40 | Why Do We Save?: The Most Powerful Reason

We save to keep our expectations in check.

A dollar that is not saved is spent - creating expectations.

A dollar that is not spent is saved - creating options.

The challenge is that every dollar gets assigned to either expectations or options - you can't pick "both" and you can't pick "neither".

This fact alone makes it the most complex relationship in our personal finances and the thing that most financial well being hinges upon.

A weekly coffee, a monthly streaming subscription, an annual trip, a specific school, a specific style of decorating a home - each has a different purpose, magnitude, and frequency, but every single one creates some degree of expectation.

When expectations grow out of control, eventually there is a day of reckoning and reality forces us to push the reset button.

When options grow out of control, there are a number of downsides too, but they're a conversation for another day.

The purpose here is not to determine an objectively correct level of spending/saving or make a value judgment on different types of spending.

Both are impossible tasks.

The purpose is to acknowledge the power of saving and its role in a world where expectations are easier than ever to create and as painful to change as they have always been.