If your strategy is to run through life with no buffer what do you expect to happen? What scenario do you envision where you aren't wiped out? Get into a motorbike accident on your $5k vacation and bam, bankrupt. So much for the low stress holiday!

Some people must have nerves of steel, I couldn't sleep living life like that. A stiff breeze takes most people out financially and the feel comfortable going on vacations!

If you want to live in a society of relaxed, happy well-off people then you're going to have to do some work for someone else that you never collect on. That is literally the only way to achieve good outcomes. We call it "savings" and it is a great idea.

I'm probably gonna get downvoted for this, but a $5k vacation won't bring you lasting happiness. At best it's great in the moment, it'll bring you some fond memories, and perhaps it'll give you some bragging rights. And then that's it. It's nothing compared to achieving your dream. And you don't achieve your dream while on vacation.

What is your dream though? Not to discount what you're saying, but so many people talk about saving to achieve their dream. From what I can tell, these folks' dream is actually: to save money so they can some day achieve their dream.

No downvotes from me, but people take vacations for other reasons.

I know people who are basically close to burnout all the time, and a week here and there of no-responsibility vacation would do wonders for their mental health. It’s not necessarily always about fulfilling a dream, but it can be about doing a little self care.

> a week here and there of no-responsibility vacation would do wonders for their mental health

Those weeks don't have to cost anything. You could stay at home, go camping, etc.

What's your dream, though? To hoard away all your wealth so you die with the highest score?

Just because OP isn't going on vacation doesn't make them a hoarder. Just as those that enjoy vacations aren't throwing money away. As you suggested, each person has different dreams. And, that's expected.

No, but I might use it to buy the Hacker News board, so I can haz ULTIMATE CONTROLZ over the bots and users here. ;) Jk I'm not like Elon.

I have a lot of pictures from vacations I took with my parents. My dad is gone now, and mom doesn’t travel much anymore. I’m glad we took those vacations when we could.

(They don’t necessarily need to be expensive vacations, though.)

Thank you. :) This reinforced my dream-big ideas.

This is basically it.

There’s a balance of course, but I know a few people who go too far into the “save everything” category. They are slaving away in their 20s and 30s, prime time for exploration and fun, for a retirement when they are older and have other responsibilities.

I have a family member who had a serious health scare when she was younger, and still lurks over her head. It’s really a different perspective: why have no fun now saving for a day that might never come?

Of course, you do need to save something, because retirement will hopefully come. Balance is everything.

Hard to judge without having walked in their shoes. I grew up with nothing, and I have no family support network. If I am laid off, fall ill, whatever - there is nowhere to which I can turn. YOLOing in my 20s felt like the deepest kind of irresponsibility for someone trying to crawl their way out of childhood poverty.

Oh wow, I had the exact opposite reaction. Very close to a childhoold in poverty - lost my family when I was 5, adopted, homeless, etc. - but when I graduated college, my apartment rent was $2000 in DC, I was vacationing in Norway, and eating and drinking at the most expensive restaurants. I made a bet that I was going to make decent amount of money in salary, and that bet has paid off. Debt-free from university, sizeable retirement accounts and savings, etc. Now, I wasn't able to afford to buy a home or condo at 25 like my peers, but I thought I was okay given I was starting over.

I realized I lived through a peculiar hell when I was young, so I definitely made up for it buy working hard, playin' hard.

As an immigrant who grew up with nothing and have no family support network, now that I make ridiculous money working at FAANG, I spend it all because I know I’ll be fine if I go back to nothing.

That seems irresponsible to me. Shouldn't you be at least saving enough to never have to go back to living like that, no matter what happens, knowing how it feels? Knowing how to live like that and actually living with nothing are 2 different things.

> I spend it all because I know I’ll be fine if I go back to nothing.

It's good that you'll be fine if you go back to nothing, but it very much isn't a reason to spend all the money.

Reasons to spend all the money could be eg that it makes you happier (I very much doubt that) or that it makes the world a better place (you didn't say how you spend the money, so perhaps?).

That sounds backwards and wrong to me. When you are young, you have the most flexibility and can find fun everywhere.

Like when you are in your 20s, living with roommates (even if you can afford not to) is fine and could be fun, and you can just enjoy friends coming over for beers vs more expensive outings etc.

And if you save enough, you have the "dry powder" to buy that house or whatever when time comes.

On the flip side, if you don't save when you are young, and you can't afford shit when you are older - it gets not cute really fast. Like being 40 and not having a house because you never got your shit together for a down payment (because you lived it up the prior 2 decades) is pathetic.

Can't help but feel like that last bit may have fallen off the wrong side of the subjectivity vs conviction chart.

If people want to live different they can. Plenty of people die in their 50s and 60s. Some earlier.

If your plan is to live a short life and you are somehow going to not fail yourself on that plan, then I agree your saving strategy doesn't matter.

The fact is I see much more people who are too poor relative to their age living miserable lives because of that.

I see your point. Although I do call for some balance - don’t waste it all, but don’t be a packrat either.

> Like when you are in your 20s, living with roommates (even if you can afford not to) is fine and could be fun, and you can just enjoy friends coming over for beers vs more expensive outings etc.

Fair. I’ll just say we have different definitions of fun :) (nothing against what you said, people enjoy different things. I am actually jealous of people who find that stuff fun).

To some people, having fun and spending money are far more orthogonal than to others.

Take the 5k family vacation but also the house you can afford to pay off in less than 15 years. Too many people buy the best house they can afford and suffer too much interest.

Not sure why you only examine the extremes.

Live below your means is good advice. It says nothing about not taking a vacation.

I appreciate that I don’t have to worry about financial insecurity. Layoffs are not scary to me. My biggest fear is lack of health insurance and healthcare costs when unemployed.