I always go back and forth. Should I:
a)Save really hard now and then enjoy my life later on
OR
b)Should I enjoy my time now more so than I do, and save all throughout?
Honestly, it is a really tough decision. One could say, you can save all the money in the world right now, but you never know what tomorrow can bring (death, sickness, and life changing events). Or, you can enjoy your time now; doing things you love (vacations, expensive hobbies, fine dining consistently, etc.) and work your entire life maintaining this lifestyle.
So…what is better? I honestly just don’t have an answer for that. I tend to live the Save now mentality. Whereby, I save a lot of my earned money now, for hopes of an extra early retirement, and enjoy life thereafter. One graph can really outline my current life. Illustrated below is the allocation of money saved, expenses, and money spent each month.
Money saved: refers to all money saved in any account, whether it is savings, RRSP, investments, or our joint account.
Expenses: refers to all living expenses, such as gas, food, transportation. (I am lucky enough to still live at home; therefore my expenses are quite low each month)
Money Spent: refers to money that I spend for leisure, so clothing, gifts, going to restaurants, movies, coffees etc. As you can tell, it is not very expensive.
As you can see from the graph, my savings far outweigh all other factors. I am really proud of myself for the commitment that I have made to saving and trying to provide a better life for myself and my family. However, there are some days where I think to myself, am I doing the right thing? What happens if I wake up tomorrow and experience a life changing event that makes me regret the fact I haven’t done anything extravagant for myself?
With that being said, since I do stick to my budget, I feel that I will be able to retire at a much younger age than ever expected and finally have a sense of freedom.
What approach do you take to living life? Do you save for the future, or do you live big now?
