I can't bare to spend money

[seether]

Since I started investing I just view everything as having an opportunity cost. Like whatever I spend on things or experiences I can't use to buy assets and grow my portfolio and passive income.

I have a long term goal of having enough passive income from my investments to cover my entire bills and living expenses to be financially free - but it has become all consuming.

I hoard everything I make outside of what I need for food, travel and bills to funnel into investments.

I used to be a minimalist and quite adverse to randomly spending money anyway but now it's like I refuse to indulge in almost anything just because I want to build my portfolio.

I just think moving toward financial freedom is a better use of the money than anything else I could do and I can't bare to spend on non-essential things.

Is this a problem? Or is this a good thing?

[wartoy]

You have to enjoy yourself though at least every so often. I find no matter how much I make it's never enough so I make sure I have some money aside for emergencies like car problems or unexpected hospital visits.I never touch this money unless I have to and I wont spend again untill it's been replaced.But when it is I feel safe enough to enjoy it and buy something for myself as long as I pay my bills first. You need to be happy in life and enjoy it a little so do whatever makes you happy.

[seether]

I worry that if I don't make money passively I will have to go out to work for my entire life and I want to break that cycle as early as possible.

I feel that if I just spend on stuff then I have nothing to show for toiling for the whole month and I'm just on a rat race of replacing pay cheque with pay cheque.

When I buy dividend paying assets I see it as me buying my freedom, a small piece at a time. Because I know that one day if I own enough assets I won't have to go out to work because I'll have a recurring passive income stream. And if I sacrifice a whole lot while I'm young I can take advantage of compounding and finish long before national retirement age.

I really feel compelled to delay gratification and always when I get money instead of buying a thing to buy an asset that will reap reward regularly forever - and grow each time I add to it.

It brings me a lot of satisfaction to grow my portfolio - in some ways I think that's much the same kind of satisfaction as spending but the inverse for saving - but I worry this is unhealthy and deprivation.

I choose to be frugal and invest everything. That's what I tell myself anyway... it's really quite the compulsion.

I want to hoard everything I make so bad because it's just so satisfying to see the dividend I make be a higher and higher sum (and greater and greater percentage of my bills) every quarter.

Am I crazy.

[Warmsignal]

I told you, get Wall Street Kid and you're all set for video games. You don't even need video games, you just need stocks. Stocks = happiness. Become a stock broker. As they say, do what you love for a living, and you'll never work a day in your life.


This guy is living the dream.

[NickAwesome]

Kinda ironic that your journey to financial freedom is so restricting on your current financial freedom and all-consuming of your day to day life.  Find a happy balance. Is it really worth it to make your life miserable for 50-60 years just so the last 10-20 are nice? What guarantees are that you will even make it that far? Saving is good, but find things in your life that make you happy outside of traditional financial investing, and "invest" in those as well.   

[seberhusky]

Nice ego chasing as usual. He probably lives in some 3rd world country where money is the only way the superficial fake society respects you. This dude is only like 14/15 max, so he doesn't have any idea on how life works yet anyway.

I work at an Amazon warehouse part time and make $21 an hour. I work for 4 hours a day then have the entire day and night to do whatever I want. I get by on $1,000 a month and have a house packed with stuff.

But this dude has his life all set out to be a miserable nothing so let it happen. He's been trolling the same forum posts for well over a year and a half.

[Cartagia]

If this is a legitimate post, and I'm taking that if with a big ass grain of salt:

Wanting to be able to retire early or have your income provided by solely through dividends and interests is not inherently a bad thing.  However, it does sound like you've become obsessed over it (I'm shocked, shocked!  Well, not that shocked.) and that kind of obsession can be quite unhealthy.  My recommendation would be to hire some sort of financial adviser to help with the planning of your potential retirement.  They can help determine how much you need every month to reach you target date, while also letting you know how much you can have for discretionary spending.

[seether]

If this is a legitimate post, and I'm taking that if with a big ass grain of salt:

Wanting to be able to retire early or have your income provided by solely through dividends and interests is not inherently a bad thing.  However, it does sound like you've become obsessed over it (I'm shocked, shocked!  Well, not that shocked.) and that kind of obsession can be quite unhealthy.  My recommendation would be to hire some sort of financial adviser to help with the planning of your potential retirement.  They can help determine how much you need every month to reach you target date, while also letting you know how much you can have for discretionary spending.

But any amount I allocate to discretionary spending could be used for getting to my goals faster.

And money is worth so much more than it appears on the surface. Firstly, anything I receive is post-tax so I actually had to earn more than that figure to have it. And secondly, spent money loses its opportunity to be put to work earning a dividend for the next decades.

Even one dollar is actually $1.20 pre-tax and after 20 years at a 5% yield would have been able to double to two dollars. Now extrapolate that to hundreds or thousands and the opportunity cost for spending today rather than planting for tomorrow becomes huge.

Moreover the longer I don’t have a permanent way to pay bills without working I’m essentially a slave and forced to work.

[oldgamerz]

I know vary little about the stock market, but from what I hear, it goes up and down, and up and down, and some people that do play the stock market often. Lose a fortune in and then gain and fortune only to lose and then to gain some of it back or become flat broke in the process.

I would not fall for any of these "get rich fast schemes and cons" because many people will often resort to being a con artiest in which most times will take your money and run. but then are eventually brought to justice and spend a whole chunk of life behind bars.

If you don't want to lose a fortune? I would not mess around with the stock market.

Everyone dies at random so don't live your life without any enjoyment in it, the world could end tomorrow you could get sick at any time in all of our lives take notice live for today.

[dreama1]

Go to a casino instead, less risk.

[sworddude]

Go to a casino instead, less risk.

Upcoming topic homeless Seether: Casino gamble didn't pay off 

[pacgamer89]

If your really investing your money in the stock market then there is a good chance you'll have to work till the day you die. You only ever hear about the people who made a fortune from the stock market never the previous hundred people who lost it all.

[telly]

I don't want to tell you what you should do with your life, but if I didn't spend any money on anything for 20 years that would be a third of my remaining life wasted (I'm 26). In that time, I plan on raising a family. During those 20 years, people and loved ones will die, friends will move away, there will be opportunities that will be lost forever as I take on more responsibility in my life and get older. If I waited until I was 50 to actually start having fun... well that's half my life down the drain!  You just can't do the same things at 50/60 that you can when you're 25, 30.

Obviously saving money is important, and I don't know what your priorities/ end goals are (a nice house, raising a family, traveling to be with loved ones). But I know for me, there has to be a balance between work and play. Life is too short to not have fun and enjoy life. I've personally never seen anyone who spent their lives hoarding money and not enjoying themselves look back on that decision fondly, I think most of the time it was a decision they regret.


EDIT: Also, it's fairly common for people to retire and then pick up a small job later on. Work provides a sense of structure and fulfillment that people find rewarding. Find a job that you love, and it will enhance your life, not hold you back.

[hoshichiri]

I would say: YES, you have a problem.

Wanting to free yourself from the need to work is an understandable goal- everyone wants financial security, it's one of the biggest stressors in the world. Here's the thing: investments are a risk. The businesses using your money may be paying out now, but they could fail tomorrow. I mean, for crying out loud, look around- there's a pandemic destabilizing investments worldwide. Companies are begging their governments for bailout money, then firing half their employees to cut costs anyway. There is NO guarantee you won't wake up tomorrow & your money will be gone. I've seen it happen: my stocks were a gift from my grandfather, and they lost 90% of their value during the housing market crash in the 2000s. Thank goodness it wasn't something I was living on!

I can't make your choices for you, but if I were you: I'd take the money left over after paying bills & necessities every month, & divide it into 3 chunks: one to invest, one for a more stable savings (think a standard savings account, a CD, bonds- something that doesn't lose value), and one with which to do whatever you choose. Buy games? Sure? Buy nothing but gummi bears? I mean, you'll probably end up toothless & diabetic, but ok. Put it into an investment anyway? Fine- but remember that you chose that. That was your entertainment, that was your vacation, that's what you decided would be fun to do. You wanna look back in 10 years and reminisce about choosing stocks? It's your life, go for it. But if that sounds kinda shitty, if you're not having fun, if you're looking at everyone running around playing games & seeing shows & feeling jealous or left out- stop! Go do the things! You don't have to be out every night or buying every new release, but yes, treat yourself! You're allowed to be happy now & plan ahead- and it's probably the better idea becuase you could be dead tomorrow anyway & never actually get to reap the rewards of your investments (assuming they hold through all this). Find a way to split the difference so you can live now & be ready for tomorrow.

[telly]

You're allowed to be happy now & plan ahead- and it's probably the better idea becuase you could be dead tomorrow anyway & never actually get to reap the rewards of your investments (assuming they hold through all this). Find a way to split the difference so you can live now & be ready for tomorrow.

That's also a good point. How can you be sure you'll even live long enough to enjoy what you've worked so hard toward? You may be healthy now, but (God forbid) you get in an accident or die and were never able to enjoy life, and that would be awful. I think living life like there's no tomorrow is an important message here.