[miclason]

..hmm...this may sound weird, but there's also a sense of one's own mortality involved ("You can't take it with you") and, no, you can't take the stuff you buy either, but, you get to "enjoy" the $$$...I don't know if this is true in the US or other countries, but it's true where I live...this sense of mortality is also apparent here in smaller things, like saying: "Take care" everytime you say good-bye...or, if someone says: "See you!" the other person's response, most of the time, will be: "If it's God's will!"....this stems from our war years...

Another aspect of it might be the fear of getting older...just like some people don't draw up wills because they are afraid to even contemplate the possibility of death, saving for when you are older implies that you recognize you WILL be old someday!!

Also, there is the glorification of recklessness...we have been conditioned to admire people who are daring, who take risks, who don't care about tomorrow...we have romaticized this figure, and, of course, s/he is not a saver!!

These are just disconnected thoughts, of course, but they come from attitudes I have seen around me towards money saving...