My mom taught me that there’s such a thing as “too frugal,” and it’s a lesson I share with financial planning clients every day.

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• Growing up, my mom taught me to balance frugality with spending where it makes you happy.
• As an adult, I decide where to splurge and cut back based on his lessons.
• I share the same ideas with my financial planning clients: you don’t have to be frugal all the time.

As a child, I never really understood why my mother went shopping almost every two weeks, taking us to several stores.

As an adult now, I fully understand. Shopping is one of the activities that makes her really happy. My mother loves food, travel, entertainment and shopping. These are areas where she will splurge.

However, to compensate for this, she is more frugal or cost-conscious in other areas. This balance allows her to do the things she loves while saving and investing for the future. His follies haven’t derailed his retirement plans at all.

Growing up, she often preached that life requires balance. As an adult now who has a career in financial planning, I completely agree with her.

I took his balance classes until adulthood

Being frugal is not a bad thing. It only becomes a problem when taken to extremes. I believe everyone should have some kind of “frugality” in their life, but you have to be smart about it. You can splurge on the activities you love to do, but you may need to be prepared to watch out for costs or cut back on your other activities.

It really benefited me and my brother as kids growing up. We were able to enjoy many vacations and entertainment experiences that we will cherish forever. Now, as an adult, I’m very adamant about prioritizing the activities I love, such as travel, entertainment, and fitness, while being a bit more cost-conscious with other things. . I don’t have to feel bad about spending $5,000 on vacation because I’m willing to live in a more affordable home with a smaller monthly payment.

My mother often told us “You get what you pay for”. She taught us that sometimes it’s worth spending more money on quality products. If you’re too frugal, you might end up spending more money in the long run than you expected due to poor quality.

I also teach balance to my clients

Over the years I have helped many clients take their dream vacation or buy their dream home or car. None of them regret their decision.

Yes, it is very important to save money for retirement or future expenses. But it is also healthy and important to enjoy your current life, because tomorrow is not promised. To help clients achieve these dreams, I ask them to create a list of goals and priorities. We dig deep into what’s important to them. I often ask them questions like, “If you only had a year to live, what would you do with your time?”

When I run retirement projections for clients, I often notice that many are saving far more than necessary for their retirement spending goals, sacrificing happiness today when they don’t have to. It’s okay to be frugal for a short time if you’re saving for a bigger goal, like a down payment on a house. However, prolonged periods of severe frugality can negatively affect your well-being.

Extreme frugality can be mentally and socially draining, and it can lead to isolation and estrangement from those you love. Spend that extra dollar sometimes to create new experiences with your family and friends. If you want to be frugal, make sure it’s for a purpose or purpose and with limits.

Frugality should not harm the joy of living. Do what you love and save money on other things.