Tuesday 19 March 2024
LIFESTYLE

Treat yourself – should you buy a new car?

Life is all about progression, and because of that, life is full of progression. We are born, and do not know anything apart from the basics of how to drink and sleep. We, of course, rely on our parents to care for us completely when we are born. Then, bit by bit, day by day, we learn to do things. Then, we can stand, walk, speak, feed ourselves without our parents dangling a spoon before our open mouths. Then before our parents know it – as everyone says, time goes too fast – we head off to our first day at school. We learn more things. We make our first friendships. We earn our first glowing (sometimes not so glowing) school reports. Then, we leave school and go off to university where the world awaits our intelligence after graduating. Of course, not all of us go to university. Some of us choose to carve out careers for ourselves in whatever industry we have a passion for. Some of us choose to do other things, like night class, or an online course. Whatever it is, you have progressed from confused newborn infant to a fully-grown, independent and nurtured adult.

Then, after all this is done, full adulthood awaits. Full adulthood can incorporate many things, the main aspects being: own home, marriage, children, a multitude of bills and financial headaches, full-time careers. The term ‘adulthood’ seems a long way off when you are, say, in the midst of your teenage years. But, it slowly creeps up on you and suddenly pops up from its long game of hide and seek when you least expect it. It may not shock you straight away, but eventually, there is the possibility that it will work its way into your mind slowly until you realise that you are now an adult and have to face the world head-on, with your credit card leading the way.

If you put aside the bank of mum and dad (say, it wasn’t available or the staff went on holiday for a week), it can be a tad bewildering and disconcerting to wonder where you are going to get the cash from when or if a financial crisis occurs. Say, for example, if you missed car payments on your new car. You do not want to approach your closest friends – they have enough on their plate as it is – and you definitely do not want to ask your grandparents to help you out, as they will only be worried about more potential money problems which might come your way.

Talking about your grandparents, what would they have done back in the day if they were struggling with financial problems with their car? They would have looked at their options succinctly and wisely: secured personal finance, lending money off friends and family, probably would have asked for a bonus or a raise in their jobs, or even got a second job. They would have worked it all out and, in the end, everything would be alright.

You should always look at your options, think about what will work best for you, and then undertake the best route for you to go down. It is important to understand the level of your finance, and what you can and can not afford. Otherwise, this could result in even more money worries, leaving you feeling stressed out and concerned for what is in store.

Of course, if things are getting tight financially, you could always dip into your savings but a lot of people with savings see that as a potential waste of their hard earned pennies. Savings are for the good things – the even better things – like treating yourself to an upgrade on the car, having work done on the chassis that you have wanted to complete for a while, or weekend car journeys away with the family. You could even buy a new car, with the savings that you have managed to put away. You could be driving around in that brand new Mercedes or brand new Range Rover before you know it. Some people see that when savings are being used for household renovations that it is not a deserving feeling. You have worked hard to save and put money aside into that bank account, and people wonder why savings accounts are used to help ease financial problems when, in the end you will just be putting money back into that account again. You could say it’s like a domino effect, if you will. Though, using your savings to buy a new car is one of the most wonderful feelings. Your dream car could be yours, and all because you have managed to put money aside for it.

However, there are also plus points to be earned when you do dip into your savings account to help ease financial worries. For one, you will not be handed unneeded stress implications and concerns by thinking about where you are possibly going to be able to source the cash from that you need. With a savings account, the money is there to be sued for whatever you choose. You have worked hard, really hard, to save that money so why not use it to treat yourself? A lot of people do use savings accounts to help ease them out of financial difficulties, but not all. After all, it is your money that you have saved and you can use it for whatever you want to, really. That holiday you were saving up for can always be put back by a few months. Besides, when you buy that new car you could even travel to your holiday in the car.

Yes, cars are wonderful things which enable us to feel good about ourselves and make our lives so much easier in regards to getting from place to place. Memento mori, the latin, roughly translates as ‘live for today’, so if you feel that you deserve to be able to go out and get that car that you have always wanted, go ahead and do it.

** This is a collaborative post

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