When speaking to someone the other day about FI she said that her biggest stumbling block at the start was the recurring thought of “Why should I save money now and deprive myself of buying nice things now?”. In our modern consumerism-central society it is no surprise that people feel like this. After all, why would you want to save money when you could just blow it now and get yourself a shiny new gadget? Plus, some people argue that they could die tomorrow and wouldn’t want to regret not living in the moment and enjoying it. Odd that material gain has such a close link to “happiness”, isn’t it? Sure it may make you feel great in the moment (I’m still paying off my PS4 on credit so I am not innocent), but after the honeymoon phase of the purchase has worn off what do you really have to show for the expense besides something material that will most probably produce very few, if any at all, long term benefits to you?

If you couple this short-term rush to feel “happy” from buying material things with access to credit and you are bound to make a few bad decisions down the line. I bought a guitar for R2 000 last December and I have yet to start lessons (I do still intend to though) – this was the chase of a short-term gain of what I perceived to be something that would really make me “happy”. However, since then I have begun reading a bit on the school of thought called “Hedonism” (click for more detail if you wish). Funnily enough Hedonism is the greek word for “delight”. In short, hedonism is a school of thought that argues that pleasure is the most important intrinsic good (i.e.- pleasure is good and must be sought after). Hedonists rely on a basic formula of pleasure=gain-pain. Put simply, if the result is pleasure then go for it!

Video explanation should you wish

The downside of chasing constant short-term pleasure is the Hedonic Treadmill, which is the idea that idea that there is an observed tendency of humans to quickly return to a relatively stable level of happiness despite major positive or negative events or life changes (i.e.- we will return to our normal selves sooner or later and that car won’t bring you as much “happiness as it did before). The use of the word “treadmill” here is telling as it implies that we are stuck in the same spot and chasing something in front of us (also walking to stay in the same place). Here is a nice quote from the link I have linked above – “According to this theory, as a person makes more money, expectations and desires rise in tandem, which results in no permanent gain in happiness.”

We crave the accumulation of new toys and gadgets (iPhone 6, anyone?), yet after we have bought them we will either slowly or quickly return back to our usual level of happiness. It’s just a matter of time before the fascination in your new material things fade into the background. What value will that top of range Audi really add to your life in the greater scheme of things? Sacricing extra money each month in the form of savings has made me a lot happier than any iPad or PS4 will ever make me. I know it may be something that you see as an odd approach and it is. It is odd because my happiness is not what someone else has told me it should be, my happiness is my very own definition of it.

Our time on earth is limited, so why would I willingly over-indebt myself with the net result being that I have to work longer and spend precious time working instead of spending it doing things I really enjoy? I don’t need to chase gadgets and cars that have no objective value to me because I am excited at the prospect of being able to retire earlier than the average joe- you could say I have replaced my gadget craving with a craving to “horde” as much money as I can. You would probably be right, but I don’t care because I know the long term effects will far outweigh the short-term feeling of “happiness”.

It is all worth the sacrifice – you just have to decide what you value more.