Worthwhile Spending

There’s lots of advice about how to save money and very little about spending. Most of the time it’s not very good advice. For example, “If you cut back on your morning coffee you can have $300 more in your savings account.”

It’s rare that you’ll find someone telling you how to spend money to enjoy yourself. I’m guilty of it too. A lot of what I discuss is all about savings. Even worse, it’s all about the long term.

One of the things I’ve worked on lately as a Financial Planner is helping people enjoy their money today.

Something I’ve been saying lately is “Yes, we want to be responsible about saving for the future, but balance that out with enjoying ourselves today.” To me, it’s very empowering to know that you are on track for your future goals. This can give you a guilt-free sense of enjoying whatever you have left over to spend today.

If there’s money left over to fly first class, do it. If you want to pay for a personal trainer or hire a nutritionist because you value your health, go for it.

Last year, I asked some of you what you like to spend your money on and I’ve copied a few examples below.

What I loved most was that nearly every response was either an experience or something that helped that individual live a better life.

• Life coach: $500/mo. “Best money I’ve ever spent! My life has changed for the better in so many ways!”
• Southeast Asia trip for 15 days. $10kish. Totally worth it.
• Neato Robo Vacuum. Bought during Black Friday: $380. It maps out your room, you can tell it which areas to avoid if you need and cleans in an organized way. You connect to it with WiFi and can start it even when you’re not home.
• Rustic Cabin in the Appalachian Mountains: $500 for the weekend
• Spending money on traveling is always our guilty pleasure. Iceland was approximately $2,000 per person
• 12-day cruise out of Quebec City, Canada, around to NYC. Had 10 incredible port calls. Favorites were Quebec City and Bar Harbor, Maine.