The Art Of Financial Balance
Financial Balance Lets You Enjoy Tomorrow and Today
This article is the 11th of a 14-part series that explores the core tenets of Get Rich Slowly. It originally appeared at Soul Shelter in a slightly different form.
For more than a decade, I was buried in debt. My relationship with money was a one sided love affair because I had zero respect for money. I earned a decent income, better than most and somehow I still couldnβt seem to get ahead. I lived paycheck-to-paycheck on a salary that anyone could thrive on.
Iβd frequently find myself standing in a store, holding a stack of audio books, or maybe several magazines. Inside, Iβd be arguing with myself, almost as if there were an angel on one shoulder and a devil on the other. Most of the time, the devil won. Iβd buy the stack of CDs or the magazines by making reasons that they were necessities instead of luxuries and I would more often than not be broke waiting for the next paychect. I was a compulsive spender.
Eventually, two friends helped me to realize the path I was on. I began to read personal finance books, I started with Think And Grow Rich, I converted to the βlifestyleβ of frugality. I learned to pinch pennies.
This newfound thrift was exactly what I needed. It helped me to get out of debt and to begin building wealth. I even opened my first βrealβ savings account, I have now built a sizable emergency fund. Best of all, Iβm maxing out my retirement savings every year.
Going to extremes
Something happened along the way. As I converted from spendthrift, thrift, my relationship with money changed, it didnβt improve. I went from a woman who spent too much to a woman who spent too little.
Again, it took outside intervention for me to realize I had a problem. A few years ago, I complained about the cost of movies. I complained about the cost of groceries, etc. I even complained about the cost of hot chocolate. βYouβre not being frugal,β a close friend told me. βYouβre being cheap.β
That was a wake-up call. I realized that I was still struggling to develop a healthy relationship with money. I hadnβt achieved balance.
And balance is whatβs required. I believe that thrift is a virtue, and I refuse to abandon it, thrift can also be a vice if taken to an extreme. Itβs not wrong to spend money on yourself, when you can afford it. Money will work for you to serve the greater good when you decide to quit being a slave to it, money should be used to bring us joy, when possible.
The balanced money formula
One tool that Iβve embraced for the past few years is the balanced money formula introduced by Elizabeth Warren and Amelia Tyagi in their excellent book, All Your Worth: The Ultimate Lifetime Money Plan.
Hereβs what it looks like:
As you can see, when your financial life is in balance, youβre allocating enough for savings and needs; youβre also setting some aside for the things you want. This idea is simple, but it was a revelation to me. No more spending too much on wants and no more pinching pennies, either.
Update: Oops. My original draft of this article featured a more-detailed explanation of the formula, but I edited it out because I thought weβd covered this plenty in the past. Quick review: The Balanced Money Formula uses after-tax income.
Though my fancy-pants graphic doesnβt reflect it, the percentages are more properly stated as βno more than 50% on Needsβ (meaning that your needs are not expected to increase with income), βup to 30% on Wantsβ (again, these donβt have to increase with income), and βat least 20% on Savings (which includes debt reduction, emergency fund, and retirement savings). I apologize for the confusion.
Since embracing the Balanced Money Formula, Iβve been much happier. Itβs a sort of broad non-prescriptive budget the gives me the freedom to spend on my Wants, like bicycles and new cycling gear as long as Iβm taking care of my Needs and setting something aside for Savings. Iβve learned that I can stay frugal in my day-to-day life and itβs okay to splurge a little on the things I like including good hot chocolate.
Finding balance
In order to find balance, youβve got to do some soul-searching. I think of it as a three-step process:
1. Find what makes you happy. Look inside yourself and ask, βWhat is it that brings meaning, pleasure, and joy to my life?β Be honest. How can you create a life that features more of the good stuff and less of the mundane?
2. Focus on your goals. Set personal goals based on the things that make you happy. If you like music, maybe one of your goals could be to learn to play the guitar. If you want to change careers, maybe one goal would be to go back to school. Make meaningful goals a priority, and let the other stuff be secondary.
3. Seek balance. Strive for moderation in all things. Pursue your goals, but donβt forget frugality. Be frugal, but donβt forget your goals. Work hard to build your financial fortress while allowing yourself to have a little fun, too.
The quest to achieve financial balance is about more than money. Itβs also about meaning. Money is important, yes, just remember itβs not the only thing. Money is a means, not an end and success without fulfillment is failure
Each of us has parts of our lives that feel unbalanced. When we experience this lack of equilibrium, itβs important to do something about it, to make changes. From my experience, however, the most effective changes are small theyβre incremental. When we overcompensate for an imbalance, we sometimes just make ourselves miserable in a different way.
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