Back when I was pregnant with my second child, I really wanted a minivan. More specifically, I wanted a Honda Odyssey that had auto-opening side doors (a new thing back then), and captain chair seats in the second row to minimize sibling fights (ha!). My husband and I were both working full time, and to help with the budgeting, we lived off his income and – after paying for childcare – we saved all of my salary. Finally, after an embarrassingly long time, we had enough saved and we paid for the minivan in cash. Great idea, right? Nope, not for me. As we were car shopping, it dawned on me just how long I’d worked to buy … a minivan! I would much rather think that my job helped support our daily living expenses, fed us, or kept us off the streets. Or at least something cooler than a minivan.
We all know that the math for purchasing a car in cash is the same whether it comes from one pot of household money or the other. But I still can recall just how horrified I was when I pictured, or ‘framed’, this purchase as the sole end result of all my hours of work.
As a financial planner, sometimes it’s easy to just ‘run the numbers’ and see what makes the most financial sense. But emotional and psychological reasons for our choices are important too. These are things we can talk through, plan around, and maybe reframe our thoughts.
(side credit: artwork by a Handberg child)