What is the Purpose of Money? To Spend or Save More?

What is the purpose of money?

It’s easy to assume the answer is freedom.? Financial security lets us do what we want, when we want. And yet…

If money were enough, why do so many people, especially those who appear successful, sometimes feel lost??

Why do they achieve financial milestones only to ask, is this all there is?

This last week, one of our advisors read a great essay called Why You Should Pursue the “Unnecessary” Things in Life by Jacob Schroeder.?

He makes a simple argument: To make life more meaningful, spend more time and money on “unnecessary.” Because the truth is, we don’t just need financial security. We need meaning. And the two don’t always go hand in hand.

Think about the things that have shaped you most: the moments, the experiences, the people that have given your life depth. Chances are, they weren’t necessary in any practical sense.

No one needs to spend hours lost in conversation with an old friend, to travel just to see the sun rise over a different horizon, to master a craft that has no immediate payoff.

However, these are the things that make life worth living.

C.S. Lewis once wrote:

"Friendship is unnecessary, like philosophy, like art, like the universe itself…It has no survival value; rather it is one of those things which give value to survival."

If money doesn’t serve what is meaningful, what is it really for?

Too often, we see people sacrifice their purpose for money—climbing a career ladder they don’t care about, chasing status instead of fulfillment.?

But the irony is, those who pursue their purpose first often find that financial success follows.

So how do you align money with meaning?

Spending money on “unnecessary” things doesn't mean filling your garage with toys.

It means asking yourself some questions:?

• What actually makes me feel alive?
• Am I using money to pursue that, or am I just accumulating for accumulation’s sake?
• If I had all the money I’d ever need, what would I choose to do with my time?

As financial planners and advisors, you might think that we are constantly telling our clients to save more and invest more.?However, the reverse is actually more common, especially with our engineer clients. There are many times where we try to convince clients to spend more because they can afford to, and because that’s what money is for!

What allows them to do that with confidence is a plan.

If you want to explore what that looks like, you can reach out to our team and learn more about our "PROFIT" process: https://www.clarkgroupam.com/our-process