Can Savings be just as bad as Debt?

N1AK

latecomer wrote: »

I always dreamed of owning a real fast car and now that I'm in the position to do so (albeit an older one) I cant face spending the money on something that has no real monetary value to me........

The money often holds more meaning when you have laboured to earn it so it isn't surprising that the thought of spending large sums of it is harder to justify afterwards

YoungBusinessman

Paying deposit was justified as I couldn't wait to get my own property. Now it feels like I'm cheating if I don't save x amount of salary. I really don't want to turn out like my parents- literally ran out of money two or three times, they owe me £3,000 which I doubt I will ever see again. So my desire to save comes from that aswel and once I hit 5 figures this year, I never want to drop below it again.

neil324

Savings can exclude you from means tested benefits.

neil324

evenasus wrote: »

It's strange, but seeing a drop in total savings fall when buying, say a new car for husband.

Yet seeing a drop when buying for my sons & grandchildren - I don't think about it.

Marriage, don't you love it.

blizeH

I think it's very important to strike a balance between enjoying the money you earn, and also putting money by for a rainy day (or a bigger house, early retirement etc) and I've definitely fallen more into the latter category than the former.

Saying that, there are far worse addictions than saving money...

latecomer

N1AK wrote: »

The money often holds more meaning when you have laboured to earn it so it isn't surprising that the thought of spending large sums of it is harder to justify afterwards

Very true - that said I've found out that the the car I particularly yearn after is going up in value so I could just about call it an investment......

droopsnoot

I do wonder if the OP was talking about me, I have saved almost to the exclusion of everything else since the first company I worked for starting getting into difficulties and I had a large credit card balance - £300-odd was large for a c/c balance in those days.

Now I find myself obsessing over what interest I'm earning on the money and how to increase that. I also enjoy cars and could now afford to buy something very special indeed, but (with the exception of the select few models) I would be constantly thinking about how much it's lost in value. My current daily driver has been mine for 8-odd years, and I'm still annoyed that I 'fell for it' and bought something relatively expensive which has retained almost none of its value. On the plus side, the rate at which it drops in value is decreasing now.

£150 on a bottle of vodka? I thought the only way to pay that was to buy it in a pub, a shot at a time.