{"id":559604,"date":"2026-07-26T00:07:10","date_gmt":"2026-07-26T00:07:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/559604\/"},"modified":"2026-07-26T00:07:10","modified_gmt":"2026-07-26T00:07:10","slug":"doom-spending-holidays-over-houses","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/559604\/","title":{"rendered":"Doom spending: holidays over houses?"},"content":{"rendered":"

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SINGAPORE \u2013 I think the \u201cdoom spending\u201d spiral has sunk its claws into me.<\/p>\n

For one thing, when I go to a cafe and see that $7 strawberry matcha latte, I think: \u201cJust get it, you\u2019re never going to buy a house anyway.\u201d<\/p>\n

When I see flight tickets on sale, some 30 per cent of me is yelling to hold back on the itch to fly somewhere again.<\/p>\n

But the remaining 70 per cent repeats the mantra: \u201cWhat does my future even look like? Enjoying this now is better than saving for a house.\u201d<\/p>\n

This part of me that eschews home ownership and prefers to spend my cash on present happiness and indulgence is not unusual.<\/p>\n

I join the ranks of Gen Zs and millennials globally who see home ownership as something so expensive and far off<\/a> that we prefer to live in the moment and spend on indulgences \u2013 the \u201ctreat yourself\u201d economy.<\/p>\n

A Financial Post article in January 2026 called the dream of home ownership \u201chazy\u201d for young Canadians and a massive financial burden. Instead, they are \u201ccompletely rewiring\u201d the spending priorities of older generations \u2013 such as buying a home \u2013 and choosing to actively save for travel and experiences that fulfil them, the article said.<\/p>\n

A part of this is related to doom spending \u2013 the idea that the world is in shambles and so far out of our control that we cannot see a future we can actively build.<\/p>\n

A succession of major global crises has only intensified this feeling: the Covid-19 pandemic, which left psychological scars on a whole generation who grew up during those years; and the US-Iran war and the energy crisis<\/a> driving up prices.<\/p>\n

Amid all these pressures, \u201cthe future\u201d \u2013 which might have seemed clear a generation ago \u2013 now feels increasingly murky and undefinable. Will a house even matter then? Will assets like cars and condominiums still mean anything in a broken, fragmented world?<\/p>\n

And hence, the doom spending begins \u2013 the desire to indulge in small (or large) treats and to milk as much enjoyment out of the current life as possible.<\/p>\n

After all, going to work every day to earn a salary is hard enough. To put that salary away for the promise of a future happiness that feels tenuous and fragile at best seems to be a fool\u2019s errand.<\/p>\n

Irresponsible financial habits or simply taking charge of present happiness?<\/p>\n

Doom spending has a bad reputation, with financial experts decrying the irresponsibility of spending money without a thought for retirement or future expenses.<\/p>\n

This is especially true if we are not setting aside savings and simply spending until the month\u2019s salary runs dry, or worse, until we get into debt.<\/p>\n

But there is a way to enjoy life and feel more in control of present happiness, while also not spending irresponsibly.<\/p>\n

\u201cPay yourself first\u201d is a phrase I often hear. A friend said over lunch that she would transfer $500 every month to a spending account and spend only from that amount. In that way, the rest of her savings remain untouched.<\/p>\n

While I am not as disciplined as her, I track my expenses on a spreadsheet and ensure I save about half of my salary each month, and save around a third of my annual salary, after deducting big-ticket expenses like holidays.<\/p>\n

A DBS Bank article on doom spending in 2024 said people can set aside a \u201cfeel-good\u201d budget \u2013 a separate wallet from that for necessities and daily spending that can contribute towards indulgences.<\/p>\n

In this way, I can take charge of my present happiness by spending on treats, while also ensuring it does not go beyond my means or leave me with absolutely no savings, say, five years down the road.<\/p>\n

Rethinking the priorities and values of our parents<\/p>\n

Deciding to travel instead of saving for a house might not simply be \u201cirresponsible behaviour\u201d, as labelled by older generations who might just have different priorities in life.<\/p>\n

With the global rise in property prices and increasing costs of living, we might just feel that the life promised by our parents \u2013 a house that can be paid off, a family with two children and a dog, and stable jobs \u2013 is no longer attainable.<\/p>\n

With artificial intelligence threatening a whole swathe of job roles, it is as if the ground is eternally shifting under our feet.<\/p>\n

Hence, our priorities inevitably shift. If the future is so uncertain, then the priority becomes enjoying the present before the next crisis hits.<\/p>\n

Experiences also become more important than simply accumulating wealth. Exploring far-flung places, dancing at concerts, seeing the Northern Lights \u2013 these become more vital than just growing money in the bank or saving for huge assets like homes and cars.<\/p>\n

More importantly, we have watched our parents sweat and suffer their whole lives to achieve those housing dreams, only to then spend retirement frail and tired instead of getting to enjoy the fruits of their labour.<\/p>\n

So, instead of waiting for retirement to enjoy life, perhaps we just want to enjoy it now.<\/p>\n

Maria Melchor, a TikTok content creator, said this indulgence is not necessarily doom spending.<\/p>\n

\u201cRather, it is a glimpse into what life could look like for more people, if not all their money was spent on real estate and children,\u201d Bloomberg quoted her as saying.<\/p>\n

This shift is palpable to me and my peers. I have no issues sharing a home with my parents. We get along well, and they allow me to host people and to have my own time and space.<\/p>\n

This arrangement also reduces the burden of a mortgage and gives me the freedom to travel and to pay for treats for myself and my family.<\/p>\n

Of course, if I wanted to start a family and have children, then saving for their future expenses and a house would be vital.<\/p>\n

But if I continue to live the single life, there is no rule that says I have to get a house the moment I turn 35.<\/p>\n

In the future, if I desire home ownership, it will hopefully be at a stage in my life when I have more liquidity and higher earning power, and be able to shoulder a mortgage more easily.<\/p>\n

At the end of the day, priorities have changed. We are not doom spending or being irresponsible \u2013 we simply value things that matter now, rather than what might matter in the future.<\/p>\n

And if the world does not implode tomorrow and the future does dawn upon us, there should still be reserves in our pocket that allow us to face it and buy a home, while having had rich experiences in our youth that we could never replicate.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sign up for ST InvestMe and unlock full access to exclusive insights and financial literacy courses today. SINGAPORE…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":559605,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[114,268,85,46,266,267],"class_list":["post-559604","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-personal-finance","tag-business","tag-finance","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-personal-finance","tag-personalfinance"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/559604","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=559604"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/559604\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/559605"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=559604"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=559604"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=559604"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}