A couple of articles ago we talked about 7 easy ways to get comfortable with money. This time around we’re taking a different slant on the topic of comfort and money because it’s a totally different topic than the previous one.
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In this case, we’re talking to the people who say they want to make more money so they can do anything they want to and can live the life they want to live. Whenever most people are asked how much money they respond “enough to be comfortable.”
There’s a problem with this kind of thinking when it comes to money. The problem is that there’s no quantifier; there’s no true meaning of what makes anyone “comfortable” in reality.
For instance, is comfortable being able to pay all your bills, eat at restaurants, go to entertainment venues… what’s comfortable for you, the individual? Maybe comfort is never having to worry about paying the bills; that sounds nice doesn’t it?
Or does it? What if your bills came to $2,000 a month and you were earning $3,000 a month; would you be content? You might be. What if you wanted a new car and the payments each month was around $400, and you haven’t had to make car payments in a couple of years? Suddenly a big chunk is being taken out of your extraneous money. How comfortable are you now?
The reason we talk about budgeting first is because being able to take care of one’s bills should be the starting point before thinking about how much more money you wish you had to spend. A budget helps you take care of necessities, which gives you more time to figure out ways to make more money so you can do and have more things later on.
After budgeting and feeling comfortable that your bills are taken care of, now what? This is when things get tricky because everyone has a different answer, yet they might not have thought far out enough to be able to give a proper answer.
Do you ever want to buy new clothes? What happens if your TV, computer or smartphone fails? What if the pipes break and you need a plumber; are you ready to pay for an emergency service without having to give something else up? What if your favorite musical act is coming to town and tickets are $50 each?
Even people who want to live a very simple life sometimes have something come up that they need to try to find the money for. A trip to the doctor’s office could cost you upwards of $500 if you don’t have insurance, and even with insurance you might have copays or deductibles you have to cover.
Whether you work for someone else or you’re self employed, these are the types of things you should consider along with the regular bills you have to pay, and that’s not even considering children and their needs and wants. You need to know what you have coming in and specifically going out, and then you need to have a legitimate dollar figure in mind that you’d like to have on a monthly or yearly basis so you have something to shoot for.
Thinking about living in “comfort” isn’t good enough because it’s not tangible. A good way to help figure it out is to get some paper (or Excel) and start a list of other things you’d like to have and do that are outside your budget. Add the amount you think those things would cost and tally it up; it’s probably easiest to look at it as a monthly cash output. Add that figure to what you bring home now and you’ll have an idea of how much you’d actually like to earn.
If you feel you can’t earn that much money then you’ll have to scale back on the things you want. At least you’ll know and won’t find yourself getting into financial distress by acting on whims you can’t pay for.
What’s your thought on the concept of living comfortable? Are you ready to put in the effort to truly live comfortably?
