Save or spend?

A favourite aunt of mine ended her days in a nursing home. Top class care - no complaints. She was brought up to believe that you should take care of your money - that you shouldn't buy anything you didn't really need, and couldn't afford to pay for outright. And that you should save. As a result she had amassed a fair amount of money, and as a consequence had to pay the full whack of her nursing home fees. She became great friends with another lady there, and as they talked about their lives, it became clear that this other lady had, by comparison, led a feckless existence - spending every penny as she got it, buying luxury items on HP, going on two and three foreign holidays a year, and as a result now had nothing left, and nothing coming in except her pension. Her fees were paid by Social Services. They both got exactly the same care and treatment. Not surprisingly, my aunt confided in me that she wondered why she had bothered to scrimp and save and deny herself all her life. She thought she was doing the right - the socially responsible - thing. But what was the point? Anybody got an answer? I hadn't.