We hear a lot about people who live above their means, spending money they don’t actually have, making them getting into trouble like overdrafts, loans, debts and so on…. The reasons that we live above our means can be many – we have desires and all the time want more and more, we want to keep up with those surrounding us (“keeping up with the Joneses”) or because we have no budget and therefore don’t know what are means are.
My financial goal is to live beneath our means! I want to live in a way that I am spending less than I am earning. Why? Here are some of the benefits of that as I see them:
Building an emergency fund – if I spend less than what I make, I can set aside money for an emergency fund that will give me and my family the security of knowing that we have money set aside for a difficult time.
Save for the future – as much as getting older still seems quite far away, it is still something that I want to care and plan for. I want my retirement to be taken care of so that I will not have to worry about it when I get there.
Work less – if I spend less I can also choose to lower my earnings for example by lowering my work load or hours, giving me more time and energy for other things.
Set a good example for my children – more moderate spending and doing things more responsibly, I believe, will give the children a good example of better money management and hopefully help them do the same when they grow up.
Being happy with what we have – when we buy less, we learn to settle with the things we already have. Sometimes always dreaming of bigger and better causes us to never be satisfied with what we already have.
Giving – have money to spare, gives us the possibility of blessing those who don’t or to support causes that are close to our hearts. The older I get, the more I understand how much good there is in giving part of what we have to others.
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