There are times when we envy that executive that works from 9 to 5, drives the nice car, wears the expensive clothes, and never had to cook his own meals because he eats out all of the time. He is making 200,000 a year in income while we struggle at 25,000 a year. Surely his life is better and he is much richer than we are, right?
Well, it all really depends. Our first example, we will call him Tom, is living the fast life and appears to have everything he could want. But he is only thinking of the here and now and he isn’t preparing for the future or working toward any particular goal. His only thought is toward making more and more money. He lives paycheck to paycheck and has nothing left but he does what he wants. Sarah, our teacher is making $25,000 a year and she is being very careful with her money. She looks for sales, eats in most of the time and she doesn’t buy anything on credit. She is saving toward the dream of owning her own house someday. She buys things used but overall she seems to be pretty happy with the way things are going in her life.
Now the moral of the story is supposed to be that Sarah is the “rich” one because she is giving up the luxuries now and reaching toward her goal. I actually tend to believe this. But there are people that will argue that Tom is actually doing what he wants now and he is happy with the way he is living. They argue that he makes enough to change his ways if he should desire. These same people point out that life is short and Tom isn’t giving up anything but Sarah is and what if Sarah died before her dreams were realized?
I can understand what those people are saying but I just don’t feel like Tom is content with his life. He is doing everything to impress everyone else. He just has to work hard to make more income without any consideration to what his dreams may be for himself. It appears that Sarah has found a way to be happy with what she has while striving for something better.
In this category I am going to be bringing you many ways to live like Sarah is living. We will look at ways to cut costs, make what we already have last longer, and get as much out of every bit of income as we can so that we can focus on what is important to us. Be sure to sign up for my newsletter so you don’t miss some great tips. You might be saving like Sarah for a house or you might want to start a family soon. There are endless scenarios.
The whole point is to decide what we really want out of life and then make adjustments in our life so that our dreams can become a reality. I warn you that I came from an extremely poor background so I tend to go to extremes sometimes. My advice is to adopt those things that will work for you and help get you to your goal. It really isn’t about making huge sacrifices or saving large amounts of money in one place because that doesn’t happen that often. It is about hundreds and maybe thousands of small ways that you can save money, time and energy. Readers are welcome to share what works for them.
For now, think about the fact that the amount of money you earn really doesn’t matter if in the end there is nothing left. How can you change this? For one thing, most people do not want to work until the day they die. If you have no goal to work toward perhaps just start either saving some for your retirement years or working on a way to make passive income so that eventually you can sit back
So tell me, which one can you relate to and why?
Richard Saechao says
Wow, this is really thought provoking.