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We can all recite countless reasons for wanting money. It might be travel, sleeping well at night, early retirement, buying whatever we want or supporting our favorite charities. But if we were going to boil all this down to a single phrase that describes our key motivation, what would we choose?
Here are some possibilities:
There’s obvious overlap among some of these. Over the past decade, I’ve valued money because it meant I could spend my days as I wish. But today, given my diagnosis, I value money for the legacy I can share with my family, both now and after my death.
Are there other key motivations you’d add to the above list? And what about you—what’s your key motivation for wanting money?
I’ve been giving this some thought since JC posted. The first 20 years I was ruled by consumerism; my first component stereo at age 14 when everyone else just had cheap record players. A very cool and nearly new car by my senior year in high school, and my first house at age 20.
The next couple decades were about trying to establish retirement savings and controlling my partners spending habits.
The third pair of decades was about rebuilding after divorce and solidifying a secure retirement.
Now in decades 7 and 8 our money provides security in knowing that we finally have enough. There isn’t any more big stuff we want, and now that the new house expenses are behind us we can get back to buying memories instead.
Legacy isn’t an issue, as the kids are doing well financially without us.
I’m not sure how “financial security” differs from “not worry about money” but I guess if pushed I’d say the former is long term and the latter more shorter term e.g. can I spend X now?
I’d say the primary driver for me is “to spend our days as we wish” with a bit of “not worry about money”.
I think the latter is hard absolutely- the longer and more prudently we’ve saved, the more scenarios we can probably imagine that might bankrupt us even if they come at a very low probability. But I’d probably put that worry below health fading far faster.
For me, wanting money is to have a security I didn’t have in my first (abusive) marriage. I don’t believe, short of winning billions in some lottery for which I haven’t bought a ticket, that I will ever have enough money to feel truly secure enough to overcome the trauma, but I am trying in other ways as well.
That said, I came here to tell you, Jonathan Clements, what a truly, profoundly deep impact you had on me with the article you gifted us AARP members in the February / March 2025 AARP magazine. To share so openly all that you are thinking and doing with respect to your finances now that you have knowledge of your relatively imminent passing is something for which I am, and likely will be eternally, grateful. Thank you!
I always valued money for giving me the freedom to walk away from something I did not like, agree with or want to do. It gave me options that led to greater fulfillment, self-respect and happiness.
enuf money allows your choice of what to do with time.
it is said that borrowers try to buy time.
it’s way good not bein’ a borrower.
Security, freedom, and fulfill my dreams
To me – being an immigrant from Asia, born of poverty, the choice is “all of the above” perhaps not “the legacy” part?
I saved, scrimped, kept serious accounting of every pennies spent. I was a saver since childhood when I was given a clay pot to put my coins in. That got stolen by my brother. I am now comfortably retired due to my good luck [not skills] in saving & investing once a good friend showed me the way. I’m trying to decide now whether to give some money to help my very poor brother who stole my childhood saving pot, to help him through his poverty ridden life. Revenge is delicious in my own mind. But perhaps generosity is a much better virtue?
That’s a long time to hold a grudge. Do it to help his family.
Take the high road of virtue, you won’t regret it and besides, we need more of it these days.
Several of those on your list resonate with me, but feeling financially safe is an easy #1. My parents struggled with money, and I grew up feeling anxious about it. My husband and I lived on very tight budgets throughout our 20s. We developed some very specific standards of where we’d like to be financially, and they were relatively modest:
That was it. And I still remember looking at the checkbook to see if we could afford that pizza in a particular week. I never want to go back to pinching pennies that tightly.
The ability to handle any health care situation that comes up that insurance won’t cover.
FREEDOM!
Want to never worry about money or have to argue about it.
My “wanting” of money has come to fruition. Now that I am retired our finances have alleviated the potential stress of not knowing if we’d have enough. Though never being a high income earner but having for decades consistently inserted have proven successful
It’s may be somewhat redundant with a few items in the list, but I’ve always equated having enough money with choice. The freedom to choose how much I spend, where I spend it, when (and on whom) I choose to spend it.
Delivering pizzas past midnight in the cold of winter back when I was 19 was not a choice – it was a financial necessity. In my late 50s, given our long-term investments and cash savings, I have the choice of never needing to do that type of work anymore. Just one example of the freedom of choice that money provides me.
Not being a burden on either society in general or my family in particular.
There’s only one for me — that first one. Financial safety has always been my only priority, from the time of my first TV news job (at $126.54/week after taxes) to today. All the others are subheadings under that top line.
Its tough to fit it all into a single phrase. Freedom, flexibility and security are all important. I have no interest in signaling success to others. Here is mine: “To be free to focus on the more important things in life”.
I’m not sure I’m capable of feeling financially safe. I don’t know how much money I would need to achieve that feeling.
Spending my days as I wish is big. I love being able to do what I want, when I want. Work was always just a means to an end for me.
Since I didn’t raise any children, leaving a legacy isn’t on my radar.
Spending freely isn’t on my radar either. I’ve never been a spender and I doubt I ever will be.
For me, wanting money is mostly about security. I want to have enough of it that I can continue to live my relatively simple life.
Ahhh, the difficult part is to figure out : what is “ENOUGH”? You’ll get there. I was never a spender myself. Recently, I looked around and found that I don’t need anything else but what I have currently to make my life complete. That was the freedom a lot of readers of this blog mentioned. The moment was a big light bulb going on in my mind.
I can’t spend all I’ve made.
I have very few items I ‘need’. I still have a few ‘wants’ but even that list is significantly shorter than it once was.
Sometimes I will think back about items I purchased decades ago that I thought were important at the time. Things like furniture, gadgets, electronics, etc. All of them are long gone now, either sold or given away.
As I get older, I definitely notice a trend towards spending money on experiences instead of ‘things’. The past two weekends I’ve spent at local dog shows. I entered one of our dogs in some obedience competitions and thoroughly enjoyed it. $75 in entry fees was some of the best money I’ve spent in a while. I walked away with some lovely memories and a handful of ribbons. That’s way better than spending the money on some trinket from Amazon.
My immediate reaction to the question was “security”. After reading your list I would say that encompasses items one and six – to feel safe and not worry. I’m not sure I’ve fully achieved them, but that may be a matter of temperament as much as fact. Several have never mattered to me.
All of the drivers you listed have influenced me in many ways at various times. One big driver for me is ” To avoid being a financial burden to our children when we get old”. This becomes important with rising health care costs, inflation, and cost of long term care.
To live in an area that is safe for my family, while sleeping well at night.
Over the years my motivation changed several times. I wanted to demonstrate success, but not to others, to myself. That is why I measure our income and net worth with statistics, just to gage my financial success, just to satisfy my need for success, not to flaunt it.
Growing up we lived in a small apartment, my parents were not poor, they got by, but there were no investments. My parents bought a house when in their 60s together with my sister and family. College was never mentioned growing up.
My motivation was to achieve more, to do better.
I was determined our four children would go to the college of their choice.
My motivation is leaving a legacy that will make our children’s (now in their 50s) lives better in their retirement years. That is why I want our portfolio to grow.
We are also motivated to help our grandchildren with college.
The primary goal is financial security for both of us and at some point one of us. Never being the slightest financial burden on our children is extremely important.
Money provides freedom, less stress, knowing you can buy something, have something, but not necessarily spending the money.
We still agonize over the best buy on Amazon. 🤑
Financial security.
I’ve thought a lot about this question, as I talk with friends who have not yet retired. For me, having enough money meant I could move to a CCRC when I retired, which has simplified my life, thus reducing stress. In particular, aside from several of the answers you listed, I’d say being able to get enough sleep and not having to wake up to an alarm.
I think I can find nearly all of those motivations in me to some degree, or at least a shadow of them. But the key motivator is financial safety, for my current family and extending into my daughter’s future. And I’d like to see the same for others.
I think in a nutshell your question is what do I think about money?
Come to think of it, it’s to not have to think of money.
Jonathan, thanks for an interesting post. It reminded me of some system engineering training i had a million years ago in decision analysis. It was a structured process to determine the most important characteristics in designing a system. It was interesting that the process frequently produced an answer that was different than what the participants initially expected. Humans are an interesting species.
I think your penultimate paragraph is key. My choice has changed over time. I would put them in this order
To feel financially safe – working years
To not worry about money – transition to retirement
and moving towards
To leave a legacy
Jonathan, I would add—to be independent to your list. Independence is a quality that many of us strive to achieve. It’s about making decisions for ourselves, managing our own lives, and feeling confident in our abilities without overly depending on others.
This doesn’t mean we have to do everything alone—seeking advice and support is part of being independent too. But it does mean we take the lead in our lives, setting our goals and not being swayed by others.
Interesting question. During the many years my wife and I were working, spending hours commuting daily and long days at our jobs while successfully “climbing the ladder” it was simply to feel financially safe for us and our family. Most of those other thoughts barely crossed our minds.
Yes,our motivation shifted as we got closer to the finish line and wanted to pursue retirement but Some of these never even crossed our mind.
I can’t think of anything to add, but in terms of choosing one and only one, it’d be the first, to feel financially safe.