Saver vs. Savour

Years ago I fell into the trap that saving ALL your money was the best thing to do for financial stability for the long term. And yes, saving money is a good habit to have for building wealth or needing liquidity in case of an emergency. But, not at the cost of enjoying, experiencing and savouring what life has too offer. Sadly, because of that thought process I missed some of the biggest sports moments in life. All because, I was saving for the future.

It might not be apparent for all the gyan/talk I give about cars but I love basketball. I grew up in the midwestern state of Indiana, which is ground zero for basketball. Basketball was not a sport but a religion, if you don’t believe me watch the movie Hoosiers, which was a close approximation of how I grew up in high school and graduated in 1991. (Random fact, the song I Wanna Sex You Up by Color Me Badd was on heavy rotation that summer.)

I stayed in Southern Indiana from 1991 to 1995 to live in Bloomington, Indiana which is no more than 230 miles away from Chicago, Illinois. And from 1995 to 1997, I lived in Chicago. Do you have any idea what was happening from 1991 to 1996 in Chicago? If you answered Michael Jordan (MJ) and the Chicago Bulls you would be right. In those years, MJ cemented his place in history as one of, if not the great basketball player of all time. GOAT – greatest of all time. The Bulls won 6 NBA Titles in that timeframe.

Do you want to know how many games I went to? 0, yes zero. I was always the guy that said, why buy a ticket and spend on an event. Instead, spend that money on a TV and enjoy the game from home and long term I can utilize the TV for other games.

This sad cycle repeated again when I moved to Los Angles, yes you know where this is going but humor me. I lived in Los Angeles from 1999 to 2006. In that time period the Lakers won 3 NBA Titles. At least this time I visited the Staples Center for 1 game, yes 1 damn game. The rest of the games I would watch on my big ass Mitsubishi 40″ rear projection TV. It seemed fine at the time but in retrospect a very boring way to enjoy something that I love.

When I look back at it, it was very clear I was looking through all these potential experiences through the lens of an Excel sheet. And that’s the problem. Excel is great at removing the emotion, excitement and experiences from a financial decision. And that leads you to missing out on savouring what life has to offer. I’m not saying you should be reckless in your spending and just scream YOLO as you charge everything to your credit card. But spend on what truly excites you.