175 | Leading or Lagging?

A couple of indicators can speak to the quality of our spending – both are hallmarks of the best spenders.

Freedom is a leading indicator – something that can only be assessed before the dollars are spent.

Do I feel freedom to spend even though the future is uncertain?

The tricky part with freedom is figuring out how to feel it when there is no objective way to measure it.

Contentment is a lagging indicator – something that can only be assessed after the dollars are spent.

Given a second chance, would I spend the dollars the same way?

The tricky part with contentment is that your future self will always know more than the prior self that went out on the limb.

We can't forget they are two different questions and they can't have the same answer.