The age-old question of whether or not money can buy happiness may be played out, but the idea of spending the money while we can is not. It's not to say that saving for retirement, emergencies, and goals is passé, however, there is something to be said for over-saving to the point of not enjoying life to the fullest.
A Slate article called "Spend It While You Can" explores recent research by a few economists seeking what makes us happy, and their findings suggest "that you'll get a bigger bang for your consumer buck by spending while you're healthy, before old age starts to take the fun out of life's indulgences." Having money during retirement is swell, but only if you are healthy enough to spend it on the things you've always wanted.
The economists' point seems to match my Eat, Drink, and be Savvy mantra — being mindful of your money doesn't mean sacrificing everything that you desire. Enjoy life, just be smart about where you splurge so you're not spending your money on things that aren't really worth it to you.
Paul Smith
Shiseido
Versace
What great advice! This actually makes me feel a lot better about blowing a ton of cash on an upcoming trip to India. My husband is a little nervous about not using that money for a down payment on a condo, but we're still saving up for that too while saving up for this trip. I'm looking at it as a one-in-a-lifetime experience that money can't buy, and according to this article going while I'm young is a smart move!
1I kinda agree. My boy and I LOVE spending money on going out and vacays because we can!
2I have an opportunity to go overseas for a trip next year and I am seriously thinking about it - this article is making me lean toward the trip.
3I need to show my bf this!!! He can be such an old fart sometimes! He's gotta learn how to live a little while we're able to!
4i AGREE!
5while i have loans, i spend my money as i wish (while slowly paying off my loans) because i'm young, unmarried, and don't have any dependents! why not! and i'm so happy to have met a man who is the same way - my bf bought himself a pretty expensive truck and boat and all the toys to go with it because if he didn't do it now, he might never. and because boats hold their value so well, he'll have one for the rest of his life, basically!
yay us! we make, collectively, what my parents do, and my parents are making a good living and have nice stuff and will have a killer retirement, so why not live the good life pre-kids!
This is a good, balanced viewpoint, Savvy. I have to agree, there are certain things that you can only do while you're young, single, no kids, etc. I didn't ever do the summer backpacking through Europe trip, but I did build up a fabulous collection of shoes while I was single and allowed to splurge.
6Well my bf likes to buy more material things. Like a bike, a new vehicle or clothes...I want to teach him to spend it on things like going on a dream vacation or something like that too!
7This is true!! I rather spend money while i still can while its still enjoyable at least. becasue onece you get older have kids things get more complicated!!! Its an age old saying live your life you only have one!!!
8Good point. Im going to memorize and use this article when we're discussing finances.
9Although I'm biased, being a financially conservative 21-year old... but if there are any other young'ins like me reading this, I would offer that what you really need to look at is your ratio of practical spending to fun spending. I live frugally, with about 48% of my money going directly into savings/investments, but I give myself another 15% of income to spend on going out, shopping, and whatnot. And don't get me wrong, if there is a bigger vacation I want to go on, I'll just direct most of my free money towards funding it instead of buying something else like new clothes. Personally, I think when you don't have dependents (but you're planning to in the future), its best to set yourself up with a comfy collection of savings so that once you do have a family, you won't feel so strained and not be able to enjoy it.
And just to add some validity to this, I'm a graduate student (read: minimal income!) and my husband has been working just 2 years out of college, and because of our spending/saving habits, we are able to buy a condo (making an offer next week!) and have been able to vacation out of the country twice in the past year.
If you think things through, you can really make your money work for you.
10i have to agree that there are some people from the school of 'save til your old' and i think that it had it's place but if you can't enjoy your life - then you're also missing out. i'm not saying that you should go ahead and spend it all and not prepare for the future, but i think that it doesn't always make sense to really keep yourself from the things that you want if you can afford them.
i have this fear that there's not going to be anything really left when we need to retire so we'll have to plan ahead, but while i'm young, i'm going to make sure that i'm happy while i'm living, rather than scrimp and not spend a penny
11Yesssss! That's the mantra in my family too. Wait to have kids until you've traveled to wherever you want to go etc., however, I don't know. Sometimes life is more fun later...when you can appreciate it more.
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