Are you a spender or saver?

Money is one thing which is extremely difficult to earn and it is one of the first things to disappear in most situations. It is a bit difficult at times to slot oneself into one particular category, since our tendencies to be either a saver or spender changes every so often over a period of time. Looking at my spending pattern over the last decade or so, I guess I would probably categorize myself as saver rather than a spender since I usually the term spender usually connotes using money to buy things all the time that are not really needed in order to lead a normal life decently.

There were times when I had to spend my hard earned money on a lot of different items during a short time frame. However, this spending activity when it can be classified as an investment either in purchasing/renovating a property or putting money into a business venture does not cancel out the category which I have slotted myself into. These activities I consider an investment where I expect to earn much more than what I have invested in return. Other times, it is for absolutely necessary items like a new fridge (yes it does have a door handle minus dirty smudge marks Danni…lol), an air conditioner (another harsh summer is upon us), a new car – Tata Nano (my old beat up car is just not worth the trouble anymore), few more ceiling fans, etc.

I learned the hard way that having money in times of need and emergency are important because we will never know what will happen next. One should save a certain percentage of your monthly earning and invest it in some safe investment avenue like government bonds, etc so that in case of an emergency I have something to fall back on. Especially in the times of recession it is more important to have decent amount of money stashed away. Not many people will come forward to help you out financially even if they belong in the extended family.

Being a responsible adult, a person should know what to buy and when not to buy. One must learn to purchase only those that are a necessity in life and these habits should be ingrained into the child’s thinking early in life. Never have "live for today, we'll think about tomorrow when tomorrow comes" attitude in life. This will lead to disastrous results. Give it a thought and in the end try to answer the following questions honestly: Will you consider yourself a saver or spender? Which category do you fit in? In which thing do you spend money the most money or where do you manage to save money most?