The Surprising Way Money Can Crush Your Soul

It’s not about having too much or not enough

There’s not much worse than having no aim in life. Most people think a ton of money makes everything, particularly your emotional struggles, okay. As if having money means you’ve got everything figured out. You’ll no longer be misguided or otherwise unsure of yourself and your place in the world.

This simply isn’t true.

Bruce Springsteen is a 71-year old multi-millionaire rock and roll star, yet he battles depression. He struggles with it to this day:

“I’m on drugs!” he says later. “So my mood is good!”

Bruce Springsteen takes meds for depression. If it can hit him, it can hit anyone. Money doesn’t matter. Money doesn’t give you soul, but it can help you find a world with some soul.

I was spinning ‘round a dead dial Just another lost number in a file Dancing down a dark hole Just searching for a world with some soul

— Bruce Springsteen, Radio Nowhere

There’s no soul in being a cash hoarder. This isn’t frugality. It’s stupidity.

What is Financial Flexibility Really?

I don’t subscribe to the notion of financial freedom. I want to be financially flexible.

Here’s the distinction.

The financial freedom crowd thinks your goal should be to make enough money so you can choose to not work anymore. For most of us, this is unrealistic. You’re more likely to attain financial flexibility. The idea that you keep pots of money to pay expenses, cover periods of reduced income, and achieve your short- and long-term goals and desires.

You become financially flexible when you can tap the goals and desires money without digging into your living expense, emergency, or invested money. So, you can stop working for a period of time (or do or buy something else while you work), however, you use ongoing cash flow to maintain and replenish your various pots of money as you access them. The goals and desires might change, but the general income allocation strategy does not.

I like this better because it’s fluid and doesn’t focus on the no longer relevant concept of retirement.

What Are You Going to Do if You Ever Get There?

I have been thinking a lot lately about what it will look like to be truly financially flexible. To have allocated my income and ongoing cash flow in such a way that I can do what I want when I want, how I want.

And I stumbled upon what felt like a contradiction.

When I’m financially flexible, I’m going to spend more money than I do now. In fact, there might be times when I spend considerably more money. This presents a conflict for someone who preaches frugality to achieve financial flexibility. I anticipate feeling hypocritical by upping my spending when I reach my goal. However, there’s no point in having a goal if you don’t do something with the flexibility reaching it provides.

Being financially flexible makes you cash secure. Being cash secure makes you less anxious, at least about money. Not only will you have your expenses covered two months out, but you’ll also have ample emergency money and additional funds to satisfy the other things you want to do.

This is doing something.

But it cannot be the end-all and be all.

The thought almost gave me a panic attack.

Don’t Hoard Your Money — Be Flexible

You can end up old and rich. Or maybe middle age and rich. Possibly young and rich. You can also be rich and aimless. This would be a shame.

I’m in the early innings of financial flexibility. When I hit the walk-off single in the bottom of the 9th and crush financial flexibility, I’m not going to hoard my cash. I’m not going to run out and buy an Audi either. Both options would crush my soul.

But I am going to take advantage of my situation.

For example, my work allows me to live anywhere. However, I want to keep my home city as my home base. This means if I move to another city to work temporarily, I will have, to some degree, two costs of living.

The thought almost gave me a panic attack.

This reaction is as bad as overspending. In fact, it’s a cop-out.

In most aspects of life, we succeed when we put our backs up against the wall. When failure is not an option. I do it every day with my work. I act like I have no money, no other skills, and no fallback plan. If what I’m doing now doesn’t work, I’m screwed. This is how I approach life. It works for me. It motivates me and ensures I’ll keep doing what I love. It’s going to work. No matter what.

In financial flexibility, it might be psychologically difficult to chip away at money you have worked hard to save. But this is why a key component is ongoing cash flow amid the security of having your living expenses covered and emergency fund stocked with money separate from everything else you intend to do.

So with your personal financial ducks in a quack-free row, it’s okay to take on some risk. Assuming a reasonable amount of risk can help keep you motivated. Put a little pressure on yourself — it’s good for the soul.

Simply put, what’s the point of financial flexibility if you don’t use it to have a great life?

All the compromises we make to have an insanely low cost of living need to add up to something. If they don’t — or we don’t allow them to — we risk running in a world without soul. We spend frugally, save aggressively, and strive for financial flexibility, to better access that soul. To be able to do the things that bring us joy without the money-related concerns that needlessly hold so many people back.

Part of your plan needs to include what you’ll do whenever you get there — wherever “there” is. Lottery winners fail because they don’t know how to handle their money. They had little time to plan. They never expected to win.

We expect to win. In fact, we know we will. It would suck if we cross the finish line paralyzed, with no option other than to hunker down and hoard cash.

Put as much time into considering what you’ll do when you’re financially flexible as you do thinking about how to get there. It’s this vision that helps solidify success and prevents potentially crippling existential financial crises.

This article is for informational purposes only. It should not be considered Financial or Legal Advice. Not all information will be accurate. Consult a financial professional before making any major financial decisions.