Budgeting Bliss
“My problem lies in reconciling my gross habits with my net income.” – Errol Flynn
One of the greatest reasons to set financial goals is for the sake of getting your priorities in order. Suddenly you don’t find yourself so desperate to cave in to every single impulse. Suddenly you feel as though you’re in control of your future. What could be better?
Confucius wrote, “It is better to err on the side of frugality than on the side of extravagance.” I’d have to agree. Frugality is cool. Now I’m not referring to angrily hording money for fear of losing it. I’m referring to embracing simplicity and freeing our lives of unnecessary clutter.
Of course, there’s nothing wrong with splurging. After all, life is meant to be enjoyed. We simply need to realise that money and the things it buys are simply tools to help us live more enjoyable lives. For example, buying the latest big screen TV to brag to your friends probably isn’t a great idea, but doing so to have them over for fun movie nights does. It’s about investing in the experience and realising that products don’t define us.
“We don’t need to increase our goods nearly as much as we need to scale down our wants. Not wanting something is as good as possessing it.” – Donald Horban
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Posted in Business / Money |
May 15th, 2009 at 06:48
I forget where I read this, but I applied this philosophy to my life when I was laid off in February. Faced with a fairly decent mortgage and no income, my wife and I decided to withdraw from savings and pay off our house. We may not have much in out pockets, but by golly our house is ours. Anyway, here’s a philosophical outlook to consider:
Do What You Want
Do what makes sense to you. Personal finance is 90% psychological and 10% economical. You need to feel safe about what you’re doing.
I’m not putting this up for the sake of argument, but to stress that what we do with our assets is a very personal decision. There is no right or wrong. Some, and many do say that we should invest up to our eyeballs, own nothing, etc. But if you were to tell me that for certain I could make X amount of dollars over the next X amount of years if I re-mortgaged my house and invested it, I wouldn’t give it a moment’s thought. The peace of mind I have knowing that the roof over my head is paid for gives me comfort. I’m 52, so for those that are younger this may sound ridiculous. That’s okay, to each his/her own, in his/her own time.
Different people, different life experiences, different views.
May 17th, 2009 at 07:25
That actually makes perfect sense. Why earn (for example) 5% on a savings account when you’re being charged way more on a mortgage. A lot of people get stuck into thinking that increasing income and decreasing expenses are different even though they are exactly the same.