Topic: You can't meet all your needs/desires at once, even if you spend all your salary - page 9. (Read 1693 times)

It is okay to have “wants” or desires ‘coz it could push us to perform better or to use it as an inspiration or rewarding system to ourselves. Problem only is that some people are disregarding limits or that their wants are not proportionate with what they can provide or spend. Better to seek for financial management lessons or watch things related to it in order to handle our funds well and to avoid spending too much. Some would say the things we should buy are things which could generate profit, well that’s valid but that’s not how our ego works and satisfaction. Understanding indeed the word “afford” is a must ‘coz not because you can buy something, it would mean that you can afford it. If you would be struggling financially after that purchase then you just forced yourself to buy it.

But with the topic, can we meet our desires and needs at the same time? Yes. An individual may do savong for that phone, car, or house. Urgency would also play a role with this one. Knowing the “right” time when to buy it is an important thing as well.

The generation right now prefers those flashy things that they can flex off on social media and they are wanting to build an image on social media rather than building themselves financially which is the lifestyle they want.

There are times that we want those kinds of things but we are more disciplined and we do have a mindset about investment like having a new phone say the new version of the iPhone others prefer to buy it when they have money but for myself I do prefer an old phone and the extra is for investment because we want assets rather than liabilities and if we gain profit from our assets then that is the time we will buy tons of them.

You can't meet needs and want at once but you can't meet them in a lifetime either. I remember during undergrad, we define economics as the study of how individuals have unending needs and wants with limited resources to spend. For most people, I think it is all about making choices and figuring out how to get the most out of what you have.

But for people who actually have the money to invest, something that they can afford to lose, to prepare for their future and save money for their luxurious hobbies would be desirable. In the end we al have to continuously fulfill both our needs and wants to live a life.

I agree with you. If you think about it, if we invest the spare money we have instead of using it to buy luxury things that provides temporary happiness then one day we'll be financially stable enough to spoil ourselves more. These types of decisions are sacrifices that we will one day be grateful about.

Setting aside income to be used for investing would be very good if we could do it, people who choose to postpone their gratification in order to be able to invest I think this is the right decision compared to using our income only for momentary gratification. Everyone certainly has many desires and they deal with them in different ways, so we need to avoid them. If we can't avoid them then our income will not be enough to save let alone invest, so we need to have good financial management so that we don't spend all our income what we have for useless things will certainly be very detrimental to us.

People tend to upgrade whenever their wants are met.  I do not think buying an apartment is wrong, cars maybe, but jewelry is okay since it can be considered an investment and can be sold at a higher price later.  Having a lot of money does not mean a person can be a slave of it.  There are people who are able to make money work for them to produce more money.  I don't see any wrong in aiming for more but spending money for luxury things isn't a good thing.  At the end of the day to be able to save up and invest to some ventures, with limiting sources of funds, knowledge of money management is greatly needed.

My realization in life is that no matter how well compensated you are, the amount of your salary will still be not enough to cater all your wants and needs. That is why we should learn to weigh things and focus on what’s necessary and dispose those are not. And with the help of a potential investments, you will never be struggling to make ends meet because you have multiple source of funds that’s already providing for you. With that, you’ll be able to cater to all your needs and wants eventually.

Some of the things that you have said is good, when you have money you will buy some for investment. It is just not for the sake of your happiness but I believe it will be soon for investment. Some other people delayed their gratification just to have a savings and after they do it they will spend too much because this is the only time they rest and enjoy their money.

Human want are insatiable because as we keep aspiring for a particular thing more will be coming to the list. This is why a billionaire would never relent in making more money for themselves since that's that human nature. We keep aspiring for more as we keep getting one done. The person that have a bicycle would always aspire for a car and when they get that, they would long for more cars in there garage. When they get enough cars, the next need would be to get a plane so that they would be able to fly to anywhere at anytime..The aspiration for more money never ends so we keep struggling for more.

I agree with this. When a person has a lot of money, he becomes a slave of money. He starts buying up apartments, cars, jewelry like crazy. But he doesn't have time to use even a small percentage of it. He just needs it very much to make dust in the eyes of others.

That's so true.

When my father was young he struggled to get money. He worked for 30 years trying to make ends meet and never got lucky in anything, never inherited a lot of money.
Then finally in his 70s he begun to do well financially but he was unable to benefit from it. He just didn't know what to do with the money. Even though he had enough money in the bank for 100 monthly salaries, he kept living the same way he lived 20 years before, saving up every penny, eating cheap food, sewing his old clothes so that he wouldn't have to buy new ones...
Then he got cancer and couldn't spend the money even if he wanted to.

When he wanted money he didn't have it, then he had money but wanted more time...

There is something that we have to understand about this aspect of life which is health. There are some expenses on health that defies budget or savings. The issue of health is important and does not give signs so when you are in such challenges, you can barely save and your budget goes off after a while because to take care of health is expensive. So we can only talk of savings and budget when all is well but if something goes wrong with health then we understand the other side of life that it is not easy. No one can keep his money when a love one is sick and at that time savings does make any sense but lets be greatful for good health.

Most people would let their desires win due to comparison to the other people, cause if they are contented of what they had, for sure they could save money with taking loans and withdraw savings just to buy unnecessary things that can't help for your own convenience. Focusing in investment rather than comparing would build up the mindset of "in the future or sooner I would also afford that" which is actually good cause for that term you could be financially stable to buy things you want.

I'm quite curious about this, if you refer to responsibilities that must be taken on without choice, does someone still have the opportunity to keeping to a budget, hold on to savings, and investing if the income/salary is only enough to support those responsibilities?
Is my interpretation wrong?

There are cultural differences as to what a need is.

My parents are gone.
My wife's parents are gone.

I have 2 brothers and 3 nieces .

They have most needs if no all taken care of. So feeding them financial aid is not needed to do.

My wife has a brother his finances are good. He does not need more money.

Now my bro-in-law has dementia he needs a new brain or a miracle cure.  Money won't do it for him.

So yeah you can argue in his case he will not get what he needs.

A lot of times reading a thread on the net can help me expand my thinking.

As I now realize my wife's brother won't satisfy a need no matter what I do or she does or he does.

Trust me all people with dementia do need new brains or real cures and right now they won't get it.

So until I read what you had to say I was blinded to your idea. Thanks for the thread.

I know something about it and I think that most of you had the same experience.

Think about the things you wanted when you were younger, 10 or 20 years ago. Think of the computer you wanted to buy, maybe a car or a motorcycle, maybe clothes, shoes, or a bicycle...
Do you still want them? If you had the money to buy them back then and had them now, would you be happy owning them?

I know that I liked completely different things 10 years ago and would spend money on things that I wouldn't buy now.

Think twice before you buy something. Do you really need it? Is it only to satisfy the need for shopping or showing off?

Well you got a great point raised there. Our needs are endless and they would continue being a need until we perish, but I feel like it is situational to just think of it that way since there are people pursuing to be financially stable like trying to build their business as they keep living paycheck to paycheck.

I believe the rich infleuncers out there doesn't have the money "in their hands" but rather in some particular investment that we either don't know or we don't care about at all anyway. People think that the net worth of billionaires is how many cash they hold, but it's really not.

Depends on the person sometimes. Give a poor human that amount of money and s/he was dying to make ends meet, s/he could have put that money into better stuff. Sure the investment might not be the first thing that would come into his/her mind, but it's not going to be like the habit of a gambler dumping all of his/her savings in gambling.

I do, but sometimes one can do things out of ignorance, and later you just get to realize you took a wrong decision while you earlier thought it was a good decision you took.



Boss, you know that human wants could even be something that is impossible to archive. An example is all the above wants that you have stated.

 For example, let's say I want to become the president of my country within the next 48 hours; I want to buy 100 airplanes today; and I also want to perform a miracle and raise the dead. These are wants that are nearly impossible, but when talking about needs, let's say I need a car and I have the money to afford it; I need a shelter, and if I can't build my own at that moment, I can just rent one; I need food to eat; I could just buy food and eat.

But how about needs that concern one's siblings, parents, wife, and children? Perhaps if the person is in the right position to handle most of the bills for the needs of the family. Let's say you have your own needs to cover and those of your parents since they are old; you also have to assist your siblings with a few needs; and lastly, you have those of your own family (your wife and children). That's the reason I said, "You can't meet all your needs and desires at once, even if you spend all your salary." The person must have to attend to some of those needs gradually and must not just allocate all their salary or savings to them (at least still invest some percentage of their salary). There's no way one can solve all at once without others arising.

Boss, you are right; needs are easy peasy for some people, but not everyone. You have all you need, but that does not mean that some people do.





No, boss, the topic is okay. I know that there are even some wants that don't need money to fulfill, and a typical example is when you are 66 and want to age back to 30.

You are right.

Some people have just not so much need, and it is easy to solve, but everyone is different, and we live in different countries where the economic system is not the same. Like I said in the previous comment, I insist that some people don't only have their own needs, but their parents' and siblings' too.

It lies in the lack of planning. If you give a person a million dollars, all he will think about is buying things he does not need and trying to waste this money quickly. Even on luxuries, if the person is not accustomed to them, he does not know the level of luxury he is looking for.
Spending money must be planned, otherwise you are like someone who burns his money, and then you will not achieve happiness, but rather your worries will increase.

A lesson learned directly from experience is a truly beneficial experience. Nevertheless, not to discredit yours, generally, it is a good thing to owning up to responsibility, even if that costs more needs that need to be filled, at the very least, we have done what we must to do. Now it is humane to take too much responsibility, especially for yes-people who hardly decide what and when to accept or reject a responsibility. Exceeding our own capabilities also contributes to the mistakes.

Now, regarding desire, this should be the last thing we should be concerned about. The main priority I took from OP and based on experiences is that needs are more essential and prerequisite so it is worth addressing this first.