Is there a point in being thrifty anymore?

[amandus]

Hi all,

Dont get me wrong, we should save and avoid unnecessary expenses as much as possible, but with double digit inflation, is there any point in the ascetic monk-like life Ive been living? E.g. I wanted to buy a kitchenaid last year, but I didnt because its not REALLY necessary and I have two functioning hands. But now the price has gone up, and the value of the money that I had saved by not buying it last year have reduced (Its in a 4% interest-guving account, still Ive lost about 6-8% value).

so, whats the point of not buying stuff? Is there an optimum point (% spending vs saving) which will give the most regret-free existence?

 

[resjudicata]

@amandus There’s little point being the richest man in the graveyard.

 

[lifeline]

@resjudicata ukpf in shambles

 

[godfreygirl143]

@lifeline apart from the one person that owns the graveyard.

 

[ipaduser]

@godfreygirl143 His return on investment is very low though

 

[chrissum]

@ipaduser He's actually running an 18th century corpse theft ring to sell to pioneering physicians.

 

[kytexan]

@ipaduser It's a zombie company

 

[californiachristian234]

@lifeline i have been hearing the the FIRE communities are kind of breaking down these days.

 

[sml83]

@californiachristian234 Lol, hearing from where exactly? /r/fireuk is the same as it always has been.

 

[californiachristian234]

@sml83 saw an article about people that did FIRE and cost of living crisis basically made them regret it.

 

[carlos517]

@californiachristian234 It makes sense that, if you did all of your calculations assuming that inflation would always be around 2% and then inflation shoots to 11%, suddenly your sums don't add up and that's going to be a really bad time for you.

I get why retiring early is attractive to people, but it just seems impossible to retire at 40 and know with any degree of confidence that you have enough savings to last through the next 60 years when the financial climate over such a long time-frame is completely unpredictable.

 

[nike005]

@carlos517 Worth remembering that retiring at 55 or even 60 is RE since most people are facing state pension age of 68 to 70. I don't think many aim for 40 (thats extremely early with only 15-20 years working life). Some do of course! But early for me would be 55-60 (I started late)