I’m interested to know what everyone is saving for, because I often hear that people want money and work like crazy to get it, but what is your ultimate goal?
Would the discussion belong under this thread? ![]()
@Lohis good clarification! I was just wondering if the thread starter could get similar information from that other thread. ![]()
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Back in the day, my annual income fluctuated from below the poverty line to decent middle-class levels. The situation was so unpredictable that I had to build up a financial buffer for that very reason. You never knew what the next year would bring.
Later, as the income fluctuations decreased, the goal has been to reduce the amount I work and its compulsory nature. Some call it financial independence.
Now, my next thought is to accumulate a financial cushion for my senior years, so I won’t have to choose between food and medicine. Fortunately, those days are still a long way off.
Saving and investing are two different things.
I invest money to achieve financial independence and so that I can one day live off investment income.
I save money to be able to purchase things. My latest big purchase was a new car, for which I had to save and, of course, also withdraw some capital from my investments.
I’m saving for my old age.
Living on just the guarantee pension isn’t great.
In the shorter term, I’m saving for vacations.
I saved / worked like crazy to get a decent-sized portfolio, a debt-free home, an apartment in Spain, and finally, I’m saving for retirement because it’s not going to be anything special.
For travel
Over the next 1.5 years, the destinations include Japan, Ireland, the Philippines, Iceland, and maybe a long weekend in New York, Dallas, or Los Angeles. So there’s plenty to save for ![]()
Stocks, then, are for the future. Retirement, a lighter workload, etc.
To freedom. Money buys freedom. With every larger purchase, I ask myself ten times: “Do I really have to buy this?” Most often, the answer is ultimately no, because I ask myself whether I’d rather be free or a prisoner of material things.
For traveling, on the other hand, I still try to allocate a reasonable amount of money, because that is freedom. Though I could perhaps scale back on that occasionally, as I’ve already seen quite a lot. The same goes for certain sports that give me a sense of freedom (ski touring, mountain biking, etc.).
Edit: I just read the Hesari (Helsingin Sanomat) article below; it brought to mind my own parents, parents-in-law, acquaintances, and many other elderly people. It’s grim. I’m certainly not saving for that age; I’m focusing on enjoying my healthy years.
Nice to hear what you’re saving/investing for; I’m still a young man, but I’ve managed to save up a bit of money already. My problem is that I love saving/investing, but I don’t know what I ultimately want that money for..
It’s always worth saving and investing, even if the purpose isn’t completely clear. I started young with the mentality of saving and investing for a rainy day and for unexpected expenses. Back then, I probably had cottages, cars, and houses in mind. I don’t think that way anymore. Unexpected things and expenses always come up in life, whether for yourself or those close to you. It’s a great feeling when someone needs help and you are able to help out.
Now, with over 10 years behind me, I see things differently and I’m grateful that I’ve saved and invested disciplinedly since I was young. It provides so many opportunities and such a great sense of freedom and security.
If I ever have too much to the point of it being a problem (which I don’t believe will happen), I can always give to charity or put the money back into circulation. ![]()
The goal, meaning, and purpose will surely become clearer over time.
For a rainy day.
And it’s worth mentioning that so far, there has been no need to open a second account after the previous one filled up.
Errol Flynn, b. 1909 and d. 1959. This would mean that I still have 4 years left ![]()
Let’s try to stretch the lifespan for another 35 years ![]()
For that steady peace of mind, not having to worry about how to pay the bills and how to get by if you become unemployed. Also, if you feel like traveling, you’d always have the financial readiness for it.
Money is a good servant but a bad master, meaning it will never be an end in itself for life, but rather a utility among others.
At the moment, a single larger savings target is a new car. I’ll probably take out a bit of a loan for it, even though I shouldn’t.
In the bigger picture, I’m saving so that when I’m older, it’ll be possible to do nice things, like travel or perhaps buy a summer cottage.
My primary savings goal is my own home. My wife and I have a separate ASP account for this, where we’ve definitely accumulated enough money for a home, but a loan hasn’t been granted yet due to unemployment. On the other hand, that’s actually quite fine considering the current situation with house prices and interest rates (which, then again, have simply returned to a more normal level).
The ASP account has been building up for about 8 years; initially, the monthly savings amount was higher, but now it’s just the minimum (€50 from both) per month, because we don’t really “need” more in that account. There are other reasons why we haven’t been granted a loan, and maybe we wouldn’t even want one right now… ![]()
Otherwise, my savings are just for a rainy day and for any more expensive purchases that might come to mind, but I’m not very quick to sell my savings/stocks for purchases
. I even wrote on the goals page that my strategy with my sh*tty stock portfolio is to sell everything by the time I’m 50 at the latest, and then we’ll use that money to go traveling as much as I can get from the stocks then… ![]()
Maybe two big things.
When I’m 60, I want to be able to choose for myself how much longer I continue working, or if I can already ease off.
In my youth, there was no money, and I don’t want to experience that oppressive feeling ever again.
I don’t really have any specific savings goal. I’ve also encountered this “I could buy that if I felt like it” mentality elsewhere, but it’s exactly this internal needs assessment that shuts down 95% of those ideas. Nowadays, my life has been settled by this phrase from [HS] or from work, when work got under my boss’s skin and he shouted, “it’s all the same shit.” You buy something, and then what? You just develop a new object of desire next, and the rat race is endless.
Wisdom familiar from the stock market, such as “don’t invest more than you can afford to lose,” is also in everyday use: Why, for example, take on a risk for which you have to separately acquire protection, if you can just avoid the risk altogether in the first place? Avoiding these unnecessary (unproductive) risks then, in terms of expected value, accumulates an extra buffer for the future (cf. when hedging), which serves as a buffer for larger risks that might be taken in the future.
Edit: 1: The whole message was sent unintentionally, 2: The link was sent half-finished.
