Jun

18

things you don’t deserve

Filed Under philosophical | 4 Comments

To be honest, you probably don’t deserve anything. Your mother was wrong when she said you’re special - you are no more special than anyone else.

Pinyo @ Moolanomy just wrote about not deserving premium channels if you’re in debt. To be honest I’d extend this to practically everything. You don’t deserve new clothes, or an ipod, or a computer, or an overseas trip or…

When you’re providing your own income, and paying your own bills then you should be aware of how much comes in, and how much goes out. To keep yourself on the straight and narrow, you may well allow yourself splurge money, I know that I do. But the things you buy in this category aren’t things that you deserve, they are things that you can afford and that you want.

Money doesn’t grow on trees. It comes from your own efforts, and if you can afford nice things, it’s ok to have them. But having nice things doesn’t imply that you are a more worthwhile person, that you are more deserving. It probably implies that you either have money, or debt. Each of those is value-less as far as your actual worth as a person is concerned.

The things that you might actually deserve aren’t things at all. You probably deserve recognition, praise, thanks and appreciation for what you do, and all the hard work that you put in. I hope you get those, because all the stuff in the world won’t make up for not having them.

Image by Andrew*

May

19

what motivates you?

Filed Under philosophical | 16 Comments

On one of the posts that I highlighted from last year , E.C. from not living on ramen commented:

it’s much harder to maintain motivation when there’s really no end in sight

I think she’s right. I’ve mentioned a few times that I find it hard to get motivated about investing for retirement - it’s just too far away. For those that are in debt, you have a concrete goal at hand, but that too may feel like a long way off.

I’m a naturally lazy person, so I work with this tendency by making as much as possible automagical. This also helps with motivation as it cuts out the need for great piles of it. I also treat my investment accounts as untouchable - both my pension (which really is untouchable) and my stocks and shares ISA (which is actually instant access). Mentally, I almost completely ignore those pots of money as far as my day to day living is concerned. I stay motivated to save and invest by taking the easy way out and removing any requirement for motivation.

But, what about you? Do you have any tricks that you use to stay motivated and work for the bigger picture? Do you find this sort of thing easy, or difficult? Let me know in the comments.

May

7

make choices without being constrained by finances

Filed Under philosophical | 8 Comments

So, the other day I was talking about how if you’re a stay at home parent, you need to do things to mitigate the financial impact of that choice. It’s not a choice that everyone faces (and I’m one of the people planning to avoid permanently). But, it’s an example of a wider principle.

There are lots of choices that we make that are chosen for reasons other than finance. We might decide to live in a certain location because it offers the social environment that we want. We might decide to get have a big party when we get married, because we want to celebrate with all our friends and family. We might decide to have children. We might decide to switch careers, because we don’t like the job that we do. The list is endless.

I hope that most of your big choices are not made primarily for financial reasons. I hope that you choose to live somewhere that you like living, I hope that you get married the way that you want to, I hope that you have a job that you enjoy, I hope you have children or remain child-free without being burdened by the financial costs. I hope that you aren’t forced into major life choices simply because you cannot afford your preferred alternative.

On the other hand, just as there are financial downsides to being a stay at home parent, so can there be to our other big choices. Living in a nice area is expensive in a continuous and ongoing fashion. Throwing a big wedding will probably cost thousands and thousands of pounds. Not every fun job is the highest paid. Children eat money - well they eat food, and food costs money.

For every choice you make that has major financial downsides, you need to mitigate against them. My mantra is that I can’t have my cake and eat it all at the same time. I choose to live on my own, but that means that I can’t afford a car, so I mitigate by living close enough to walk to work. I choose to travel extensively, but mitigate that by concentrating on budget travel.

If you want to live take a lower paid job, you’ll need to cut back on your expenses, and be willing to devote a greater proportion of your income to savings and investings. If you want to resume your studies, you need to investigate grants, scholarships and bursaries, as well as getting the best possible financial terms on your course. If you want to have a big fat wedding, then you need to save up for it, cut costs where they are not important to you, and focus on the most important elements.

Most choices that we come across don’t have a right and a wrong answer. It’s usually ok to decide either way. Be in a position to do what you really want, by mitigating against all the financial downsides of your choices.

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