What motivates you to save money?
This question probably brings out a big variety of answers. We all have different life experiences, family situations, quality of health, etc. Additionally, no two people are exactly alike in terms of personal values and dreams. Sure, there are probably some similarities, including some close ones. But our unique lives lead us to some different financial motivators.
What truly drives one person to save money might be different than what impacts the next person. That is, if that person is motivated to save at all. Clearly, looking at our personal savings rates here in the US (and Canada, for that matter) compared to global savings rates, this might not apply to all of us!
Anyway, being in the camp of people who thinks saving is important, I do have a variety of motivators. Some aspirational, others more practical. But there’s one motivator that especially drives me:
I don’t want to be old and broke
Simply put, I don’t want to grow old and worry about how to pay bills and how to get by. Deep down, underneath all my other motivations surrounding making money, this one is the one that lights the fire within to get things done. I saw an older person working at a restaurant recently, and she looked like a tired grandma. She clearly wasn’t the owner of the place. I felt really bad for her, almost wanted to help her do her job. Also, I just didn’t want to end up like her.
Surprising? Well, I know that there are people who don’t share this motivator.
I had a conversation about this in the last year, where I was told that one can’t live life in fear, and should think positively and not worry about it. In other words, have some goals but realize that you can really enjoy your money when you’re younger – when you’re mobile, can travel, have younger kids, etc. The idea with this way of thinking is that being motivated by things or experiences that money can buy is a better way of approaching it. Why bother worrying, when you focus energies on enjoying your money, is how the line of thinking goes.
It’s easy for me to see the point, and I do share some of those values. Life is to enjoy, and we simply can’t delay gratification forever. Every single day is to be enjoyed, and sometimes this enjoyment does involve spending some hard-earned money on wants as opposed to needs. A life focused strictly on needs would be a boring life.
However, while holding that view to some degree and fully believing in enjoying each day, I just can’t shake that under the surface fear factor when it comes to money and age. Visualization is key here. To me, the visualization of being old and having far less energy than a younger person – yet needing to work hard to stay afloat financially – sounds atrocious. You never know what your health will be, even if you eat healthy, exercise regularly, manage stress, etc. Sure, you can put the odds in your favor by making good decisions, and I’m all about that these days. But who the heck knows what the future actually holds? None of us has a crystal ball.
Not sure about you, but being old and broke sounds terrible. The way to take personal responsibility for that is to save money when younger, allow compounding to work it’s magic, and invest intelligently.
The way I see it, we are working not only for our lives today, but we’re also working for the lives of a senior citizen. We’re working for two people, and both of those people are actually ourselves! You’re working for the you of today, and the you of old age.
Saving for old age is a need, not a want. When considering the financial hierarchy of needs, it’s not as important as taking care of daily needs for now, but it’s still important. I’m not expecting social security to be around.
Don’t get me wrong, I think that people have the potential to do a lot as they get older. Heck, there was a story recently about a 100 year old man who finished a marathon in Toronto. The guy apparently didn’t take up running until age 89. Incredible! So, there are people that can succeed in business or their career, even later in life. So much is about attitude.
But I don’t want to count on a miracle comeback late in the 4th quarter of life. Better to have some peace of mind by preparing for the future while repsonsibly enjoying every day as much as possible! Doing both, rather than one or the other, sounds good to me.
My Questions for You
What motivates you to save?
Are your true motivations aspirational, or defensive?
Do you think about money needs in old age, even if that’s far off for you?
About the same motivation as you have, Squirrelers. I don’t want think about a steady diet of Span and Ramen noodles in my old age.
101C – that’s a good way to put it! Nobody wants to look forward to that…
I was always a saver because I see a future. I never thought about old age, but I do think about how I want to live. I think more about the things I want to accomplish or the way I want to live than concern about being broke. I think it is the planner in me and always looking forward.
krantcents – I think there are plenty of folks who see it your way. Fear might not be the motivator, but lifestyle is instead.
I don’t have enough money to make a big paradigm shift in my life… so really there’s not that much to spend on. I don’t have time or convenient places to spend money. I would need to move to a city and get a different job. So… the residual gets saved.
Prior to that, I have been motivated by not wanting debt and being sure to have an emergency fund. Saving a steady clip for retirement is important too. But we save more than just that, mainly because it would take effort to find things to spend more money on than what we’re already spending. There’s uncertainty in the future and we’d rather save to smooth consumption than to have stuff we’re not sure we want.
Nicole – that’s a good point we make about uncertainty in the future. Not sure if you meant for you guys in particular, but I think that concept applies to most of us actually.
I’m motivated to save so I can travel while I’m still young and also put money towards my retirement. I don’t want to have to wait until I’m 65 to retire! I have no desire to buy a car or anything expensive. I really don’t understand why so many people spend money on designer handbags and stuff like that. I want to see more of the world and love saving money to take adventure trips! -Sydney
Syndey – that’s a fun balance, traveling yet saving for retirement. Thinking of the future, yet traveling when you can. Have to say, it’s easier to travel when young, no doubt!
I have to admit my motivation is fear. It’s an underlying motivation because, like you, I don’t want to be in a desperate situation. We are retired, so old age is just around the corner. Yikes! We are consciously enjoying our retirement, using more money for fun than when we younger with more expenses.
That said, we have always looked for ways to have fun that don’t cost a lot. There are a lot of ways!
Maggie – I know what you mean. While I’m not retired or anywhere near the time of retirement, I can understand the idea of not wanting to be in a desperate situation. Needs come first, and that includes retirement!
My biggest savings motivator is I want to be able to have all the money to do as I please! I don’t need to be super wealthy, just enough to take vacation and buy stuff, and not worry about if I’m spending too much!
Robert – chalk one up for a lifestyle motivator!
Yeah, I agree with the Social Security point. I’m young enough to recognize that even if SS exists it won’t pay out at its current rates. I feel the need to save to avoid living off of what will surely be reduced benefits.
PKamp3 – yes, reduced or zero benefits seems to be the safest way to plan.
I think that if you have savings set aside, it helps offer more security (peace of mind) and options in life. 😉 Nice article Squirrelers.
World of Finance – peace of mind has got to be huge as one gets much older. Options are great too. Glad you liked the article!
The fear that we may not have enough money after we retire, truly motivates me.
Tushar – that motivates me too, I know what you mean.
I save so that I can have freedom. My ultimate goal is to have enough money so that I can up and travel whenever I want. If my 3 kids move to different parts of the world, I want to have the ability to just go see them whenever I want. (Obviously within reason.)
I don’t want to worry about keeping my heating bill low and living miserly in my ‘golden years’. I want to live life!
Kris – I know what you mean about that type of freedom. I’ve had those same thoughts about traveling in the future to see kids when they’re adults, though hopefully they don’t move away:) Traveling for fun sounds great too. Not being broke, plus being able to live a “rich” life like that (in terms of experiences, that is) sounds great.
What really keeps me going is that I am saving for things that I really want to do in my life. I don’t ever want to feel restricted and have regrets because I didn’t have enough money to do something. I want to have the freedom to open any door at any time.
Miss T – that seems to be a common refrain here as well, freedom. Makes sense!
I’d say, my needs are pretty simple. What’s left I save or invest. I don’t compulsively save or shop – sort of balances out each other!
MoneyCone – good to have that habit of not compulsively shopping, and it seems like you have balance
My motivation is similar to yours. I don’t want to work crazy hours when I’m old either. My other motivator is freedom. I want to be able to do what I want to make money. If I have enough saved/invested, then I can work for myself and do want I want.
retirebyforty – sounds like a great plan you have!
I do think about old age, as well as saving for particular (and often pricey) things that I want to do now. My family history shows that I’ve got about an equal shot of either living into my 90s or dying young, so I try really hard to both enjoy things now and prepare for a distant future.
Jackie – as much as I fear being old and broke, I do think that we should enjoy ourselves along the way, and seize opportunities when they present themselves. I took a trip in my 20’s that was a multi-week journey to Europe that I probably had no business doing based on my low level of savings at the time. But you know what? I justified it then by thinking ahead about having more responsibilities in life later, with work and family. Now, I don’t have such time for a trip. It made sense to take that trip, aside from the purely financial view. So, I can totally see what you’re saying.
Aw I think you should take time for that now too. But then traveling is very high on my list!
I save because I definitely have an innate “this could all be gone tomorrow” though process in my mind. What I mean is that I am hyper-aware that I could lose my job tomorrow, that I could have a health or other emergency that could drain my savings and keep me out of work.
On the other hand I save over 30% of my income because I want to generate enough passive income so that I can retire early from my current career and start a new, less stressful career path and/or start my own business or even hobby-business. That’s what motivates me.
I save for the same reason…because when I am older I want to be able to put the heat on if I’m cold, rest instead of work (30-40 years of working seems like enough!), and enjoy time w/kids and (hopefully!) grandkids by being able to afford tiny luxuries like treating everyone to a nice restaurant meal.
These are the things I would like to do now, but can’t, because our kids’ education is very expensive. We will be saving in overdrive when the kids ‘leave the nest’ or at least are out of H.S. and half-way through college!
I am saving now because i realize business does not always profitable or give me passive income. Besides I am sick and tired to work long hours and hardly can take a single day leave… am the boss and the worker..
so I want to have multiple sources of funds that keep pumping money when one fine day I am going to stop working…thanks for all the above sharing…