Expanded Choices: How Unspent Money Can Shape Your Future

What is money for? It can be for fun, it can provide a sense of control or safety, or it can be a metric people use to tell if they are winning in life. For the wealthy, it's certainly the latter. When John Rockefeller was asked how much money is enough, his answer was famously, "Just a little more."

When used to fill an emotional hole, money is a terrible solution. But the need for money to buy freedom is an inescapable demand in our society.

By nature, I'm not a particularly frugal person. I don't get joy from watching a growing bank account or investment portfolio. I find a lot more excitement in short-term lifestyle upgrades and experiences that money can buy. But always focusing on buying the next shiny thing is a recipe for bankruptcy, stress, and an endless run on the treadmill of work and materialism.

I've had to do some emotional work to find the right balance of putting money away for the future while also feeling like I have the freedom to buy experiences that make life meaningful today.

One Threads user wrote recently, "As my savings and investment balances grow, I've found that the feeling of knowing I can afford something is better than 'proving' I can by actually buying it."

That's a pretty good way to put it, but it still doesn't fill the "lack" that I experience in always deferring for future benefit. But taking another step back, I can say that having money is a way to buy choices in the future.

Buying Yourself Choices

Unspent money in your savings or investment accounts can represent potential in its raw form. In a super nerdy way, it's almost like a quantum waveform that can be two opposing things at once. $40,000 unspent can be a car, a few dream vacations, or a lifeline in case of disaster. It's all on the table, and choosing not to spend now is a way to buy your future self as many choices and as much freedom as possible. Once you choose to spend it, the waveform collapses, and all the unrealized choices vanish.

I think buying experiences to have with your family while you're still young is just as essential as saving for your retirement. So working through the guilt and giving yourself room to buy things that truly bring you joy is important work. But when making those choices, always keep your future self in mind, and know that even just setting aside a few dollars every month can be the greatest gift when you really need it.