Untouchable Savings: Do you have it?

[adaseb]

In my country, most people live pay check to pay check. They got savings but these are considered retirement and they are locked in or if you want to withdraw there is a big penalty.

Most people living in North America have a net worth which is negative. If you have a net worth of $0, you are considered lucky because you don't owe any debt. Mortgages, cars, cell phone plans, credit cards, line of credit, etc. These people are slaves to their debt and will be paying it for the rest of their lives. Hence why many are suffering now due to growing inflation.

[1714275789]

1714275789

[Flexystar]

That is very nice story and I am also impressed by the tweet of yours. It just made me think lot of stuff that I do on everyday basis and can help me reduce my expenses or at the same time help me gain more exposure on spending on right stuff. This is really important to understand because we always get carried away with unwanted expenses and regret it later. The emergency fund is really important and we never know what circumstances our lives would put in front of us. Better save some money in the name of emergency and spend most of it but only on logical things and routines.

[isaac_clarke22]

My story is rather uninteresting, but let me know yours. Does this idea also apply to you? You could have the money to buy a new car to replace your old and broken one but you prefer not to touch it. Do you hold yourself from spending what you have to the point of depriving yourself of what you deserve? Do you keep significant savings for occasions that might only happen in your imagination? Or at what point would you allow yourself to be drained of your last penny?

Well it applies to me depending on my situation right now. I usually keep my money and just spend it to what I needed the most since the unexpected things may arise at any point. If I really need some food right now, I would be obviously spending my last penny for it as my starvation might even affect me to somehow survive in finding another income or source of money.

You never want another problem to arise once that sign that you needed to buy or consume whatever that is showed itself. Sure you might hold off your last penny to buy that last burrito, but it will be more costly in the end if you get sick after you finally found another source of income. Kind of a domino effect?

[Zlantann]

I always have untouched savings even though I can take it and spend it whenever I want, but there are some things that I have to prepare money for or have savings that I can't touch for other needs, this happens because I have a plan for certain situations such as the case of savings specifically for bill payments or other urgent payments that I might have to prepare in advance. Especially in the current economic conditions, I don't know when I will get money again, therefore I keep it while I have it and don't touch it, even though I have to eat potluck food for a while.

My aunty was a very hard-working woman that engaged in so many trades to ensure that she saved for her children. Due to her quest to save for my cousin, she always ate an unbalanced diet and visits quack doctors whenever she was ill. My mother will always advise her to take good care of herself but she refused to heed her advice. She died because she ensured that her savings are untouchable. A few months after her death, my cousins squandered all she had saved for them.

For now, the only untouchable fund I have is my bitcoins and the fiat account I have is for my daily expenses. I can only touch my bitcoin if there is any investment opportunity that offers some higher rewards or in case of emergencies like health or loss of Job. For me, there are no untouchable savings because life is full of opportunities and uncertainties.

[franky1]

The difference between savings and no savings is often just a few percent in spending. If you spend a tad more, long term you have no savings. If you spend a tad less, you'll always have something left. I like having something left.

"The difference between savings and no savings is often just a few percent in..."?

A: Spending

B: Inflation



I think when it comes to untouchable savings it is also unavoidable to consider the economic environment and circumstances you are in. Argentina and Turkey had an above 80% inflation rate in October 2022 year-over-year.

The "untouchable" somehow implies that you lock it away and perhaps even refrain from managing it. I know that is my assumption about what OP wanted to express with the question, but I just wanted to point out that in certain circumstances even the untouchable savings must be managed thoroughly.

If with "untouchable" it is meant that someone earns fiat, puts it aside and strictly doesn't touch it, then those untouchable earnings might vanish over time despite any good intentions of the disciplined saver.

If with "untouchable" OP refers to a fixed amount being invested in liquid and rather safe asset classes, that makes more sense if it is to be understood as a general rule or basic principle.

When I read about an 88% inflation rate in Argentina, the bitter truth is that those who put their money aside for years with very high discipline, turned out to be the big losers anyway.

So the fact of the matter is that building wealth starts with educating yourself about financial management and not underestimate the impact you can have on your own situation by familiarizing yourself with some basic terms and rules.

ok an out of box/another layer of thought about this:
the non zero "store of value"

we all know bitcoins retail market(cex) spot price is volatile. but not many know there is a non zero bottom store of value below and outside of the spot market

when in 2021 it had a $10k non zero bottom. with a market volatility of speculation of $30k-$70k
the markets could have at its maxis gone $10k-$75k of speculation
but always above $10k due to some fundamentals that exist outside the market

so this $10k Store of value is the "untouchable savings"

when buying a coin in 2021 at $70k you have a untouchable saving (wealth protection) of 1/7th (~14.3%)
buying at $30k is a 1/3(33% wealth protection

in 2022 the non zero bottom was $15k
so if you managed to buy at $16k you have a "untouchable wealth store of value" of
93.8%

this is where i use the topics fear utility of untouchable savings.. as a positive thought about locking up weal value by knowing the assets "non zero bottom" to protect it from markets touching and losing X value

thus allowing me to better make decisions of when its best to spend money or not.. to invest in a asset or not. when its best to sell an asset or not..
thus if i made Xmultiple gains, to healthy sell some assets without depleting or losing the untouchable value

[coupable]

My experience may not be very exciting, but I'm sure many are like me.  I tried more than once to keep my savings without compromising them, but over the years I did not succeed in making use of those savings as I had planned.  I remember when I owned Bitcoin mining machines in 2014 and my decision to keep what I earned because I was convinced that the price would inevitably rise.  And after I got a good amount of bitcoins, I had to sell them to clear accumulated debts that my father left before he died.  I could deny those debts, but I could not override my father's will to pay off all his debts after his death.  Ali's death was a double shock to me.

[Hispo]

I feel it is my case.
It is specially difficult to me to spend money on things I deem to be unnecessary and I try to safe as much as possible, that means I can easily spend two years without buying anything for myself for the sake of the future. It was not until recently that I have tried to face the apparent problem of compulsive saving.

Now I try to use some money to enjoy with friends and buy some gifts for myself, but it is difficult. I blame the harsh economic times my family once went through.

[franky1]

when it comes to fiat. untouchable savings is what some call "under the matress" savings

however these depreciate over time because of inflation devaluing that money.

i would not recommend having untouchable fiat savings. however i wont recommend spending spree either.

its best to find ways to make your savings "work" for you. and accumulate more "savings" to outpace the fiat inflation devaluation

this maybe simple things like buying a lawnmower. and renting it out to the neighbours kid so he can have a hobby job mowing lawns for the neighbourhood
where eventually your lawnmower investment gets more in return
without you needing to be the landscaper/grass cutter guy

EG a $130 lawn mower where you rent it out for $3 a week gets you ROI in 1 year +$26 profit
and the kid is getting $15+ per 1 hour work a week.. everyone wins

[Queentoshi]

Yes. I have untouched savings until I reach my goal, so I can finally touch it. I think it's important to keep this personal rule for your life, otherwise you are going to use funds which were supposed to be untouched for any banal reasons.

Yes, I have untouched savings for case of emergency, which I use when I find myself in a difficult situation, but when I am saving for a particular thing I make sure to discipline myself and don't touch it until I achieve that thing  I am saving it for, It is good to have savings, there is no successful person on earth who didn't start by practicing financial discipline by having some savings. Saving makes way for a better future financially, to be successful financially, one needs to know cultivate the habit of saving.

[franky1]

be cautious with fiat savings

lets say you invested $100 in the 1980's where back then it was enough to go towards 1/3rd of an old rusty second hand car with a years life left in it
thinking that this saving is good enough that when your kid gets to mid-late teens the interest and such would cover 100% of your kids first cheap car to drive

well over that decade and a half you soon realise the end amount of $150 doesnt even cover the cost of a bicycle

i agree people should save. but also should accumulate to outpace inflation

[Captain Corporate]

I never have "untouchable savings", because savings is there to make sure that I do not suffer when something big happens. Right now all of my investments I had for the past 2-3 years is gone these days, sold them all and had to cash them out but that's alright, I can save again anyway, not a big deal. I will probably have it again soon, its going to be tough period so I am not going to have any savings at all for a long time unfortunately. But when I do have savings, they are NEVER untouchable, they are there so that when something big happens, and I need money, I can use it to make life easier for a moment.

[Fortify]

Many of the comments are equally interesting. They apply the idea to all kinds of things including the game Resident Evil. And then I thought perhaps this is also true in the economic aspect of life. Perhaps this aptly applies to those whose economic lives are like the desert and whose little money they have they keep tightly for the hardest of days.

When I was studying in the university far from family and relatives or even family friends, I had a difficult time. Money is extremely scarce. Early mornings are usually for hot drinks-- coffee, chocolate, milk, tea, or whatever. I realized that what made those drinks important is that they are hot. So I learned to drink only a hot cup of water which I could easily ask for free from the eatery in front of where I stayed.

Come meal time, I would also request that the serving be made in half. That's to save money. But I had the money. I always made sure I have some. Emergencies and unforeseen expenses may arise anytime. So I need to have money all the time, but I won't touch it. Ironically, it also gave me hunger, inconvenience, discomfort at times.

My story is rather uninteresting, but let me know yours. Does this idea also apply to you? You could have the money to buy a new car to replace your old and broken one but you prefer not to touch it. Do you hold yourself from spending what you have to the point of depriving yourself of what you deserve? Do you keep significant savings for occasions that might only happen in your imagination? Or at what point would you allow yourself to be drained of your last penny?

Not sure how true that story is and might be a bit of a myth to try to prove a point. Some of the stuff you say is a bit silly and being too frugal can bring a lot of misery in life, you need to really enjoy the little things. Hot water without any flavoring is completely different to things like hot chocolate or coffee. Depriving yourself of an adequate food portion can be equally dumb as having energy in your body can help you be much more productive in the long run, it is the fuel for your brain and muscles after all. Having an emergency fund of money is definitely useful and you should not touch it, but it can be stored in various forms - instead of putting it into a company that might return 6% in yield you might settle for a bank account paying out 2% in each to make a little bit of profit from your safety net.

[Yamifoud]

Untouchable Saving is a sort of preparation for whatever happens to us like for emergencies and many people are doing this. It is actually we can do this if we wanted to do it and have a plan but in your case OP, I don't think we need to sacrifice our health just to spend less and save some money because it might lead to huge expenses if our health got compromised. We can do savings in the other way, what I did before is to walk from school to our house to save my fair and keep it.

Savings is good but we are also affected by the inflations. It was better to save less but invest more.

[Hamphser]

My story is rather uninteresting, but let me know yours. Does this idea also apply to you? You could have the money to buy a new car to replace your old and broken one but you prefer not to touch it. Do you hold yourself from spending what you have to the point of depriving yourself of what you deserve? Do you keep significant savings for occasions that might only happen in your imagination? Or at what point would you allow yourself to be drained of your last penny?

I could say that im a bit different on which i would be having the mindset is that on what im really working for? on where or which i do save up? Its understandable or something really that in default on having a

savings but making yourself limiting into things that you do want then you arent really living your life to the fullest because you are worrying on something.Its true and it isnt bad to be prepared via having those
savings in preparation or in accumulation but it cant really be just denied out that excessive savings could lead up on unhappy life considering that you are depriving yourself on buying
on what you do really like to have or its impossible that we dont have any wishlist or something.

[BitDane]

It is quite hard to have an untouchable savings since I am an active investors, sure I have untouched savings but the moment that is to be touched and use when I hit the needed amount for my planned investment.

For a person that is earning just almost enough for family budgets, it is quite hard to save, we really need to budget things accordingly and avoid expenses that is unnecessary.  The better approach is to take side jobs which can earn us more and enable us have the luxury of having an untouchable savings.

[goaldigger]

My story is rather uninteresting, but let me know yours. Does this idea also apply to you? You could have the money to buy a new car to replace your old and broken one but you prefer not to touch it. Do you hold yourself from spending what you have to the point of depriving yourself of what you deserve? Do you keep significant savings for occasions that might only happen in your imagination? Or at what point would you allow yourself to be drained of your last penny?

Not spending your savings is fine as long as it serve its purpose and personally, I have some savings that I’m still not using because its intended for a different purpose like for emergency purposes but I’m not depriving myself into anything since I can still get what I want even if I save money. I believe how you handle your finances will matter here, don’t be too hard with yourself, if you have the money to spend on important things then spend it, and buying your wants sometimes is fine. Having a limited budget will force you to be more strict with your money, I’ve been into this situation and its really not easy to spend your hard earned money.

[panganib999]

I stumbled upon this interesting tweet days ago.


https://twitter.com/SchrodingrsBrat/status/1622320014215856128?cxt=HHwWgIC-9aPd0YMtAAAA

Many of the comments are equally interesting. They apply the idea to all kinds of things including the game Resident Evil. And then I thought perhaps this is also true in the economic aspect of life. Perhaps this aptly applies to those whose economic lives are like the desert and whose little money they have they keep tightly for the hardest of days.

When I was studying in the university far from family and relatives or even family friends, I had a difficult time. Money is extremely scarce. Early mornings are usually for hot drinks-- coffee, chocolate, milk, tea, or whatever. I realized that what made those drinks important is that they are hot. So I learned to drink only a hot cup of water which I could easily ask for free from the eatery in front of where I stayed.

Come meal time, I would also request that the serving be made in half. That's to save money. But I had the money. I always made sure I have some. Emergencies and unforeseen expenses may arise anytime. So I need to have money all the time, but I won't touch it. Ironically, it also gave me hunger, inconvenience, discomfort at times.

My story is rather uninteresting, but let me know yours. Does this idea also apply to you? You could have the money to buy a new car to replace your old and broken one but you prefer not to touch it. Do you hold yourself from spending what you have to the point of depriving yourself of what you deserve? Do you keep significant savings for occasions that might only happen in your imagination? Or at what point would you allow yourself to be drained of your last penny?

It surely applied to me at one point, especially the same as your situation OP. Back then funds aren't as easy to come as when you're employed, given the fact that I was forced to study only to "focus more" on getting that degree. That being said it made me very stingy of the very little money I get every week. The very little money I have however, is spent on things that are of value to me. Things that I know would help me later down the line, so in essence it's not really untouchable money. But during the time and the eventuality of me saving money, I'd find myself thinking that I'd rather save than starve the next day, I only ever really stopped when I realized it's causing some huge detriments on my health too.

One thing that I'd just like to put out as a rule of thumb for people out here who are in the same spot. The money you save by jeopardizing your health and your well-being will be gone when you have to pay for hospital bills. So it's fine if you couldn't save for now, health is wealth as they say.

[Oceat]

I would rather spend less than don't touch it to deprive more of yourself. Although, you can't help it because when you really needed it you will have to get it but of course, you still have to control yourself from spending them all at once or buying unnecessary things that you don't want right now.

Maybe if I try the untouchables savings, it will need a year or so before I touch it again, depending on the needs. But overall, there's always something left to that savings since I don't spend them all like what most people do. They get to work then get their salary and spend it like a millionaire on a single day then deprive their selves again for another month or most likely they will take loan which is adding more problem but they don't bother it anyway as long as they have money but they didn't think how expensive they were when trying to live.

[Mahanton]

I would rather spend less than don't touch it to deprive more of yourself. Although, you can't help it because when you really needed it you will have to get it but of course, you still have to control yourself from spending them all at once or buying unnecessary things that you don't want right now.

Maybe if I try the untouchables savings, it will need a year or so before I touch it again, depending on the needs. But overall, there's always something left to that savings since I don't spend them all like what most people do. They get to work then get their salary and spend it like a millionaire on a single day then deprive their selves again for another month or most likely they will take loan which is adding more problem but they don't bother it anyway as long as they have money but they didn't think how expensive they were when trying to live.

Everything should really be in control or simply in moderation because spending too much is always been bad and there's no way that you wont really suffer out and this is where people been thinking or should be thinking
on which spending on something that is important which should be prioritize first and be practical as much as possible.We know that we cant be healthy forever on which there's a time that we might be needing
soo much money specially when health issues do able to hit up us hard where finances would be mainly be affected.In overall your riches cant really be brought into your grave and this is why
some people do really spend up on something which they do enjoy their lives.

[Unbunplease]

I have Untouchable Savings. I keep in usdt as i believe savings should be liquid at all times. Any banks for storage are highly unreliable. Keeping Untouchable Savings in gold and the like is also unreliable.