Why do I do what? Challenge the notion that we should live our lives like it is some sort of game where the goal is to get to some high score?

Just an innocent question...no reason to get mad.

Sorry if that seemed mad. It wasn't meant to sound that way. I was aiming for lighthearted.

no worries

Define modest, for i person who doesn't think most can live on 100k i doubt they could be "happy" as a senior on less then 100k a year when old..... which would require some significant savings

What I consider modest isn't really important -- the argument would be that the value of money is less. Modest would be relative to your current possible lifestyle.

I agree with this sentiment but I don't think you're looking at what I'm saying in the right light. I'm saying that assets should be going in an upward direction. I'll make some assumptions about you since you don't work and live a good lifestyle, like you have a lump of money or investments laying around. There must be some income or a way for that money to grow or slow down the rate at which you're spending it. I mean, you obviously are living on something, although I'm unsure what, and by no means am I trying to pry.

What I'm saying is that it seems like you're already in a spot where you have enough financial resources to provide the lifestyle you want. It's not like you have 30k cash and it's dwindling away week by week, right?

I have forfeited the notion of saving as a measure of creating wealth. Either you generate alpha or you get stooped out by inflation. And after looking at the long process of central banks and gov influences in the economy I'm pretty sure saving options don't produce returns above inflation in the long run. (maybe max 0,5% above but that's a big if).

Savings are a poor measure of how well you're doing and simple math is the best. Take your net pay and divide it by a average consumer basket for your area. Compare the ratio with your friends....

(just because you make a **** load of money and live paycheck to paycheck because of luxury cars doesn't mean anything. You're still doing very well but just getting exploited by other people via your ego.)

This entire post is nonsense.

wait wat?

If you think that saving any money (which leads to more money) is nonsense, then you're an idiot.

If you don't save money, you'll never have the power of turning that money into significant money through investments or opportunities. You can talk about conspiracy theories as long as you wish, but if you aren't putting aside a % of what you make, then you aren't getting ahead at all.

Again, what you said was complete nonsense.

I know what I said and this wasn't it. Don't project your thoughts to my post....
(and I agree with this post....except no conspiracy was mentioned)

edit: your are looking at saving rates from the USA perspective....while I'm inclined to look at it for a whole world where a **** load of people get wiped out in the long run

There's no reason to go on and on about this. If you don't save some money every month or just have a big chunk of money, you'll never have a large sum of money to "do something" with. If you never have an amount of money to "do something" with, you'll never be rich.

This isn't some biblical revelation. It's simple. If you have 3k to your name, you don't have a chance to make money. If you're 24 and save 3k a year, then in a few years you can actually make something out of that. In 7 years, you have 21k, which you can actively invest. If that turns out to get a decent return, 10 years from where you started you actually have a significant amount of money to play with.

Everything builds from savings rate. If you have no savings rate (or a big windfall), what do you have?

Please, enlighten us where you gain real wealth from without saving any money, because I must be doing something drastically wrong.

wil318466,

I do agree that you need to have resources available to you to take opportunities but I think the disagreement is over the percentage you save and what you do with it. Your view seems to imply a very high percentage of savings and a slow and steady attitude to investing. I think that front-loads too much of the sacrifice. It is just simple math -- with slow and stead over 25 years you have so much more at the end if you add a lot at the start so there is a lot of pressure to do so if your subscribe to this attitude. Early though also happens to be when you traditionally make the least and when spending brings the most value. For example, in high school I spent what at the time was probably a little more than 2/3s of my net-worth and maybe even 3/4s on a new car. I don't think your view would allow for that since **** can you imagine what those funds would be worth when I'm 50 if I had saved them and kept investing? Add in all the opportunity costs of paying for insurance on a sports car for a teen male and slow and stead will see me as an idiot for buying a car.

Ehh. I don't think 10-20% savings is all that much. It adds up over the years, and when you reach 30 or so it gives you a chance to take shots that can turn out really well.

I see your point though.