There is a million and one different views on financial strategy and how to best manage money. We are not financial experts, retirement planners, or financial advisors. We will not provide advice on how to retire early, buy your dream home, or become rich.
However, we do believe having a strong financial foundation and general understanding of smart money management goes a long way to allowing you to live life on your terms. We live in a society where the buy now pay later mentality is at the forefront of most people’s lives.
Affordability is generally viewed as qualifying for loans, putting items on credit cards, and paying the monthly payment. In our minds, being able to make the payments is not the same as affording the purchase. All things have two costs, the first is the monetary purchase price, the second is the opportunity cost. What else could that money do if it wasn’t being spent on this item?
Being lifestyle poor has become a common normality. People max out out mortgage payments, take on expensive car leases or loans, and spend large sums of money eating out every night and filling their homes with the latest fad items. Many often find that at the end of the day there’s no money left to take time off work, to travel the world, to make time do to the things that feed our souls.
Being able to create the available budget to incorporate these things into part of your normal life takes planning. It requires living below your means on a daily basis to create a surplus and facilitate splurges. Instead of only having savings for a specific trip you want to take next fall, we would advocate consistently setting aside money into a flexible savings fund will let you take advantage of unexpected opportunities. This will lead to more experiences and the freedom to go for last minute opportunities that present themselves. Its also a great way to maximize savings on trips being able to book right away when there are travel deals or sales.
Learning to live below your means is extremely basic concept. It’s intuitive to many of us, yet we can all get caught in the trap of spending money as fast as we make it. Having a brand-new car is great, fun feeling, however the large monthly payments eat into your available cash each month. If instead you chose a used car whether financed or paid outright and for lower cost it would allow you to save the difference. This small change leads to building savings over time. If the opportunity to go visit a friend or family member comes up out of the blue or the trip you’ve been dying to go on has an airfare sale you now are able to jump on the chance. While in the beginning it may feel you are limiting yourself, in the long term, you will find it opens many more doors to live life on your terms and not feel controlled by the financial costs.
This principle holds true for almost every lifestyle choice, where you live, going out to dinner or buying new clothes. Is your spending keeping you from the experiences you wish to have. How much money can be freed up in your bank account by passing on some purchases of things you want but dont need? Figure out what works for you and how to balance the day to day with the freedom to book trips as you come across deals.
We find for us we are never sad about not upgrading the TV or eating at home more when it allows us to see new places or invest more in our hobbies that bring us joy! Feed the things in life that help you to feel alive and in love with the life you live.
MC Exploring 