Think of your financial choices as a path to discovery
November 24, 2024
I use a navigation app when I am trying to get somewhere because it often takes me on routes that I would not have uncovered myself: It might guide me to less traveled streets, but they are nonetheless roads.
When you chart your financial course, you might want to be on a road, but you are really on a path. And as the poet Antonio Machado wrote, “The path is made by walking.”
Every financial choice you make sets you on a path of discovery. There is not a GPS to effortlessly guide you. Instead, you bushwhack your way through what you thought life would be like to get to the way it really is.
Home ownership, for example, will take you on various paths. Some of these lead you to unexpected pleasures: a community you enjoy, maybe more space or something to call your own. But you invariably will also make discoveries you weren’t completely prepared for: surprise repairs, intensified levels of upkeep and more responsibility.
Prepare yourself for this incredible trek by focusing on a couple of keys.
Build in elasticity. Nothing goes exactly according to plan. Keep at least a couple of months’ expenses relatively liquid. Having access to credit lines helps you navigate surprises. Set up a home-equity line of credit that you will hopefully never use but is there if you need it. Have a credit card that you don’t use but can serve you in an emergency. After doing this, freeze your credit by contacting the three major credit reporting agencies. Your credit is easily unfrozen if you need it later. It is often easiest to receive credit when you need it the least, so plan in advance.
Don’t fall in love with your balance sheet. It’s a bunch of numbers that change all the time. Your path is made by taking the steps necessary to move forward, but you can count on some blisters along the way. Markets go up and down. Determine how much you want to save and where it needs to go rather than hyperfixating on your investments. Raise your standard of living slightly more slowly than raises in your income. Enjoy spending by managing it. We appreciate assets more when we have to make choices around them.
If you want your financial life to be rewarding, consider your path to be an ever-changing route shaped by movement, rather than as a static map.
Spend your life wisely.
- Ross Levin
This article originally appeared in the Minneapolis Star Tribune on November 24, 2024