Kalyani Nandurkar wrote:

usha manohar wrote:

MG Singh wrote:

In India teh saaving is a must as there is no state pension or medical cover. This is a sign of a poor country, so people better save as there is no social seccurity net like in Europe and Canada.

I personally feel that while social security, unemployment benefit , child benefit and other measures that are there in other countries tend to make people lax which one can see after a few generations have passed. Everyone should work for their living and save part of their savings. Our government has enough schemes to help out people who want to invest and enhance their savings..all that is required is a will to do so and be consistent in their saving habit !

I agree, it is the duty of every individual to work hard and save for his own or her own future and also pay taxes properly so that the government can provide basic facilities to everyone. While social security that other countries provide are good to some extent, these facilities are still abused greatly. eg. unwed mothers in UK get financial assistance by the government which has led to great increase in the percentage of girls as young as 14 and 15 giving births to children all because they get money from the govt for it and they do not have to work for it.

True Kalyani, a lot of people live on dole money in the UK and it comes from other people's tax contributions, which does lead to frustration. I remember there was a huge debate about it a few years ago questioning even the royal family , especially the extended family members not paying taxes but enjoying all the high end benefits. As a result most of them had to pay tax except The Queen and her children..

usha manohar wrote:

Kalyani Nandurkar wrote:

usha manohar wrote:

MG Singh wrote:

In India teh saaving is a must as there is no state pension or medical cover. This is a sign of a poor country, so people better save as there is no social seccurity net like in Europe and Canada.

I personally feel that while social security, unemployment benefit , child benefit and other measures that are there in other countries tend to make people lax which one can see after a few generations have passed. Everyone should work for their living and save part of their savings. Our government has enough schemes to help out people who want to invest and enhance their savings..all that is required is a will to do so and be consistent in their saving habit !

I agree, it is the duty of every individual to work hard and save for his own or her own future and also pay taxes properly so that the government can provide basic facilities to everyone. While social security that other countries provide are good to some extent, these facilities are still abused greatly. eg. unwed mothers in UK get financial assistance by the government which has led to great increase in the percentage of girls as young as 14 and 15 giving births to children all because they get money from the govt for it and they do not have to work for it.

True Kalyani, a lot of people live on dole money in the UK and it comes from other people's tax contributions, which does lead to frustration. I remember there was a huge debate about it a few years ago questioning even the royal family , especially the extended family members not paying taxes but enjoying all the high end benefits. As a result most of them had to pay tax except The Queen and her children..

Yes Usha, there has been a growing discontent on part of common people who now refuse to pay for the high maintenance of royal family, and they are right. Why should they pay for such luxurious upkeep when no one in the family works for their living? So are many people too questioning the payment of social security to young and able bodied with supposedly no jobs. Even in India, when we see a beggar who is young and healthy, we refuse to give alms. In my opinion, any kind of free assistance is nothing but glorified alms, and takes away the necessity to work hard, we have seen it happen in farming community to large extent. THere is no harm is providing assistance to old and sick people, but expecting government to look out for everyone in old age is just too much.

People save all their lives to lead a secure and good life. By the time they have saved enough they are usually past the age where they can eat , drink and be merry without affecting their health. However savings are useful for meeting medical costs by senior citizens. Whatever may be the reasons one should save or get insured to lead a hassle free life and meet contingencies.

It is better to fulfil all your adventure filled activities and travel while you are healthy and fit by saving a part of our income towards such activities because once you are beyond your prime it is difficult to predict how healthy you would be. There is no point in saving all the extra money and not use it on yourself .

No doubt about it that savings is an integral part of a man's life. Only thing that bothers me is how to balance the present day expenditure and savings for future. I am against all for savings and even against spending uncontrollably. I want my present and future both to be hassle free as well as interesting.  

Normally investing FDs and earning compound interest takes care of the inflation to a certain extent. If you save a fixed amount, even if it is a small amount, you have something to fall back on .