Francisco d'Anconia said:
That's earning money. A lot of people mistake the two. Those are also typically the people who spend their lives just saving money because they are afraid of not having any. People who know how to make money don't have that fear.
Living paycheck to paycheck enslaves you to your job. Pook advocates owning a business to make money, but saving (and investing) is essentially the same thing. Stockowners are part
owners, and they can still make money through non-entrepreneurial means at the same time. If you live on 75% of your take-home pay and invest the rest, you'll be a wealthy man in 10-20 years. And you'll also be better disciplined.
Once you get enough funds, you can even self-insure yourself instead of buying many minor kinds of insurance (eg, car insurance), and thereby cut down on profits that would otherwise go toward the insurance industry. You would only need to hang onto the more extreme kinds of insurance, like life insurance (until you save enough money that your wife won't need any insurance) or health insurance (you can save money by lowering your premiums and raising your deductibles).
It's people who think the way you do ("don't save") that are requiring our government to bail them out in their old age. "Nah, don't save for retirement. Nah, don't save for an emergency or a rainy day. Your job will always be there for you until the end of time. Or if worse comes to worse, the government will help you." Give me a break.
Hint hint: Social security is a pyramid scheme.
Savings are what allow a country (or an individual) to become wealthier over time. Look at the
Solow Growth model if you don't believe me. And America has no savings.