I always talk about investing on my blog here on Steem and a significant part of investing is the analysis of trade-offs in terms of value.
Whether I'm looking at a stock to buy, a crypto to invest in, a new piece of technology, clothing, cars, etc. I always look at the risk-reward-value trade-offs of the purchase.
Something that I've been thinking about a lot lately is the trade-off of material items versus experiences.
When I say material items I mean many of the things I outlined above - clothing, cars, technology, etc.
When I say experiences I mean traveling the world, visiting an experiential restaurant, buying time to do an activity, etc.
When I was younger I used to be constantly obsessed with the latest and greatest cars, technology, clothing etc. I used to be a super-materialist.
Everything I did in terms of investing was to get more money so I could enjoy more of the luxuries of life.
Don't get me wrong, I still love fancy and expensive material items, but I have a very different view of what's actually worth it.
To really outline this, I'll give you an example of something that happened earlier this year:
I had the choice between buying a new car (I was considering the new Camaro or Mustang) or the choice of traveling the world for several months.
Buying a car is expensive and the monthly payment was about the same as the cost to travel to nearly any destination I want.
I thought about it for a while, but I finally came up with this conclusion:
A material item - like a car - is extremely enjoyable for a short-period of time. I would probably have the time of my life driving a new Camaro around, but I would probably only be having the time of my life for about 30 days.
After those 30 days, I would acclimate to my new car. It would still be fun, but it wouldn't be super fun.
So then I'd be stuck with a monthly car payment for about 72 months.
Alternatively, traveling the world and making blogs and just following my passions while collecting new experiences and investing would cost me about the same each month.
I would be able to explore new countries, cities and cultures. I would be able to garner invaluable experiences that couldn't be had if I just stuck to my old ways of buying the latest toys and then getting tired of them after a few months time.
That's how I came to the conclusion of: experiences are FAR FAR FAR more valuable the material items. I have taken some time to travel and I plan on taking more time to travel in the near future.
To me, it's not even a comparison anymore. It's always experiences first, materials second.
What drives you? Materials or Experiences?
