My wife and I are young, late 20s, and we have no debt except for our house. In the last 6 months we have finished paying off the last of our debt and we bought a rental house as an investment for retirement. We currently save 15% of our income through Roth IRA and 401k retirement accounts. We also have an emergency fund with about 4 months of expences in it.

The problem for me is that we would like to buy a big new TV. The one we currently have is a 27" from 8 years ago. But I am really having an issue with spending close to $2,000 on a TV. We have the money to pay for it in cash.

I used to be the type of person that would spend every penny until I got married and we decided to get out of debt. I know that buying something like this will not set us back financially at all, but I still feel guilty buying nice things. Why is this?

buyer's remorse is nothing new. the fact is, that is is MUCH harder to make and save money than it is to spend. somewhere in your mind you are mulling over what it took to make the $2k and trying to justify it being spent in a 1/2 hour trip to Best Buy (or wherever). go ahead and get the tv (pay cash, or put on CC and PAY IT OFF in one payment when the statement comes), just make sure it is a good quality that will last for many years. then you can sit back and realize the tv is only costing you maybe $1-$1.50 per day which is an EASY to justify.

I can empathize with this. My DH and I are saving max retirement plus an additional few thousand per month on top of that, and we're doing well income wise, but i never would have imagined setting up house would cost so much. Sometimes the numbers are so big my eyes glaze over.

We similarly bought a $$ tv. $1500, 50 inch plasma (its a monitor though, not a tv, long story). Plus we redid our bathroom (cost 8k) and went on vacation (oh, another 3k??). Sometimes i wonder if i am frugal at all anymore. But then I remember we save the max we can each year for retirement and we also save another 3000 per month. We live way below our means.

Maybe this will help you feel better about it - 1) get the absolute best deal you can, shop around. and 2) promise - if I buy myself this, I will have my emergency fund fully funded (for more than 6 months) by x date.

Thanks for the replies. I think buyers remorse is part of it, but I think part of it has to do with being ashamed of having nice things. My wife and I are probably better off than anyone in either of our families and instead of wanting to flaunt that we would prefer for people to not know about it.

It is hard for me to have something really nice even though I am living well below my means. I have a very nice house but I justify that to others by saying it's an investment. I have nice things as well but we always seem to point out some thrifty item we found, instead of something really nice that we have. I guess it just might be something that I have to come to grips with: we are doing well and can afford nicer things than some other people.

Don't be ashamed that you are doing well. You probably work very hard, and will continue to do so...

Another thing you should remember - sometimes buying quality things cost more up front, but in the long run, they cost less. As another poster mentioned -you buy a nice, good quality TV, you will get an immense amount of enjoyment out of it. Buy nice furniture - it lasts longer, buy a nice car - same thing. the list goes on.

I like the $100 rule. For every $100 a purchase costs (in your case 20) you have to wait a day (again 20) until you execute the purchase. The $100 gives you time before the purchase to really make sure you want it. In addition to the $100 rule, we also have a $300 rule, every purchase over $300 has to be discussed and agreed between the two of us.

I can't imagine paying $2000 for a t.v. but I could totally spend $2000 on a piece of furniture, different people have different wants and if that is what you and your spouse want - go for it.

Sounds like you've worked hard on your finances, you've got an emergency fund, you are saving for retirement - its fine to spend a little (or a lot) to enjoy your present life.

re: $100 rule

I guess we have exceeded that since we have been talking about the TV for about 6 months

BlackHills, I do understand.

For the first 10 years we were in our (crappy 1923 tract) house, we did everything ourselves. We had time, and little money.

In the past 3 years, we have had more money, but very little time (both in demanding jobs, DH now owns his own business). We have paid a boggling amount to do things on the house that were either complicated or time-intensive. Such as the roof, the stucco, the re-wiring of the entire electrical system, new DRm furniture that we'd wanted for *7* *years* and a professional paint job.

We struggled with spending money too. But for us, it was time to spend the funds on things that were 1) aesthetically wanted, and 2) necessary to keep the house from decaying further.

So - if you've researched it for 6 months, you have savings, you have retirement funded - perhaps it's OK to buy the new TV. In your shoes, I'd balance it by donating the old one; shopping for a killer deal on a model that might be last year's release; and calling it your Xmas gift to one another.

Good luck!

Sandi

PS: FWIW, we still own that same TV - it's 32", and ~ 8 years old. No new LCD or plasma for us. If it ain't broke, we keep it. And sometimes, we keep it even if it *is* broke!

we save so we can spend. part of all this being financially responsible is so you can spend money. nothing wrong with spending money on want items. apply the same principles of being an informed consumer and then enjoy.

If you decide to move forward and buy one, make sure you check Amazon. Great prices.

I recommend a DLP TV, you can get a large one for much less than a similar LCD or Plasma, they last longer and the only part that will tend to give out over a long time is the bulb which can be easily replaced.

I think you should buy a nice TV you will be happy with for a long time, get a 1080P TV, the 720s are a bit cheaper, but it may result in you justify buying a newer one sooner than you otherwise would.

wherever you buy it, buyit with a mastercard platinum or another card that has some kind of "insurance" feature for purchases. i just bought a new lcd and hadn't mounted it on the wall yet. i was throwing the kong and it took a wrong bounce and crash, the lcd cracked inside. 3 days after i had just bought the thing. i've never used any of the extra features from a credit card before, but i decided to this time around. it was pretty simple and quick and voila, got a check pretty quickly under the mastercard assurance program (capped at $1k per incident, lucky for me the lcd cost a couple of dollars over $1k). the only problem, is that i decided to get the larger lcd since the store didn't have another one of the same size and model and i didn't feel like traveling to the other store. i did immediately mount the thing on the wall though and won't ever throw the kong any where near the tv again.

I usually don't feel guilty about making major purchases at all because I have done my homework and have shopped around to get the best deal. And I'd have to agree that the best deal does not necessarily mean that it's the cheapest product out there.

For example, before I buy a major item I will research online (product reviews, prices, etc...) then scope out the item\type of item at different stores and newspaper sale ads. I do this so that I will know what the price ranges are for that major item. All of this groundwork helps me spot great prices in case I happen to be shopping somewhere and stumble across it. It may sound rather tedious and complicated, but it's not. The only time it would seem tedious is if you cannot wait to do your homework and you want to buy the product NOW.

If you are doing the things you are suposed to be doing, do not feel bad about taking your extra earnings and paying cash for something you want. It's the reward for a job well done.