Why would you want to save?

Waldir

Pssst wrote: »

Simple question really...

Reasons not to save..

(a) life is short and finite. Why save? spend now

(b) If you save then you might not enjoy life to the full

(c) When you retire,the state will give you no or little aid whilst others who have squandered or have no money saved will be assisted

(d)Saved money decreases in value over time

(e) family members and even friends sometimes try to covet your savings!

(f) spend spend spend now,life is for living. Always make sure youve lived it to the max and that you have plenty of outstanding loans/finance. Then when youve had your fill,just pay £480,apply for insolvency and kiss it all goodbye in a few minutes.

(g) An additional bonus of (f) is that you may get a nil rate tax code. That way the taxpayers can help to pay your debts.

Is saving really for insecure,thrifty types who think they will live forever?

I don't think you'll live your life to the full without robbing a few banks. As a bonus it'll give you a nice amount of money for your retirement.
Another lead would be to make friend with highly ranked politicians.

Hmmm.... Am i really being ironic?

FairyElephant_2

Well, some good arguments on both sides. I'm assuming the OP wanted to get us all thinking, maybe being a bit ironic at the same time, but then I often look for the best in people even though I'm frequently disappointed!!!!

I'm saving so I can stop work (or work part time) if I ever manage to become a mum (in the meantime I'm using up my savings towards this end, as the NHS is so unfairly structured that I can't get any help from them - but that's a whole other argument.....) .

I'm also saving so DH & I can retire a bit early, as I've known several people work until 65 and then either die or become too ill to enjoy their retirement. We have loads of things we want to do when we don't have to go to work every day - and we just couldn't do them on the state pittance!!!!!

epsilondraconis

Lavendyr wrote: »

My reasons for saving:

- To buy something that I want to increase your enjoyment of life - such as a car, or a house, or a holiday (i.e. saving for a specific short-term goal)
- To have the ability to be self-reliant rather than relying on the state or credit to get by
- To have money for an early retirement, rather than working until I'm 70 and then having no money with which to enjoy my retirement
- To be able to give my children and grandchildren something to help them in life at the end of it

However, while I save quite a large proportion of my salary, I by no means leave myself tight for money. I can afford to save and to give myself a good quality of life, and I honestly don't think that spending more money on myself right now could make me happier than I am.

Moreover, saving actually makes me happier than spending everything I earn, because worry less about my day-to-day life in the knowledge that if something goes wrong, I have savings that I can fall back on until I get myself back on my feet. To me, it is worth living a little more frugally (while still enjoying a good quality of life) most of the time, to ensure that I don't have to worry about what happens if I lose my job, or fall ill, and can no longer support myself from day to day because I have no steady income. Perhaps that makes me 'insecure' but that's my choice.

I completely agree with this post - this is also the reason I save. I enjoy the fact that I can go to bed at night and not worry about financial things. If we surrounded ourselves with top of the range products, which we could afford as we have a reasonable amount of savings, would that make us any happier - no. Do we currently live a frugal lifestyle - not particulary.

I guess we all find happiness in different forms - part of my happiness comes from the security we now have. Four years ago we had virtually no savings, now I know we have sufficient savings for me not to work for 2 - 3 years.

jules73_2

In my 20's, I had the opinion of spend, spend, spend, you only live once and I might get run over by a bus tomorrow.
The only problem is, I didn't get run over by a bus, and ended up regretting the fact that I hadn't saved a bloody thing and had loans to pay off.
Yes, I had a great time going down the pub every night and riding the latest sports bikes, but I just wish a had a little bit of common sense.

I have now, at last, seen the light and own my own house, have no debt apart from the mortgage, and save my money. In all honesty, I get more enjoyment now from saving than I ever did spending and living with debts.

If you are a spender, it's hard to stop the habit, but if you learn to save and have the correct mindset, you will feel better about yourself.

tomstickland

It is very satisfying living a reasonable quality of life without playing the system or compromising morals. Saving is about getting a balance between thinking "I might die tomorrow" and planning for the future.