PP again. I should add that I think that the next decade is going to be hard on the upper-middle class the way the last decade was on the middle class. A larger and larger chunk of our disposable income is going to be eaten up by rising cost of living and higher education costs, the need to save a larger percentage of our incomes for retirement as employers cut back on their matches, and greater healthcare costs (for insurance premiums, co-pays, and out-of-pocket costs). The middle class has already started to give up paying for traditional 4-year college, saving what they need for retirement, and expecting to have quality healthcare. The upper-middle class will be loathe to give these up, and that will translate to fewer high-end purchases.

I'm not afraid to spend money, but I'm spending less of it than I could. I got through the recession well, but my industry remains shaky so I'm deferring some spending and continuing to build my savings.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When you have a 6 month emergency fund and are debt free, then you can splurge on expensive junk and lavish vacations. Until then, do necessary maintenence/repairs, but don't go overboard.

No way. Never spend on expensive junk and lavish vacations. You'll never have the funds to do that. You can go on vacation, yes, you can buy some carefully chosen items from time to time that are expensive, but splurging? no way. Too much of life is still out there, a disaster waiting to happen. Dental implants anyone? $7000 a tooth. So don't do it. Save your pennies.

Is is bad that I read save your penis? lol...taken that way, you're actually right. I'm saving mine lol

I understand, I feel the same way. We save like crazy.

Anonymous wrote:When you have a 6 month emergency fund and are debt free, then you can splurge on expensive junk and lavish vacations. Until then, do necessary maintenence/repairs, but don't go overboard.

No way. Never spend on expensive junk and lavish vacations. You'll never have the funds to do that. You can go on vacation, yes, you can buy some carefully chosen items from time to time that are expensive, but splurging? no way. Too much of life is still out there, a disaster waiting to happen. Dental implants anyone? $7000 a tooth. So don't do it. Save your pennies.

We feel the same way. We barely got out of our house before the bottom completely fell out of the housing market. If we hasn't we would have taken a massive hit. Having the ability to move for a new job was key to our success and not sure when/if we will ever own again. I am happy socking away our savings by renting into our 401(k) and ROTHs. Plus college accounts are about a year away from being fully funded. Maybe then we will look to buy but maybe not!

Anonymous wrote:When you have a 6 month emergency fund and are debt free, then you can splurge on expensive junk and lavish vacations. Until then, do necessary maintenence/repairs, but don't go overboard.

Do you consider a mortgage debt? I wonder about that myself. I'm so far from paying off my mortgage that it's not realistic to think I could do it anytime soon, but I have a lot of equity (I think anyway, as long as the housing market doesn't take a massive dive) so i feel like if worse came to worst and I couldn't pay the mortgage anymore and had to sell, at least I wouldn't be in the red.

When you have a 6 month emergency fund and are debt free, then you can splurge on expensive junk and lavish vacations. Until then, do necessary maintenence/repairs, but don't go overboard.

Anonymous wrote:I was a junior in college in 2008. I still think jobs are going to be temporary or nonexistent. I don't spend money. I check my bank accounts obsessively. The recession impacted a lot of people, just like the Great Depression did. My spending is on track with how my grandmother spends.

+10000000000

I was in a similar situation. I had an expensive house I bought in 2005 and two rentals -- all with loans with very bad terms. By the time 2008 rolled around, I think I had $30K in credit card debt. But I got through it because of my income. Good fortune. That's all it was.

Today, I CANNOT imagine having $30K in credit card debt. I don't even carry a balance at all today, let alone a balance that high. The majority of us were living in a fairyland then that we'll probably never return to in our lifetimes.

OP, I think a lot of people feel this way. My husband and I were barely impacted by the recession personally, but having seen what it's done to other people, I think we're permanently changed. We also had two kids during the recession, so that probably pays a part now that we're responsible for their well-being.

Agree with the PP; if everyone were out there buying boats and LV bags, the economy would be much better than it is.

The economy is still fairly shaky in many fields.

Anonymous wrote:I think the biggest thing that continues to hang over my head is the expensive house I bought back in 2005. So much of my money has been tied up into paying down the mortgage that my savings isn't as high as it should be. The good news is that I know I can always rent out all or part of the house for more than my mortgage so it's nice to have a fallback plan if I lost my job, etc.

But yeah, some may seem to have forgot about 2008 and are back to their normal spending ways, but many of us still are not. The irony is that if all of us did go back to our pre-recession spending, the economy would really be going gangbusters.

If you feel like you are depriving yourself and saving too much. Try giving yourself a spending allowance in addition to your saving plan. If you nickel and dime yourself and find that you have allowance money left at the end of the week/month/quarter use it for a splurge.

That is what I did and it seems to work. It gives permission to spend and it makes me think about what I really really enjoy.