I’m a saver by nature and try to stash as much money as possible in my retirement accounts, taxable stock trading accounts, and emergency savings accounts. My wife does a pretty good job of reminding me that I also need to enjoy life now and that does mean spending a little money here and there.

As far as my friends and family, I have assumptions on the way they handle their money but nobody discusses details. My wife and I had a period where we carried debt but now our approach is that the only debt we carry is our mortgage.

With your super fund, are you able to choose your own investments? I’d love to hear more about that either through the comments or email if you prefer it to be off the blog.

All my friends tend the have the same % level of debt – a debt they can service and clear if they desperately had too – regardless of incomes. Very few of us have savings in any real form or another.

Maybe this is particular to Australia given the compulsory superannuation savings that exist and which you can’t touch until you are of retirement age – which is 65. This was a scheme set up by the government and is highly regulated. Personally I know that while I have nothing in the bank apart from some emergency funds, and while I do have a standard mortgage, I also know that in my super fund is a considerable sum of money that is just waiting for me at the other end – forced retirement savings in fact.

Of course if I die first then my wife will be laughing.