New Personal Finance Trend: Spend Money Now

One of the growing trends in personal finance is the idea of spending money now. Many personal finance experts are teaching principles in line with Tim Ferriss , the author of the bestselling book, The 4-Hour Workweek. Instead of working during your peak years of physical fitness and earning power and scrimping and saving for retirement later -- while you might be too old to enjoy it, Ferriss and others say that you should spend some of your hard-earned cash now to enhance your life as you are living it.

This new personal finance philosophy is not about irresponsible spending

It is important to realize, though, that this philosophy is not about spending indiscriminately. It is still about living within your means and setting some money aside for a rainy day. You just do not have to put as much as if you do not want to. This new idea of spending now is about setting priorities, and creating goals that allow you to achieve some of the experiences you want right now. Ferriss calls it "lifestyle design." He insists that it is possible to do the things that you want to do without going broke. The keys involve setting short-term goals, and also finding more efficient ways to earn money by using your time more effectively.

Mini retirements

One of the aspects of this new personal finance trend is taking mini retirements. You can rent an apartment in some world cities for a month for the same cost of staying in a hotel for a week. Rather than taking short, expensive vacations, you can design your life so that it is possible to take mini retirements of a month or two. This way you have time to enjoy yourself, and you can actually do it for less than you might have thought.

Priorities

But it doesn't have to be a mini retirement to some exotic location. If you want to eat out more, you can arrange your expenses so that you can enjoy fine foods more often. You don't even have to quit your job if you don't want to. But you can change your mindset and your spending habits so that you enjoy your life now, rather than putting it off until some future date. However, you have to realize that you may not be able to have everything right now. And some things may have to fall by the wayside. The things you really want, though, should be enjoyed. And, as long as you are doing it without resorting to debt and irresponsible financial decisions, there is nothing wrong with spending a little money to enhance your life now.

After all, what happens if you put it off too long, and you never get to actually live?