What’s the best money you’ve spent recently?
I thought of this question the other day as I sat in the yard. It’s such a simple but important question.
You should be able to easily feel money well spent. If nothing comes to mind, that might be an indication that the money you are spending has not been well spent.
The best money I’ve spent recently was on a beautiful Colorado Baby Blue Spruce for my backyard.
Man, saying that out loud makes me feel old.
This one purchase gave me an extended, triple happiness boost.
Buying this tree for my backyard gave me a triple happiness boost.
First, I enjoyed the process of learning about and choosing the right tree.
I liked talking trees with the experts at the nursery and my family members. My kids and I would walk around the neighborhood and take pictures of any trees that we liked. It was infectious how excited they were to hunt for beautiful trees.
Even though my daughter’s first choice was this Easter egg tree, she eventually relented and agreed the Baby Blue was the way to go .
My second happiness boost came from buying and then planting the tree.
The day I bought the tree, I walked around the nursery in the rain with my father-in-law and picked the actual tree we wanted. I’ve never picked out a tree before, but it was fun. I learned from the experts and enjoyed pretending I knew what I was doing.
The next day, the landscaping crew came over to plant the tree. It was fun to strategize exactly where to put it and then watch the experts execute the plan.
My third happiness boost came the next day with the tree in the ground and my kids running around the back yard.
My son played with his toys at the base of the tree. He and his sister played hide-and-seek and took advantage of the new hiding spot.
The whole time I watched them, I sat with a smile on my face. I expect that feeling will continue every time I look at Baby Blue in my yard.
So, yeah, Baby Blue was money well spent.
And yeah, I know. I’m old.
Baby Blue brought me joy before, during, and after the purchase.
Baby Blue is an example of the trifecta of happiness. It brought me joy before, during and after.
The same happiness effect has been well-documented when it comes to traveling. People get a happiness boost in planning the trip, then taking the trip, and finally remembering all the fun things they did on the trip.
That’s why so many people “love to travel.” It brings them happiness before, during, and after.
Baby Blue taught me that I can spend money to get that same triple happiness boost even when not traveling.
I recently met up with an old friend for a great talk about money.
I experienced the same trifecta recently when I met up with an old friend for a great talk about money.
Funny enough, we reconnected after he learned from a mutual friend that I had launched Think and Talk Money. I had no idea that he’s as fascinated about personal finance as I am.
I had been looking forward to our “date” since we planned it a couple weeks ago.
The conversation was great. We talked about money, careers, kids, and shared friends. We hadn’t seen each other for years, but you would never know it. That’s the sign of a good friendship.
When the check came, I was delighted to spend my money. That conversation brought me a lot of happiness.
Since we met up, I’ve been revisiting in my mind so many of the topics we covered. I’m already looking forward to the next time we get together.
That’s money well spent.
Personal finance is not just about the numbers.
In the personal finance world, we spend a lot of time talking about numbers. That’s not a bad thing. Numbers help us turn our ultimate life goals into quantifiable action steps.
However, saying you want to “buy a house” is nice, but it’s not that helpful for planning purposes.
Saying you want to “save $100,000 for a down payment on a house in the next 3 years” is an improvement.
Running the numbers and committing to saving $2,800/month to achieve that goal is even better.
So, while numbers are certainly important in personal finance, it’s equally important to continuously recognize the emotions behind those numbers.
Those emotions turn into our motivation to stay on track and hit our numbers.
Personal finance is tied to our emotions.
I spent money on Baby Blue. In exchange, I received a triple happiness boost. The same is true about catching up with an old friend. These experiences reminded me of why I care about money.
Money is nothing but a tool. I care about money because I want to wield that tool to bring me and my family happiness.
Happiness is hard to define. Spending money in exchange for happiness can be hard to accomplish. What has helped me in that regard is thinking about how I can use money to get what I want.
Sometimes, that means taking a deep look at my Money Why. Or, it could mean sitting on a beach with a notepad (and maybe a beer or two) and writing down my Tiara Goals for Financial Freedom.
But, thinking about money is not just about long term goals.
It also means how we spend our money in the present.
Humans are emotional creatures. We can rationally look at examples and charts and won’t dispute the long term magic of compound interest.
At the same time, we have emotions and feelings that need to be tended to now.
It’s not realistic to expect people to put off all happiness until some unknown time in the future.
It is realistic to make reasonable sacrifices now to ensure a better future.
That’s the essence of investing. We invest money that we could spend today and hope it turns into more money later on.
What might be a reasonable sacrifice for one person may be totally unreasonable for someone else. That’s perfectly fine. Still, it’s one thing to make sacrifices. It’s another thing to deprive ourselves entirely.
I don’t think it’s reasonable to expect people to entirely deprive themselves of the things that make them happy. The key is understanding what those things are, and then spending our money in the pursuit of those things.
This is one of the things my friend and I talked about the other day. It’s not that hard to understand the numbers on the spreadsheet. It’s much more difficult to stay motivated to keep making good money choices.
This intersection of money and life is what makes personal finance so fascinating.
Personal finance is fascinating, not because of the numbers, but because of the emotional impact of money.
It’s why I encourage people to talk about money with their loved ones. Talking money is not about talking numbers and spreadsheets. It’s about motivating each other to intentionally use money in a way that aligns with our values. And, to do so both in the present and in the future.
When we create a Budget After Thinking, this is exactly what we’re doing. Not only are we generating fuel for our Later Money bucket, we are giving ourselves permission to spend our Life Money on things we truly care about.
So, what’s the best money you’ve spent recently?
I bought a tree.
I had a beer with a friend.
Sure, I could have saved that money and invested it. But, I’m glad I didn’t.
Both experiences continue to bring me joy.
That’s money well spent.
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