Money or Experience?

One of the major concerns people have is the lack of money and finances. Not just because they can’t buy cool stuff, but also because money is a necessity. Anyone that says otherwise is either in denial or lying through their teeth. While I am not saying money is the most important thing in the world or that it buys happiness, money is needed to have a decent quality of life. We need it for food, shelter, clothing, medicine, and other essentials. Yes, we need to have fun too, and having some extra cash around can make this more of a possibility.

The lack of money can create misery. I can definitely tell you that money won’t buy happiness, but it makes life much easier to live. Think about something for a moment: If your car breaks down, you need a home repair, or you get sick, aren’t these problems easier to manage if you have the funds to take care of them? If you’re being honest, the answer is definitely yes. Money is also not the root of all evil. It does not make people evil. If someone does something evil with money, then they already had the capability inside of them that was brought out. This is just my humble opinion, but I will never believe that money alone made someone evil. Money is just a neutral possession and what someone decides to do with it determines goodness or evilness.

Now, this is not a rant about money, but I just want to point out that people allow it to run their lives. To a certain degree, I get this. As I mentioned earlier, money is a necessity in order to live a decent lifestyle and you should have reserved cash and other safety nets available in case of emergencies. Also, being able to grow your wealth and pass it on to future generations is a great thing. Unfortunately, some individuals become so obsessed with it that they neglect everything else in their lives, like family, friends, or self-care. For this article, I want to focus on travel because it has been a huge part of my life.

After completing college in 2006, I really began exploring the world. I lived in various states across the US as a traveling nurse and also visited many places abroad with my wife. These adventures created a lot of great memories and the experiences are something money can’t buy. Well, okay, money was involved, but you get my point, whatever it is. What I am getting at here is that travel was a lot of fun and something I never regretted, but it also did cost money to do so. This was hard-earned money that took hours, days, weeks, and months of sacrifice to obtain. I could have put it in the bank or an investment account, and I certainly did. However, I could have put in a lot more if I wanted to.

While I do have a good amount of funds in various accounts and in the equity of our home, much of our money was spent on traveling, which means it is gone. The money that we worked so hard for was gone in an instant to buy plane tickets, gas, food, tickets, gifts, and various other experiences. Did I want to spend $100 on a zipline? No, but I did and had a blast. Did I want to spend hundreds of dollars at a classy steakhouse? No, but I did and the steak tasted great. And no, the hundreds of dollars were not just for the steak alone. The thrill I received and the sites I witnessed were definitely worth the money spent. Of course, there are numerous ways to travel on a budget and still have great experiences, but money will still be involved. The memories I have can never be taken away but the money would eventually be gone no matter what. Even if I don’t spend it now, it can’t go with me into the afterlife.

The question I have for all of you is what is more important: Traveling and having great experiences, or holding onto your money? Money sitting in a bank or an investment account is great for growing wealth and paying for necessities, but how much money can you become obsessed with. I have known so many people who earned tons of money throughout their lives, but they barely ever spent a dime. Eventually, when they looked back on their lives, they wondered what experiences they missed out on. That is not something I want for myself, so I will travel to the faraway destination, I will eat at expensive restaurants, I will try that new exciting activity, and I will take risks because when my time is up, I am not gonna care how much money I saved up, but I will care about how I spent my time on Earth.