What You Earn is What You Spend - Finding Balance

This is a tough topic. Everyone has a different idea of what to do with their money. And at least for this area, deep in Western Culture, there is a drive to constantly make more. Usually this means you just buy more stuff.

It feels nice to get a raise. Now you can get a camper. Or a boat. Or go on that vacation you’ve been dreaming about. What is there to criticize?

I’m a proponent of doing it now. There is little desire in me to wait for anything. Partly from rampant impulsivity, partly from the thought that I”m not sure we’re going to make it. What am I saving for if this is all going away?

But also, the stress of living day to day buried in debt and worried about how much is coming in next week - is a common feeling amongst regular people. Doing it now requires wealth, or debt, and most people just keeping digging deeper and deeper. There is no way to tell. You can be broke and spend the exact same way a wealthy person would. The balance on the ledger will just hover in a different area.

I’ve heard advice that you should continue spending the way you do now when you get a raise. Then invest that or put it away. This is good advice. I like it. Don’t know if I’ll follow it 🤣

There are two people inside of me. One is loco and the other is rational. The loco one used to run the ship most of the time. But over the last 6-10 years of adulthood, something changed. That rational guy is coming out a lot more these days. Even though “Loco” is trying to burn it down and live like it will all fall apart tomorrow, “Rational” is hiding some money here and there and prepping for the seemingly unlikely retirement.

How do you even perceive that? How do you really imagine it happening? There will be little to no help from the government. And isn’t that ok? I’m not sure we could ever put enough in to get a reasonable amount back. If you want to be comfortable in your old age you better make some money. Now. Seriously.

You have to diversify. You gotta plug some piggy banks and buy real estate and open up a Coinbase account and buy more TSLA and funnel some of that match into the 401K and decide you aren’t going to Starbucks this morning. I think that has to be the most difficult one for most people. We have these daily habits that help us through the day - but we either ignore or are incapable of understanding the compounding effect this can have on our financial situation.

I recently decided to get a grip on this. Consolidate. Figure out what was leaving my bank account regularly. I downloaded an app called, “Quicken Simplifi”, and began to link accounts. It is a fantastic application. There is still a lot to learn and ways to leverage it’s power, but, just the simple graph it creates to show me how often I spend $18 at Safeway is worth the money itself.

There is a balance in life. As much as I hate to admit it. Good things come from restraint. You don’t always need what you think you need. And the relief from having enough, from having reserves, from checking under your mattress to find a $100 might outweigh any crazy thing you have planned today. Although - you can’t save memories. See what I mean? I could argue with myself ALL DAY LONG 🤣