Savings give you options.
Rich men use most of their money to get richer. Poor men use most of their money to look richer.
–Mokokoma Mokhonoana
The above quote tells quite a profound truth. I wish I had stumbled upon it on my own–what I mean to say is I wish I had discovered this clever quote while reading a book–but the truth is I became cognizant of it through Twitter. D. Muthukrishnan shared this on his twitter handle to his followers. He often shares such witticisms–mostly related to money and personal finance–on twitter.
He is something of a wordsmith himself. He is very popular on Twitter. Of course, his ever-increasing numbers of followers is testament to that. I remember I started listening to the book The Brain written by David Eagleman because he mentioned it in one of his tweets.
Everyone wants to be rich but no one is willing to do hard work to achieve that. There is no shortcut to amassing a fortune. It is only through hardwork of saving and clever investments that can create a path to financial independence which so many of us crave.
Saving requires sacrifice. It requires one to focus on one’s long term financial and wealth goals. Of course, that does not mean a person can spend his present as a pauper in order to save his moneys. It just means that we should always know when an expenditure is unavoidable and when it is inessential. An expenditure that improves you as a person because it aids your personality or skill development is a worthy one, but if you want to spend your money to buy something that is a vanity booster then it is a stupid one. We can all make such distinctions, if we evaluate our spending plan.
It sounds so simple, and perhaps that is why this is an underrated and underfollowed wisdom, but saving is the only way you can get financial independence. This path is not easy. It requires you to forgo immediate pleasures of life like buying a new Car or a new phone. A money lying in your bank account gives you more options. Many people make lots of money but they are bound by commitments such as paying off their mortgage, their loans for a new Car, unpaid credit card bills. Those are unfree people.
You make big purchases with the money you don’t have but borrow from the bank. This requires years of future monthly payments to the bank with interest. What if a new opportunity beckons to you that is certain to make you money; one of those no-brainer opportunities? With your future earning committed to be paid to the bank every month, you will be in no position to make that investment. And that’s the advantage of saving. It gives you options to what course you need to take in your life. Your savings can help with creation of wealth which will give you the freedom to do whatever you want in your life.
