‘I save every single cent’— Man confesses his biggest financial regret is saving too much
i-save-every-single-cent-man-confesses-his-biggest-financial-regret-is-saving-too-much
#save #single #cent #Man #confesses #biggest #financial #regret #saving,
SINGAPORE: While many people often look back wishing they had saved more and spent less, one man has confessed online that his biggest regret is the opposite.
In a post on the r/singaporefi forum, he shared that his tendency to save excessively has left him with mixed feelings.
“I have the opposite problem—not sure who has this as well. I save every single cent. I am already working for a few years now, not at an entry-level job, but I still wake up early to catch the MRT at 7:45 a.m. just to save 50 cents,” he wrote.
“Sometimes I brutally cut off spending money on quality-of-life (QOF) just to invest another dollar. Improvement on QOL can always wait… also, I don’t see a reason to spend, as there are not many things I feel are worth spending to achieve ‘fun.’”
He then asked other Reddit members, “Just curious, who has regrets about saving up instead of spending the money, and what is this regret?”
“Life is short, and you never know what might happen.”
In the discussion thread, a few Singaporean Reddit users speculated that the man may have “financial anxiety,” a condition where the fear of running out of money or making the wrong financial decisions causes people to obsessively save and cut back on spending even when they can comfortably afford it.
To overcome this fear, many offered advice and practical tips. Some suggested setting aside a fixed portion of income for discretionary spending, so that he could enjoy life without feeling guilty about it.
One user wrote, “You should have two bank accounts – one for saving and one for spending, preferably in different banks. If you mix spending and saving accounts – given what you describe, you would stretch yourself to save every penny you have. Allocate a spending budget into the spending account, then spend to your heart’s content to maintain QoL.”
Another shared, “I had a colleague who just passed away from cancer this year at age 54. He was planning to retire at 55 and had been very careful with his money. He was planning to do all the things that he didn’t do in his 30s and 40s because he was busy saving up, hustling, and investing. All I can say is, learn to live and enjoy life along the FIRE journey. Life is short, and you never know what might happen.”
A third added, “Why not record all of your expenses within a month? Or if you already have an Excel sheet of expenses, take a look at each of your items. Is it possible to increase the expenditure for some of them such that it feels that your QOL increases, without it being a huge overall increase from a monthly perspective? Try doing that for one or two months.”
In other news, a foreigner living in Singapore was left flustered after spotting a fellow commuter on a public bus resting both of his bare feet on the seat in front of him.
Posting a photo of the scene on the subreddit r/SMRTrabak on Tuesday (Aug 12), the foreigner wrote that they were unsure how to react in the moment.
“As an angmoh, what do I even do in these situations?” they said. “Spreading the dogs out is just disgusting, but not as obnoxious as TikToks or video calls on speakers. I’ve never seen a local confront this type of behaviour, so what can I do about it?”