After decades of saving\/investing, it\u2019s hard to immediately flip a switch and go into spending mode.<\/p>\n
Spending is a skill that you should develop on your way to FI, so that you\u2019re better at it when the time comes to do it.<\/p>\n
Mad Fientist: Hey, what\u2019s up everybody? Welcome to the Financial Independence Podcast. I know it\u2019s been a while since I\u2019ve been in touch, but as I mentioned in my last post, things have been busy around here with two small kids, but this episode is a long time coming. I know I\u2019ve been promising this for at least a few years now, and it\u2019s a topic that I\u2019ve been actively focused on since 2019, and it\u2019s getting better at spending money.<\/p>\n
And I realize that\u2019s a crazy thing for some of you out there to hear that this is a problem. And I completely admit it\u2019s a great problem to have, but I think it\u2019s a very real problem with people that pursue PHI because we\u2019re so good at saving and we\u2019ve saved all our lives and we\u2019ve built an identity around saving, and then all of a sudden you\u2019re just meant to flip a switch and change over to spending and it\u2019s a lot harder than it sounds. So this is something I\u2019ve been working on since 2019 because that\u2019s when I first asked Ramit Sethi from iwillteachyoutoberich.com to come onto the podcast because I figured he was the ideal person to help me become a better spender.<\/p>\n
And he was, it was a great episode. I asked him back onto the podcast in 2023 to catch up again and review my progress and answer a few other questions I had with regards to spending. And both of those episodes are great. So if you haven\u2019t heard those, I\u2019ll link to them in the show notes, but this is something that I\u2019ve been focused on since 2019.<\/p>\n
And even though I\u2019ve been making gradual progress, it\u2019s not fast enough because I\u2019m 43 now, and your peak spending years are 40 to 60. So I\u2019m already over 15% of the way through my peak spending years, and I\u2019m still talking about getting better at spending, like it\u2019s some future thing that I need to do and actually I need to do it now.<\/p>\n
And this really hit home. Over the last few months, because we sent our 3-year-old off to nursery, which I guess in America is preschool. And it was a shock, and I took it way harder than I expected to. I was just like, oh man, this is the first time that our son\u2019s like doing something without us and starting his own life.<\/p>\n
Without us in it. And it was, it was a big eye-opener and made me realize, okay, this time is so precious and there\u2019s not that much of it. Because in 10 years, in a decade, he\u2019s gonna be a teenager and maybe be too cool to hang out with us. So that was a big slap in the face to say, okay, you need to get better at this now, and there\u2019s no point having a ton of money when you\u2019re 60 and the kids are outta the house.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s time to get better at this now, and it\u2019s time to do it quickly. So this episode is a compilation of everything I\u2019ve learned over those last six years, the things that have worked best for me. So hopefully it\u2019s useful to you no matter where you are on the five Journey because. The money\u2019s gonna be spent eventually.<\/p>\n
And if it\u2019s all given away after you die, that seems like a shame. And as Bill Perkins said, in Die With Zero, \u201cWhen\u2019s the party?\u201d And that\u2019s also a great interview to listen to if you haven\u2019t heard that one yet. I\u2019ll link to that in the show notes. But yeah, when\u2019s the party and there\u2019s gonna be a party, and when is it?<\/p>\n
And that\u2019s what I\u2019m starting to think of now, and I definitely wanna be a part of it. So, to kick things off, I\u2019ll start with something that helps to unwind some of those previous habits that were useful for saving towards FI but have now become less useful when I\u2019m post-FI. And that is less specific tracking.<\/p>\n
Pre FI, I had a spreadsheet that broke down all of the spending categories, and I was able to tally \u2019em up every month and see how they changed and all that sort of thing. And that you can still download that spreadsheet at madfientist.com\/spreadsheet. And that was the one that served me well to get to FI. But after FI, I don\u2019t need to or want to track all of those individual categories. It\u2019s a waste of time, mental energy, and it\u2019s actually counterproductive because what gets measured gets managed, and I don\u2019t wanna manage it anymore. I don\u2019t wanna see that I spent over budget on restaurants the month before, and then not go out to a restaurant this month because of it.<\/p>\n
I don\u2019t care. It shouldn\u2019t matter, and it doesn\u2019t matter. So the first thing that I had to do was just. Streamline my financial tracking and just track the main thing, which is net worth. And that\u2019s really all that matters at this stage. So if you go to madfientist.com\/post, you\u2019ll find my post-FIRE spreadsheet that I created, and that\u2019s what I\u2019ve been using instead ever since I left my job because I just don\u2019t care about the details anymore.<\/p>\n
And it\u2019s more a big picture thing. And I\u2019ve actually built some custom software that I\u2019ve been also using. So if you wanna become one of the beta testers for that, make sure you\u2019re on the email list. And if you\u2019re not, you can just go to madfientist.com\/advice, and you can sign up to the email list there.<\/p>\n
But it\u2019s something that I\u2019m gonna hopefully be releasing next year, and it\u2019s been helping me to not only keep track of my spending at a level that I want to, but also makes it more fun to spend that money and save for specific things. So that was the first big change. And then the second one is trying to recalibrate my brain because I don\u2019t know about you, but my brain is trapped at 20.<\/p>\n
I still feel like I\u2019m 20. I still feel like I can do the things. I can do it when I was 20, and I am definitely far from 20. So I still sort of feel like I have the net worth I did at 20. So, for instance, back in college, if I had a friend come up to me and say, do you wanna go out for dinner? And they picked a place that was gonna be over 10 bucks, I\u2019d be thinking twice about it. because I\u2019m like, oh, 10 bucks. That\u2019s a lot. I don\u2019t need to blow 10 bucks on dinner tonight. And it\u2019s crazy. But 10 bucks still feels like a lot of money to me because of that. And that was like sort of my like cutoff number of, all right, this is something I should second guess, or I shouldn\u2019t second guess this.<\/p>\n
So, to recalibrate my brain. I took $10 and I divided it by my net worth at the time. And then I\u2019ve multiplied that by my current net worth to find out, alright, what is $10 equivalent to now? And that calculation is mind blowing because it was really the first time that I appreciated that random number in the bank that I\u2019ve been looking at for all these years and it\u2019s, it made it seem like, whoa, okay. I am on a whole different level these days, and these small purchases, or even medium purchases, or even what I would consider very large purchases are in fact insignificant in the grand scheme of things. And that was very eye-opening. So that college calculation was probably the biggest thing that was able to change my mindset that I\u2019ve done in the past 10 years of working on this problem.<\/p>\n
A similar calculation. I actually just came across in Nick Maggiulli\u2019s new book, The Wealth Ladder, that\u2019s really good is his 0.01% rule, which is very similar and it helps you recontextualize your spending as you climb the wealth ladder. So, looking back on my college days, that made sense that $10 was like, oh, geez, yeah, that\u2019s gonna be, I need to think twice about that.<\/p>\n
But 0.01% of my current net worth is way higher than $10. So. It\u2019s a great, easy way to figure out what kind of expenses you really need to be concerned about and what you can pretty much ignore completely, which has made life a lot more enjoyable for someone who used to scrutinize every single penny that came out of his pocket, which leads nicely into another thing that\u2019s been beneficial and that is worrying less about efficiency.<\/p>\n
And this was from Ramit\u2019s episode in his interview with me and he described that, you know, as systems get larger, sometimes there\u2019s more waste. So you can\u2019t have a perfectly efficient system as you\u2019re trying to grow and experiment and spend more. So back in the olden days, I would, you know, dwell on any sort of expense that wasn\u2019t necessary, and I would make do with what I had instead of getting what I actually needed because spending money was the last resort. And it was only because I couldn\u2019t find any other solution, and it had that negative connotation. Whereas now I realize that, hey, yeah, I\u2019m not gonna be perfectly efficient with my spending and sometimes I\u2019m gonna buy something that I don\u2019t need or use money in an inefficient way.<\/p>\n
And that\u2019s okay because it means I\u2019m pushing the boundaries. I\u2019m trying to expand my comfort zone with spending, and it just comes with the territory of having a larger overall system. And that\u2019s been really helpful. Actually, it sounded crazy when he said it to me way back in 2019, but it\u2019s helped me make some spending decisions where I otherwise wouldn\u2019t have.<\/p>\n
Because if I\u2019m on the fence and I\u2019m like, oh, should I really, or do I really need this now? I tend to just go for it. And yes, sometimes that\u2019s the wrong call and I regret it a little bit later, but. I know at the end of the day, it\u2019s not the end of the world and it\u2019s not worth even expending any mental energy on.<\/p>\n
So it has been helpful in that sense. So those are some of the ways that I\u2019ve tried to change my thinking around spending. But I\u2019ve also tried to reconceptualize expenses themselves. So the first thing that\u2019s helped me make that purchase decision or, or pull the trigger on something is if it could also be a investment.<\/p>\n
So obviously FIRE people love investments and I can hear Ramit\u2019s voice saying, \u201cWhy can\u2019t you FIRE guys do anything that\u2019s not an investment\u201d, and I get that. But if you can make it an investment in your head, it does help. So for example, we bought a nicer house than I probably was comfortable with at the time, and I\u2019m very glad I did.<\/p>\n
But the way I was able to get over that was like, well, this is an investment, so if this is the wrong call, then I could sell it again for hopefully is what I bought it for maybe more. So I was able to pull the trigger and try it out and I\u2019m, like I said, I\u2019m really glad it did. I love, we love our house and it\u2019s not overly extravagant or amazing, but it\u2019s great and we\u2019re really comfortable here and I\u2019m glad we didn\u2019t go cheaper. because again, money isn\u2019t just meant to sit there in an account. It\u2019s meant to be used. So I\u2019m glad we used it in the way we did. <\/p>\n
And another example was like synthesizers for my music project. So there\u2019s oftentimes that I need a certain type of synth. And yes, I could buy the entry level cheap mass produced one from China that\u2019s plastic and it\u2019s probably gonna break in five years. But when I reframe it as an investment, then it makes me get the best that there is because I know that maybe in 10 years it\u2019ll be a classic. And then I could sell it for a lot more in 20 years if I wanted to.<\/p>\n
And it\u2019s gonna last for 20 years. So again, thinking of it ass an investment helps me pull the trigger on the top of the line thing, which is great in so many ways because then I get to have this beautiful machine that sounds a lot better than the cheap version. It\u2019s nicer to look at. It\u2019s more likely to not break down or break in general.<\/p>\n
And it could be an investment one day and if it is, great, but it\u2019s just as likely that it won\u2019t. Maybe it\u2019s just gonna be a mass produced thing for the next 20 years and it\u2019s gonna be not an investment. But thinking of it in that sense does help me pull the trigger. And again, I\u2019ve been so happy that I\u2019ve bought the things that I\u2019ve bought rather than the cheaper alternatives, which 10 years ago, I would\u2019ve definitely just automatically gone for the cheaper alternative.<\/p>\n
Something related to this one is fun business expenses. So if you do have your own business, then. If something you want could also be classified as a business expense, that also helps me get to the purchase decision in the same way that if it also could be considered an investment does. <\/p>\n
Another thing I\u2019ve started doing is having a fun\/splurge account, and it\u2019s not a separate account or anything, but it\u2019s just an allocation of money that I know every year I\u2019m gonna spend on splurges.<\/p>\n
And a splurge to me is just anything that seems ridiculous at the time, but I wanted to try it. For example, we usually go to the States at least once a year. And for the past three years I\u2019ve rented a fancier car than I otherwise would\u2019ve. And that\u2019s come out of my splurge fund. And it\u2019s been a lot of fun.<\/p>\n
So, you know, three years ago we rented a Tesla Model Y that was fun. And then we rented a Jeep Wrangler Unlimited for our beach trip and had the top down all the time. And that was fun for that trip. And then this last trip we rented a luxury SUV because I didn\u2019t even know what a luxury SUV would entail.<\/p>\n
All three of those examples ended up being a lot of fun. I can look back on those trips and I can remember what we did in those cars. Would I want to spend all that money to buy a luxury SUV, I don\u2019t think so. But it was a lot of fun to try it out for a month when we were in the States. <\/p>\n
Some more examples of things that have come outta my splurge fund and it\u2019s been like fancy Airbnbs for. Having friends and family come with us to places. So we went to Stowe for a ski trip and we rented a big fancy house that could fit our friends and their family and, and we had a great time with a weekend out in Stowe. <\/p>\n
Same happened in Durham. When we went to visit some friends there, we rented a really central place and invited my parents and my grandma to come and they came up from Florida and it was a really fun trip.<\/p>\n
And did the same thing on this last trip. In Savannah, we rented this Victorian house right on Forsyth Park, and it was a great central location and a beautiful house. And again, we invited family to come up and spend a few days with us and it turned into a fantastic trip and loads of great memories.<\/p>\n
So the reason, the fun splurge account works for me is because it\u2019s a set amount of money that I know I need to spend every year. So I end up spending it and I find reasons to spend it. And that sort of pushes me beyond my comfortable spending boundaries.<\/p>\n
And I\u2019m trying to take that to the next level and sort of having an annual spend amount that I need to spend every year.<\/p>\n
I realized this was a good idea when people would give me gift cards for Christmas or something and I\u2019d have so much fun spending it because I knew I couldn\u2019t save it. And I wouldn\u2019t feel guilty about blowing the whole a hundred dollars or whatever it was. And it made it a lot more fun. And I would always find something that I wanted and I would enjoy that thing after I bought it.<\/p>\n
And usually I, it was something that I wouldn\u2019t have bought in the first place, but since I had this gift card that needed to be used, I would just use it and it was great. So taking that idea to my actual life and saying, okay, well this is how much we need to spend this year and figure out a way to do it.<\/p>\n
Whatever you don\u2019t spend, you can give it away at the end of the year, but no matter what, it\u2019s all gone at the end of the year. So that\u2019s something I\u2019ve been trying to do the past couple years, but if failed, I\u2019ve never actually hit my target. But 2026, I\u2019m determined, so that money is definitely gone. I\u2019ll calculated it in January and then it is gonna be gone by the end of December.<\/p>\n
Even if it means giving it away to a good cause. So that\u2019s my goal for 2026 and I am determined to actually do it this year. <\/p>\n
In preparation for that, I\u2019ve turned off automated dividend reinvestment in my taxable account. So now I see that cash is piling up there and I know I have to use it. So that\u2019s another structural change tip I guess, that you can make to force you to spend more rather than invest more. Because if you\u2019re like me, investing is just on autopilot, it\u2019s inertia. That\u2019s what I do. It\u2019s the easiest thing to do. It\u2019s I do it naturally. Spending\u2019s the opposite. So turning off dividend reinvestment in your taxable accounts will push you towards the spend rather than the invest.<\/p>\n
Which leads me to something else that Ramit said in one of our interviews, and that was \u201cWhy pay less when you can pay more?\u201d And at the time I thought he was absolutely insane. I thought that was the craziest thing he said in any of the interviews with him. But now I can appreciate it and it\u2019s when I\u2019m trying to hit these spending targets and I have the option between something that\u2019s cheap and maybe not exactly what I need or expensive, and it\u2019s exactly what I need.<\/p>\n
I now go for that expensive thing because I know I\u2019m gonna struggle to hit my spending targets, so I might as well go for the thing that will actually give me exactly what I\u2019m looking for. And it\u2019s been fantastic. It\u2019s the first time in my life where I actually have tools to do the exact thing that I needed to do instead of just making do with whatever\u2019s cheapest or whatever I have on hand.<\/p>\n
And this made me enjoy my stuff more because it does work, it\u2019s high quality and it fulfills a purpose, and it\u2019s. Usually a joy to use, so it\u2019s been beneficial all around. But yeah, it made me realize that why spend less when you can spend more? That Ramit said all those years ago that I thought was insane, actually makes a lot of sense when your mindset shifts a little bit.<\/p>\n
I was speaking to JL Collins a little while ago about this exact topic, because I think we\u2019re both trying to push ourselves in this area. And he recounted a conversation he had with Mr. Money Mustache way back in the day, and they were, I think in Ecuador for one of the Chautauquas or something, and they were out at the shops and JL was trying to decide whether to buy something or not.<\/p>\n
And Mr. Money Mustache was like, well, \u201cYeah, just go ahead\u2026everything\u2019s free\u201d. And that outlook makes a lot of sense to me now, where if the portfolio is at a certain level and your life is at a certain spending level that you\u2019re very comfortable in, and it\u2019s not like you\u2019re gonna go out and buy a super yacht or something that\u2019s gonna just destroy your finances, pretty much all of these daily purchase decisions you can act like as if everything\u2019s free.<\/p>\n
That has been helpful to make these purchasing decisions because even though I\u2019m trying hard not to have money influence my decision making, it\u2019s so ingrained in my brain after 40 years of hardcore savings that if I try to make a decision and act like it was free or if I had unlimited money. Then I sort of make the decision based on whether I really want or need that thing rather than do I really need it?<\/p>\n
Could I save that money? Could I just not spend that money? And it takes money outta the equation a little bit mentally. I\u2019m still nowhere near the level that I can pretend everything\u2019s free. But trying to think like that when I\u2019m making a decision has been helpful and pulling the trigger on something more often than not.<\/p>\n
But even if I\u2019m trying to think of everything as being free, that doesn\u2019t mean going for the top end immediately. And something I\u2019ve been trying to do is incrementally improve. <\/p>\n
So before our daughter arrived and when our son was still free to fly, we experimented a little bit with different airline tickets.<\/p>\n
So yes, if everything\u2019s free, we could have just booked first class and that would\u2019ve been that. But instead, we tried out premium economy first, and then we tried our business class. And incrementally improving those experiences led to a lot more happiness and satisfaction than if we had just jumped from economy to first class, because we first got to experience the thrill of premium economy and the extra leg room and all the things that came with booking a premium economy flight. And then the next time we flew, we were able to experience another big bump in excitement with business class and the lounge that came with it and the better food and all of that, and the lie flat seats.<\/p>\n
So incrementally improving allowed us to have multiple experiences of leveling up and enjoying that. So that was a good decision to make. And now that our daughter\u2019s here, we\u2019re back in the back of the bus because it\u2019s easier and less stressful just having a row to ourselves. But I\u2019m glad we had those experiences and I\u2019m sure one day we\u2019ll go back up to the front once everyone\u2019s a bit older and traveling better, and it\u2019ll provide those same exciting benefits that it did the first time we tried them. <\/p>\n
So another thing we\u2019re not doing is increasing our fixed costs by a lot. Last year I was on the Afford Anything podcast and I was talking to Paula about how we\u2019re trying to increase our spending. And she asked if that just meant that we were just adding a bunch of fixed costs to our lives that we paid every month. And I said, no, actually it\u2019s the opposite. And it\u2019s the opposite by design, because I think adding a bunch of fixed costs would then stress me out a bit because it\u2019s like, okay, these, these costs are here forever.<\/p>\n
And if the market tanks, it may be stressful because I won\u2019t be able to unwind those fixed costs. So actually, all of the experimenting we\u2019ve been doing with spending has been just one-off costs, and that\u2019s made it a lot of fun because I know the portfolio is generating money and I know that money is going to regenerate every month.<\/p>\n
So. It\u2019s like every month is a new adventure. So after we bought our house, like for a couple months, I just went ape shit on Amazon and I was buying all of these things that I had wanted to buy over the past decade of renting, but I never did because I didn\u2019t want to have all this stuff that we had to move, because we moved like once a year when we were renting. So it was all the time it felt like we were moving and I didn\u2019t want to have any more stuff to move. So I had all this pent up demand and so yeah, after we moved into our house, I just went crazy on Amazon for a couple months and then that died down because I bought everything that I wanted to buy.<\/p>\n
So then it was like the next month it\u2019s like, all right, what are we gonna do? So that month we just took a special trip or something, and then that was what? We spent the money on that month, and then the next month maybe I bought a new synthesizer, new piece of music gear, and that\u2019s where the spending went that month.<\/p>\n
And I think that\u2019s made it a lot more fun than going out and increasing your fixed costs once and then having to pay that every month. And then sort of wondering if you could unwind that if you needed to. And yeah, every month\u2019s a new adventure. <\/p>\n
So something else that I\u2019m not doing and is a big change for how I used to live is, I\u2019m not waiting.<\/p>\n
So, for example, old me would think, okay I really want to buy a mountain house one day, so I\u2019m just gonna save, save, save, invest. One day I\u2019ll be able to buy my dream mountain house and ski all the time and do all these other fun winter stuff. And that\u2019s what I would\u2019ve done. I would\u2019ve just buckled down, saved hard for as long as it needed to take, and eventually I would\u2019ve got there.<\/p>\n
But now I can still have those long-term dreams of, yeah, maybe having a mountain house one day, but instead of just hardcore saving today\u2019s for this future enjoyment, I can save for something long-term, but I also need to do that thing now and enjoy that experience now in a different way. <\/p>\n
So I mentioned some new software that I\u2019ve been building over the years, and that was the key driver of that, was to take these long-term things and realized that the money that I\u2019m saving for those long-term things can generate an annual income that I should use for that thing now.<\/p>\n
So. I have a piece of my portfolio set aside for maybe buying a house in the mountains one day, but every year I definitely need to be using 4% of that amount to rent an Airbnb in the mountains for a couple weeks or a month, and as that portfolio chunk grows, then the longer our trips should become. And maybe one day we realize, hey, actually we\u2019re spending a month in an Airbnb in the mountains, and that\u2019s actually enough and I don\u2019t need to buy the mountain house and live there for 12 months of the year.<\/p>\n
Maybe a month\u2019s good, or maybe it\u2019s two months. But anyway, it\u2019s not just living for the future anymore. It\u2019s, yes, you can still plan for long-term things and you can invest for the future, but it\u2019s making sure you\u2019re prioritizing now and using the money now and not just saving it for some future date. <\/p>\n
So I think those are the main ways we\u2019ve increased our personal consumption, but the other side of the coin is that we\u2019ve also become more generous with our money, which is something I\u2019ve been trying to do over the years and pushing myself to give away more. And there\u2019s been a lot of positive progress in that area as well. <\/p>\n
So one of the rules I\u2019ve given myself is that if I\u2019m ever deciding whether to tip two amounts, always go for the high one.<\/p>\n
So that\u2019s just a simple rule that\u2019s helped me. Give more and share more, and also relieve a mental burden. because I feel like I\u2019m constantly deciding how much I need to tip. And yeah, it\u2019s just easy to just go with a high number and forget about it. And the same goes for friends\u2019 causes. If somebody\u2019s running a marathon and they\u2019re raising money for charity, or if any friend or family member is supporting a cause and they\u2019re wanting to raise money for it, it\u2019s just, okay, go in and, and absolutely give every single time and give on the upper end of what you feel comfortable with.<\/p>\n
And finally, I\u2019ve also had a lot of fun and success with doing one-off things that come to mind. So for example, I know that my parents, it was their bucket list to go to the Ryder Cup, and I figured out a way to get tickets and book them tickets to the Ryder Cup and we made a really fun trip to Rome out of it, and we met them there and then they got to go to the Ryder Cup for a day and took that off their bucket list and it was a great use of money.<\/p>\n
Another example was a band that my high school friend and I used to love back in the day. We\u2019re going on tour and we decided to go to it. And I just surprised him by booking front row tickets to the show, and we had such an incredible time. And being that close was even better than I expected, and it made the experience so much more fun.<\/p>\n
And again, that was definitely worth the money, and he appreciated it. And we had such a nice time feeling like we were just back in high school again, seeing one of our favorite bands. But yeah, we were way closer than either of us probably expected. So that was another great use of money. <\/p>\n
And to be honest, I think all of the experiments we\u2019ve done have been positive, and it makes me excited to do more experiments in the future.<\/p>\n
So I\u2019d say. If you\u2019re FI or on your way to FI, I think you should push yourself a little bit more to spend, because it does take a while to get better at it, especially if you\u2019ve saved for your entire life like I have. because I\u2019m nearly a decade into post-FI life, and I am still feeling like I\u2019m only just getting started and trying to figure this out.<\/p>\n
And something I realized is my portfolio is growing way faster than my imagination is, and I am running out of things to try. So the earlier you can start figuring this out, the better. And if you have the savers\u2019 mindset, like most people in the FIRE world, I don\u2019t think you have to really worry about getting out of control.<\/p>\n
There was only one time that I thought, is this how this happens? Is this how people just spend all their money and never save anything and wind up in debt? And that was after we moved into our house. When I mentioned earlier that I went ape shit for a few months because I just had so much pent up demand and I knew there were so many things that I wanted to buy, and for a while there, there was just like nonstop Amazon boxes arriving. And my wife thought I had just gone crazy. because she\u2019s like, \u201cWhat are you buying?\u201d \u201cWhy are we getting so many packages in mail these days?\u201d And for a minute there I thought, oh geez,, I\u2019ve fallen off the deep end, but, you know, after two months and I got everything that I had wanted to get, and then it just completely dropped off.<\/p>\n
So that was the only time I worried about the sustainability of my new newfound love of spending. And yeah, then it\u2019s, it\u2019s dropped off since then. So don\u2019t be afraid to get outside your comfort zone a little bit. And but, you know, don\u2019t get stressed about it. It\u2019s meant to be fun. This is a great problem to have, and it\u2019s a fun problem to address.<\/p>\n
So if you are getting stressed or if you\u2019re not sleeping well at night, then obviously back off a little bit, but you need to feel a little uncomfortable to break out of your old habits and try some new things. So hopefully this episode inspires you to spend a little more and to try some stuff out and gave you some new ways to think about things.<\/p>\n
And like I said, I\u2019m working on that software to help with this. And if you want to become a beta tester, then get on the email list. because there\u2019s gonna be an email going out within the next month. And to be honest, it may not make it past beta testing. It may not make it into a public release. It may just be one of these things that just lives, and the people that use it, use it. And then I don\u2019t do anything else with it. But we\u2019ll see.<\/p>\n
But if you want to try what I do have done, then go to madfientist.com\/advice and you can put your email address in there and you\u2019ll hopefully receive an email over the next month to tell you how you can get access to it.<\/p>\n
But hope this episode was helpful anyway, and hope you\u2019ve been doing well since I\u2019ve last been in touch, and hopefully it won\u2019t be as long until the next one comes out! <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After decades of saving\/investing, it\u2019s hard to immediately flip a switch and go into spending mode. Spending is…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":285099,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[64,63,99,186,184,185],"class_list":{"0":"post-285098","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-personal-finance","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-business","11":"tag-finance","12":"tag-personal-finance","13":"tag-personalfinance"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/285098","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=285098"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/285098\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/285099"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=285098"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=285098"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=285098"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}