I wrote about how contentment is the ultimate financial principle that everyone should have earlier in the year. Being content with your situation, the stuff you already own, and the career you already have are amazing skills to practice but do not confuse contentment with complacency.
Being content with what you have doesn’t mean you can simply sit back and wait for life to happen to you. There’s a difference between feeling satisfied and happy with what you have and simply giving up.
Strive for Financial Freedom
The point of my previous article was not to encourage giving up on financial goals. It’s not healthy to say, “I can never make X amount of money, so I’ll just stop trying.”
Instead, you should be happy with what you have already been blessed with, while still striving for financial security and freedom. Have financial goals and stick with them, while being content in your current situation.
This process will look different for all of us. Sure, it would be nice to have a larger home and a bigger paycheck, but I’m not going to wait for those things to come before I start loving my life. On the other hand, I’m not going to stop putting money away for a new home or give up on reaching other financial goals. Whether I reach my financial goals or not, I will be content (well, practicing contentment – it is an ongoing battle, amen?).
Happiness is Not Found in Money
The most important thing to remember is that your happiness is not tied to your money or material possessions. You will always find people living below poverty and people making millions who share one thing in common – they are discontent with what they have.
The point is that you won’t be happier once you pay off debt, once you pay off your house, or once you make a million dollars. Why? Because while those are all wonderful financial goals to strive for, they shouldn’t be the determiner of your happiness and attitude.
Change Your Mindset
Maybe if we take a step back from the dollar signs and look at contentment in another area of life, it will be easier to see how it applies to our finances. Let’s talk about weight loss since that is on my brain due to just having a baby two months ago.
No matter how much you weigh, it’s healthiest to be content with who you are. This doesn’t mean you should say that you love yourself as you are and keep shoving Twinkies in your mouth.
Instead, it should be recognized as more of a process of being happy with yourself, while pursuing a healthier path for health’s sake, rather than always wishing you were someone else or thinking that you’ll be happier/organized/a better person/etc. once you lose 50 pounds. I’m sure we all know of people who have lost weight and still battle with loving themselves.
Contentment Doesn’t Mean Giving Up
I truly hope this makes sense because financial security and freedom are more than just a number’s game. Many of us have money issues that are deeply tied to our emotions, and if we don’t take control of them we will never experience true joy in life.
Contentment is about being satisfied with who we are as people and with the blessings we already have. Don’t stop striving to pay off debt. Keep saving your money and investing so you can have a well-funded nest egg.
Just remember that you shouldn’t wait to be content until all of your financial goals are met. An extra million dollars won’t cure a discontent heart. $10 million may give you a short-term high but that won’t do it either.
Do you struggle with being content? What’s another way that being content helps your finances?
{ read the comments below or add one }
While I agree with the gist of the point you are making I just don’t quiet understand how your making the leap from contentment to complacency or satisfied to giving up. It just seems a little negative to me. Hopefully we are all striving for the financial security and freedom you state and we do things to make it simpler by making them automatic such as bill paying or deposits and transfers and so on. So being on autopilot does not mean you take your eye off the ball is the point I think your making. But I am going to seriously disagree with you on the point that paying off debt or paying off the house will not make you happier. These are huge events in peoples lives that they celebrate because that monkey is off their backs and it is such a relief and a wonderful accomplishment. It may not be long term but it certainly frees up cash and allows you to do some of the other things you’ve wanted to do such as saving more or finally going on a well deserved vacation or whatever because now you may be able to afford it. You just still have to live within your means and that’s the bottom line.
Paying off the mortgage is one of those things that may not be the most efficient use of your money on paper but getting rid of that huge payment is probably one of the best use of your capital in reality. I always hear about how others find freedom when they pay off their debt. I hope to one day experience that too by being debt-free. For now, though, being in debt and investing that capital seems to be the devil that is winning out for me mentally.
In fact, I’m always tempted to take on more debt because I’m greedy. I really need to reign that greed in!
No one is richer because you have more money, but because your needs are simpler, and short term achievable. Everyone can plan and obtaining more wealth every day, but it is smarter and wealthier those whose financials needs are met on daily basis.