Conscious Tradeoffs

My dear aunt Susan wrote me an email with a story about teaching her daughters about money when they were young. She told me that when she and my uncle were new parents and she would save money instead of spending it, she would miss that satisfying feeling you get when you spend money and it was hard for her. She knew that over time there was a big reward for not spending, but it always bothered her that she didn’t have that same instant gratification when saving money. 

When her daughters were old enough to understand basic money concepts, she came up with a system so that they could feel a reward when they were saving money, and in turn, she began feeling a reward, too. Her family would choose something that they were saving for (which for them was mostly travel) and when her daughters asked her to buy them something, Susan would ask the girls, “would you rather have that thing, or would you rather be able to go to [wherever their travel was]?” The family always felt that nothing compared to the adventures they had travelling and so, through this process and the excitement they felt about the travel, they created their own instant gratification, even though the reward was delayed. It is still something they do to this day. 

I love this story from my aunt Susan and I think it illustrates the idea of “tradeoffs” beautifully. In life, we must make tradeoffs. To do one thing, we have to forego something else. To save for the future, we must delay desires in the present. To live within our means, we must decide what it is that fits in the budget and what doesn’t. When we use tradeoffs in a positive manner, we can begin to craft a life that is fulfilling and gets us what we truly want. For my aunt and her family, the tradeoff was between something they wanted in the moment, or an adventure that they knew they wanted later. By making the savings tangible, and something they could intrinsically feel, they were able to satisfy that feeling of reward that we don’t always get when we’re just saving.