A quick survey Two hypothetical situations. (1) You find a wallet in the street. No documents, but it has some cash, about your monthly income. What do you do? (a) go buy yourself something nice (b) put it in your retirement/savings account (2) You win a lottery with a ticket you got as a birthday present. The after-tax windfall is about your annual income. What do you do? (a) go buy yourself something nice (b) put it in your retirement/savings account could you also specify your age?
34 years old. I would add it to my brokerage account, so I guess (b). I never have the feeling of "money burning a hole in my pocket". I don't spend money just to spend it. (Sidebar: I would never win the lottery because I have never in my life purchased any kind of lottery ticket, nor will I ever. Furthermore, if I thought there was a reasonable chance the wallet may belong to someone who lives near-by, I would first make an attempt to ask a few people if they lost something, before I just pocketed the cash.)
1.b - 2.b - 24yo I'll invest whatever I get. So it's not retirement / saving account. But investing is closer to saving than spending. Well ... It can end up like a giant wealth redistribution too.
Who the hell would choose Option 1, over 2...who would prefer a month's salary over a year's? I would eat at a fancy restaurant for dinner, that would be my only celebration The rest would just be another random number in my bank acct.
Spend it all on hookers and whisky... hahaaaa No, uhmm... neither scenario would be usefull in a savings account so I would buy something... maybe give the person who gave the lottery ticket as a present a cut...40 years old
Maybe the OP is testing us to see if we can follow rules very well? How many of us are creating new answers to the questions? Just a thought.