Cash, Card or Loan

Question.
Are you a cash, card or loan person?


I'm not talking about nasi katok or teh tarik that's worth few dollars, nor Toyota, Honda or BMW and even a house that will cost you an arm or a leg.

I'm talking about.... erm... few hundreds to few thousands items such as... maybe mobile phone, computers, laptops or even a sliming package.

I'm more of a cash person, or sometimes card.
I feel super insecure when it comes to money and spending money from the "future" is never my kinda thang.

If I want something, I will save ... and save... and save... until I have enough (sometimes even extra) or, I gave up the thought of owning it. I put in a lot of considerations the items cost more than what I classified it as "Expensive", be it a bag, a watch or perfume...

(Wait a minute... all my watches cost less than $20 and my only so-call "branded" one is a gift from the fat guy. And as for perfumes, I really do think I stink that's why all my perfumes were gifts given too. Not proud of it but yeah...)


But once a friend shared me this "theory" that had never once hit my brain.

I was asking him why do people prefer loaning stuffs. Mobile phone they loan for 3 years, laptop loan for another 2 years, furniture, car parts, all those ki-li-ka-lak.... Why not save enough and buy it? I mean, I do think its better that way because there won't be any worries if overspend or something happen and the money allocated for paying loans need to be use. Loan money to pay for loan again?

And he told me this.

"With the same amount of money plus a little bit of interest, the person can enjoy all those things he wants simultaneously.

How long do you need to save if you want a home theater system, laptop, then a new mobile phone? Let's say a year for both of them, you have to wait one year in order to get them. But for those people who loans, they can happily enjoy their gadgets while paying for it. So why wait?

Different people has different perspective."


Well.. True that.

While I have to kasian-kasian save money from not eating what I feel like eating, tahan myself from not buying cloths and shoes, others are living lives like tycoons!

I'm just too sensitive when it comes to Vitamin M.

I remember that time when I was about to buy my car, I even made an Excel sheet having formulas calculating "If I pay this much for down payment, then loan the rest for n year, then the interest I am paying is _______".

Kiasu, but effective.

Some people thought of what they can afford in a month but care less for the extra money they paying, and these are the people I don't understand. They think "$300 a month. Hmm... Ok, I can deal with it", and not... "OMG! I'm paying extra $3k just for the interest a year!".

o_O ?

Sometimes I really wonder how can these people afford all those things that seems so far away from me when we're earning almost the same wages, some even less than me! I often look at them enviously. Why they can go makan-angin just like that and I susah-susah go KK also feel payah?

Is it their method of financing?
Or is it just me being too uptight with money?

I don't know. But one thing I know is that I will not change my spending habits, even if I can only touch and feel other's punya Gucci bag or Burberry wallet and keep bugging them telling me stories about their exotic trip. I feel proud of being a scrooge because mama taught me

"SAVE FOR A RAINY DAY"

I'd heard scary stories from friends about people who borrowed money just to buy branded stuffs to feel good about themselves, but couldn't even come up with the money when their parent was sick. How pathetic can that be? This is what I call "extreme cases".

There are families who manage to survive with few hundred dollars of income and also people who earn thousands yet had their cars towed to the car yard.

Come on lah, money is never enough for all of us.
It is just how we plan ahead and finance our money that keeps us safe and moving on.

Of course, how you want to spend your money is none of my business. So don't go spamming my comment box or tagboard telling me off just because you "ter-rasa".