I purchased my Mazda 6 4 years ago when it was 6 months old with 5k on clock. I saved 6k off list price but bought it via finance so I did have some interest on top. However although it was amazing I wouldnāt do it again. The new Mazda range only started in 2013 so I couldnāt get much older anyway, but I would have saved at least 6k odd if Iād bought one 2.5 years older. I paid 25% for my wifeās 6 year old Mazda 6 for what the total cost of mine incl interest. Hers in the older model and not as refined but itās a cracking car and Iād sooner have another 6k in my pocket plus interest nowā¦
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I had always bought the newest phones and only recently realised the error of my ways 
With cheap tech coming from 
it seems silly to buy anything else!
I bought myself and my wife a Xiaomi Mi A2 each at the end of just year and it is the best phone I have ever had! Dirt cheap and great specs 
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Iāve heard some horror stories when buying used cars, itās all Iāve ever owned and itās never been bad, Iāve had my car for 4 years now and racked up 60k extra miles. Right now a small step up would just be an automatic, trying to stop and go a 1.1 diesel in traffic is like a dance!
Then youāve got the shared office car park, itās normally filled with some pretty nice cars, certainly newer and nicer than mine and I feel a little envious, I could afford a decent car like that but who am I trying to prove it to?
Iāve got this weird anxiety over spending money no matter how much, Iād compare it to those doomsday people with their little bunkers. I know I donāt need to scrimp and save as much as I do but what if
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My previous phone was actually a Xiaomi Mi Max, loved that thing it was stupidly big!
One of my colleagues at a previous firm had a client who liked to keep Ā£1million in his bank account. He just liked to see Ā£1million there. 
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I think we can all relate to that
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My point is that everyone has their ideal buffer of pot for what if. For many people its nothing as they have nothing. For lots of people on here the size is probably directly correlated to their age. But even if we factored that into account youād find there would be quite a diverse spread. For me I see my bank, ISAās, SIPP whatever as one big pottery with various pots 
and I want to maximise the most out of each. Keeping Ā£1million in your bank account so you can drool over how epic you are to have Ā£1million to just sit and rot is daft at best, but then who am I to adviseā¦ 
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Had this in my head since I first saw the thread title
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It used to be the first Ā£100K is the hardestā¦ with inflation itās now the first Ā£1M is the hardest 
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Iāll settle for getting to the first Ā£10
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I think most of us are a long way from a million but thats why weāre here!
One justification for not paying off your mortgage earlier is that inflation does the work for you to a degree. Your mortgage in 20 years time will be worth a lot less in real terms than it is today assuming inflation at even the BoE target rate. I personally wouldnāt spend all your money as those around you suggest - investing some in inflation-beating real assets like shares, could give you a doubly positive impact vs paying off a mortgage on what is pretty cheap debt.
Having said that itās kind of like the question of whether itās worth paying off student debt early, (when you could end up never having to repay it all if it gets wiped out after a certain period of time). It all comes down to what you are comfortable with - if having any debt doesnāt make you comfortable, then paying it down early may be better for you vs someone else.
The same applies to spending as well. But remember at some point you will want to get used to spending something, otherwise you will endlessly accumulate wealth and never get to enjoy it!
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