Live contentedly.

The other day, my younger sister and I had a little chat. We disagreed on spending habits and saving strategies. My sister, born in 2000 – a typical Gen Z – always knew how to live for herself. At 24, the little girl who used to braid her hair, run around clinging to my shirt, and pestering me to follow her everywhere – is now a grown woman, joining the ranks of "office workers" earning over a thousand dollars a month.

In my opinion, life is short, and money is meant to be spent, to serve yourself, so just spend it without hesitation. Buy what you like, eat what you want, wear what you want. Money can be earned again, but sometimes fleeting pleasures, once missed, are gone forever. Sounds carefree, doesn't it?

I'm a typical member of the 8X generation (born in the 1980s). Although more modern than previous generations, I'm still very thrifty and meticulous in my spending, always having a contingency plan. For every 10 dollars earned, I set aside at least 2 dollars for savings. Once I've saved a significant amount, I consider the market to determine the most effective investment opportunities, avoiding letting my money sit idle. In daily life, I and many of my friends are conscious of practical shopping, eating just enough, and reusing useful items. We spend on necessary things without hesitation, but we don't overspend or squander money like trash.

My sister thinks my spending habits are stingy towards myself. "You're the one who makes the money, not the other way around. You're the master of your money, not its slave!" she says.

My opinion is this: Saving and stinginess are two completely different concepts. If stinginess is being excessively miserly, unwilling to spend even a penny, only feeling secure when money is safely in one's pocket; then saving is a valuable virtue. Those who possess this virtue will cherish their hard-earned money, carefully considering how to spend it for the right purposes, avoiding extravagance, not using money to show off to others, and not using money to create the illusion of "I am rich." Saving provides each individual with a secure life and, more broadly, contributes to a healthy financial system for society.

I'm often baffled by the reckless spending habits of young people – like my younger sister. How can they let their money run out before the end of the month, and it happens every month? How can they quickly decide to buy a new phone just because the latest version has a "desert yellow" color, when their current phone was only bought a few months ago? How can they not hesitate to borrow money from friends to throw a lavish birthday party, complete with restaurants, balloons, imported flowers, and a candlelit Western-style meal? How can they get up and walk away without a second thought, leaving behind a huge pile of food that looks like it was never touched, and consider packing leftovers to take home a shameful act?

I've met many young people who treat money as a cover for deep-seated insecurities. They readily call taxis because riding a motorbike is hot, tans their skin, and isn't convenient for wearing fashionable clothes, making them look less sophisticated – despite their basic monthly salary being only a few million dong; they order bubble tea and pastries every day – spending nearly a hundred thousand dong on drinks – while their parents back home are still working hard in the fields to send money to the city for their children's education. Many young people are deeply in debt, and credit cards become indispensable, turning into a knife at their throats with endless interest charges.

From wasteful personal spending, this leads to extravagance and recklessness with shared resources: using public restrooms, pulling out dozens of paper towels and carelessly tossing them onto the floor; washing hands at public taps, flushing vigorously and excessively, regardless of the amount of water needed; pouring free filtered water into huge, overflowing cups in cafes without considering whether one can actually drink it all… Thus, this recklessness has gone beyond individual consumption and has become an irresponsible and uncivilized attitude towards the community.

Many people who are "obsessed with foreign things" often admire and aspire to the luxurious consumption habits of people in other countries. However, in reality, many countries around the world are now suffering the painful consequences of wasteful consumption. The latest statistics cited by VTV show that the world throws away $100 billion USD annually due to food waste; and 250 billion USD worth of food waste.³The water used to produce that food is also wasted. The governments of the US, France, Italy, Spain, Japan, China, and others are all urgently seeking solutions to address the problem of food waste and the excessive consumption habits of their citizens.

Ultimately, I believe saving is a kind of life value: living with dignity and contentment, living a refined and self-respecting life, living a civilized and elegant life, living proactively and independently. A person who knows how to save properly will live with their head held high, never worrying about poverty or needing to rely on anyone.