oversaving compulsion?

[clausewitz2]

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Not sure what professional title matters here???

I am suggesting that @sluox post suggested the (potential) pathologizing of normal, if but extreme, rationale behavior(s). With the added benefit of inquiring (chastising?) why others in the field did not pathologize the behavior and actions of the OP.

Thus leading to the conclusion that, its no wonder so many children (and adults) are prescribed "psychotropic medications" in this country--if indeed this is the profession's attitude and metric about "pathology/psychopathology."

You did read the part of the post where @sluox specifically said that he was not asserting that OP was describing anything diagnosable, right? Also, the part where he suggested exploratory therapy and not anything that comes in a pill bottle.

I am not sure coming in and equating that to drugging children is the move you want to make when you are trying to show how hasty conclusions from erroneous premises are problematic. Or is that sort of reasoning representative of psychology's superior intellectual rigor?

I think you should look more carefully upthread and take note of the various ways OP expresses that maybe he is not 100% okay with his current modus vivendi. As far as I can see there are two options:

A) OP is really terrified in an inexplicable, inchoate way about the idea of having a bank balance smaller than a certain number or the idea of parting with money, as supported by his desire to ask for reassurance from a bunch of internet randos that really everything is fine. In which case, why is suggesting talking to a therapist demonstrative of the intellectual bankruptcy of psychiatry?

B) actually he is fine with it and just wants to clumsily humble-brag about his financial prowess, as suggested by telling a bunch of internet randos all about his finances. In which case, ugh, fine, we get it, you win at money

Either way, I think the dynamic is quite interesting. You seem to find this less interesting, and that would fit with your frequently stated aversion to clínical work. Also, I suppose it also helps avoid situations in which you might have to defer a decision to those pill-slinging psychiatry chumps.

 

[finalpsychyear]

I appreciate all the insight in this thread and I feel "talking" about this has put it more in perspective. I am a deal hunter at the end of the day. Reading about the whole "FIRE" idea got me very excited to see if i could live on less. I don't know what you guys spend on your personal credit cards a month but I hit somewhere in 1000-1200 on mine after just finishing my yearly analysis and likely will be 2000 this month due to gifts and travel

Do most doctors that you know frankly double that amount for their personal CC expenses? I don't feel deprived at all ever. I also recently bought an expensive gaming console and about to purchase a 1500 laptop just bc i have done such a great job saving this year. Maybe other docs do this monthly? I don't crave watches, cars, suits, houses (not yet) but am fine spending on travel and experiences.

 

[WisNeuro]

Do most doctors that you know frankly double that amount for their personal CC expenses? I don't feel deprived at all ever. I also recently bought an expensive gaming console and about to purchase a 1500 laptop just bc i have done such a great job saving this year. Maybe other docs do this monthly? I don't crave watches, cars, suits, houses (not yet) but am fine spending on travel and experiences.

As long as your immediate needs and retirement are paid for first, just spend on what makes you happy. I'm with you on the cars thing. Neither my wife or I give a damn about cars, so we generally go cheap and reliable and just drive it til it's dead. The amount we save over some of our friends/colleagues who buy/trade in ever 3ish years is crazy. It just depends on your outlook. We're not particularly careful about budgeting or anything, just naturally frugal, and we still probably get about 50%+ income in savings, retirement and loans (hers).

 

[NITRAS]

Saving, spending, and giving should be a regular part of everyone’s regular life.

You should plan your money, then follow the plan. (Budget)

 

[dpmd]

I appreciate all the insight in this thread and I feel "talking" about this has put it more in perspective. I am a deal hunter at the end of the day. Reading about the whole "FIRE" idea got me very excited to see if i could live on less. I don't know what you guys spend on your personal credit cards a month but I hit somewhere in 1000-1200 on mine after just finishing my yearly analysis and likely will be 2000 this month due to gifts and travel

Do most doctors that you know frankly double that amount for their personal CC expenses? I don't feel deprived at all ever. I also recently bought an expensive gaming console and about to purchase a 1500 laptop just bc i have done such a great job saving this year. Maybe other docs do this monthly? I don't crave watches, cars, suits, houses (not yet) but am fine spending on travel and experiences.

Why are you so hung up on what others do? If it is anything besides genuine curiosity on what others spend their money on you should reflect on that a bit more. If it is just curiosity I think you need to expand your imagination. Some people spend more on cards because they put every possible expense including bills on it. Others have it high from going out to eat and drink coffee/alcohol often. Others have some pricey hobby they put on there. The possibilities are endless before we even add in factors like family size.

 

[whopper]

A class psychiatrists should be required to take but aren't is Abnormal Psychology and other members have mentioned it other threads in this forum. This is a psych class that teaches students the ways out-of-the-norm behaviors are gauged and that not all of them are necessarily pathological, in fact most aren't. An example my former professor in that class used to bring up is "An IQ of 140 is as out of the ordinary as someone with a 60 IQ yet we don't think of 140 as pathological do we?"

I've noticed most bad psychiatrists try to pathologize everything, and then medicate all disorders that they've likely misdiagnosed in the first place. E.g. I had a patient who saw porn just once, his religiously-overzealous wife caught him, demanded he see a psychiatrist who then diagnosed him with OCD despite that he had no OCD sx. She placed him on 4 meds, none of which provided any benefit.

So he saw that psychiatrist for a few years, and he then switched to me. Again he had no OCD sx so I faxed a letter to the prior psychiatrist asking what prompted the diagnosis and she never responded back to me.

 

[psych_pa]

"To get a grip on what is *actually* going on."

Come on, dude?! Could you be any less stereotypical psychobabble condescending. This isn't a movie.

Not pathological in the slightest--seems psychiatric medicine is prone to this habit. Is it not? Or, I'm sorry, are you known/infamous for normalizing behavior? Not what I would do (or what many people in high earning careers do), but the ballpark of normality applies here, right? OCPD? Seems culturally crafted/defined on the face of it. Ridiculous. No wonder 5-6 year-olds are being drugged with this kind of attitude/thinking.

If a collection of psychological and physical habits regarding money-saving are "unhealthy" in the context of high earnings and well reasoned rationales, well...lets just sociologically indict our whole society/culture, right?

You are on a psychiatry form... bashing psychiatric medicine?

 

[WisNeuro]

You are on a psychiatry form... bashing psychiatric medicine?

Well, it tends to happen quite often. Many of us see terrible things happening in psychology/psychiatry on a daily basis in the clinical world. Seriously, just look in just about every thread on here. It's like being surprised that you're in Seattle and it's raining.

 

[Liquid8]

OP isn’t too bad. Had to laugh when I read the bit about shoes - late last year I started doing a lot of walking, eventually wearing through the ankle section of a $20 pair of Kmart sneakers after some 200km. When I bought a new pair, it was on the last season special rack at $15 and as the same section started to wear through I have been patching it up periodically plugging up the worn inside sections with scrap fabric and masking tape.

Having lived on my own for periods, at times I’ve also done minor clothes repairs like sewing on buttons and darning socks when it would have been cheaper to spend that time working and buying something new instead. Still, I find there’s something satisfying about doing stuff with your hands, and fixing things rather than just endlessly consuming “stuff”. This isn’t to say I don’t spend on my hobbies and interests, but they’re on the relatively cheap side of things - walking (free), guitar (bought 7 years ago for 8x my then hourly rate, internet lessons - free) and organised social sports ($10-12/week). Funny thing about the latter was that the group I am with (who are non-medical) decided that when the fees at the old place went up from $13 to $14 they could organise everything themselves for a cheaper price, which means I probably just hang out with tightasses.

 

[finalpsychyear]

OP isn’t too bad. Had to laugh when I read the bit about shoes - late last year I started doing a lot of walking, eventually wearing through the ankle section of a $20 pair of Kmart sneakers after some 200km. When I bought a new pair, it was on the last season special rack at $15 and as the same section started to wear through I have been patching it up periodically plugging up the worn inside sections with scrap fabric and masking tape.

Having lived on my own for periods, at times I’ve also done minor clothes repairs like sewing on buttons and darning socks when it would have been cheaper to spend that time working and buying something new instead. Still, I find there’s something satisfying about doing stuff with your hands, and fixing things rather than just endlessly consuming “stuff”. This isn’t to say I don’t spend on my hobbies and interests, but they’re on the relatively cheap side of things - walking (free), guitar (bought 7 years ago for 8x my then hourly rate, internet lessons - free) and organised social sports ($10-12/week). Funny thing about the latter was that the group I am with (who are non-medical) decided that when the fees at the old place went up from $13 to $14 they could organise everything themselves for a cheaper price, which means I probably just hang out with tightasses.

My shoe came back perfect so i am glad i got the hole sewed up. I am also not cheap at buying others gifts. Dropping like almost 200 for my sister's apple airpods or 300 for galaxy watch for the GF well at least for me i don't consider that on the low end. I just don't need that stuff myself. My walmart timex and regular iphone ear buds suffice. I also have not been feeling bad spending money on my tennis it is actually 21 bucks for 2 hours of doubles which has been fun. Getting ready for 5 night vegas trip. Life is good.

 

[FlowRate]

I was really obsessive about "researching" pretty much any purchase I made during med school, trying to get good quality but stay within a very tight budget. Now that I'm in residency, I'm slowly allowing myself to indulge in certain places (more expensive shoes = wider array of lasts and sizes, various hobbies that come with a somewhat expensive initial capital outlay) without being as up-tight about vetting everything I do so carefully. The time saved enjoying things instead of reading about them is worth any minor extra cost.

 

[clausewitz2]

I was really obsessive about "researching" pretty much any purchase I made during med school, trying to get good quality but stay within a very tight budget. Now that I'm in residency, I'm slowly allowing myself to indulge in certain places (more expensive shoes = wider array of lasts and sizes, various hobbies that come with a somewhat expensive initial capital outlay) without being as up-tight about vetting everything I do so carefully. The time saved enjoying things instead of reading about them is worth any minor extra cost.

On the other hand, I guess if you know that you are a dysthymic sort who tends to regret and rue and find fault with anything you actually do or purchase, it might be rational to prefer to research and fantasize about its ideal form and avoid the crushing disappointment of flawed reality.

 

[Crayola227]

On the other hand, I guess if you know that you are a dysthymic sort who tends to regret and rue and find fault with anything you actually do or purchase, it might be rational to prefer to research and fantasize about its ideal form and avoid the crushing disappointment of flawed reality.

^^^
my shopping habits entirely

 

[dpmd]

On the other hand, I guess if you know that you are a dysthymic sort who tends to regret and rue and find fault with anything you actually do or purchase, it might be rational to prefer to research and fantasize about its ideal form and avoid the crushing disappointment of flawed reality.

I don't think this is universal for me but on vacation when I find some nice trinket that costs more than I wish to spend I find that I regret buying whatever more than not buying it when I can't get the price where I initially value it. In other words my gut valuation of goods tends to be spot on.

 

[clausewitz2]

I don't think this is universal for me but on vacation when I find some nice trinket that costs more than I wish to spend I find that I regret buying whatever more than not buying it when I can't get the price where I initially value it. In other words my gut valuation of goods tends to be spot on.

I have had similar experiences, and as a result quite like visiting lower income countries where haggling is more of a thing, since I can stick to my reserve price and walking away when the price goes too high often results in my being able to purchase it at that price or very close to it anyway.

 

[Sardonix]

And here I thought I was the only one incessantly calculating how long it will take to pay off my (still accruing) debt or what my hypothetical budget will be when I actually start getting paid.

 

[watto]

It's the old marginal utility to price ratio:

AmosWEB is Economics: Encyclonomic WEB*pedia

I have read that this fixes in your early to mid 20s. No matter how much you make later in life, your general sense of value is internalized.

 

[Liquid8]

My shoe came back perfect so i am glad i got the hole sewed up. I am also not cheap at buying others gifts. Dropping like almost 200 for my sister's apple airpods or 300 for galaxy watch for the GF well at least for me i don't consider that on the low end. I just don't need that stuff myself. My walmart timex and regular iphone ear buds suffice. I also have not been feeling bad spending money on my tennis it is actually 21 bucks for 2 hours of doubles which has been fun. Getting ready for 5 night vegas trip. Life is good.

Good to hear. Definitely don't scrimp when it comes to others either, especially not with family. Mine are all doing reasonably well, so often the only chance I get is the odd dinner hear and there when we catch up.

As far as big ticket items go, education costs might come up in a few years and I'd be more than happy to help out - my young niece and nephew could do very well if they went to a good private school, but it looks to be a stretch for the parents. It wouldn't be the first time for our family, as my mother paid for her brother to attend an overseas university while she was working.