If you have no money worries, what's it like?

[Gifmestrength]

Just a general musing, if you have money, and lots of disposable income, does it make you any happier?

I've never been in a position where I don't have to watch what I'm spending, I'm not remotely materialistic but I always think if I had xxx amount it would make my life so much easier.

It's stupid I know as I know money doesn't make you any happier, that your health is more important and I never take these things for granted, I also know there are a lot of people worse of than me.

I feel comfortable and very pleased that we can afford stuff when we need to, examples recently being a new clutch, expensive IVF treatment, new garden and a new boiler as soon as the other one broke.

I used to not have money so I really appreciate the freedom and comfort that money brings

I'm in my late 50s. I took redundancy and early retirement 4 years ago from a fairly mundane public sector career with a good pension. DH and I have no children by choice and our mortgage was paid off years ago. 2 years ago my father died leaving a substantial inheritance split between myself and 2 siblings. I realise I am lucky but we have always lived modestly and actively managed our finances. Our only extravagance is long-haul holidays which are obviously on hold at the moment. The best thing is knowing we have household expenses (both routine and unexpected) covered and can afford to get tradespeople in when needed.

Hmm, I think what a privilege it is to have no money worries every time I go on Amazon or buy something nice for myself/the house. I do it sometimes just to cheer myself up and it does cheer me up. We're very lucky. But I'm also aware that the money would be no pleasure to me if there was anything wrong with or difficult for my loved ones. So ultimately I guess it's not as important to me as other things. Easy to say I guess when I have it.

I earn well myself and enjoy my work. Another stroke of luck. But my DH earns far more but it both makes him miserable and he works long long hours 7 days a week. It's complicated. I'd be happy with a lot less if he was happier but he won't choose that. It's his call.

But overall I love being financially comfortable. I love our home and I love not having to worry about bills or blowing double my usual grocery spend in M&S foodball. Or on a whim booking a spa weekend in a fancy hotel etc. It's bloody nice.

@LadyCatStark

I’ve spent so long worrying about money that, even though we’re now reasonable comfortable, I can’t shake off the money worries! I freak out a little if we have a big spend and I still worry about how much we’re spending throughout the month. Hopefully one day I’ll be able to feel comfortable and chill out a bit.

^this

There have been lots of studies done in to this (can’t be bothered to Google!) and it always shows the same. Happiness increases with wealth up to a certain point and then it makes absolutely no difference. So, you’re happier if you are comfortable and don’t have to worry about money but if you tripled that you wouldn’t be any happier

Having money doesn't make you happier, it just means it's not one of the things you worry about.

Clearly not having money impacts on everything you do in life, so once that particular set of troubles is removed, financial matters matter less.

My biggest worry is my DD3, who has been diagnosed with ASD. We are lucky in that we are able to pay for many specialist therapy sessions without thinking about it, however I do worry what will happen to her once we are gone. It would be too much to expect DS4 to look after her, but there's just the two of them.

I suppose one worry I have in the back of my head is how long my big job will last. My boss is retiring next year, and if I don't manage to get his job, I may be out on my ear, as new bosses in my industry tend to do a reshuffle once appointed.

@horehound nothing too exciting, had a lot of good luck, good mentoring and good timing in a high profile consultancy and progressed really quickly. I got to move around when I wanted a change. I moved back to the UK recently and am boring as f**k now!!

My DH died at 37; he was absolutely awesome so I’d give every penny I have to have him back for my DCs and myself.

However that can’t happen, and I feel so fortunate I can afford to work part time rather than full time, and own a modest house outright through life insurance. I can maximise the time my kids have with me, their surviving parent, and provide them with all they need.

Not now. But I gad a glorious decade some time ago. Young, free, single, own home with small mortgage and thousands a month to spend on myself.
It mostly went on wine....

Now married, DD in nursery, needy OAP horse and bleeding money left, right and centre. Constantly adding up the £’s and struggling to make ends meet. Life is better now in every other way but it was glorious to have disposable income. I’m hoping we’ll make it there again one day!

I'm glad that if something breaks I can fix it. If I lose my job I will still be able to keep a roof over my head. If I want to quit my job i can do and I'll be fine for a set amount of time. It makes my life calmer.

But I have been poor to the point of losing my home to i appreciate the money. I could do witha laptop and for some reason cant bring myself to actually go and spend money on one, now I have money I want to keep it.

There is always something to worry about but owning our own home and having financial security is a blessing. It does make life easier in many ways

I have absolutely no money worries. I have a low mortgage and enough money to do everything I want to. I work full time in a low paid job and have around £250 disposable income per month. You don't have to earn loads to have no money worries.

I grew up in a poor single parent family. Me and my DSIS were well aware of the family finances from quite a young age - I am not sure if that was good or bad. We have both ended up quite wealthy.

As a result, even though we have disposable income and save a very good amount I still worry about money.
We are in the process of moving from our small mortgage free house into a much larger house but with a mortgage- £100k! I get sweats thinking about having this mortgage and no longer having six figures of savings in an easy access bank account (we will still have plenty in ISAs) and I am so tempted to just get it paid off rather than doing the sensible thing of keeping money going into our pensions and ISAs.
I constantly worry about losing money, it has been so nice to have that safety net I fear it going.

However, we have increased our spending - sending DC to private school is a huge, huge commitment and I half wish we hadn't (even though it is absolutely the right thing to do for our DS) as now we have to both work and redundancy could make a huge impact on our lives.

Relaxing. I am not rish but don,t have any debts, considering my oh has health issues it gives us added security.

I appreciate and am grateful that I have no money worries, it is a privilege to not worry about paying bills. I realise it offers me more choice and experiences, but I wouldn't say it's made me happy.

Money gives you choices. My daughter was taken to hospital by her dad in our family car (he had taken her to the GP and got told to go straight there). I asked a friend to watch my son and booked a taxi to the hospital, and we swapped so I did the night time with her and he went home. For loads of my client base, just getting a £10 taxi on a whim is unthinkable. It didn't affect my daughter's outcome (which would have been mild whether she was with me or her dad) but it meant we could have everyone where we wanted them without agonising over being able to pay the bills and that month. My client base are 50:30:20 managing on benefits, low wage, decent wage, and it makes a huge difference to either afford a car, or pay for a taxi easily. Likewise I own my home. My last home was tiny in a cheap area, but it meant I never had to deal with the housing office, and there was no chance of the landlord deciding to sell from under us. When I was a teenager my previously well paid dad got ill and couldn't work - my parents sold out home and used the equity to get a smaller cheaper home with a mortgage based on just my Mum's income. The relief was palpable. My husband and I bought a cheap house in a crap area of a crap town when we were very young, because I always wanted money in my house if life went wrong. It has paid off, as I had a mental breakdown and we could pay the tiny mortgage and bills in his job plus my temping.

I still find pleasure in finding bargains. I still have to justify to myself, spending a bigger amount of money. I find it easier to spend on the grown up kids than myself. But it's relative. I guess the threshold point has increased over the years.

It would still be nice to have more but we have a very nice lifestyle. I'd probably spend more on exotic holidays - but we really enjoy the several ones we currently have.
I'd probably buy better quality clothes- but my current ones are fine.
I'd probably have more "experiences" such as more theatre trips etc - but the current covid situation has shown that it's people around you that are more important. The recent picnics in the park have been lovely. We used to do that sort of thing when the kids were small and money tighter. That had fallen by the wayside as we've been able to afford the easier option of cafes etc, but actually the recent picnics have been lovely and we don't have a better time just because we throw more money at it.

As long as you have enough money to meet your basic needs and some left over for treats and fun, then money doesn't really increase happiness.

I’m not earning mega bucks at all but I have enough to pay what I need to pay with money left over for nice holidays etc. Mainly as my DC are full grown adults now so my money is just for me. I was poor for a long time and I think a lot of frugal habits stayed with me. I do very much appreciate the fact I don’t have to add up what I’m buying in the supermarket in case I can’t afford it. Or if I want something for the house for example I can just buy it. I am definitely way happier than when I was poor! It’s brought me peace and contentment. Money worries are just awful. There’s often no light at the end of the tunnel and you wonder how you’ll survive. I know people my age who still struggle to find rent money each month and have to budget really carefully. So I never take my situation for granted.

My DH earns a lot and I'm from a wealthy family. It means you can afford to fix the boiler when it breaks, our fridge died in April and we could replace it.

I don't like wasting money, we always hunt for the best deals and all of DS's Christmas presents are secondhand- I appreciate it's easier with a Preschooler though.

I have two serious illnesses, and the prognosis is for me to get worse not better. I'd happily swap money for health but at least I can afford not to work and I see a specialist privately.

all of DS's Christmas presents are secondhand- I appreciate it's easier with a Preschooler though

I’d struggle with this.

Surely it makes more sense to buy new when you can afford it, and ensure that people who can’t are given access to cheaper or secondhand items when they need them?

Not for a second saying that someone on a low income should not have anything new, but if you have a very tight budget on a low income and are trying to get Christmas presents together for a toddler, I think it’d be heartbreaking to not be able to access these because someone who didn’t need them bought them.

I recently saw toothbrushes on sale exceptionally cheaply in a local supermarket. Like really cheap- 10p each. I saw a woman load at least 50 into her shopping trolley. She was taking them by the box-load. The optimist in me likes to think she picked them up for her local food bank/women’s refuge, but I’d hate to think she saw it as a cheap way of hoarding a decade’s worth of toothbrushes when that price could have made a big difference to a struggling family.

@VodselForDinner by the same logic do you think that wealthy people shouldn’t get a job because it denies a poorer person an income? Genuine question - we had a debate over the summer as to whether my Student DD should apply for supermarket jobs in a climate where so many people were being made unemployed and arguably needed the income more. We didn’t come to a conclusion really (and she didn’t get the jobs applied for anyway!)

[quote VanCleefArpels]@VodselForDinner by the same logic do you think that wealthy people shouldn’t get a job because it denies a poorer person an income? Genuine question - we had a debate over the summer as to whether my Student DD should apply for supermarket jobs in a climate where so many people were being made unemployed and arguably needed the income more. We didn’t come to a conclusion really (and she didn’t get the jobs applied for anyway!)[/quote]
I think everyone should attempt to make themselves as self-sufficient as possible.

Assuming that your economic status has no bearing on your daughter’s likelihood of getting the supermarket job (and I know we could go down rabbit holes about nepotism/connections, and whatabboutery re: unpaid internships etc but using this base example at face value) over anybody else, I think any student willing to work should be commended.

Now, if a requirement of the job was that your DD would have to wear a particular pair of £5 boots that she had to provide, and you used your financial power to purchase all pairs of those boots within a 30 mile radius so no poorer person could buy them and therefore denied someone else the opportunity to buy the boots and compete against your daughter for the job, that would be a different thing.

Ultimately, your daughter applying for a job did not prevent anyone else from getting it.

@VodselForDinner interesting pount. I try to be environmentally conscious so would rather buy things secondhand. I tend to donate items that we no longer use (play with/wear) rather than sell them. I donate to playgroups, refuges and charity shops. We buy new toys for the local toy appeal and do the reverse advent calendar with the local food bank. DH grew up in real poverty and we know that we are fortunate enough to give so try to do so frequently.

I would never buy 50 toothbrushes like in that example, but I'm always going to try to get secondhand Halloween costumes rather than buy them new.

We were already financially comfortable as DH was a company director. But, this year his company landed an enormous contract which means we'll likely never have to ask the price of anything again. To be honest, I don't really know how I feel about it because it doesn't seem real yet. It needs to sink in. Also, I have only recently got fully back on my feet after being diagnosed with early breast cancer at the start of the year, so my mind has been very much focused on health not wealth.

I am worried that never having to ask the price can take away the excitement of anticipation, so I am wary of that happening. So, we're trying to keep it fairly real after an initial flurry of spending where DH treated himself to a new Range Rover and I had a Mulberry handbag

I was reasonably poor growing up and have had periods with no money at all. These days, thanks to years of hard work and good luck, we live abroad, have good jobs and don't have to worry about the bills, though we did have a huge scare this year where a huge cock up meant we were potentially liable for a 5 figure tax fine! Sorted thankfully. I'm not really bothered about material things though, still. No designer handbags or frocks though I do have some Ralph Lauren sunglasses. Prefer to spend money on travelling, holidays and weekends away plus going out with friends for cocktails and trying new restaurants. You're a long time dead, as my Nan used to put it. Covid has put a dampener on things this year with all trips cancelled, Italy, Lisbon, UK, South of France. Brexit is my big worry now. How it will affect our pensions and our plans to move somewhere warmer. But I am very thankful and try to pay things back where I can.