How to live a balanced life
Learning how to manage your money and being smart with your resources will take you a long way in life but it is possible to go to extremes. A lot of people are up to debt to their eyeballs and they need assistance to break free of the borrowing habit which makes them a slave to their lenders. It is those people who are so tight with their money that they have lost all sense of priorities that this article is aimed at but even if you are not one of those people, you as we all are have room for improvement when it comes to how we priorities our spending or rather what we do not spend our money on.
It is what we Sacrifice that really determines what takes priority in our lives. There are moments in life which are just priceless such as spending time with your kids. How much value would you place on having an ice cream with your kid?
What I am saying is that, it is all very well being tight with your money but if it takes away what life should really be about then you need to reassess your priorities.
It is important that you not try to live a champagne lifestyle on a lemonade budget because you will end up working all the time without enjoying what you have.
Your age, marital status, and work situation will all determine your priorities in life as will your financial situation.
If you are young, you have more time to recover from financial mishaps, more so if you are single therefore are able to take more risks.
Someone in retirement may be advised to invested their money in something which can quickly be converted back into cash.
It is really up to each an every individual or family to prioritise what is important to them and decide what is worth making a sacrifice for.
I remember years ago, a man close to retirement age told me that his brother who was living with their elderly parents had 25k saved up in British pounds and told me his brother doesn’t enjoy his money. He was saying that he lived a sheltered life and never went anywhere.
Saving for your retirement is a good goal to have but you need to make the most of your stage of life. It is important to frame your life around your own circumstances, priorities, and your income level but at the same time not to live beyond your means. You do not want to get to the end of your life thinking, “I wish I had done this or that”. If you love sports and have some talent in anything and have a dream to become an international sports person, musician or whatever then you may be advised to follow your passion before it is too late. You don’t want to get to the end of your life and say, “If only”.
It is a mistake to make money your number one goal at the exclusion of everything else because at the end of the day, life is more than money. What I am saying is that it is important to get your priorities in order but it is up to you to decide what is important to you. It’s your life, ENJOY IT!