Questions to Ask Yourself

Over the weekend, I came across the show The Millionaire Inside, and started watching "debt confessions" on late-night TV... in my near slumber-stupor, the moderator of the program seemed unreasonably harsh. They kept posing these impossible questions: "What is more important to you - your home or your business? What is more important to you - changing jobs to something you love or getting married?" Insane!

Glad I'm not at the point where I need to be answering such questions. However, it does raise the all important question of choices and priorities in my own financial life. It's nice to phrase this as a tradeoff. Too often I make choices by assuming that I have to do something, because it's part of me. For instance, I'm not going to stop all of my weekend social activity to save money, because I'm in my early twenties. It would be foolish for me to be a hermit until I have reached 100% of my financial goals, because then I'll be in my early forties... and it's less fun to dance on the bar then.

However, I can start posing the priorities/choices question: what is more important to me now? Having 3 more drinks? Or being able to pay off $30 more of my credit card? Taking cabs all over town? Or being a little closer to having my emergency fund whole? Or even questions among questions: going out to a concert or being able to eat out once more this month? I think I'm going to focus on making better choices within my priorities (being social, but practicing some good cost avoidance while I'm out there!)