Don’t Feel Guilty About Spending Money
Don’t Feel Guilty About Spending Money [The ROI In Your Life]
Todd Kunsman
One topic within personal finances that doesn’t get discussed often is how spending money is perfectly okay. Gasp! All gasping aside, a recurring theme in the finance industry is how small purchases add up over time and are detrimental to your finances. You’ve seen the “latte” media headlines and how you’re missing out on thousands and thousands of dollars a year. It’s not just media articles either, there are plenty of financial experts who shout the same cliche statements.
“Cut all your expenses,” “Stop buying that daily coffee,” etc. You really start to feel attacked or shameful about your purchases. But, you shouldn’t feel guilty about spending money if it improves the ROI of your life and you have a spending plan (some sort of budget).
Determining the ROI In Your Life (Return on Investment)
We have one life to live and time really does creep up fast. It still feels like last week that I was heading off to college and now as I write this, I’m in my early 30s. And as much as I love saving and investing, I make no apologies in buying things I love that add value to my life — and neither should you!
I’ve always felt that hoarding money and never using it to experience things you love, is a missed opportunity to get the most out of life. Instead of cutting all your expenses (even things that bring you joy), focus that expense-cutting effort on things that you won’t miss at all.
The simple way to put this:
Figure out where spending your money will bring the most ROI for you.
And the areas where you are fine cutting back, be more aggressive there to save money.
Typically, this concept is called conscious spending.
Instead of being cheap or just spending blindly, you decide what to spend money on and what not to. You’ve created a monthly budget, develop goo spending habits, and stick to it — guilt free.
For this to work well for me, I still ensure I stick to my regular plan of paying yourself first each month. Meaning, I’m saving and investing a consistent percentage, then paying my bills, and leaving the leftovers to use as I wish. Since I’m not going into debt to buy things or neglecting my financial goals, there is no negative impact in spending money on things I enjoy.
To continue reading, please go to the original article here: