People love to talk about the latest cool thing they’re buying. It could be about what their new renovated kitchen will look like or what mods they’re putting on their car. Because, let’s face it, spending money is fun, it gives us that sense of instant gratification, and we need to reward ourselves after a long week of hard work. On the contrary, saving money is restriction and sacrifice; no one wants those things in their life.
This is where I beg to differ, while it’s important to find balance, saving money is the first key step towards having the greatest intangible product of all – freedom. For me, saving money is empowering and succumbing to uncontrollable spending is imprisonment disguised as freedom. I’ve seen so many people that need to continue working away because they are unable to indulge the spending habits that they’ve become accustomed to on a normal city wage. Considering the fact that the average wage in Australia is around $89k (Seeto 2020) if you ‘need’ to earn $150k+ a year to get by you’re probably being pretty loose with your spending habits.
There are many things that I enjoy about working away, however being a diligent saver has afforded me the choice to work a Perth job if I so choose. Funnily enough, this choice, has also allowed me to gain more enjoyment from work by allowing me more autonomy over what I want to do with my time and energy. For example, I extremely dislike office politics and self-promotion; even though these things aren’t completely avoidable in the workplace, saving has helped to bring me to a point where increasing income is a welcome bonus rather than a necessity for survival. Because of this I choose to focus my energy on the parts of my job that are I like, such as engineering.
While we still have a few years to go before we are financially independent, I can say that saving money in sustainable manner, has been the basis for us enjoying freedoms that we have experienced so far. I can say unequivocally that this sense of freedom has far outweighed any gratification gained by frivolously wasting money on unnecessary material items. Further to this, I get a great sense of satisfaction from seeing how our investment portfolio as grown from nothing to where is now.
So, if you are experiencing any hesitation towards saving money, know this: When you choose to save and invest your money you will feel a sense of security and empowerment that no ‘feel good’ spending can provide. This feeling is something that grows with time and outlasts any short-term enjoyment gained from frivolous spending.
Engineer your freedom
References
Seeto, T, 2020, How much do Australians save on average?, Canstar, available from: <https://www.canstar.com.au/savings-accounts/average-australian-savings/>