PSA Thursday: To Buy or Not to Buy?

Many people in the personal finance / FIRE community have a complicated relationship with the concept of consumer spending. They may see family, friends and neighbors demonstrate one extreme -- they’re profligate spenders who will buy anything -- and, in an effort to be nothing like them, they may overcompensate by becoming extreme penny-pinchers. (I see this often at the start of a person’s FIRE journey, when the pendulum is swinging sharply in the other direction). The reality is that neither extreme is healthy. There’s a middle ground between being so gullible that you’ll buy anything vs. being so cynical that you build a wall that shuts real value out of your life and hampers your growth. In recognition of that balanced middle path, today’s PSA Thursday episode focuses on five questions that you should ask yourself before making a purchase. #1: Do I have high-interest debt or an inadequate emergency fund? #2: Is this a purchase or an investment? #3: How long have I been thinking about this? #4: Is this only serving an emotional need, or does it also have greater utility? #5: The five “ity’s” -- longevity, durability, applicability, versatility, utility. We elaborate on these five points in today’s PSA Thursday episode. Enjoy! For more information, visit the show notes at https://affordanything.com/psathursday Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Om Podcasten

You can afford anything, but not everything. We make daily decisions about how to spend money, time, energy, focus and attention – and ultimately, our life. How do we make smarter decisions? How do we think from first principles? On the surface, Afford Anything seems like a podcast about money and investing. But under the hood, this is a show about how to think critically, recognize our behavioral blind spots, and make smarter choices. We’re into the psychology of money, and we love metacognition: thinking about how to think. In some episodes, we interview world-class experts: professors, researchers, scientists, authors. In other episodes, we answer your questions, talking through decision-making frameworks and mental models. Want to learn more? Download our free book, Escape, at http://affordanything.com/escape. Hosted by Paula Pant.