What is enough?

Adapted from Dominguez, Joe and Vicki Robin, Your money or your life: transforming your relationship with money and achieving financial independence. Penguin, USA.

As Americans, we spend so much time consuming, wanting, spending, and always yearning for the things we don't have, we never step back to consider the idea of enough. The reality is that there is such a thing as enough, though it is different for everyone, and it may change throughout your lifespan.

Let's illustrate the point. Do you remember your first car? I loved my first car. It was a tiny, little, very used Nissan Pulsar and I remember spending countless hours vacuuming it, washing and waxing it, I changed the oil myself, I loved driving it around. It wasn't perfect, of course; it didn't have much power up hills, the backseat was extremely small and it did tend to break down from time to time, but it adequately filled my need for transportation. Right now, I drive a used Subaru station wagon…a good sturdy reliable family car. It's a good car, it gets me where I want to go, it carries everyone and everything I need to carry, it's reliable, and it's paid for. It's enough.

Now, if I were to go out and buy a brand new Lexus, would that be even better? First of all, I can't afford a Lexus, so I would have a large car payment. That means I would have to work more to pay for it. Because it is so luxurious, I would always be stressed when my dog needed to go to the vet or when my child spilled juice in the back. I would probably park in the very far reaches of the grocery store parking lot so nobody scratched the pristine paint job, and I'd probably have to build a garage to house it. Repairs and insurance would also cost more. But then again, I'd have a Lexus, so it would all be worth it, right?

In economics, the law of diminishing returns says that at the beginning, consumption will make life much better but as more and more is acquired, it will provide decreasing pleasure. Think of this when you consider what is enough. At the bottom is deprivation or absolute need. If you're really hungry and you eat one hamburger it fills the need, but it isn't really enough. So you eat another hamburger. Now you're full, you're satisfied, you're happy. It's enough. That's at the top of the curve. Since that last hamburger was so good, you eat another. But all of a sudden you start to go down this curve…you're stuffed, you feel a little sick, and if you were to eat another hamburger, you'd be down at the lowest part of the curve. More is not always better.

Can you think of other examples? How about T.V. into cable into some fancy satellite system? How about a child as you give them more and more toys? Kitchen do-dads? The trick is to tune into your notion of enough and don't give in to advertising temptations or envy of your neighbors. Only you know what is enough for you.

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