May I ask what you spend your money on that nobody notices?
In my experience the mix out of everything gives me a feeling on how much they have. A big indicator usually are vacations. If you have money to burn to go on a expensive vacation you probably don’t have money problems.
OP already replied, but the answer was super brief: they invest in their future. I don’t know what that looks like for them, but for us it means funding an emergency fund plus 401ks, IRAs, and college funds for our kids. Even if you’re not able to set aside a ton, the more money you can invest when you’re young the better off you’ll be thanks to the power of compounding.
If you’re lucky enough to advance your career put the extra money into your emergency fund and/or investments - you won’t miss it.
If you’re in debt, try to target one loan to pay off. Once you pay off that single loan keep paying that amount towards your next loan. Repeat until necessary. For example, after we paid off our car we put what used to be our old payment as extra $$ for our mortgage.
Not Op, but I was in a very similar situation (decent pay, old house, old car, not many fancy purchases). While many people here will borrow a lot and pay the minimum on their mortgage, I paid down my mortgage completely. (and otherwise spent money on travel).
Ironically, this is bad financial advice. The last 15-20 years interest have been very low, and house prices have soared. It would make much more financial sense to borrow more and buy a nicer house. But I value the freedom I get from not having a mortgage. And I never borrowed to buy a car, as cars depreciate like rocks
It’s more about what I don’t buy - which is a lot. For most of my adult life, I’ve lived well below my means and invested everything I’ve saved. Most people don’t save at all, let alone invest.
My cousin, for example, goes on expensive vacations like the ones you described several times a year. They also drive a nice new BMW. Yet when I recently quoted them €500 for some renovation work, they asked if they could split the payment over a few months because they couldn’t come up with the money all at once.
Suffice it to say, I don’t see vacations as a sign of wealth.
May I ask what you spend your money on that nobody notices?
In my experience the mix out of everything gives me a feeling on how much they have. A big indicator usually are vacations. If you have money to burn to go on a expensive vacation you probably don’t have money problems.
OP already replied, but the answer was super brief: they invest in their future. I don’t know what that looks like for them, but for us it means funding an emergency fund plus 401ks, IRAs, and college funds for our kids. Even if you’re not able to set aside a ton, the more money you can invest when you’re young the better off you’ll be thanks to the power of compounding.
If you’re lucky enough to advance your career put the extra money into your emergency fund and/or investments - you won’t miss it.
If you’re in debt, try to target one loan to pay off. Once you pay off that single loan keep paying that amount towards your next loan. Repeat until necessary. For example, after we paid off our car we put what used to be our old payment as extra $$ for our mortgage.
Not Op, but I was in a very similar situation (decent pay, old house, old car, not many fancy purchases). While many people here will borrow a lot and pay the minimum on their mortgage, I paid down my mortgage completely. (and otherwise spent money on travel).
Ironically, this is bad financial advice. The last 15-20 years interest have been very low, and house prices have soared. It would make much more financial sense to borrow more and buy a nicer house. But I value the freedom I get from not having a mortgage. And I never borrowed to buy a car, as cars depreciate like rocks
It’s more about what I don’t buy - which is a lot. For most of my adult life, I’ve lived well below my means and invested everything I’ve saved. Most people don’t save at all, let alone invest.
My cousin, for example, goes on expensive vacations like the ones you described several times a year. They also drive a nice new BMW. Yet when I recently quoted them €500 for some renovation work, they asked if they could split the payment over a few months because they couldn’t come up with the money all at once.
Suffice it to say, I don’t see vacations as a sign of wealth.