Math vs Feelings

Photo by Michal Matlon on Unsplash

Does this sound familiar?

I want to make sure our financial future is on track – but I also want to buy a vacation home as soon as possible.

Can we really enjoy life now while taking care of our future well-being?

Here’s a phrase you might have heard before:

Math doesn’t care about your feelings.

And while that statement might be true, I personally prefer a slightly edited version:

Math doesn’t care about your feelings — but you should.

After all, what’s the point of optimizing your return on investment if it doesn’t improve your return on life? It’s easy to lose sight of the fact that money is merely something we use to live our lives and not the goal in and of itself. 

Luckily, we don’t have to choose between financial responsibility and enjoying our lives. We can – and should! – embrace a balance of both.

When we embrace this hybrid approach, our spending decisions might not always be financially optimized and that’s ok. But that also doesn’t mean we’re merely YOLO-ing our way through life! Instead, we’re factoring in both math and our feelings with the shared goal of living our best possible life both now and in the future.

In my experience, this balancing act can only be achieved when we get intentional about aligning our financial resources with what we personally and uniquely value. Doing so will bring clarity to your spending decisions and help you find that balance between math and feelings that we all seek.