Personal Finance Thoughts: October 5

My good friend Michael Queller wrote me something which Ive put a bit of thought into. Let me preface this by stating that I dont think he is necessarily wrong as long as he is happy with his situation. He wrote, "I've learned its far more important to focus on making money than spending money. Life is better when you're making more and spending more vs. making less and spending less."

It seems that most people earn money just to spend money to get what they want (or at least what they think they want). The question is, how much is enough? Obviously you
wont work every second of your life making money because then you wont have time to enjoy it. Id rather have 3 months off during the summer than work and make a few thousand. The benefit you receive after a certain point of buying enough things wont be greater than having the time off to enjoy life. For instance I have been tutoring 2 students making $40 an hour, however it takes me about an hour commuting. Id
much rather have 2 extra hours to myself than make $40 and get frustrated with traffic. Also, I think that a lot of people spend money simply to hide other inadequate things about their life, or could replace their time and money with other more worthwhile purposes such as spending quality time with their loved ones (that doesnt need to cost anything to do). So in terms of saying life is better when
your making more and spending more vs making less and spending less I dont think is really true. I think that once you hit a comfortable point working more to spend more doesnt seem to work out.

But to focus on making money verses spending money does sound good. This past year I have been saving 20% of my paycheck, spending about 30% for wants, and 50% for needs. I dont need to count every penny in order to do this. Its also pretty simple. If I focused more on making money I can get my reasonable dreams faster, but I also like where I stand right now too.