Weekend Wars: Saving vs. Spending
Money. To spend or to save? That is today's question.
I thought that it was pretty a safe assumption to make that most people look at spending as a fun luxury and saving as a tedious necessity, but for the first time in my life I met someone who felt differently. Someone who genuinely finds it fun to save his money and even looks at it as his personal hobby and interest. I have to say that I was dumbfounded and couldn't understand his views...Why am I not surprised that he is a banker?
Rather than espouse my spendthrift values or regurgitate the conversation I had with this gentleman, I would like to hear how you guys feel about this idea. Can saving actually be fun? I understand the satisfaction derived from having cash on hand. I am fully aware that having money saved allows you to spend on things that you like later on. Still, I am not quite clear as to how saving itself can be an enjoyable activity?
I have always seen money as a means to an end, so no matter how much I made...I always enjoyed spending it more. I realize that with money being the essential draw of working on Wall Street there are bound to be diverging views on the subject. We all work to make money no matter what our industry of choice. I do think, however, that financial professionals have a different attitude towards money than the masses.
Now, we all get wrapped up in our own view of the world from time to time. I am no different. Perhaps my attitude towards the spend vs. save argument is the outlier and I just don't know it.
What do you guys think? Can saving be fun and if so, does it validate the notion of so many on The Street who say that: it is not really about the money?
I really do try to save wherever I can, whenever I can. A good example is at the store when I'm grocery shopping -- for each item I purchase I look around on the shelf to see if there is a comparable item on sale that week. There almost always is, so I always go with the on-sale item. I'm not one of those people who are brand-loyal. With that being said, I'm not cheap either. If I go out to have fun on the weekend, I will not go out of my way to save a couple bucks per drink -- I get what I want.
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I'm definitely more of a saver than a spender--once in a while, I splurge. It's probably a carryover from my high school days, when a history teacher drilled into our heads the beautiful concept of COMPOUND INTEREST and DIVIDEND REINVESTMENT. He also talked about his own personal rule of thumb, to save half of whatever money you receive.
It still sticks.
Yes. I've spent like 20k in the past 8 months. I have enough saved that I can actually program trade my savings while I'm at work (not securities though...very niche market(s) that I don't feel like revealing). It's been decently profitable.
Hooray saving!
Whenever I spend a lot on something, I almost always feel a little anxiety.
live like no one else, and later you can live like no one else...corny but true.
Investing and growing your money can be a lot of fun. I think both saving and spending should be fun.
Think about all those guys who have more money than they know what to do with but they still go to work to manage other people's money (i.e. Buffet, Schwartzman, Kravis, Robertson, etc.); it's because, to them, it's a fun game.
Think about how stupid some of the things people like are. I'm sure some people here like World of Warcraft. I've never played but I remember when I used to see my roommate playing it way back in college I always thought, "wow, how tedious, you collect all these xp and spells and what not...seems boring and job-like to me".
I like finding value in a deal. Also I don't like giving my money to a company because of its name. On the weekends, I find road bikes around town and sell them to hipsters at twice the cost, easiest money ever.
I don't save shit since the world is going to end in 2012 anyway.
It is fun- its kind of like getting a high score in a video game, except that score is financial security. And being liquid, with money in the bank and liquid securities means you are never going to be those asshats on those "real housewives" shows that have a million dollar mortgage, a pair of Benz's, yet are two paychecks away from bankruptcy.
A few years ago, when you could get close to 5% interest rates, it was a lot of fun for me after accumulating significant cash in money market accounts to say to myself that a dinner or something I bought was paid for by the interest I made that month. I still kind of can, as I do have a significant amount invested in high yielding stocks, but it was a lot more satisfying when it was as simple a calculation as I have X thousand in the bank getting Y%.
This topic has been discussed here before, but I must say I get a lot of satisfaction when people start flashing status symbol type stuff around or talk about how much they make, and I just sit there and smile knowing that I probably have more in the bank than they do yet they probably think I am poorer than them because I don't have a 10k watch on my wrist.
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