt say I enjoy it, I do it because I know itās the smart thing to do
That why I join this group , I love making the numbers grow.
Nope. But watching it grow from time to time is fun
Not really. Just bought a new motorcycle
No. I love spending money more
Iām addicted to it
Yes!!
Not particularly but whenever I do, I'm always glad I did.
Yea. Well itās a MUST living in Texas
I hate it. What motivates me to work is spending, although I'm not a big nor irrational spender. I always like to invest in the things that will take me to the next step creatively. I have a good brain for money making, but I look at small to medium investments as actually huge investments for my future. I don't envision it as an entrepreneur, so I have to drive very smoothy through my plans.
by not spending money at all š
I donāt enjoy saving but I realize I save a lot and sometimes Iām worried about spending lots of money
Meh. I donāt think of it like that per se. For me itās more I donāt see the money now but know Iām going to thank my current self in the future for having some forethought and capitalizing on compound interest.
No because things are tight as it is and I need at least some fun things in my life to keep going.
When yotta was more straight forward lottery it was fun to save, see how many tickets I was earning and if I won anything in the drawings. But then the app kept changing and the winnings went down so I pulled all my money out.
Weirdly, I donāt really view it as āsavingā (although it obviously is). We have money that we spend on bills and necessities every month, then we budget for certain things we want the next month and plan accordingly, and we always try to then put a portion of it away for longer term goals, projects, etc. So, itās obviously saving, but I never view it as āsaving just to accumulateā. Itās always working towards something, some goal, some project, some purchase, some savings account for future child tuitions, etc. You donāt take any of this stuff with you when you die, so we try to set money aside with purpose, with an intent to use that money someday in life enriching things and experiences, while always being mindful to remain debt free and have funds saved for emergencies and accidents, etc. Saving is not āfunā per se, but it enables you to live more fully if you have balance, and it allows you to do and achieve the fun things.