Can Savings be just as bad as Debt?

coastline

Looking at the link below...11 million adults have no savings at all...which they say is around 30% of adults...
Add in the folk who have a few thousand pounds and probably 50% of the population have little or no savings...
Basically just save what you can and enjoy life...no need to worry..

http://moneyfacts.co.uk/news/savings/eleven-million-adults-have-no-savings250612/

Any

When you are out and about unexpectedly and you are really really thirsty to the point where your throar is so dry you cannot talk and you still don't feel that spending 19p on bottle of water from B&M store is justifiable because at home it is free (while having no debt and the 19p will just go into savings account), then you know you are too far gone the other way...
(I've seen this happen, the person was out in town without a drink for 6 hours)

I hope I never go too far. I like to think I am not anyaway. Yes, I do think twice about spending every pound, I do not buy only Tesco Finests (even though I could possibly afford it) or don't shop just in M&S and I do chase special offers, but not to the extent that I stop having a life..

pqrdef

quantic wrote: »

Its funny, I have started to realise how luck based money can be

That's how the word fortune changed its meaning. Long before house prices, the dinner-table obsession of the gentry was how easily people's financial situations changed.

Alex92_2

somethingcorporate wrote: »

£150 for a bottle of vodka? you have some weird friends. The only people I know do stupid stuff like that are bankers and that is because they are rolling in it

If you are worried about it then treat yourself with some of it (just a little). If you feel guilty for spending a little then saving is probably better for you.

Not bankers.. close.. Recruiters/Headhunters. One of the guys there has just turned 22 and is earning £920k a year. Another guy has a £250k a year gambling problem and has to go to rehab a few days a month. Seems every weekend one of them racks up a bar tab of over £20k.
It's crazy to me. Why not do something useful with that money? Or put it away for a retirement/pension scheme. Each to their own though!

I find that to keep it 'healthy' if i've saved really well for the month, I will reward myself with something that I want. Maybe a little clothes shopping spree, new bag, taking the girlfriend out to dinner. Something like that. Helps remind me that im not living in total poverty and I actually do have a salary to pay for things with haha

quantic

Alex92 wrote: »

Not bankers.. close.. Recruiters/Headhunters. One of the guys there has just turned 22 and is earning £920k a year. Another guy has a £250k a year gambling problem and has to go to rehab a few days a month. Seems every weekend one of them racks up a bar tab of over £20k.
It's crazy to me. Why not do something useful with that money? Or put it away for a retirement/pension scheme. Each to their own though!

I find that to keep it 'healthy' if i've saved really well for the month, I will reward myself with something that I want. Maybe a little clothes shopping spree, new bag, taking the girlfriend out to dinner. Something like that. Helps remind me that im not living in total poverty and I actually do have a salary to pay for things with haha

Pretty crazy that, makes us mere mortals look like we are in poverty! Its all relative I suppose...

evenasus

I do like to see our savings grow but we also do not scrimp. We buy anything we actually want.

I've just been sitting with my husband, going over all the savings accounts.
Trying to decide on what to do with bonds that have, or are about to mature.

Fixed rates? - which banking organisation - how many years etc.
Money can be a pain sometimes.

gadgetmind

quantic wrote: »

How do you guys strike a happy balance?

Simple, we don't!

grey_gym_sock

gadgetmind wrote: »

Simple, we don't!

so long as it's a happy un-balance, that's fine

gadgetmind

Yes, happily unbalanced, that's me!

Hermia

I think I'd rather be OCD-like with money in the bank than OCD-like and owing money!

Any wrote: »

When you are out and about unexpectedly and you are really really thirsty to the point where your throar is so dry you cannot talk and you still don't feel that spending 19p on bottle of water from B&M store is justifiable because at home it is free (while having no debt and the 19p will just go into savings account), then you know you are too far gone the other way...
(I've seen this happen, the person was out in town without a drink for 6 hours)

I do know people like this. A colleague spent last winter shivering and miserable in her house because she won't put any heating on despite having tens of thousands in savings. I think some people just have obsessive tendencies and anything can push them over the edge including saving. I do think some people start out frugal and end up mean.