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Old 02-09-2014, 11:39 AM
 
Location: Warwick, RI
5,448 posts, read 6,236,688 times
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we continue to choose our life, family and the valuable opportunity called health and youth to pursue our avocations, desires and emotional wants with that money instead.
Well, that's fine I suppose, it's just that I choose to do the opposite. I work hard, and make it a priority to save and invest as much as possible while I'm young and able to work and earn money. We're no misers - we still take a family vacation every other year, drive newer model cars, go to the gym and enjoy active social lives, but we're making sure we save at every opportunity. I'll enjoy that money when I'm retired, and it will be nice knowing that I don't have to get up to go to work every day, and that we'll never be a burden to our children.
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Old 02-09-2014, 11:40 AM
 
13,721 posts, read 19,179,454 times
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Originally Posted by PAhippo View Post
or maybe it's just hard to think of the future when you find it hard to pay living expenses today.
That's what I was going to say. A lot of people are living paycheck to paycheck trying to keep up with today's bills. Saving for retirement is something they can put off, so that's what waits (and then never happens). They can't put off paying for housing, utilities, food, and transportation to and from work.
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Old 02-09-2014, 11:43 AM
 
13,721 posts, read 19,179,454 times
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Originally Posted by treasurekidd View Post
Well, that's fine I suppose, it's just that I choose to do the opposite. I work hard, and make it a priority to save and invest as much as possible while I'm young and able to work and earn money. We're no misers - we still take a family vacation every other year, drive newer model cars, go to the gym and enjoy active social lives, but we're making sure we save at every opportunity. I'll enjoy that money when I'm retired, and it will be nice knowing that I don't have to get up to go to work every day, and that's we'll will never be a burden to our children.

I think we are talking about three kinds of people - those who can save and do, those who can save and choose not to, and those who are struggling just to make ends meet, can't get ahead, and are never able to save for retirement. I know it all comes down to choices and that some people could make different choices (cheaper housing, inexpensive cars, no debt), but there really are people who are doing what they can and still can't get ahead enough to save for retirement.
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Old 02-09-2014, 11:49 AM
 
Location: Wouldn't you like to know?
9,116 posts, read 17,676,389 times
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Originally Posted by luzianne View Post
I think we are talking about three kinds of people - those who can save and do, those who can save and choose not to, and those who are struggling just to make ends meet, can't get ahead, and are never able to save for retirement. I know it all comes down to choices and that some people could make different choices (cheaper housing, inexpensive cars, no debt), but there really are people who are doing what they can and still can't get ahead enough to save for retirement.
Would have to say in every family there is room for sacrifice. Unfortunately, people don't want to take a second job, or get rid of digital cable, or use free lunches for school, or trade in that expensive truck the husband has.....that would be a good start in alot of cases...
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Old 02-09-2014, 11:54 AM
 
Location: Warwick, RI
5,448 posts, read 6,236,688 times
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but there really are people who are doing what they can and still can't get ahead enough to save for retirement
You can't afford not to - period. Look, I've been there, and I'm telling you it can be done. I don't make a lot of money - less than $70K last year, and my wife only works a few hours a week. We have 4 kids, and yet we still manage to live comfortably and save a decent amount every month. I've been on the other side of the fence, and it was only a matter of making a conscious decision to charge our financial habits that did it for us. If you want to do it, you can, you just have to make it a priority - and no amount of arguing will make me believe otherwise.
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Old 02-09-2014, 12:01 PM
 
Location: Wouldn't you like to know?
9,116 posts, read 17,676,389 times
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Originally Posted by treasurekidd View Post
You can't afford not to - period. Look, I've been there, and I'm telling you it can be done. I don't make a lot of money - less than $70K last year, and my wife only works a few hours a week. We have 4 kids, and yet we still manage to live comfortably and save a decent amount every month. I've been on the other side of the fence, and it was only a matter of making a conscious decision to charge our financial habits that did it for us. If you want to do it, you can, you just have to make it a priority - and no amount of arguing will make me believe otherwise.
ding ding ding......we have a winner!


And the other nice point about making that decision is that you never go back the other way...

It pisses me off big time if I have to pay full price for something for instance where if I could've planned a little better, I could've saved money....

I look at it as that money I'll need to live comfortably in my retirement someday.
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Old 02-09-2014, 12:04 PM
 
Location: Texas
44,256 posts, read 64,205,033 times
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People have a hard time delaying gratification bc their brains treat their future selves (even tomorrow morning's self) as a different person that is not you.
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Old 02-09-2014, 12:06 PM
 
Location: Texas
44,256 posts, read 64,205,033 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by luzianne View Post
That's what I was going to say. A lot of people are living paycheck to paycheck trying to keep up with today's bills. Saving for retirement is something they can put off, so that's what waits (and then never happens). They can't put off paying for housing, utilities, food, and transportation to and from work.
We can keep talking about this small group of people you guys are so obsessed with, bit that does not change the fact that MOST people could do better and make better decisions and choose not to.
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Old 02-09-2014, 12:25 PM
 
Location: Riverside Ca
22,146 posts, read 33,367,191 times
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Originally Posted by PAhippo View Post
or maybe it's just hard to think of the future when you find it hard to pay living expenses today.
Ok so what are living expenses?
Shelter
Utilities
Food
Those are your basic living requirements.


Most people cannot differentiate between a NEED and a WANT. When people want something it becomes a need. We all want things. It's really a matter of prioritizing your needs and wants. People justify buying things and the debt that usually goes hand in hand with those new things

I drive a 15 year old truck I bought used in cash. Runs absolutely fine. That same truck today would be about 57k. Thanks but no thanks. Do I want one? Sure. But I don't need one
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Old 02-09-2014, 01:45 PM
 
Location: moved
13,602 posts, read 9,639,208 times
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There is no obvious or universal solution to the tension between living for the present and living for the future. It’s true that climbing Mt. Everest or sailing around the world is unlikely in one’s 70s. But I’d argue that the purpose of “saving for retirement” isn’t to become a codger-playboy or to secure oneself from fretting over economic vicissitudes in one’s declining years. Rather, it is the achievement value of having money, of being able to say that one built something from nothing, something substantial, over the tenure of many decades, many bull markets and bear markets. Undoubtedly it is better to become a great novelist, inventor, scientist, architect; money by itself does not form a noble monument. But the purpose isn’t to impress others. It is for oneself. And whereas few can become great by the deployment of their talents, many more can achieve a justified self-satisfaction from patience and tenacity, from the quiet discipline of saving and the decent sense of risk-managed investment.

Speaking for myself, I lack the wisdom to spend money. I do not ski, or sail, or fancy rare and pricey things. Great art escapes me, jewelry strikes me as dainty fragile things to be lost or broken. I’d spill my coffee on a fancy suit, allow sludge to build up in the engine of a thoroughbred sports car. I’d chafe under the burden of paying exorbitant property tax for a fine estate. And even a first-class seat won’t save me from indignities meted out by the TSA, delayed flights, confusing airports, poor maintenance or foul weather. I save without compulsion, because spending offers no tangible reward. The money is merely there to make more money, as every building-stone serves merely to support the one above. For other people, this attitude would be crude and idiotic. They have dependents, expenses, causes to support, neighbors to impress, new technologies or amusements to try. Their vigor as consumers precludes the vigor for saving. I do not judge them. But I do wonder, which is worse: to die regretting to have insufficiently spent, or to live for decades after having spent one’s last?
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