It’s a bit of an oxymoron, but it is true. I do like to spend money, but I am still going to retire early. Retiring early just means I am going to retire before the government definition of retirement age, so if I retire early at 40, so be it. Heck, even if I retire early at 60, that’s still somebody’s definition of an early retirement.

I only live once, so why should I not spend money on things I like? If my idea of fun for this weekend is to watch a movie at the cinema using my Sinemia pass, then so be it. If it is driving more than two hours to spend a few hundred dollars on a theme park, then so be it. Do I get buyers remorse? Rarely. Did I have fun? Hell yeah.

I spend my ‘Happiness Fund‘ every single month but I still save over 60% of my salary. The rest is spent on fun, memories and…well, happiness.

You can have fun and still retire early

So many people think that retiring early means becoming a hermit and not just doing fun stuff anymore. While people actually do it and take their frugality to the extreme in an effort to escape the rat race, let’s face it:

You only live once – so why defer your life now for something that may happen later?

The mere definition of that is like a typical retirement, isn’t it? Most people balk at the thought but it’s true. Our parents’ generation spent a lot of years being loyal to a company and deferring some of their dreams until their retirement. Only, sometimes, they don’t get a chance to reach retirement because life happens, and with life also comes death.

Now, unless you have a magical crystal ball that tells you exactly when, how, and where you will die, then so be it. Live like a hermit, deprive yourself of what you want right now for a dream of a better life a few years from now, maybe even a decade or more from now.

If you opted to wait and you died suddenly just waiting to reach your number then what’s the point of all that deprivation and living in general?

Spending money isn’t as bad as it seems

What is money? Loosely defined, it is something that you trade for goods or services. You sell your time to earn money, and you use it for essentials and other things.

Most people say to cut your spending when you want to retire early. I say: cut your spending on anything that does not make you happy.

Take this scenario: you get invited to a co-workers party around 40 minutes away from your house. You don’t feel like going because you loathe the idea of spending more time with your co-workers outside of work. No problems, just say no. You save yourself the gas money, the gift to give to the homeowner, and you get a lot of your time back. In fact, hours upon hours of time back.

Say you want to spend that time doing something else. You want to go book airline tickets that went on sale to a random destination? Go for it, if that’s what makes you happy. I wouldn’t defer that to another day because you may never get a chance to do it later, or you may not get those $50 roundtrip tickets a few months down the line.

Want to watch a concert? Sure, go for it. Your favorite band may not be there to perform when you finally have enough money to retire.

It’s Prime Day or Black Friday or *insert made up shopping holiday here* and you see some deals that you like. Go for it. Those deals may not be there a few months from now, and what if you really want a certain item and you’ve been thinking about it day and night? What if there’s a deal on items you are going to need anyway? Isn’t it good to stock up?

You see the home of your dreams that’s just the right size for you and your family. Would you want to wait until you buy it when you have the means to afford it right now?

Spending money isn’t as bad as people make out to be even if you want to retire early. Besides, there should be no judgements on how to spend your money (or other people’s). It’s not your business, not your money to deal with other people’s problems.

The Power of Now

In all my examples above, I seem to say the word ‘now’ a lot. The power of now should not be left ignored, and it stems from a thought I am pondering about:

Everybody thinks about their past or their future a lot more than they think about the present. We tend to dream about the future, to reminisce about the past, but we have to live in the present.

The present being now, of course. If you spent money for tickets to a conference instead of investing all your money on mutual funds, or real estate, or whatever other alternative is, compare the opportunity costs, not the actual money costs.

We tend to compare the cost of one item versus the cost of another item, even going down to the smallest penny, but what if we compared the ‘feeling’ of spending the money between two different things? Sure, we’re thinking apples and oranges, but isn’t it the point? If we want to spend $500 on shoes, what else can $500 give us instead of comparing it to $20 shoes?

Would I be happier today and a few more days/weeks/months after this when I pay a few hundred dollars to go on a trip somewhere far away? Would those experiences and the memories last longer than expected, maybe even during the course of my own lifetime?

Would owning a certain item fulfill a dream I’ve always had? If so, would it derail my dreams of retiring early a bit more? Is it a necessity or just fun to have? If I bought something for fun, would it make me happier and create memories? Would I be able to share this thing with someone I love?

Related Posts:

• The Happiness Fund
• Why You Should Not Care About Other People’s Finances
• Why We Bought a House: Even Though We Travel a Lot

I enjoy spending my money

Humans are wired to feel pain when they spend money initially, but we are also wired to enjoy an experience much more once we know a certain thing is all paid for in advance. Paying for things I want to spend on right now guarantees my happiness and memories for the hours/days/weeks/months/years to come. In fact, I might even spend on the same item, experience, or other in the future as a repeat!

I enjoy spending my money, and you should too. Do not let “I want to retire early” be an excuse for you. Money is meant to be enjoyed, not hoarded. After all, it buys you happiness and experiences. Wouldn’t you pay for something that’s going to make you happy for years to come?

A caveat: When I wrote this post, I did not mean for you guys to go out and spend thousands of dollars on cars, vacations, and other things that you have always wanted but you can’t afford. In fact, what I am preaching is a way of mindful spending: on spending on the things that provide you happiness with your ‘fun’ money.

Sure, you can invest it all on real estate or mutual funds, but please give yourself a chance to have fun with your money too. After all, you do not want to be Scrooge and end up hoarding your money and end up taking most of it to the grave without having a little bit of fun with it, right? Do what you have always wanted to do and what you are passionate about!

Thoughts? Leave them as comments below!