What Do You Really, Really, Really Want from Your Money?

That was the question in a financial article I read recently. The irony is that I don’t remember much of the article–just the title. I immediately started asking myself how I’d answer the question, rolling it around in my mind later that day and continuing right now.

What do I want from money? There are the easy answers: my sidebar goals, for one thing. But saving for a down payment, a vacation, an emergency fund, even for retirement–these aren’t things I really, really want. I mean, I want them. But I want them because I want something(s) deeper.

What?

The best answer I’ve been able to create so far is something somewhat generic: freedom. I want the freedom of many, many choices. I want to be able to, say, get in a car accident without going into debt, horrible as that sounds. I want to have a roof over my head at some point that I paid for. I want to travel Europe, visit good friends, buy gifts for those I love and those who need help. I want to redecorate, to eat deliciously, to be prepared. I really, really want money to work for me to its fullest extent. I want to make a difference in the world–and in eternity. I want to give it all away; I want to save it. I want to take two months off working between jobs; I want to seamlessly transition into my next position.

It’s funny, I think, how talking about what I want from money is similar to talking about what I want in life. It’s vague sometimes, not because there aren’t specific goals (stick with this job for at least a year; continue growing in my knowledge/career; love and be loved; give; think eternally), but because I don’t quite know yet how those specific goals all fit together.

So I spend one day at a time, one dollar at a time, not knowing precisely how these investments and allocations will all work out in the end. Is it strange, I sometimes wonder, that I don’t have a clear image of myself ten years from now, or even five?

Filed under a deeper look at life |