Why I Care About Saving

This is Brian Baugh again. After my post a few days ago, there have been a lot of comments addressing why I care so much about saving money. People brought up the good point that there is no reason to save money if you never intend to spend it. I thought I'd address a few of these points.

I fully intend to spend my money. If I didn't intend to spend money, I would simply work less so that I could spend more time with the family.

My philosophy is that I deny many small things which I don't care about in order to buy big things which I do care about. The things that I don't care about are eating out, having a big TV, having nice cars, wearing the latest clothes, having 1000 HD channels, etc, etc. Here are a few of the big things that I am planning on using my money for :

• A house. I realize that I could spend frivilously and eventually get into a house in 20 years, but I'm not that patient; I want to get into a house sooner. Living frugally will enable me to do so.
• Retirement. I don't want to work at the age of 65-70 like some of my coworkers. I want to retire at a reasonable age. I don't know about you, but I would rather be serving a mission in retirement than working at Walmart at 65 because I didn't save enough. I'd rather be travelling the country to see my grandchildren in my retirement.
• Safety net. I don't know about you, but I have a HUGE piece of mind when I realize that I could be laid off tomorrow, and still be able to provide for my family for over 2 years without income. This freedom will enable me to take my time to find my next job instead of committing to the first job offer that comes my way.
• Vacations. I love vacations. Some of my best memories as a kid were of being on vacations with my family.
• Paying for kids. Kids are going to get a lot more expensive once they get older and start going to college, wrecking cars, and going on missions. Savings will definitely help here.
• Spend more time with family. If you learn to consume less, you could afford to work less. This will enable you to spend more time with your family, which is what is really important. Could I sacrifice a plasma TV to spend more time with my family...I hope so.

As you can see, I fully intend to use my money for good causes. In my mind, it just clicks for me. I deny myself simple pleasures (which I don't really really really enjoy) like eating out so that I can realize my long-term goals more quickly. I don't deny myself anythign that I need or that I really want. The long-term goals are what is important to me. For some people, they prefer eating out and having nice cars to having a safety net in case of job loss or buying a house. I don't.

When I served my mission in Chile, I met families living in poverty who were happier than any family that I've ever met in the US. Money can't create happiness, but the lack of it can create misery.

I've never met a person who has claimed to have too much in savings. I have met countless people who have spent too much money on frivilous items which have prevented them from reaching their long-term goals.

The last point I want to bring home is that living frugally has not negatively affected my hapiness one bit. In fact, it has done quite the opposite. Knowing that I'm working towards my long-term goals is incredibly liberating to me. Was anyone else frugal in college? Those were some of the best times of my life.

Sorry about the random collection of thoughts, but I had to respond to the comments. I am a firm believer in financial freedom/independence. Living frugally is a very important part of that goal.

- Brian