How important is money to you?

[Anonymous]

Learned not to spend all the money I have.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It kind of surprises me that more people don't want nicely decorated, attractive homes, nice cars, fun vacations, beautiful clothes, household help, money for good haircuts, athletic endeavors, hobbies, college, private school, retirement...... Isn't that the American dream? Who wants to live in a tiny house and have a crappy car? Many of my friends are rich so maybe that tilts my views.

Yes, I would like those things but since we don't have any sort of financial safety net with my family ( we could someday be in a situation helping out my parents), I wouald have to be earning considerably more than I do now to indulge in all those things. It's like crappy car, small house, but nice vacations and decorated house. Money is important to me because when you wake up to a leaky roof, or have the unexpected car repair, or the emergency room visit - if you can't afford it and are paycheck to paycheck, it ends up costing you more and you can end up digging yourself into a deeper hole. Delay fixing the car and possibly cause a more serious and more expensive problem to fix, or put it on a credit card and pay x% interest. So I do prefer to be in a position to save money and afford the unanticipated. I like the freedom to have choices when it comes to my job. I was able to move to a job that has better career potential but was a small step back in terms of pay.

My parents didn't have a lot of money, but while I wasn't deprived, I felt it put stress on their relationship. My parents didn't have the type of jobs where they could be there for our school events because it was a pretty far commute to their jobs. On a good note, I learned to live just fine without beautiful clothes, fancy vacations, or household help so now even if I could afford it I have other priorities. On the other hand I did have earning potential in mind when I picked a career more for the financial security than material things. ... But tried to balance it with being to go to the Halloween parade at my DD school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It means I'm not insecure about my accomplishments or my wealth, so I don't need to spend my money on expensive house, cars, vacations, and other physical manifestations of money.

Come on now! That's not a fair statement to others that have accomplished a lot & who have no wealthy great grandfather! They should be prouder, yes?

Prouder? Sure. I just don't like conspicuous consumption - must be my New England roots.

I have New England roots, too, but don't talk about them or my money or family background, much less on the Internet.

Must be my New England roots.

[Anonymous]

More NE roots here. We have to take care of family on top of ourselves (health issues not covered by insurance, don't care to elaborate). Gosh, neither seems to occur to people here, funny. And very, very sad. I am so, so homesick for people who MYOB!!!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It means I'm not insecure about my accomplishments or my wealth, so I don't need to spend my money on expensive house, cars, vacations, and other physical manifestations of money.

The point you're missing, PP is that it's FUN to have a nice house, car, and especially vacations. Not everyone is focused on what other people think the way you are. Some people just want to enjoy for themselves the pleasures money can bring.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It means I'm not insecure about my accomplishments or my wealth, so I don't need to spend my money on expensive house, cars, vacations, and other physical manifestations of money.

The point you're missing, PP is that it's FUN to have a nice house, car, and especially vacations. Not everyone is focused on what other people think the way you are. Some people just want to enjoy for themselves the pleasures money can bring.

But those things aren't FUN for me. I'd rather have millions in the bank. I don't think tv is FUN either.