Quote:
Originally Posted by disneysteve
I understand what you're saying, but I think it makes a whole lot more sense to save for a year and then go, then save for another year and go again, than to go on credit and take a year to repay, then go on credit again and take a year to repay. If you can afford to make the payments, you can afford to save in advance. That way you also don't pay the interest (you collect it instead) and, if something were to happen along the way and you needed the money for a more urgent problem, you'd have it.
The couple in my example are totally "live for today" kinds of people. I'm willing to bet they have little if anything saved for the future.
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I generally agree with what you are saying.
On a side note, I tend to think sometimes that these types of posts are subtle jabs at the masses, and meant to put ourselves (those with money and savings) above the rest of the fray. I am not accusing anyone of doing this on purpose, just that it might be out there. I know I have to check myself sometimes, keeping myself from sitting a top my financial mountain and summarily passing judgement on all the dumb peasants out there frittering all their money away. I am the smart one, they are just stupid, just look at how they spend their money.
I am not saying anyone in this thread has said that or implied it, but I will definitely raise my hand and tell you that those thoughts creep into my head a lot when I run into many of the cases that posters have outlines in this thread. I have to remind myself that my way isn't the absolute right way all of the time and for every person, and that I am not a "better" person just on the grounds that I am financially responsible, whereas they may not be.
I think we too often ignore how people are brought up. Many of you on this thread are die hard savers and proud to be so, also claim that you got many of those traits from how your parents raised you. I think we often tend to ignore that the flip side is probably also true for many of these people. It doesn't necessarily justify their actions or rationale by any means, but it does lend some perspective.