What you do with your money may not be of much consequence today, but for sure it will have great ramification on your life in future.
If you spend all and don’t save for rainy days, we all know what would happen if god forbid difficult time hits your life. Spend it or save it – your decision matters in your life.
We all know what we do with our money. Don’t we, it is simple either we spend it on something or we save it for future use. So our whole money management revolves on these two pillars i.e. spend or save, but it is a very difficult decision to make.
Someone may decide to spend the whole amount, and leave nothing to save. Some other person may decide to spend part of the amount while the balance amount is saved. Conversely, some other person may decide to save the whole amount.
So all these three people took a decision in their individual capacity each leading to: spent fully, spent partially while saving the rest, and saved the full amount. Each of these decisions has their own repercussions, but I can say with authority that the first one [i.e. where the entire amount was spent] can be termed as a ‘risky decision’, as under this decision there is no element of saving. Yes, there are effectively two ways you can use your money.
One is to “spend it”, and the other one is to “save it”. I am sure some of you may be laughing on hearing the so called ‘two ways’, as they are so obvious. But on a serious note let me emphasize that out of the stated two ways - most people opt for the former i.e. spending, rather than the later i.e. saving.
Why do people behave this way? It is because you get instant gratification/ pleasure when you spend, whereas in case of saving, there is a delayed gratification. When you spend your money to buy a new watch, mobile phone or designer clothes, you get instant happiness. Conversely, if you decide to invest this money, you get happiness later i.e. when your investments would grow to reap benefits.
Thus, instant gratification is the habit of wanting to enjoy now and not having the patience to wait for future benefits. This theory of ‘instant gratification’ not only applies to money matters, but on so many elements of our day-to-day life.
What do you get after taking a drug or after drinking a bottle of whisky? Nothing but ‘instant pleasure’ - which not only is temporary but also harmful and with no returns.
So why do you spend your hard earned money on things where there are no ‘returns’? Remember, instant gratification is the habit of wanting to enjoy now and not having the patience to wait for future benefits. People who constantly desire instant gratification rarely have the discipline to save and invest their money. They are often in debt and will never be wealthy. Do you want your life to be that way i.e. “always in debt and never be wealthy?”
I know your answer will be a unanimous “NO”. If there is unanimity in answering this question, why is there no unanimity in accepting the fact that ‘savings & investment’ is an integral part of your money matters and thus should be practiced by all and sundry – whatsoever be the conditions.
People, who have the ‘discipline’ and ‘will’ to delay their gratification/pleasure will surely be successful to save, invest and watch their money work for them. These people will not indulge or spend their money impulsively on things that will not bring them future benefits.
Rather, they will spend their money wisely and with an imbedded element of ‘savings & investment’. So as I said in the beginning, it is not important to know the ‘two ways’ to use your money but what is important is how effectively these ways can be applied to get the best out of any situation.
I agree, along with ‘savings’, spending is also an integral part of our day-today transactions, but often it is observed that we sacrifice ‘savings’ at the cost of reckless spending. Are you ready to turn this scenario upside down? I leave the choice squarely on you. Cheers!!!
Jagjit Singh, Financial Advisor, Email: sjagjit2013@gmail.com
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