What’s Your Take on Lifestyle? Decide This Before You Do Anything

What do you want your life to be like? What’s your take on lifestyle?

No, this isn’t the beginning of some corny speech about being a good person and living in a utopian society. It’s not about following your passions and selling all of your stuff so that you can live off one t-shirt. It’s about being realistic with your lifestyle.

“What difference does it make how much you have? What you do not have amounts to much more.” — Seneca

The other day I wrote about how to be miserable forever. Sometimes, following your passions isn’t the best option. You can end up miserable if things don’t work out in your favor. You can get pissed off if you don’t make as much money as you need to sustain your lifestyle.

Time to go in a different direction for a quick second…

I must confess that I’m a huge fan of prowrestling and I’ve even attended a Wrestlemania live in Miami. So when I found out that Ric Flair was going to be on Celebrity Wife Swap I had to watch it. I always get a kick out of the party lifestyle and of the finances of those making way more money than me.

Then I realized that Flair still lives the same extravagant lifestyle now in his 60s. He spends money like it’s going out of style. I figured that some of it was just playing it up for the cameras.

So I went out and did some research. I found a few articles that showed how Ric is in tons of debt. Despite making millions of dollars in his life, he has no money (but lots of wild stories) to show for it. The point below is scary:

The federal government placed another lien on Fliehr’s property for $627,758 in back taxes from 2005 to 2008.

Looks like he’s going broke trying to maintain this lifestyle.

I don’t want to get into Ric Flair and prowrestling in the post. I just wanted to show you how important lifestyle is in personal finance.

I can’t tell you how to live your life. I can however warn you of the role that your lifestyle will play on your finances.

What’s your take on lifestyle? Decide this first. Why?

“Don’t stay in bed, unless you can make money in bed.” — George Burns

Lifestyle is everything when it comes to personal finance, saving money, and making money.

I have friends that work crazy hours just to maintain unrealistic lifestyles. They can’t stop working. They can’t time off. They have to keep it up to survive.

Then I’ve also met characters that own very few items, ride the bike to work, and live very frugally.

Your lifestyle will determine how much money you save/make.

When you became an entrepreneur, you’re not guaranteed more money. You’re actually not guaranteed anything.

I’ve experienced this recently. I lost four freelancing contracts. Thankfully, I’ve saved my money and have backup plans in place.

Having money saved in the bank will always be your, “when shit hits the fan plan.”

Before we move on, you need to figure out how important your lifestyle is and how you expect to live.

You’ll never save money if your lifestyle isn’t conducive to it.

“The lack of money is the root of all evil.” — Mark Twain

You just can’t save money if you spend it all. Duh!

Sorry for that ridiculous statement. Allow me to explain myself better…

If you believe that life is short and should spend all of your money, then you’ll never have enough money.

If you can survive off very little and enjoy being frugal, you can live off very little and feel on top of the world.

The extreme work ethic alert was my idea of how and why you need to pick up the pace. I believe that patience is for those afraid of work. If you pick up the pace and work harder/smarter, you’ll see results faster.

What’s more important: money or lifestyle?

“For I don’t care too much for money, for money can’t buy me love.” — The Beatles

This is for you to decide. I’m not here to judge or to tell you what to do. I want to help you make the right decisions.

What’s my take on this?

I believe that lifestyle is more important. I’m very pleased with my life. I get to travel often, go out a lot, work out, and spend time with family. I never have to stress while stuck in rush hour traffic. On the flip side, I could have more money.

I really don’t want to be miserable like some of my friends. I don’t want to be forced to go to a job that I hate five days a week. That just isn’t worth it to me.

The trick is to not become a slave to your own machine and to not spend every breathing second on work. I also believe in working on your own projects because that will benefit you in the future.

I hope this all made sense!

What sort of lifestyle do you want?

“I have no money, no resources, no hopes. I am the happiest man alive.” — Henry Miller