Two weeks ago I interviewed someone on my podcast (Circle City Success) whose motto is ‘Experiences Over Things’. He and his wife both earned good incomes – he was a 5X national award winning salesperson and she was a clinical pharmacist – but they quit their jobs to travel to 35 countries in 27 months through 2019. A lot of people around them struggled with trying to understand why they didn’t buy a bigger house, why they didn’t have more “stuff” in their house, and why they would quit their jobs at such a great time in their careers. The answer to all of these questions is ‘Experiences Over Things’.
They were able to leave their jobs and fulfill their dream of traveling the world because they kept a simple home and didn’t have a bunch of “stuff”, which allowed them to save for that experience and not have to worry about what they left behind at home.
Experiences Vs “Stuff”
This conversation was really inspiring to me since I don’t like having a bunch of “stuff” and I love to travel. Then, sometime last week, my wife asked me if I was going to write a post about us not buying each other Christmas gifts because she wanted to take a picture of our Christmas if I was going to. I’ve done this before, but hadn’t planned on doing so until I started thinking about that podcast conversation and relating it to what Amanda had asked me.
Amanda and I aren’t like many couples who buy a bunch of Christmas gifts for each other because we don’t like having a bunch of “stuff” cluttering up the house. I feel like most of the time when you get “stuff” as a gift you use it for a couple of months and then it rarely, if ever, gets used again. People will buy you stuff that you don’t really want and you have to act like you like it – they wasted their money and you got something you’re not going to use. It’s just not a good system all around.
We’ve been together for 4.5 years and we’ve largely prioritized experiences over things during that time. This is the reason that we’re fine with not buying each other a bunch of Christmas gifts. We know that we’re saving that money for our next adventure which will be much more fulfilling to us.
So far, we’ve taken trips to Chicago, Bonita Springs, Columbus, Sedona, Gatlinburg, Puerto Vallarta, St. Louis, Kauai, Asheville, Cape Cod, Boston, Knoxville, Austin, Banff, and Savannah. But, we wouldn’t have been able to take all of those trips without sacrificing our other goals if we would have been spending our money on “stuff’ along the way. We’re certainly not minimalists (not even close), but we’ve been fortunate to find the power of dialing in on prioritizing what you’re really passionate about.
Money Dials
Ramit Sethi explains this concept as finding your Money Dials. Money Dials are those things that you love to spend money on. Imagine what it would be like if you could turn up the dial and spend ten times more on the things that you love.
If you prioritize spending money on those things, and mercilessly cut your spending on the things that you don’t, then you’ll be able to find a way to reach your saving and investing goals and spend more on the things that you love.
Giving Gifts
When we got married, we didn’t really want to set up a registry or ask for gifts. After being told we were stupid for those thoughts (maybe not so harshly), we decided to setup “funds” on our wedding website where we asked for money to go towards a trip, our first home, and a couple of other things as our wedding gifts. I’m sure it rubbed some people the wrong way since asking for money bothers people for some reason, but we didn’t want more “stuff” that we didn’t need and wouldn’t use.
We’re probably a little late into the holiday season for what I’m about to say next. If you’re going to be buying gifts for others this year, then I ask you to take a few moments to consider this thought: The gifter doesn’t get to choose what makes the gift receiver happy.
If you prefer “stuff”, and you feel like giving stuff is more valuable than giving money to go towards an experience, then I think you should put your personal feelings aside. It will mean so much more to the person receiving the gift if you take into consideration their preferences and interests.
What Do You Prefer?
What do you prefer? Experiences or stuff? It’s okay if you have different feelings than I do. It’s okay if you have different thoughts than what society says you should. The world would be boring if we were all exactly the same.
