Since I was young, I was always taught to save my money for a rainy day. I got piggy banks as gifts and learned to pick up pennies on the street (only the ones faced heads for good luck). I knew that if I saved up enough, I could buy my own house just like my mom did. But somewhere along the line, the messages I was receiving about penny-pinching became inconsistent.
I know people in my family who worked hard and saved their whole lives just to retire. I just can’t bring myself to get behind this ideology. I know this is the conservative and safe way to live, but it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. I don’t think there is enough of a benefit at the end to justify living sparsely your whole life. This whole conversation relates to what you believe your purpose on this Earth to be. Everyone has their own idea about what this purpose is, but I think most people would agree that working 40 hours a week for 40 years isn’t it. I need my life to have a greater meaning to it than just building the wealth of the CEO of the company I work for.
I don’t want to exclusively enjoy life when I’m 65. I want to enjoy it while I’m young and energetic. There’s no way to guarantee that all your saving and frugalness will pay off once you’re old. You can lose it all at any point. You might as well control where you lose it. I personally find it depressing to have to put money toward Social Security that won’t even be able to provide all my benefits by the time I am old enough to claim them.
Maybe I’ve just been listening to too much Lana Del Rey, but I agree with a more “live fast, die poor” mentality. I know this is the typical college student mindset, but that’s the fun part of being young — you think it will last forever. I recall during one of my first driving lessons, my dad taught me to switch to the correct lane when I got closer to the turn rather than far in advance. “You have plenty of time, worry about it when you get there,” he said. Since then, I’ve applied this philosophy to my life in general. I’m creative, and I’d rather figure it out when I get there.
Of course, I need to survive somehow. I have to do some financial planning, but I don’t want to be overly obsessed with it. Living for your retirement years isn’t living at all. From what I’ve seen, people who live this way plan on having fun when they’re older. The problem is that fun and happiness are a muscle that have to be exercised. If you’re too focused on having a fun retirement, you’ll forget the meaning of fun along the way.
Layla Soboh is a UF advertising junior. Her column comes out Tuesday and Thursday.
