How your spending habits can shape your financial future

Your spending habits can shape your future. If you spend too much, you may not be able to save for a rainy day. If you spend too little, you may not be living your best life. So, how do you know which part of the spectrum you fall in? And how important is it to know your spending to fulfil your goals?

Your spending habits can define your financial future. Hence, it is necessary to understand what kind of a spender you are.

The Impulsive Spender

Spending and buying based on an impulse or emotion could be considered impulsive spending. Such decisions are made in the heat of the moment without actually thinking if the item needs to be purchased or not. Now, it isn’t always a bad thing to impulsively spend. However, it also depends on what one intends to buy and the effect of the purchase on finances.

The Frugal Spender

Being a frugal spender, one would look at the features or benefits of a product before it is purchased. The purpose or aim would be the value addition a product may make in life rather than how it looks. Nonetheless, one would at least think twice before spending or may even look for a less expensive option. A frugal spender may always not buy the best product because it may not fit within their budget.

The Conscious Spender

A conscious spender is someone who knows the importance of managing their finances while thinking of long-term plans.  Before funds are used for purchase or investment, they would first look at the value of the product, its impact on the current finances, and how that investment would affect the financial future. For instance, a conscious spender would consider investing in a savings account in a bank and, at the same time, choose a savings plan like HDFC Life Sanchay Plus.

As a conscious spender, you would weigh the long-term impact on finances when it comes to both of these products. For instance, the savings plan offers multiple benefits, such as life cover to protect your family’s future in case of an unfortunate event, guaranteed¹ benefits payout, tax benefits² as per the law, retirement income with the Life Income Option³, etc.

The Status Spender

A status spender is someone who would buy things just for their brand value or spend money to elevate their status amongst their peers. For such spenders, the true value of money may be negligible as they believe in spending more and saving less. They may also land up in debt and borrow money to fulfil status needs.

Holding a status in society is an aspiration that most people have. However, it shouldn’t come at the cost of your or your family’s future. Instead of splurging money, it is often best to plan and spend. This way, you will be able to fulfil your aspirations without depleting your funds.

The Necessity Spender

Spending money on things that are needed or important for the household and family members would be classified as necessity spenders. Such spenders would rarely or less frequently buy something for themselves. When they do, they would look for a bargain or a less costly option. Now, necessity spending can be considered to be a good thing by itself. However, not spending money isn’t a plan for financial resilience.

Spending money isn’t a bad thing. However, the need of the hour should be smart spending. Before you splurge, think of what you can set aside or invest for the future. These investments should help you safeguard your principal amount and generate wealth for the future. This can help in creating a path for financial freedom. 

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ARN: ED/03/24/10018