What’s an “unpopular” spending or money decision that actually works well for you?

It always bothers me when people say they need an expensive lease because they need a reliable car.

Now, this will be true of some people, especially in poor transport areas. But I heard it plenty from friend skiving locally who were being anxious about being stranded.

All the while I had a 10yo car that yes, occasionally let me down, but never for more than a day worth of Ubers that came in at a fraction of the cost of a lease.

(If you want to lease for other reasons knock yourself out, but if you're worried about the cost of taxis - why?!? You'll likely be far better off with the old car and the odd taxi.)

I use Ubers as needed rather than run a second car

This makes no sense,

I will make the figures easier for you.

If you 100k mortgage on a low rate and 100k in investments with a higher rate why would you pay off your mortgage from a completely financial perspective?

I do the thing with time too, I work out if it’s cheaper to get someone to do a job than it would cost me in time to do it. If it does, I’ll pay someone to do it. I have a business where I charge my time on an hourly rate so if it’s going to cost £400 to have a room painted, for example, it’s not worth my while to do it myself because it’ll take me more time than it would a professional, the finish won’t be as good and I’ll loose money I could be earning.

I also don’t spend time being “frugal” unless it’s going to save a reasonable amount of money. Life is too short to be cutting up toothpaste tubes to save 10p worth of toothpaste.

we haven’t moved for 20 years and have never upped our mortgage even though I earn six figures now (agent always) and we could afford a much bigger house. The house is big enough and we have enough space and I like where we

This choice means we have amazing holidays and a great standard of living with trips away, good food budget and we can do things if we want to not down to whether we can afford it..

Exactly.

There is a behavioural element to it - in that you can access investments more easily than money you've put down on your mortgage so if you would be inclined to spend it rather than invest, the mortgage repayment might be the better option for you.

But it's just financially illiterate not to understand that it's factually true that a higher % return on investments is a better option than a lower % on mortgage.

Same! My husband has so many colleagues that have died shortly after retirement and he's in a job where most people retire earlier than usual. It's really affected his view on life.

One of the best pieces of advice I've ever been given was by a work colleague, he's an adventurous traveller and he's been all over the world. He said travel and long flights get much harder as you get older so make the most of it while you're young.

I'd rather live my life now than have massive retirement savings, especially as I don't have any children to leave it to.

@Flatinbed I wouldn’t be cycling in the winter months to save 50p per day and getting out earlier, that’s dedication to being frugal.

Exactly this, this is my mantra. We had children young, I want to soak up this time with them, it’s not the time to prioritise saving and mortgage.

No this is wrong. In fact in your specific example you would certainly be better growing the high return investments.

It's fine to want to pay down your mortgage but the advantages are mainly psychological rather than fiscal.

When buying beauty stuff, there is a shop near me that often does 25% off days. In fact, so often that I wait for those days and stock up then.

Same with household essentials and black friday/week deals.

I build a list of things I need, can be bought in advance and bulk, eg dental floss and moisturiser. Then get them at these times.

Once you start looking, you realise that there are some items that you need never pay full price for. (Weleda skin food - I always manage to find it with a reduction.)

Pet insurance- credit cards and high interest saving pots instead

Your reasoning makes no sense. Of course you shouldn’t pay down the mortgage in that case.

If you have a spare £1000, if you pay down the mortgage you save yourself £6.80 in interest. If you invest it you make £140. Sure you forgo the £6.80, but you’re still £133.20 up!

The important thing is not to then squander that money. You should indeed use it to pay down the mortgage eventually. But as long as your rate of return is higher than your mortgage rate, you’re better off investing.

we do not eat out at restaurants much at all anymore. I cannot eat big amounts, so a meal the size of my palm maybe. I am also a chef by trade and can make a great meal at home for my husband and just make it a little bigger so I can have some (not a competitive undereater...I LOVE food, but had major bowel surgery 4 years ago and as such cannot eat alot without gas and pain as I cannot digest quick enough) Also live by the beaches.. so take a beach bag with some waters , maybe a couple beers for my husband, maybe a small wine for me, and our own chairs rather than paying tourist prices at the beach bars

Actually there will be times in your life where you cannot save/ may need to be in debt. This is normal. Do not miss out on every small joy - especially with young children - because of prescriptive ideas in saving X% of your income.

There will be other times when you can save.

We saved to buy a house/ make upgrades to it. We saved for a small buffer to cover maternity leave costs. But I am not going to never buy an ice cream for the kids when at the playground because at the moment most of our money goes on childcare/ increasing cost of living etc.

I do recommend cutting back on takeaways and only having them as a genuine treat mind. That absolutely saves a fortune (and your waist line).

I now use just debit card rather than credit card…have saved a fortune because I am budgeting on money I have rather than credit card…so refreshing !

Of course the figures make a difference, 0.68% on a mortgage of £500K+, and 14% from £10K of investments would make it foolish to not pay down the mortgage. You're literally giving money to the bank, when you could have it cleared off, and keeping that money to build wealth instead.

Having a low interest rate mortgage and high yield through investments doesn't automatically mean it's better not to pay off the mortgage.

An unpopular opinion, with my parents at least, is that I buy just what I want/need at full price rather than buying stuff that isn’t quite the thing I want/need but has a reduction or yellow sticker on it.

It literally took me years to get out of the mindset of ‘getting a bargain’ to realise that buying say some jeans in a style I didn’t want, because they were £10 cheaper than the style I did want, wasn’t saving money because I wouldn’t want to wear them and I’d end up buying another pair of jeans weeks later because they were in a sale. So now I just buy the one more expensive pair and I don’t feel the need to buy any others.

Cycle instead of taking the car.

But I do take the car, I am very mindful of the congestion charge. I choose my route carefully and leave home 30 minutes earlier to get into work at 7:10. Saves about 50 p a day. Over the course of the winter months, that'll be about a 60 quid. Actually now I have written down, I may as well get extra sleep 😂

I don't believe in investing in property or buy-to-lets. I do not want the hassle of being a landlord.

We have a home. It is no bigger than what we need to be comfortable for the size of our family. The rest in invested in Stocks & Shares ISAs and Pensions (basically low cost index funds). Our investments have done very nicely over the past 20-30 years. It is almost shocking how much they are worth now compared to what we put in. So in terms of capital growth, I think we are doing alright compared to property but for zero hassle and grief.

We don’t buy into all the “experiences” that families are sold these days: Breakfast with Santa, Easter presents, Christmas Eve boxes , pumpkin picking etc. It’s a personal choice but I’ve had other mums act surprised that we don’t

I don't budget because it would make life not worth living for me. I simply can't stick to a plan, or even remember it. Instead I "navigate" my finances in a vague direction.

It's not the recommended approach, but it works for me. I could probably spend less and save more if I was stricter, but I don't live that way. I enjoy living this way.

I'm not bothered about size of house, car, holidays, or any luxuries. I don't have expensive clothes, handbags, jewellery. I don't go for any grooming stuff like nails, bottom or even haircuts. I don't travel much.

So it works.

But one of you is more generous i bet. And the other more petty, taking advantage ;) If you are happy with it i bet you ars the petty one lol. just joking...i admire this arrangement if its working for you

I buy a new car and run it to its death
Dont care about depreciation it wasn't and investment piece. Its a car for getting to work and back