Anyone else obsessed with saving?

[samiwas]

Wow, how do you manage to save 50%? That's very impressive regardless of your salary.

I would think that if you made enough, saving 50% would be easy. Maybe it's because I have no real desire to live the big life, with multiple fancy cars or big mansions. Even if I made a million a year, I think I would still live in a large "normal" house with maybe a cabin in the mountains. Big estates are just too much to deal with, and I wouldn't want that. And I have no interest in fancy cars. If I made even $200,000 a year, I think I would be saving a large percentage of that.

My current savings plan is to save enough to pay enough to get out of the house I'm in and into a nicer, slightly larger one.

 

[d4rkc4sm]

save up for a nice headstone

 

[jaynone]

Wow, how do you manage to save 50%? That's very impressive regardless of your salary.

I wouldn't say I'm obsessed by any means. Concerned is more like it. I was an impulse buyer a large part of my life, and living check to check just sucks.

I save 75%

I also live on the road most of the year, and have no expenses other than my cellphone.

The problem is that I can't do it forever.

 

[Synchromesh]

True - it never met a gas station it didn't like. And at a current $4.20 a gallon getting...shall we say... less than Prius mileage, it does run up.

However, the cost of the car was remarkable. The sticker was 65K, and was 3 model years old when I bought it. Here's the best part...only 6,000 miles on it, and after some pathetic dickering on my part, (not including trade in) I paid $30,000 for it.

I realize that's not exactly a giveaway, but it's a lot of car for 30K.

However, you are right. If I were driving a $20,000 car, payments would be cheaper and so would gas.

BTW: All upkeep was covered, up to two months ago.

You know, you could've bought a $6K Miata, put another $10K into upgrades and rip an average M-roadster to complete shreds on the track or street. And have a much more reliable car to boot. There is a reason why BMWs lose so much in value in first few years. That would be saving money.

If you wanted to go newer car route, you could get a WRX for about $25K. Sure it won't be a roadster but at least it will be practical and won't fall apart after 100K like your average newer BMW. And then you could tweak it a beat and still tear that M-roadster to shreds.

 

[Macman45]

Thanks, no worries, mate. I never could have afforded it new, no matter how much I didn't save.

As far as out of warrantee goes...for routine maintenance I plan on using a local garage with mechanics trained in BMW servicing...but not the dealership!

The M is one hell of a car. when I was still driving , I had the M5 touring. Insanely quick car, But much too fond of visits to the gas station. I did take it to a track day once. The result? Soiled clothing, and a new set of tyres @ £300.00 each.

I gave up driving on Doctors orders a few years back, but still miss the car. Is yours the soft top?

 

[-aggie-]

I don’t ever use credit any more, so I save for things I want. I’m “obsessed” with retiring.

 

[Blue Monkey]

I find that I'm constantly saving since I already own most of the things I want or need (HDTV, PS3, Xbox 360, MacBook Air, iPad, and iPhone).

Some of my friends are in their late twenties or early thirties and don't have a 6 month emergency fund. Even worse, some are still in credit card debt in the thousands.

The one benefit of saving is that I can make a medium sized purchase like an HDTV and MacBook and pay it in full. The negative is that I rarely buy anything because I pretty much have everything I want so all I do is keep saving.

Anyone else like this?

I do the same. When I do buy something I splurge a little because I want quality. I always do a lot of research and buy the best I can for the price range I'm looking in. And there's nothing wrong with being smart with your money and having an emergency fund. You never know what could happen.

 

[dukebound85]

I am though I did break down and bought a new car (sub 20k) as my old 1990 car I had for 11 years was getting to be too unreliable to be practical/counted on

While I love the car, it did take me from a positive net worth to negative by a few grand (defined as bank amt - (school loan+car loan+cc)) and does somewhat irritate me that I am negative.

However, in my neck of the woods, a car is pretty essential and when I was looking, a used car a few years old with modest miles was in the same ballpark as a new one.

In terms of liquidity, I have decent amt at my disposal, as well as the ability to sell my car if need be.

FWIW, I am 26 and a grad student

 

[(marc)]

I'm not obsessed with saving, but I still save a little, mostly because I don't know what to spend the money on. Usually I don't even know how much money I have in my account, since I only check about once every two months...

 

[Macman45]

I tend to save when I want to purchase something specific....The ipad3 is on my list at the moment, so I cut down on luxury stuff, and resist the temptation to order Pizza, fried chicken etc.

DAMN, now I'm hungry...

 

[Shrink]

The M is one hell of a car. when I was still driving , I had the M5 touring. Insanely quick car, But much too fond of visits to the gas station. I did take it to a track day once. The result? Soiled clothing, and a new set of tyres @ £300.00 each.

I gave up driving on Doctors orders a few years back, but still miss the car. Is yours the soft top?

Yup!

Nifty in warm weather. Of course, in New England, that amounts to about 22 minutes a year...but what the hell.