This stuck with me….

I saw this quote the other day and it really stuck with me.

So much of the personal finance advice I see… the advice I talk about!

Is focused on living below your means.

Which is good.

Because most people do live above their means. Most people spend more money than they need to.

But, it also doesn’t give the full picture that helps people understand what they should and shouldn’t be spending money on.

My goal here is to help you understand the sweet spot.

Of living below your means.

But not so low that you lose out on the joy that life brings us.

What does rich mean??

People think rich means nice cars and designer clothes.

A Rolex! A BMW! A Labubu!

Rich is grocery shopping without looking at a single price tag.

Rich is having all your bills on autopay and never worrying about whether you can afford to pay them.

Rich is taking your wife on a coffee date any day of the week.

Rich is being able to raise your kids in the home you own.

Dan, I thought you were going to talk about living within your means and enjoying life??

I share this because I think it’s important for us to first define what actually brings us joy:

• Meaningful Human Connections

• Acts of Kindness

• Getting in Nature

• Personal Growth

• Laughing

Being rich doesn’t make you joyful, but being joyful makes you rich.. You know all that hooblah.

So when we think about the cost of joy. The cost of us being able to experience joy.

We need to acknowledge that it isn’t in fleeting things. Clothes, cars, etc.

That means getting the car you can’t afford, the house you can’t afford, shopping with Klarna, buying expensive meals and subscribing to any app…

Might not actually fill up your joy cup.

Here’s the punchline:

You can remove these things from your budget, it won’t remove your ability to experience joy.

Laughing in Solitude

Additionally, we probably can all agree that just sitting in a room with no stimulus and being filled with joy is not acheivable for 99% of people.

Money can help us with:

• Meaningful Human Connections

• Acts of Kindness

• Getting in Nature

• Personal Growth

• Laughing

Ideally money can be used to cover multiple areas of joy.

Maybe your gym membership is where you meet friends to achieve personal growth, develop meaningful connections and laugh.

Maybe part of your identity is tied with hiking evry 14k foot mountain in Colorado, which might require some good hiking/camping gear.

Money is a tool.

We can invest it to level up our life.

If you have $100k invested, your money pays you $10k per year. You just got a $10k raise!

If you invest money into higher-quality ingredients, you will feel better, look better, and probably have better life experiences.

Here’s the punchline:

If you remove these things from your budget, your quality of life will suffer.

Sooo do I spend my money? Do I save it?

Let me start being more tactical before I lose you.

1. Make a Joy List

This is a list of 5-10 things that you can exist in your budget guilt-free.

This doesn’t mean max out a cc for them. “can exist in your budget”

These things align with your values, they meaningfully improve your life and they don’t wreck your financial plan.

This will help you spend deliberately instead of emotionally.

Here’s mine:

• Weekly coffee shop dates

• One intentional vacation each year

• Giving at our church

• Hosting friends for dinner

• High-quality groceries

• The best for our son

If it’s not on the Joy list, it’s on the Cut list.

2. Fit Your Joy List Into Your Budget

This all looks great but you probably follow Dan the Budget Man because your finances are not where you’d like.

So make a list of everything you are required to spend money on each month.

Dedicate 15% to either saving or as extra payments toward your debt.

Whatever is left, that’s what you can allocate to your joy list.

“Dan, I already know I won’t have anything”

Do it!

Look at the numbers. That’s like saying you want to lose weight and never looking at a scale!

3. Motivation, Motivation, Motivation

Now comes the hardest part.

There is a good chance you don’t have all the funds you want to enjoy everything on the list.

I want you to know, you’re not alone. This is probably the case for most people.

What are you going to do about it?

How bad do you want that joy list?

What are you willing to cut out?

Will you sacrifice your free time if it means you can do more on the list?

These were the questions I asked myself right before getting side gigs.

I knew the fastest way to get out of debt was to get more work. The only way I could actually enjoy my free time, was to work more.

Sad but true.

If that’s the case for you, don’t look at side income as meaningless work. Look at is as a way to do more things that bring you joy.

A Joy Job? Idk, I made that up just now….

I Hope This Points You In the Right Direction

If not, i’d consider watching this video where Dave Ramsey talks about intentionality with your money for 38 minutes!

I know that’s long, so maybe on your next car ride give it a listen.

That’s it for this week.

As always, I’m here to help. Shoot me an email if I can do anything.

Best,

Dan