Growing up, i always tried to live a life of responsible spending, and live below my means. This has meant that i haven't always bought things that i've wanted and i've held off on traveling and certain experiences because it didn't seem responsible. I've come to see this as good because i'm pretty secure financially, and i've set myself up with good money habits. But I was never cheap to the point of being a miser. I didn't live at either extreme. I simply lived at what i thought was a responsible middle ground.
However, i've been doing very well career-wise. My income has been increasing pretty rapidly over the years.
i'm at the point where the money i now make completely eclipses the money i made early in life. and now i'm kind of starting to resent my earlier frugality. In my earlier days, i would have to withhold life experiences to try to save a few hundred dollars a month.
fast forward to now, i can easily get bonuses at work that equal to like 2 or 3 years of savings from my early days. what i saved then is pretty irrelevant to my current financial situation.
and now i'm feeling like if i could go back in time, i would have told myself to just spend freely and live the life i want to live. the money i saved would've been better spent enjoying my life.
but this goes against everything i've come to understand about money management. and i'm feeling very conflicted. i thought was doing the right thing all along. but now i feel like i've just been missing out on life.
and looking forward, i don't know where this leaves me. do i stop saving because my future self will make up for it and then some?
I feel like there's no right answer here.
Submitted December 26, 2020 at 12:51AM by aintands https://ift.tt/2WIgl0d
