Every dollar we spend is a vote in favor of that item bringing us a degree of happiness. A new haircut, childcare, groceries, take-out, insurance premiums, new brakes for a car. Each of those items has the ability to give us something that gives us a degree of security, happiness, or change.
So why do we find so little security, happiness, or useful change in a wardrobe of clothing, vacations, cosmetics, retirement investments, or building a savings fund? Typically, it’s because we don’t know where to shop. Not that we don’t need to visit a physical or online store, but rather we don’t know what deeply aligns with our values.
Few of us recognize that the price of an item rarely indicates its full value. James Clear writes:
“Many people work hard, but few people work on the highest and best thing. Usually, it takes no more effort to work on high leverage tasks than it does to work on low leverage ones. It’s just a matter of directing your energy.”
James Clear
It’s not the spending that’s the problem, so much as whether we are spending our money on the highest and best thing. It’s just as easy to put a dollar toward charity as it is to put it toward paying off debt, or saving for the long-term, or buying fresh flowers. The dollar – like time – is the same amount for items that bring high leverage (satisfaction and growth), as low leverage ones. The issue is to direct your money to the things that count.
Most of us lack focus on how we spend money, because we don’t know our values. We vote for what we hope will bring us satisfaction, security, or happy in our spending, rather than what we know aligns completely with who we are and desire to become. We vote with our dollars that a larger house will make us happy, when we know full well that owning fewer possessions might also be the answer to lack of space. We vote with our dollars that a new car brings security, when we never explored off-setting risk by purchasing an emergency assistance program such as AAA. We vote with our dollars that a vacation will bring rest, when a change in career might ease the strain.
We get to vote for our values with our money. When we spend our money on the top areas that align with who we are and who we want to be, we experience growth – personal and financial. Our dissatisfaction with our money management is nearly always related to putting our money on things that don’t matter to us. We are responding to marketing, family or social expectations, or attempting to quell uncomfortable emotions.
When you know your values, and simplify your spending to a handful of key areas, you will naturally use your money to vote for what matters to you. How we manage our money is one of the principal ways we express our values. Vote wisely.
If you are interested in transforming your money management to feel complete confidence, then feel free to send me a message, and we can talk more.