The Best Things in Life Are Sometimes Money Pits
My wife told me recently that some of her best memories growing up were on a boat.
We live in Florida. Boating is not a hobby down here, it is basically a lifestyle. The water is everywhere and the weather is almost always perfect for it. So when she said that, I understood it completely.
I also know what boats actually cost.
Boats are money pits. Full stop. They depreciate the second you buy them. Then you pay for the marina. The maintenance. The repairs that seem to come out of nowhere every single season. There is an old saying that the two happiest days of a boat owner's life are the day they buy it and the day they sell it. That saying exists for a reason.
So we rent.
For a couple hundred dollars, we can take a boat out for the entire day. Gas and a tip for the deck hands and that is it. No marina fees. No storage. No trailer. No repair bills. We get all the joy and none of the anchor dragging us down financially.
For Mother's Day this year, we rented a boat, took the family out to an island, and spent the whole day out there together. It was one of those days you talk about for years. The kids were happy. My wife was happy. It cost us a few hundred bucks and added something to the memory bank that no balance sheet can measure.
That is the whole point.
β
β
Some of the Best Ways to Spend Money Are Not Smart Financial Decisions
And that is okay.
The goal of building wealth is not to die with the most money. It is to build a life you actually want to live. Sometimes that means spending money on things that have zero financial return.
The boat does not appreciate. The boat does not compound. The boat does not generate income. But the day on the water with your family? That is not nothing. That is actually the whole reason you are doing any of this.
Here is the part that matters though.
β
β
The order of operations is everything.
The foundation has to come first. Every time.
That means your emergency fund is funded. Six months of living expenses sitting in cash, not invested, not touched. That means you are contributing to your retirement accounts and actually investing for your future. That means you have a plan and you are executing it consistently every single month.
When all of that is in place, you have earned the right to make some financially imperfect decisions on purpose.
Rent the boat. Take the trip. Go to the concert. Spend the money on the thing that creates the memory. Do it deliberately, knowing exactly what you are doing and why.
β
β
Spending money on experiences with the people you love is not a financial mistake. It is the finish line.
The whole reason you save aggressively and invest consistently and build your foundation is so that you can eventually say yes to the things that matter. Slow mornings. Long days on the water. Time with the people you love without the anxiety of a financial house that is falling apart underneath you.
Get the foundation right first.
Then go rent the boat.
β