Linked this via MMM's latest blog post. Food for thought. I have often wondered why people think it's ok for a family to spend gobs of money on travel when said family is not financially secure.
https://rampantdiscourse.com/stop-wa...y-experiences/
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Linked this via MMM's latest blog post. Food for thought. I have often wondered why people think it's ok for a family to spend gobs of money on travel when said family is not financially secure.
https://rampantdiscourse.com/stop-wa...y-experiences/
Experiences have always seemed pretty dumb to me. I would rather have a few nice things if I had to choose. If I won 100 million in the lottery experiences would still lack any appeal. A job that required travel is a job I would decide not to apply for.
OTOH all you can say about the family choosing to take that last vacation is it might be cheaper than therapy.
On the other hand, research shows longer lasting happiness from experiences than from purchases.
I saved money for three years and took my two teenaged kids for a 2-week trip through Europe to see how the Old World compares to the New World. It was a life-changing experience for them and me. The world looks different with travel to guide and meet a variety of others. At the end of the day, people are just people; there is no "other".
We all need to do that to get out of our tribal, 'silo' way of thought. Those who rarely venture outside their familiar terrain seem, in my experience anyway, as far more judgmental and intolerant of others. Is this necessarily true? No! But it does take more effort to break down walls with the unfamiliar.
At the end of the day, it is all about balance in all things.
I agree; I traveled for a few months for work. That was enough. A lot of these lofty pronouncements don't seem to take individual preferences into account.Quote:
Originally Posted by ApatheticNoMore
I usually forget the gist of these much-touted experiences practically before I'm done having them.
I don't want fancy experiences...but I'd rather have travel over a lot of things.
I agree with razz. Travel has meant more to me than anything I have bought. It opened up my mind to the differences in cultures and now makes me question much of our "news". I totally realize we live in a blessed country and often don't act like it.
I love great experiences, but they certainly don't have to be fancy. I just saw 6 egrets and two ospreys down at the rail trail.
oh I like spending time in natural areas, pure joy. The problem is with earning money, having disposable income and being told one should spend it on experiences, thinking about it, realizing about none of those experiences have any appeal (unlike things which though I'm not a huge consumer I DO occasionally like nice things) and puzzling over the whole thing (travel? meh concerts? meh restaurants? meh etc.). I suppose buying books straddles the line and guilty as charged. Though I do find one of the pure experiences that have at times been somewhat worthwhile is spending money on hobbies like lessons.
I guess the point of the article is spending money is spending money and if you can't afford it you shouldn't do it.
People who advocate spending on experiences tend to be the anti-consumerist people who look at "things" as worthless drag on resources, landfills, and are empty fulfillment because they don't make you happier.
Those people will argue that experiences fortify social connection, get you to expand your horizons (as razz suggested), and open you to seeing things anew. I get a thrill every time I travel--even business travel is fun for me. I understand that a lot of people wouldn't agree. I've had clients say to me, "Oh, you poor thing, you have to travel!" to which I respond "I look at it as 'Lucky me, I GET to travel!"
My two sons went together on a trip to Europe and I was so gratified to hear one of them say that it changed how they saw the world. Fait accompli.
I have to admit that I'm starting to gag watching those gosh darned HGTV shows, especially the vacation home ones, where the perky mom and dad with 2-3 kids and two dogs say that they want to purchase the $500,000 vacation home in order to allow their kids to "make memories." I truly have no issue with the idea of it--I've spoken about my own positive experiences growing up with my aunt at her cottage, but that phrase is just so trite and contrived. You can't cook up a memory.
But again, the idea is.... is there a "right" way to spend money, if you don't have the money to spend? Probably not. The "right" way would be to not spend at all.