Have > Want + Need = Happiness

Take a good look at the formula above.

Have > Want + Need = Happiness.

Hence the only way to be happy is either to increase your have, or decrease your want+need. Increasing your have will mean working really hard and being really stressed out at some high paying job. You will end up trading time and health and investing in relationships and activities you like doing. Hence, alternately, you can reduce your wants and needs. Some will depict that as lowering your standards. Some will say why do I have to tone it down. If I can go for a spa massage that charges RM300, or a Chinese traditional practitioner who charges RM35, why should I settle for the Chinese one if the spa one is more relaxing and enjoyable?

Well they really have no choice, rant argue rave rail all they want, thats the reality of the situation. Either you push yourself to the limit and earn a lot, or, you want less.

If you think about it for a second..we were happy in uni. We spent much less. We were happy in high school. We spent even less. So why must our spending increase proportionately as we increase our earning capacity? The trick to good financial sense, is to earn/have more than what we want + need. Bills, petrol, necessities aside, we just need to keep our spending low. Eat well but not too well, but give ourselves weekly treats, don't need to buy new material items regularly, and just be prudent and sensible. I think thats the trick to financial health.

We really got to think about our finances, I reckon. If we retire at 55, and want a modst RM2.5k a month income, and live til 80, that is 2.5 X 12 X 25 = 750k. That excludes sudden expenditure increases such as medical bills and travel, and given inflation today, 750k is really cutting it close.

I guess just have to make a disciplined and concerted effort to live within our means.