Do you find it easy to save?

[unclemick]

Quote:

Originally Posted by NW-Bound I thought you live IN the French Quarter.

Nope. 14 hrs 28 minutes from my driveway per Map Quest. Moved a tad inland after Katrina - on a hill in Missouri.



heh heh heh - Only two trips back this year - trying to break the habit.

[popowich]

Yes, in fact I increased my 401K contribution rate 2% today and added an extra $50 to the automated debit from my checking to my savings account that happens after each paycheck. I won't miss it, and every little bit helps!

-Raymond

[Eagle43]

All my dividends get re-invested. So far, anyway. Saving (LBYM) defeats being poor. I have, as the say goes, "been there, done that."

[Walt34]

Quote:

Originally Posted by DallasGuy I know some people that absolutely can not control their spending under any circumstances. I think they missed out on the frugal gene, just as I missed out on the spending gene.

DW and I wonder about those people as well. One couple we know is in their late 50s and are $500k in debt. He's a carpenter - apparently a very good one and is paid very well - she just retired as a math teacher. That's the part that astonishes me. She MUST know what they're spending on interest payments! But they "gotta" have their expensive trips and baubles and when they get the "I wanna..." they just charge it and have pulled all the equity out of their home to repeatedly pay off credit cards.

Absolutely incomprehensible to me.:confused:

[Puzzley]

We found it very difficult to save, especially in the early years when we were a lot more worried about where the next weeks groceries were coming from rather than saving anything. As I went from farming (a deficit) to corporate work (a surfeit) we became able to save, and the best way for us was to have it deducted before we ever saw it. I have participated in every possible retirement and savings vehicle my employer offered, and have tried to absolutely max them out, since we had to do so much catching up. So, as my income increased, we tried to not spend the increase, and save it, constantly increasing our contributions to various plans. As an example, we have saved EVERY bonus I have ever received in this manner. It has enabled me to FIRE (4 more months to go), although not really very early. I'll be 64 in January...

[aida2003]

So far it's been easy saving. We'll see how things will change after I deliver the 2nd child. I'm not looking for school age when kids experience strong peer pressure for consumerism and how we'll manage to teach/explain otherwise .

It was easy to save because my spouse and I canNOT stand shopping. We just despise it. I get stressed out if I need to go to a department store. But I'm OK to go to Goodwill once in a while to see what clothes I might get for kiddos .

But we do budget for vacation because we like traveling. So we rather spend for experiences vs. material things unless it's necessary.

[ikubak]

I find it almost impossible NOT to save. It's almost a compulsion and I just wonder what I will be like when I retire. In retirement, I won't have any income to stash away and it might take me a while to adjust to that. Currently DW and I save about 20% of our pretax income and that goes into retirement accounts. We save about 20% of our take home pay as well.