I need a break.
I think a lot of people do. It’s just been a tough year. Being a teacher, we’ve had all sorts of new things thrown at us during the pandemic. But my situation isn’t unique. Most people I talk to just seem worn out by what the past year has put us through.
We have a long weekend coming up where we teach. Katie and I couldn’t be more relieved.
But it’s not just our jobs that have us feeling worn out. Our kids have us completely exhausted.
What I wouldn’t give to just get out of town for the weekend, rent an Airbnb and just sip coffee by a river somewhere all weekend.
I think the problem is that we’ve been running too long with no margin in our lives. There’s no extra room. It’s always just go go, and then the weekends keep us rushing to catch up on chores, keep the kids entertained, and somewhere in there trying to recover so that we can do it all again the next week.
On top of how hard having a young family is anyway, the pandemic just amplifies everything.
And everyone that I’ve talked to feels the same way.
Your finances are the same.
I’m going to start spending a lot more time talking about this concept of having margin in your finances.
Your margin is what you have from the money equation:
Income-Expenses=Margin
All personal finance information essentially boils down to this. How can we control our money so that we have plenty to spend now while saving enough so that we have plenty in the future?
That’s our goal. And you really only have 2 levers to control. You’ve got your income and your expenses.
Creating a bigger income will most certainly have a bigger effect on your ability to save more. But the important distinction is that no matter how much you earn, you’ll always need to make sure that you are spending within your means and hitting your goals.
How else can you explain how lottery winners always end up losing it all and going back right where they started?
I mean, can you imagine what it’d be like to win the lottery and all of a sudden have 10’s of millions or even 100’s of millions of dollars?
It’s mind blowing.
Yet, the lottery is littered with stories of tragedy and people losing it all.
More money only counts when you know how to control what you’ve got.
So regardless of where our income is today, we need to focus on controlling the money we have.
The goal is to build that margin as big as we can.
Margin is the space you have to pay off your debt as quickly as possible. Margin is the space you have to get out of town with your partner. It’s the freedom from worry about how you’re going to get everything paid for.
Money won’t pay for your fulfillment. You’ll have to do that on your own by being committed to your relationships, choosing work that you love, and spending your time in a way that fills you up.
Money, however, can buy happiness and you build a life you love through the margin you create.
What would you do if you could build more margin in your life today?
What would it go toward?
Would you pay down your debt faster? Would you go on a dream vacation? Would you put together a down payment on a house?
Let me know what comes to mind by hitting reply. I really want to know.
And together, let’s work on building greater margin.
Jared
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