Recently I’ve begun to wonder why I make the personal finance choices that I do such as understanding my need for early retirement. If I can understand why I make theses choices then I can be in a better position to make these decisions and adapt quickly.
Why People Save
Now I’ve begun to wonder why do I save? For me saving falls into three categories:
- Fun – There are people out there who have made a game out of saving. Their enjoyment stems from finding new and interesting ways to save and watching their bank account grow. Overall I think this is probably a healthy reason if you enjoy doing it.
- Fear – Most savings motivation probably stems from fear. Fear of the unknown and saving to compensate for that fear. Its good to have a small amount of fear in everything you do but if left unchecked it can get out of control. Try not to turn into misers afraid of spending a dime until eventually you go the way of the Collyer brothers.
- Just Because – Some save just because. They aren’t really fearful and they don’t enjoy doing it. They do it because its the responsible thing to do. You save for retirement, build an emergency fund, save for your child’s education, etc.
For me
My savings seems to stem from both fear and just because. My savings goal is to achieve early retirement but not really. I’ve discussed in the past that I would love to spend time traveling the world so my savings is less about early retirement and more about the freedom to travel.
Fear comes into play in the sense that it keeps me from doing extensive traveling now. There is nothing that says I can’t work part time and save enough to start traveling now. The only thing holding me back is not knowing. I can’t bring myself to do it without the security of having income to support us. The key is not letting this fear consume me and enjoy small aspects of my retirement now.
Talk Back:
Look deep down inside and ask yourself honestly “Why Do I Save?” I’d love you hear you reason.
{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
I think I’d fall under “Just Because”… it’s a good thing to not have to be concerned about every little emergency that comes up, if you have a little bit stowed up for such.
Blessings,
Chris
To answer your question, I would have to say the reasons I save are a combination of the three categories you mentioned plus one of my own: Guilt. I feel guilty sometimes for spending frivolously & so if I have a bit of extra money at the end of the month, I feel too guilty to spend it on myself – so into savings it goes!
I think I save for fun. I’m a numbers guy and enjoy watching my balance and net worth grow.
Mostly for fear, actually. Money is not happiness, but it is a form of power and I am “afraid” of not having freedom to do what I want to do.
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