What is the difference between saving and accumulating money?

Recent attention to hoarding as an emotional disorder has raised the question of whether there is any significant difference between saving money and hoarding it. While the lines between the two can seem a bit blurred at times, there is an important distinction that revolves around the intent or reason for accumulating financial reserves. Depending on the reason for this accumulation, the activity can be considered responsible and productive, or extremely harmful to the well-being of the individual or family involved.

When saving money, there is usually a specific purpose or intention in mind. This purpose can be short-term or long-term. For example, a family might open a savings account as a means of saving funds for their upcoming vacation. Alternatively, a family may choose to consistently deposit funds into this account as a means of saving a down payment for a home, a new car, or some other purpose. Saving for retirement is also considered a goal-oriented, productive and responsible strategy.

In contrast, hoarding money has no other purpose than to accumulate financial resources. There is no anticipated target for the funds being set aside, and there are no plans to use the money anytime in the future. People who are in the business of accumulating money often give up their necessities to add a little more to their savings account, like food or clothes. It is not uncommon for an accumulator to forgo purchasing health or life insurance, even though these features are likely to be beneficial at some point in the future.

Accumulating money involves an unhealthy obsession with accumulating financial reserves. In the same way that all sorts of accumulating illnesses cause people to hoard things they don't really need, the activity of hoarding money is likely to cause a short-term burst of good feelings. This is no different from someone hoarding goods when they find a sale and shop at a deep discount. Often this emotional uplift is followed by a period of depressed thinking, when he realizes that the effort to save has not produced more lasting satisfaction.

For people who suffer from some form of hoarding disease, it is important to identify the underlying causes of the activity. Once these causes have been identified and the problems that led to hoarding have been resolved, the individual can once again enjoy a better quality of life. For anyone in the business of accumulating money, this often means rethinking the way you view money and learning to manage both saving and spending in a balanced and responsible way that doesn't motivate a person to run out of needs or put money aside. without establishing any kind of objective or eventual use for that money.