Why is 10k debt harder than 10k savings?

[heydude]

When you have 10,000 in debt it feels so awful and like you will never get enough to pay it off.

But, if you have 10,000 in savings, it feels like it can be drained in a second. Like, you can spend it in just a day. Like, every power is working to make it so you can't keep it!

why is this?

[ctg492]

I guess I never felt that way. I remember being so proud of ourselves and like we had "made it" in life when we got the $2,000 dollars in the bank and it was the base amount. We at that time did not have to pay fees if we kept that amount in there. It was like WOW we are rich!! I also remember having reached 0 debt on credit cards, Oh what a feeling. Then no Mortgage. They were all milestones,never to be forgotten.
But I understand how the safety net can disappear in the blink of an eye.

[sweetana3]

It is because they feel the money (debt) is already spent and the "good" feelings are gone. Now is time to make payments and to many it is just money out the door.

Far better to save for a purchase like an asset or vacation than to borrow and have to pay back "later". Many of us have lost the ability to delay our gratification, we want it now like the world will end tomorrow. You have to enjoy having savings for a rainy day. We always had the plan that a certain amount was truly set aside for our retirement needs. We did not spend it or even think about spending it.

[Zoe Girl]

Because either way, if you have a family or a house or multiple cars, 10K is pretty easy to run through right now. That means charging the debt or draining the account. I know, I have less than 10K in debt, less than half, and an emergency fund. I still get nervous and am pretty brutally frugal but loosening up a bit. My family just needs to relax a little

[catherine]

Probably for the same reason it always seems to take so long to get to a place but so quick to get home!

[loosechickens]

I guess because we've always had those feelings......the debt seeming like an unbearable burden, and the savings never enough, that is why we've ended up financially secure, with more than adequate retirement savings, and haven't had any debt at all for decades. So, in a way, feeling like that is useful, because it spurs getting rid of debt and also increasing savings......

Now, if I could just find the button that says, "the time has arrived for which you saved all this money, now go forth and enjoy some of the fruits of it without guilt"......because THAT'S where we have problems......just out of the habit of spending to such an extent over the years, that the mechanism for doing it almost atrophied. We're addressing that in earnest this year, starting with the recent cruise down through the Panama Canal, and two iPhones, but it is HARD, spending, after so long as savers, savers, savers.

[Life_is_Simple]

...

Now, if I could just find the button that says, "the time has arrived for which you saved all this money, now go forth and enjoy some of the fruits of it without guilt"......because THAT'S where we have problems......just out of the habit of spending to such an extent over the years, that the mechanism for doing it almost atrophied. We're addressing that in earnest this year, starting with the recent cruise down through the Panama Canal, and two iPhones, but it is HARD, spending, after so long as savers, savers, savers.
If you find that button, let me know. I find that I spend a LOT of time thinking and deciding about a purchase, when I should just buy it. A force has developed that doesn't even want me to buy necessary things.

[jennipurrr]

Also, when you are paying off debt every time you make a payment not all of it goes to the debt since some is siphoned off to interest. I know when we first started paying off debt it was so frustrating to make payments and have chunks of it go to the interest instead of the debt itself. That was a big reason we moved DHs debt to zero percent credit cards - it was a risky move as we had to be committed to paying the debt off within the window (which was 23 months) but the interest was around 10 percent so those savings were enough to make it worth it.

I don't feel that same feeling you describe with savings but DH does. Our retirement savings crossed a threshold and I was really excited. He just replied that it is not even close to FI! Sometimes I think SL'ers are always thinking about the worst case scenario or the even, not the worst case right now, but worst case in the big picture. I don't worry about it as long as we are generally on track with our goals and have a cushion for emergencies.

[Weston]

When you're paying debt the interest is working against you. When you're saving the interest is working for you.

[ApatheticNoMore]

When you are paying debt the interest rate is likely to be a lot higher than the interest you are getting on your savings.>8)