160 | Why It’s Hard

From the Wall Street Journal on May 19, 2024 at 8:00am...

The Downside of Delayed Gratification

And then a couple hours later at 10:00am...

“What Was I Thinking?” The Big-Ticket Items People Regret

The same publication posting both articles before the eggs in the buffet line can get cold feels less like an ignorant editor than it feels like an unintentionally poignant acknowledgement that it's hard to spend well.

From the first article, “the mere act of saying ‘not now, maybe later’ triggered an instinct to keep putting [something] off and waiting for a better moment” which leads to a “specialness spiral” where you never actually pull the trigger on spending money for special things.

The only way this one could have struck a louder chord with me was if the author had been kind enough to open it with “Dear Richard:”.

And just as I'm really getting stoked about saying “yes” once and for all to special things, the second article knocks the wind out of the sails in two lines, “While it may be true that money can't buy happiness, that doesn't stop people from trying. And then wishing they hadn't.”

On one end, we have regret because we’ve waited too long to spend on special things.

And on the other end, we have regret because we spent and then realized the things weren't as special as we expected.

Woof...

No matter who you are, spending well is hard to do.