Welcome Avatar! Another adhoc post on various things you should consider spending money on. We’ve stated for a long period of time that the frugality people have it wrong. If you live extremely cheap for 30 years just to live like a cheap-skate in your retirement, you never experienced life. This is why a lot of the intense savers have mid-life crisis attacks in their 40s. Buying the corvette and going to Vegas every weekend. They lost their youth and are stuck chasing a fantasy.
This is in no real particular order, we’ve tried to do it chronological by age group so it helps you avoid the future mid-life crisis.
Spend on Those Trips & Events When Young
There is a huge difference between seeing Montreal when you’re 25 and seeing it when you’re 65. In fact, we could argue it is two different worlds entirely. Cutting to the chase? You can see that museum when you’re 65.
What you want to do is focus your 20s on traveling to international locations.
That is extremely specific. As you get older you will loathe flying and driving long distances. It is part of nature. If you’re 40 something and love your area, why would you want to suffer on those 8 hour flights every couple of months? You already did that stuff when you were in your 20s.
Trips
Think about places that you can see once. Iceland was a great example. You could see the whole island (source) and have a memory that will last the rest of your lifetime. One of those real IYKYK situations. Definitely have no interest in going back since a week long trip gives you enough time to see all the tourist stuff as well anyway.
Since some countries are massive like Brazil, you should try to find places you can visit once and avoid the whole “see 5 cities in one trip” itinerary. If you’re 20 something probably better to choose a place like Fortaleza or Florianópolis. This is because it is much harder to get to and you could see it all. Sao Paulo will be the same no matter if you go later or earlier. Plus Rio is over-run by tourists anyway.
Concerts
Another easy one. This only applies to people who have a couple of artists they love. Don’t bother putting it off. They will get old (just like you) and it simply won’t hit the same. Big difference between the vibe at 25 and 45. Undeniable.
You could swap out concert for other main events such as a DJ or whatever you’re into. That person will only be hot for a section of time “RockStar Years” and will slowly fade into irrelevancy as culture morphs over time.
Max Out That Fitness - For Athletes
This is a tougher one and is more niche. You want to go ahead and peak out as hard as you can in college. If you played baseball, hockey or threw a javelin, it doesn’t matter.
Everyone who knows they are going Pro already knows it. If you’re not in that camp go all out max it out and don’t quit early. The only reason to quit early is for the same old reason “Money and Health”. No one who reads us would be foolish enough to turn down an NVDA internship to play an extra season of WaterPolo, Basketball or whatever sport you can think of. College career ends at Junior year, no big deal.
If there is no health or wealth reason to quit, go ahead and max those seasons out. You’re not going to forget them for the rest of your life.
Other Major Events
There are too many to list. We don’t know what your interests are but here are some examples. This assumes you’re not wasting 3 hours a day watching movies and sports all week.
Go to the NBA Finals, NHL Finals, World Series, SuperBowl
Go buy one of the collectables from your youth, this probably ends up being a net positive ROI. You already know what it is if you’re reading this sentence and you have no idea what it means if you never collected rare items
Kentucky Derby, NYC Ball drop for new years (once - it sucks), Jet ski stuff out in Florida or California
Major physically taxing things like climbing up Mt Everest or risky things like Sky Diving
All other high risk stuff like snowboarding or skiing before your responsibilities change
Safari in Africa, checking out the North/South poles… who knows
As you can see the list goes on and on.
The point is that you should make a list while younger because you’d be a fool to take up Heli-skiing at age 45 and end up on a stretcher with a blown out knee that causes a life time of pain and suffering. We listed out a bunch and several will not be of any interest to you. That’s the point. You’ll find say 5-7 things. Do those when you’re 22-29. Before you end up regretting it later.
Spend on Time Saving As You Age
The most obvious answer? House/Apartment Cleaning.
Considering that you sleep 8 hours and work at least 8 hours and exercises/commute another 2 hours… This means you only have around 6 hours a day. Remove eating, showering and running errands? You’re probably down to 4 hours a day. That means you have 28 hours of free time.
Do you really want to spend 6 of those hours cleaning your house/apartment every 1-2 weeks?
Highest ROI by far is spending on keeping the house/apartment clean. It makes sense because the time suck is large and absolutely no one reading this sentence enjoys cleaning.
Other Time Saving Items
Conceptually, anything that saves you a bunch of time is going to be worth it. We have no idea why someone would outsource child care (nannies) before they covered all the other annoying stuff you have to do on a weekly basis.
Laundry is a huge one: Total time suck folding, organizing and constantly waiting to move the clothes over. Get rid of it when the money makes sense.
Car washes: Yet another one. If you have the money and own a car (we’re homeless no car), getting a consistent wash and vacuum combo makes your entire commuting experience 100x more enjoyable.
Landscaping: Same thing as cleaning. This is a bit in-between since some people legit enjoy cleaning their yards and mowing the lawn. Low intensity exercise combined with instant results. If it isn’t enjoyable to you, it has to go.
Lay Flat Seats for Long Flights
To be clear, we’re not talking about a 2 hour short flight. Paying up to sit in what is basically a ugly lazy boy is not worth it. If you get a free upgrade or have absurd points (because you mileage max with all your ad spending), that’s fine. Just know that the real value is basically all in the lay-flat.
We know there are more extreme options. However, if your flight is around 6 hours or longer, you just need to be able to get horizontal. If this is possible you can sleep for the entire duration and no supplements will help you offset poor sleep. This is basically where you want to be by the time you’re around 30s/40s (rough math).
Keep the standard economy for short flights, make sure you can budget for quality sleep during the horrible lengthy ones.
“Oh but it doesn’t save you time” = Insert extreme amounts of laughter
If you’re 20 maybe it doesn’t make a difference. By the time you’re 35 it certainly saves you boat loads of time. If you’re jet lagged and on tilt your work performance declines massively. It can last 24 hours and even 48 hours to get to normal.
Not even worth it. Find a way to max out those points for the upgrade, or max out those cash back offers to get the money.
Simple Concept
If you earn significantly more than the cost of the service and it’ll save you 1-2 hours a week, best to take it. You only have 28 hours of real free time anyway. We’re not going to do the math for you but it seems that a 5x would make it a no-brainer. If you earn $100 after tax and it costs you $20 to save the hour, just save it.
What you learn is that in this general mid-age band you are time strapped so you need to pay to free it up.
Spend on Anti-Aging
Everyone knows health is more important than wealth. Blah Blah. Most just eat hamburgers and drink every weekend. If you’re 20 something this is fine, but it catches up with you eventually.
By the time you’re in you’re in your 30s you need to ramp up (massively) what you do to keep your anti-aging protocols running. This is as simple as stretching and hydration. Could be as extreme as HRT (what we do) and circadian rhythm timing. Getting your biological clock running correctly is excruciatingly important particularly if your goal is to slow down aging.
Here are some various things you should actually have on a calendar
1-2x a year blood donation. This is mainly for men since they do not do this. It’s one the best ways to keep your body running smoothly. Human oil change
You can replace one donation with blood work if you really hate it. If you do that, get all your blood work done with the max testing. Check everything once a year at minimum
1x a month massage or facial. Depends on how your body is reacting. If you can do both do both. Some only need one (dry skin or simply stiff body from decades at a computer desk)
Sauna/Steam Room - easy one to get access to with a decent gym membership. Combine with stretching and you’ll be moving like you’re 5 years younger
Hormone Replacement Therapy (already covered need a private doctor - source). Will make sure all your metrics are running at the best possible clip. For those that want a much cheaper version then basic Testosterone Replacement Therapy is good
Ultra extreme - sperm freezing. This is for the future of genetics where you can pick out the best DNA for your kids. Yeah sounds like playing God but technology isn’t here to make life worse. It is here to make your life better. Want your kids to be smarter, faster, stronger? Well there you go. Costs a few thousand to freeze for 5-10 years
Some of these are definitely expensive. If you’re not able to afford it, that’s fine. You just add it to the list of what actually matters before you waste money buying that $250,000 super car that’ll cost thousands and thousands of dollars in maintenance per year.
Just saved you a bunch of time and headache. In your 20s pay up for experiences and international travel. Around middle age start paying to save time and ideally saving your health as well. Quality of life is not the same as quantity of life.
If you’re on the fence to do any of those things and can easily afford it, well this is your sign to pull the trigger. Time and quality is what you need to optimize for. After that you can worry about the status goods anyway.
Besides. A product is only a status good if the person can’t afford it.
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