Comments on: If You Knew What Would You Do?

By: The Importance of Money- Means To an End or End in Itself? | Financial Highway

Wed, 24 Jun 2009 06:33:06 +0000

[...] make them happy and I respect that, but here are my thoughts on money. This post was inspired by If You Knew, What Would You Do? A discussion on how you would react if you found out you only had a few months to [...]

By: mike

mike — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 12:31:22 +0000

I would get a Ferrari or some other supercar and drive it as fast as i can on the highway, sound a bite crazy but iam gonna die anyways.

By: arohan

arohan — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 02:31:55 +0000

Great question! The very first thing I will do, and the one I realize I should do right away, is to have an updated Estate Plan that takes care of my spouse and my kids and gives out very little to Uncle Sam in Estate Taxes.

Than I will travel, and also visit as many long lost relatives and friends I can.

By: Ray

Ray — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 01:28:27 +0000

good point in theory it’s easy to say what I’d do but in reality things would be much harder….

By: MLR

MLR — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 00:14:36 +0000

Good point about the education/work thing.

In my case, no, I would stop saving. I am single (as in not married, just a g/f) and have no kids. I have life insurance through work which would cover any costs associated with my death. I would see no reason to save as my long-term goals are more suited towards ME.

If I had a family, I think I would continue to save (or at least not go crazy with my money). In that case, I would hope our long-term goals would continue on even with me not being there. And if they didn’t, I would want to be able to contribute to any new found goals of my wife and children.

In reality I have no idea until placed in the situation, just idealistic thoughts I suppose.

By: Ray

Ray — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 23:58:29 +0000

Good Question MLR: I think saying “i would not be frugal anymore” was incorrect, it should have said “I would stop saving” or something along those lines…..I am not a very frugal person to begin with…just become somewhat frugal due to influence of the fiance.

Also I agree that you can die any moment, but you are not really “expecting” that to happen you have a long term goals…..if i lived with the idea that I can die at any moment than why go to school and get an education or save for retirement or work etc why do anything? If I know i’ll die in 5 months than there is no need to save or plan for long term…..

would you continue saving at the rate you currently are if you knew?

By: MLR

MLR — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 23:41:04 +0000

Interesting post and I think I would do all of the things you mentioned (esp traveling).

However, one question which I think will make for an interesting answer:
-If it takes finding out that you’re dying to stop being frugal in order to create lasting memories, what is stopping you from wanting to create those memories now? In fact, shouldn’t you be more prone to do that now since you could die at any moment?