Reply to Young adult focusing too much on retirement saving?

Forum Index » Money and Finances

Reply to "Young adult focusing too much on retirement saving? "

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I'll weigh in on the other side of this.  I've always been an avid saver and while I'm not advocating profligate spending I missed out on some once in a lifetime opportunities by being a big saver.  You can't go back and do study abroad, could have done more trips with friends or back then g/f.  Now, I've got way more money than I need and it's too late to replicate some of those experiences and memories I gave up.  All of that is to say that balance is important and I would emphasize that to him[/quote]

I agree that you need to save/spend money wisely to reflect your time of life.  So, yes, the time value of compounding makes saving early beneficial but not at the expense of forgoing experiences that shape who you are as a person.  For my own kids, I suggested that they max out  Roth IRAs from their hs jobs since we were paying for their lives anyway and all they would do with their money is piss it away on crap.  I also thought it would build in them that basic notion that you have to think about the future and see how investments build.

But then I also encouraged them to loosen up a little in college and in their 20s when money is likely more tight and spending money to cement friendships and have important experiences (e.g., going to friends' weddings, travelling, moving to new places. learning skills etc.) has more lifelong value. I kind of billed it as at this age you're investing in the kind of person you're going to be and so you have to weigh the amount you invest in money vs. invest in your life/self.  I'm not sure how much my advice impacted it, but they seem to keep a good balance.

[/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics