RE: What would you do if you had ‘a little extra money’?
If I had a little extra money, I'd probably spend it on a nice new office chair - I know the exact one that I want. It's ergonomic, saddle seated, high quality leather. That's like $1500 or so, not heaps but currently out of my budget, so I'll sit in my current chair - it's relatively comfortable, just not perfect, + it's flaking faux leather onto the carpet every time I move my arms. Hehe.
If there's any left over, I'd buy myself a fantastic cooking knife set - maybe from Germany or Japan.
If I suddenly had a lot of money, I'd save it until my dream house came on the market. I know the exact house.
When I was a kid, a friend of mine had an auntie that we visited once - her house was my perfect house! I've dreamed of owning that exact house for my whole adult life but it's about $1.2M-$1.5M and not currently on the market. So I'd wait for the right time and snap it up.
Very interesting to hear the story of your 'perfect house'. I don't think I've ever been struck like that, but I have picked up some fantastic ideas for mid-house plant rooms from the homes in Brazil. In Canada, we can grow some tropical plants indoors and I've always felt a home is more comfortable with live plants within.
And also interested in the category of expenditures that you place your 'extra money' into.
I guess I just see "extra money" as money for non-essential purchases. Because I already have a chair that's functional, I don't really need a new one.
I think your approach would be consider conservative - you have classified 'extra money' would go towards non essential, but beneficial upgrades to infrastructure, rather than to enjoying a night of partying.
And I ask the question as a way to tease out some commonly-held beliefs about money, so we can observe the origin of the information that lead to these beliefs.
In contrast, what would happen if you classified 'extra money' as an asset that could work for you on your behalf? What if that little bit of extra money were a small raise at your job, or the achievement of earning a little extra monthly income from your blog?
The what would happen if - I saved that money and put it to work for me for the rest of my life - is one of the ideas that we don't focus on enough. We don't complete the mathematics to imagine WITH CLARITY how much of a difference that perspective change could have. We don't take the time to bask in the achievement of these long term goals while taking the small steps with 'a little extra money'.
But we should.
The micro-investments we focus on today, and tomorrow - will become tomorrows success and achievement. And by thinking about that future success and feeling the achievement NOW - it becomes easy, in fact it become second nature to feel good about saving and investing.
Interesting. It does reveal things about my beliefs around money. Having the extra money working for me in the future would produce even more extra money.
Once you have enough money to support your lifestyle into the future - and you have a safety net for your family/children, what's the point in saving/investing additional money? Genuine question, curious on your perspective.
Maslov's Hierarchy of Needs - all things are relative. Once you have your assets earning enough each month to cover your living costs, then additional money can help you reach and help more people.
When you have no money, the only service you can provide is with your hours. When you have money, you can expand the service you provide.
When you do not have enough money coming in from your assets, then you must work for money, and you are in the rat race. When your assets cover your monthly costs, then you are on the fast track... because now you don't need a job, and you can fully dedicate your time to building more assets to work on your behalf.
Everyone has a different level of 'enough'. But having more money than you need is a low rung on the ladder of personal success. Once you get there, then you can work on things that have meaning to you, rather than just working a job because you need to.