Hello, my financially fiendish friends, as the wintery weather draws to an end and the spring semester begins to pick up, it is with a heavy heart that I conclude this column. While there are still so many tools everyone can add to their financial toolbox, I think what I’ve presented over the past year is an ample start.
Money is never an easy subject for anyone, and as I’ve written for this column on The Chant, I’ve learned so much more than the basics of taxes or IRAs. While this column is the basis of early financial literacy, as each of you climbs into your own lives, jobs and goals, the way you interact with money will completely change. As I bid this column farewell, I’d like to leave some final tips, from a girl who thinks about her own financial future nonstop, that don’t quite fit a normal article topic.
- Find your own balance
So frequently, we prescribe rules to things like personal spending that only work for a select few. While saving as much as you can for that sweet, sweet dose of retirement works for many, and everyone should attempt to save as much as they can, it’s impractical to expect each person to live that way. An artist will plunge into their craft, parents will focus on their children’s wellbeing, and when you make these choices every day, your spending builds your life. Feeling overly free with money or excessively self-limiting can both push you into dissatisfaction that isn’t necessary. While your income ultimately will define the ways you can spend money, operating within those limits in a way that prompts both long-term and short-term joy is pertinent. That prioritization of a life worth living is a theme that gets bogged down in W-2s sometimes.
- Work to live, don’t live to work
Maybe this is just a work culture thing, but I think a lot of us find ourselves aspiring to careers at the expense of chasing well-rounded lives. And if we don’t do that, maybe we are constantly searching for ways to monetize the things we love. While those of us with a genuine constant passion for a career, a value for what they stand for and a confidence that trudging through its highs and lows will bolster our sanity have the potential to make a very bright life around their jobs, the majority of people can’t synonymize labor with fulfillment. Finding a career that you care about and can do well in, but ideally isn’t going to strain your time and energy past the point of no return, is honestly one of the best ways to live outside of those rare passion-based exceptions. Your career shouldn’t leave you miserable, but it ultimately brings in the income, which makes it easier for you to build an identity outside of the office. Hobbies, relationships and time to become your own complete person should be made attainable by your job, not suffocated by it.
- Understand the system
America is a very capitalistic place. Because of that, large companies are able to commodify people, their time and their attention. Understanding that the system in place is built to foster competition, and that those with preexisting wealth have a leg-up in that competition, is one of the first steps to truly handling personal finance and money-based voting well. Remember that whether you find Wall Street dandy or damned, your investments in it will ultimately serve you. Searching for the balance between ethics and personal success may be very difficult, especially because, at times, the ethical option is the least accessible. Still, understanding the competitive nature of the American economy and the way it interacts in trade with other nations builds a population able to choose what’s in their best interest and encourages change that’s in the planet’s best interest.
This column has been such a treat to write, and I hope it gave each and every one of y’all the basic knowledge you need to confidently walk into a world where your finances can determine your life. As you step into careers you either love or allow you to do what you love, as you build the portfolios you’ll use in retirement, and as you become an active member of the U.S.’s constituency, I hope that you make the choices that will promote the life you want to live and the legacy you want to leave.
