It was an active day all up, with a couple hours chasing Smallsteps around on her bike and then a couple hours swimming at a spa center close by, as an Easter treat. In the evening though, my wife was feeling a bit ill, so we just sat around watching something on stream to pass the time before she headed off to bed. But before she headed off to bed, I mentioned that perhaps one day, this crypto stuff will allow for us to live debt free and perhaps even, not have to worry about work that much, which makes any work better.
It came to mind as I was thinking about the price of the spa trip, which was almost 90€ (about $98 USD) for a couple of hours of swimming, and we didn't even eat anything there. This is why we don't go often - however at least this time, both my wife and I have exercise and culture credits from our our respective workplaces, so this qualified. I get about 400€ a year for mine, which is decent, so we should use it more often to do some fun stuff.
But, nothing is getting cheaper.
And most people feel it, but don't necessarily do much to change their situation, other than talk about saving more, by skimping here and there. Which is great, but it is never going to be enough, unless the income is increasing beyond the inflation rate, which for most people I know, isn't happening. But yeah, people should also save more.
And this is what my wife and I discussed a bit more, because while we don't go out much really, we do spend more than we should on things like takeaway from time to time, without it really adding anything to our lives. For example, my wife like hot wings (so do I), and will want to get them once a week. However, we end up just sitting there the two of us (Smallsteps in bed) eating and watching something on TV.
Last night for example though, a friend came around and we ordered some pizzas and sat around chatting about life. It was a really nice evening and we should do it more. Rather than getting takeout and eating it ourselves, we should only do it when we organize an occasion with it, even if it is just to have the neighbors over for a bite to eat and a coffee.
This doesn't save money.
But it does add value to the meal.
And that is something I need to do more of in my private life, as I do in my professional. I put a lot of effort into value-adding in the workplace, yet I don't do nearly enough in the home and I suspect that if I put in an equal amount of effort, things would be quite a bit different. It is a strange thing really, as doing it for money seems to make it more worth it, but essentially, doing it for my family at home is for money too, it is just that I am not getting paid a salary for it, but empowering the money I have earned at work.
And that is what I have to do a lot more of, where I am value-adding to the value I have, supercharging my earnings through investments so that the future value is worth significantly more than the present value - in the same way I see HIVE in the future. Earning here on Hive today, isn't worth what the amount says on the post, it is worth what it will be in the future and my gamble is, it is going to be significantly more than today - so I hold.
I also hold for other reasons too - like owning part of the network.
My wife is someone who thinks about saving money. But she isn't someone who thinks about making more money. Ultimately, the making more crowd is going to do better on average, because you can only ever save so much, but there is no technical roof on earnings. Getting an odd job for example that pays 100€ a week, would be equivalent to a 15% pay rise on an average job. But, no one wants to work more.
But, if working more for a period of time and using those additional income streams to invest into something that will offer a higher return in the future, will mean that eventually, the extra job isn't required, and potentially, even the main job could be reduced if desired. Or for us with a collar on our mortgage, we could use it to pay off our house in less than half the time we would.
If there were some larger lump sums though, rather than paying off the house, we might instead buy a rental apartment as an investment and something that will always keep having a little roll in each month. Even though it would have a larger initial outlay, it would essentially be like having that odd job earning the 100 a week, after paying off the incidentals associated with it. That would be a bonus, especially if still having the other trickle from the job coming in to keep adding into investment portfolios.
Essentially, I have to start getting more serious in the home about my financial health, as there are a lot of opportunities that we aren't currently taking advantage off. And, while we could go more extreme and cut back, instead of doing that, we should use our spending to improve our social life also - something that I want to do more of anyway. I have the feeling we need some disruption of our processes and as uncomfortable as it might be in the beginning, it will likely lead to better things for us in the future and we will be glad we did.
I know a lot of people say things like, "no one on their death bed is glad they spent more time working", but at the same time, I have known a lot of people struggling financially and perhaps, they might regret not spending enough time working in the moment. But ultimately, I don't want to have to work more forever, which means that I have to secure financial stability so I can work at more of what I want, than what I must.
I don't want to be 65 years old, still having to worry about the price of this and that, and discuss paying the mortgage and the bills. And, while I like going swimming, I don't want to be swimming in debt - not even wading. The goal from now on, is to save for the future, by spending with intention.
New lives, lay ahead.
Taraz
[ Gen1: Hive ]
Note: The picture is from baby swimming six years ago!
