Lifestyle design: what does your money do for you?
Flickr image "Airplane Wing 2005" by Zoagli
The more I read about life style design and about living your own life, the more I start to understand that money is just a means but not the ends of life.
Money is an enabler
Working for money enables you to do some of those things. But it can be a huge chain around your leg that also traps you into thinking you need to get stuck in the work-sleep-eat-work cycle that has been what we see “life” as.
Is your reason for living to make money? If it is, then accumulating massive amounts of dollars in your bank account or having a big home and a big car (with big mortgages/loans) is the way to go.
But for many of us, the reason for living goes beyond collecting “stuff” or things in our life.
The older I get, the more I realise that life is about the many experiences that I can go through that expand my horizons as a human living being. I want to visit more places, eat more different kinds of foods, have fun with my family exploring places of interest and to just sit around with them. I want to go travelling to allow my daughter to see that this planet is more than just Singapore Inc.
Knowing how much is “sufficient”
I follow Chris Guillebeau on his quest to visit all the countries of the world as well his unconventional but authentic approach to life. He and many other true proponents of lifestyle design has made me rethink about what I truly want out of life.
I did my own sabbatical and also gained a number of insights on the role money plays in my life. My money goes into spending for mainly household expenses that provide a comfortable standard of living for my daughter and my spouse (who works part-time). I computed for a year how much income and expenses I incurred and now have a pretty specific number about what “sufficient” means to me.
This insight allows me to know that my income is enough to feed my family and what amount I need for pure subsistence. It also makes my plans for financial freedom more concrete because I know I can survive on that $x,xxx amount each month.
Going forward, I realise that my life-list is achievable and that’s why I am giving up 40+ hours a week at my current job because the money sustains my family and allows me to slowly tick-off each item on my life-list and to understand the human experience more with each day.
What are your own views on the role money plays in your life?
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Be well and prosper.
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