Don’t save now just to spend it all again when the pandemic eases – The National

Don’t save now just to spend it all again when the pandemic eases – The National

I had to practice some self-control and not blow all the money on more fun things that were more immediately purchasable.. I proudly checked my bank balance and went to buy the car from someone I'd found online who seemed honest.. The car was in good condition and the previous owner even took a chunk off the asking price because I was paying in cash.. I even learnt an expensive lesson on how much the government takes to register the car and issue a licence plate.. The first is that I allowed my focus on the upside of independence to blind me to the true costs of car ownership.. The second is that I worked really hard for months, and sacrificed a lot of other opportunities, to buy a car that immediately depreciated in value and needed money injections in terms of regular maintenance, insurance, petrol and taxes.. I had just deferred spending to a later date.. Build your emergency fund, then maybe, if you have six to 12 months' of expenses stored up, then you can think about investing while prices are still low.. If we buy expensive liabilities such as cars, they can become financial vampires attached to