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I just finished reading Morgan Housel’s The Art of Spending Money, and it hit a different nerve than most financial books.
Most of us spend years talking about how to earn more, save more, invest better, and retire sooner. All of those matter. But Housel pushes a harder question:
What is the money actually for?
Is it buying back time? Peace? Family memories? Health? Independence? Or is it quietly being used to chase status, comparison, or applause?
One line I keep coming back to is this:
A raise that becomes a payment is not really a raise anymore. It is a new obligation.
That made me think about retirement, lifestyle creep, debt, and how easy it is to look successful while feeling trapped.
For me, the bigger lesson is that spending is not automatically good or bad. The real question is whether the purchase supports the life you actually want — or the image you feel pressured to maintain.
So, here’s the conversation starter:
What is one purchase you made that genuinely improved your life — not because it impressed anyone, but because it gave you more peace, time, health, family connection, or freedom?
And on the flip side:
What is one purchase you thought would make life better, but later realized it was mostly about status, pressure, or keeping up?
Having recently retired, I’m spending on experiences. I’m still frugal when purchasing food and clothing (love shopping second hand stores), but don’t think twice about spending money on family experiences. My one son lives in New Orleans and I will be buying 7 Saints / Packers tickets for a December game ($4k) in NOLA that brings my two sons and their families together (the other son and family and I live in Pennsylvania) to enjoy a shared love of football and have an early Christmas together with the grandkids.
Another purchase I have made recently with no regrets? A prescription to Wegovy (the pill). Not covered by insurance of course and costs me $300 a month. Insurance is only willing to pay after you go into cardiac arrest. I have high cholesterol, had to start taking blood pressure medication in the last year, moved into the “pre-diabetic” zone, and was near an obese BMI. I started taking Wegovy in January and have lost 25 lbs. Ten more pounds to go and I’ll be “normal” weight and weigh as much as I did in high school. I have so much more energy, I drink less alcohol, and feel and look great. I know i’ll be taking that pill for life…best damn money I ever have, and will continue, to spend. And I get to save the insurance company future health care costs! LOL.
A 22-foot, used camper-van greatly improved our lives in our early-mid retirement years. We set off on numerous trips across the US and Canada typically for a couple of months. The little van had a diesel engine and we averaged about 23 miles per gallon (versus the 10 mpg a bus-size RV gets.) Though other people embrace the RV approach to “go wherever the road takes you,” I preferred researching, planning, and reserving destinations and campgrounds to maximize our time.
We visited dozens of national parks and historic sites, and had too many adventures to detail. As examples, we followed Lewis & Clark’s route and the California Mission Trail. We found each lighthouse along the coast of Maine, and slept beside Ancestral Puebloan ruins at Chaco Canyon. We stayed in peaceful campsides by the water in the Florida Keys, booked a campsite by the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta’s launch field , and had dinner with a view of the North Rim of the Grand Canyon (in the lodge that sadly burned to the ground last year). Often I wrote magazine articles about our trips, which provided a little extra retirement income. My husband supplied some of the photos, a fun collaboration. In between the van travels, we visited with family members and made trips to places you can’t drive to. After 8 wonderful years, we sold our “magic carpet” just before the Pandemic hit. I spent those shutdown months making photo books of our travels, and we still look at them constantly. I’m gladly we didn’t end up with a long “someday” list. Our travels are now limited by my spouse’s health, which makes that investment priceless.
We did most of that as well- in a car and hotels though 😁
We started out that way, as did many of our friends, but found we spent a lot on hotels and restaurants, and we both had grown up in frugal households. After buying the van, which doubled as our second household vehicle, we kept detailed records and realized we could travel that way for around $100 a day inclusive, which suited our budget. Of course, that was in 2011!