I think we become frugal due more to insecurity more than anything else. Also Covid has made life a lot more difficult - i am worried about my future investment returns more than anything else!! Most people think with a few million ringgit upon retirement (60 years old) in investments, life is a bed of roses. I am now at that stage now and i am a bit fearful how my future years will turn out. My investments are all moderately balanced (60% risky assets and 40% less risky assets) now - i was invested 100% high risk before the pandemic and one of my superfund dropped 35% in March 2020 (luckily it was my smaller superfund as i have two superfunds). I was shitting in my pants!! I dropped everything to conservative for 2 months (both my superfunds) and lost out a lot as the market rebounded in April/May last year - big mistake on my part. I lost more than A$250 at my lowest point last year March. I have moved all my investment into a balanced position now so i am quite comfortable if there is a market crash again. I used to be very gung-ho and love taking risks before last year's market crash  .