Financial anxiety is real. Convince me to spend my bonus

[savourite]

@kimmyfs If your saving is stagnant, you want to relook at your spending. 9 months in saving is quite conservatively low. As you grow older, you need to increase that.

 

[enigmaticsasquatchfeet]

@kimmyfs Think of fitness as an investment, overweight may cause a lot of health issues down the road, and medical expenses are not cheap. Spend some of your bonus in sports equipment, membership, gym instructor, etc. By doing so you're also committing to bettering yourself and this can be a healthy new hobby too.

 

[kimmyfs]

@enigmaticsasquatchfeet I’m thinking that too! Am looking at a lot of gym memberships/classes and think maybe it’ll be good to slowly ration out my bonus to cover months of fees.

 

[enigmaticsasquatchfeet]

@kimmyfs And it's tax deductable! All the best OP, hope you can get in shape and achieve your health goals.

 

[dennis1209]

@kimmyfs It helps me by contextualising how much I spend vs how much I save, vs what other people around my age conventionally do. Think of it as upgrading your well-being. Have a list of items you want to get, let it stew in your thoughts for a few weeks. If you have some extra cash to spend, decide which item on the list gives you the best bang for your buck, i.e. how much utility or satisfaction or "happiness" you'll be getting out of it, relative to how much it costs.

The solution to financial anxiety is not to just close an eye and just spend, but to mentally justify your spending.

 

[kimmyfs]

@dennis1209 I think this is great advice. I mentioned in another comment:

Saving used to give me happiness but lately it just doesn’t feel the same. It feels a little pointless and I get jealous of friends who can not worry about saving and just enjoy themselves. Must be fun.

I’m taking your advice on not rushing and making a list! I think it helps me visualize better and i can sort based on priority and even cost. Like if i have 1 super expensive thing and 9 cheap things on the list, it’s easier for me to realise oh i can do the 9 cheap things and make me just as happy.

 

[prevailingpower]

@kimmyfs If you want to spend on something, go on a “luxury” trip. After I worked 2 full time jobs to pay for our wedding (husband works in medical line, so always bringing in extras too), we found ourselves with slight surplus money (which could have been added to our savings). But we decided to splurge on our honeymoon with a luxury 3-week trip.

Booked business class flights, stayed at atas resorts, large accommodations in the city and ate real well during those 3 weeks. We came back to Malaysia feeling so refreshed and recharged!

Our economy is terrible now, but we are always looking back at our honeymoon as one of the best trips ever and so glad we decided to splurge. Nothing can compare yet.

I have money anxiety too. Before getting those 2 jobs, I was always in the negative (toxic family problems). Getting out of it was tough but you’ve got years ahead of you to build wealth. You can never turn back time. We still live below our means and having a spreadsheet with our expenses helped to give us a rough idea of where money is going and project future spending.

 

[kimmyfs]

@prevailingpower I’m a true believer in a good holiday!! Sadly am unmarried and my partner is the one person i would really like to holiday with but cant hahaha. This was so nice to read, hope to be able to do something like this someday.

Trying to hold onto the idea “you have years ahead to build wealth”

 

[godslove01]

@kimmyfs When people say they want a million dollars, what they actually mean is they want to SPEND a million dollars, not OWN a million dollar. But if you spend a million dollars and that’s all you have, are you still a millionaire by then? Recommend you a book, Psychology of Money - Morgan Housel. He’s pro saving money for the sake of saving money. Hope you’ll find it insightful for your situation. Morgan Housel Interview - Diary of a CEO

 

[meinl]

@kimmyfs Just keep reminding yourself that life is short. You absolutely need money but you don’t really need that much. Take a break from work and go travel around, pick up hobbies, buy your vr set, enjoy life while it lasts, save up for short term goals, you cannot overestimate your life, one day you’ll be gone (or even be psychically unable to do the things you want to do) and you’ll miss out so many wonders life can bring. All that money you saved up just to buy you a nice funeral and a spot in nirvana.

But then what if you so happen to not die and u used up ur money? Just go work lah you can get money from there.

 

[kimmyfs]

@meinl THIS might be the single most reassuring thing ever. I think too much about the “what if” when the answer is so simple, “just go work lah”. Thank you. Needed that.