It is far better to be frugal and spend less money for what you need than to be wasteful and spend on so many things that you'll probably never use and/or grow tired of, eventually, creating a big mess that constantly needs attention (and probably never gets any, since the focus is probably a habitual process of always on spending money on more needless things). The truth is that money is not even the most common deliverer of our happiness. In fact, the ability to do more with less money is far more gratifying. This is why we should seek *not* to 'keep up with the Joneses' and attempt to build a financial stockpile that is based probably on what will eventually become useless 'fiat' currency, but to seek the things in life that are of higher value - the things that don't require money - just effort. Those things - the truly valuable things - are education (social, as opposed to academic, which is expensive and provides little ROI - not to mention, deserves great skepticism), success (not measured in money - that is foolish. It is not money that makes us happy, it is what we can do with it - try doing more with less), friendship, love, respect, and physical/emotional/spiritual well-being (good health). At least, this has always worked for me...

It is far better to be frugal and spend less money for what you need than to be wasteful and spend on so many things that you'll probably never use and/or grow tired of, eventually, creating a big mess that constantly needs attention (and probably never gets any, since the focus is probably a habitual process of always on spending money on more needless things). The truth is that money is not even the most common deliverer of our happiness. In fact, the ability to do more with less money is far more gratifying. This is why we should seek *not* to 'keep up with the Joneses' and attempt to build a financial stockpile that is based probably on what will eventually become useless 'fiat' currency, but to seek the things in life that are of higher value - the things that don't require money - just effort. Those things - the truly valuable things - are education (social, as opposed to academic, which is expensive and provides little ROI - not to mention, deserves great skepticism), success (not measured in money - that is foolish. It is not money that makes us happy, it is what we can do with it - try doing more with less), friendship, love, respect, and physical/emotional/spiritual well-being (good health). At least, this has always worked for me... - Economist Angus Deaton and psychologist Daniel Kahneman performed a study in 2010 where they determined that making a lot of money won't make you happy.