What is the purpose of savings and assets?

[donheff]

I second (or third) the "do without it" school. Lots of things we like are not important to us at all. Worrying that we won't be able to cover the essentials is.

 

[2B]

I was convinced this was a post from imoldernu, until I saw that it had been posted by Ha. Quite a shock to the old system to see a post from Ha, written in a style that is not the norm for him.

It's far too short for imoldernu.

 

[Lsbcal]

The purpose of savings and assets:

All of the above reasons given plus
... so we can have the pleasure of posting
to the FIRE and Money forum
about our musings on money, spending it, keeping some.

 

[Meadbh]

It's far too short for imoldernu.

 

[unno2002]

Savings and other assets are just a means of storing my labor performed during a time when I can work, for later when I cannot or do not want to.

 

[ArkTinkerer]

I'm reminded of a discourse in a personal finance book. The author recounted the story of how a family patriarch had passed down to his children some IBM stock with the admonition to "never sell the IBM stock!". They dutifully followed that advice for three generations. The author then listed all the needs that went unfilled because the families would not sell the stock. The child who didn't get a college education, the sale of a family home, etc. The obvious point is to remember that money/assets are tools to be used when needed. Not things to hoard for their own sake.

 

[2B]

I'm reminded of a discourse in a personal finance book. The author recounted the story of how a family patriarch had passed down to his children some IBM stock with the admonition to "never sell the IBM stock!". They dutifully followed that advice for three generations. The author then listed all the needs that went unfilled because the families would not sell the stock. The child who didn't get a college education, the sale of a family home, etc. The obvious point is to remember that money/assets are tools to be used when needed. Not things to hoard for their own sake.

I know someone that inherited a large amount of Dow Chemical stock which is where there father had worked. He was also supposed to keep the stock forever. Once he got the stock in his control, he immediately diversified out of Dow Chemical into a diversified portfolio. He hasn't told his mother but he intends to do the same with his share of her stock when she passes away.

 

[Huston55]

Sigh. Why must everything have a purpose? Can't it just "be"?

We're talking about "assets" not Congress.

 

[MooreBonds]

Money is like my mother's fine china -- never to be used, but to be comforted in the fact that one has it in the cabinet, just in case someone important should come for dinner.

LOL! I often felt like this...but as the stash is growing over time, I've found myself to be ever-so-slightly more liberal with my expenditures.

Granted, my light loosening of the belt still makes me more frugal than probably 85% of the people in this country...but it's nonetheless still a slight relaxation.

I'll be in the camp of actually forcing myself to upgrade my lifestyle once I reach ER to spend 3% of my portfolio. Of course, I say that as a single guy, who hopes to be married with a few kids in the future. So, depending on how on-board my future Mrs. MooreBonds is in this camp, I might have an involuntary revision of my answer above.

 

[Cobra9777]

So Ha, what is not to like about Costco - free "hors d'oeuvres", food and gas at prices barely above cost, $5 deli chickens, 2% cash back memberships that can be used with a 2% cash back AM Ex card, and employees paid a living wage.

Charlie Munger shops at Costco:
USA TODAY Education - Careers TODAY

He has said "I believe Costco does more for civilization than the Rockefeller Foundation."
Munger Says Costco Beats Charity as Buffett Signs Up Donors - Bloomberg

Why pay more at other stores for the same items? If nothing else you could always give the savings to charity. Our local Costco has a lot of healthy, organic products at discount prices.

Bridgette pretty much sums it up for me: Top 10 reasons I hate Costco

 

[dtbach]

The purpose to me was to be able to sing this little ditty walking away from work on the last day:

 

[haha]

Bridgette pretty much sums it up for me: Top 10 reasons I hate Costco

Pretty much gets my feelings also. Between continuing to work and not having to shop at Costco, or retiring and having to shop at Costco (or worse yet Wal-Mart) I would take the no-Costco choice. It's just a personality flaw, maybe even a disorder.

Ha

 

[Amethyst]

So I can retire and shop at the box store (BJs in our case, not Costco) on weekdays when it's not crowded. Seriously, arrive at 9 a.m., in and out in 35 minutes with 2 weeks' worth of provender. Oh, and we haven't seen the weird little guy who tried to run races with Mr. A. since we quit going there on Saturdays. That's OK; let him own Saturdays!

Amethyst

 

[longinvest]

The purpose is to reach financial independence (still in accumulation stage).

 

[daylatedollarshort]

So I can retire and shop at the box store (BJs in our case, not Costco) on weekdays when it's not crowded. Seriously, arrive at 9 a.m., in and out in 35 minutes with 2 weeks' worth of provender. Oh, and we haven't seen the weird little guy who tried to run races with Mr. A. since we quit going there on Saturdays. That's OK; let him own Saturdays!

Amethyst

Yeah, I could see not shopping there if I had to take little kids and shop on Saturdays. But it is fine at our local store going on weekdays. We don't have an issue with parking or long lines on week days during most people's working hours or after 7 pm.

 

[sengsational]

So, without a second thought, add something from my wish list on Amazon so to get to the $35 free shipping threashold.

 

[Walt34]

All of the above. Mostly having options.

Oh, about people who just stand there apparently thinking "Should I block this aisle or go over there and block that one?"

I don’t get it. They just stand there. Maybe their cart is stuck in gum. Maybe they have short-circuited and just shut down. Maybe they are self-centered jerks who don’t care they are blocking everyone behind them. Whatever the case, I hate them.

No sure if this should go in the "Pet Peeve" thread or "What Laws Do You Think Should be Broken?" thread. But those people should be taken out and put in stocks. And not the financial kind.

 

[Moemg]

For me it is a safety net for when things go wrong .

 

[Amethyst]

Those folks don't bother me; but put them in the stocks next to the stocks holding bad people who sit there on the circuit weight machines, twiddling their toys or just staring into space, and I'll help you throw rotten tomatoes at them.

Amethyst

All of the above. Mostly having options.

Oh, about people who just stand there apparently thinking "Should I block this aisle or go over there and block that one?"



No sure if this should go in the "Pet Peeve" thread or "What Laws Do You Think Should be Broken?" thread. But those people should be taken out and put in stocks. And not the financial kind.

 

[martyp]

Peace of mind for the future

 

[splitwdw]

I can remember overhearing my parents talking about a neighbor that had run out of money in retirement and was deeply in debt. Scared the heck out of me that "they" could sell all your possessions and take you home to settle your debts. Scared of what could happened to me if I didn't save.

I was convinced this was a post from imoldernu, until I saw that it had been posted by Ha. Quite a shock to the old system to see a post from Ha, written in a style that is not the norm for him.

I too thought this was imoldernu and when I saw it was HaHa I assumed that Anonymous hacked his account.

 

[ESRwannabe]

It all comes down to one word for me... security.

I'm on track to be able to switch to early semi retirement sometime in my 40s using just my taxable investments, but that's not my main goal. The goal is to have that as an option, not necessarily to actually do it.

I work in IT which can be a difficult industry to stay in long term. I have always been paranoid about layoffs, job being outsourced, job being made obsolete through technology changes, etc...

Then there is the added stress from the work itself. I could walk into work one day and have some kind of catastrophe happen to an important server and for whatever reason not be able to fix the problem. That could be the end of my employment.

If you don't work in IT then you have no idea how precarious it sometimes feels keeping things working... Higher ups don't understand nor appreciate the importance of the work. To them spending money on IT is like throwing it down a rat hole. So you never have enough money to do things properly. Sometimes you have be like MacGyver... keeping crap running with duct tape.

I sometimes wonder/hope that places like Vanuguard, where I have almost half a million in assets, do not run their IT environment as underfunded/unappreciated as most companies seem to do...

 

[scrabbler1]

The purpose to me was to be able to sing this little ditty walking away from work on the last day:

"I'm Free!" is what I shouted out when I entered my apartment after my last trip home on the trains from work. I nearly broke down and cried on that final trip home so I needed a release after that last commute.

 

[Huston55]

If you don't work in IT then you have no idea how precarious it sometimes feels keeping things working... Higher ups don't understand nor appreciate the importance of the work. To them spending money on IT is like throwing it down a rat hole. So you never have enough money to do things properly. Sometimes you have be like MacGyver... keeping crap running with duct tape.

I sometimes wonder/hope that places like Vanuguard, where I have almost half a million in assets, do not run their IT environment as underfunded/unappreciated as most companies seem to do...

OK, now I'm worried...really worried.

 

[Senator]

If you don't work in IT then you have no idea how precarious it sometimes feels keeping things working...

IT is definitely not the place from years ago. Way too much imported labor, and the imported labor is up to date on newer technologies, and is using it regularly. You cannot compete with someone who is being paid in something other than money, the ability to become a US citizen.

Even if you train for new skills, the experience using them is not easy to come by, unless you switch jobs. You can advance, to a systems or applications architect, or management, but there are not as many of those jobs out there either.

I am an IT guy. Being FI is a great way to not worry about that anymore. I pity the new workers of America.

I can sense that at some point, these new workers of America, from all the lower wage occupations, will rise up and switch our form of Government forever.