Need vs Want

Whether you are aiming to retire early, pay for a good education, buying a house, or just get your budget and credit card debt under control, the first step on the path to achieving these goals is to identify what your needs and wants are. Identifying what your needs and wants are also has the added bonus of helping you to nail down your own path to happiness.

I still remember laughing uncontrollably with my friends as I
struggled to zip up my life jacket while treading water. 

How often have you heard someone say "I need to go and see that movie", "I need the latest iPhone" or "I need a new pair of shoes"? Are these really needs? No, they are not*.

By separating our needs and wants, we can stop chasing that feeling of satisfaction we so often try to fill with superficial useless crap and other junk. There is a finite number of things we need, but there is an ever growing list of things we want. Once we get what we want, we immediately want something else. By separating needs and wants, we can get off the consumerism hamster wheel, save money and enjoy life to its fullest.

I can already hear the keyboard worriers warming their fingers up getting ready to post a comment. Ease up a second and let me finish. The inherent meaning of the word "want" is to not have something. As long as focus on what you lack, you cannot feel fulfilled.

Filling the necessities in our lives is what makes us happy, and it is necessity that drives us to accomplish great things. Now, does this mean that we should all be hermits and focus just the bare essentials (food (2minute noodles) and shelter (cardboard box)? No. We are human beings! While food and shelter are at the core of our needs, we also need healthy relationships with the people around us, we need to communicate with others, we need to exercise and stay healthy and we need to keep our minds occupied.

My blackbelt grading.

Let me try and illustrate my point with an example from my own life. There was a time when I would have classified Taekwondo as a need in my life. I wouldn't have died without it, but it kept me sane while I studied Engineering, kept me fit, got me out of the house, helped build my self confidence and gave me a daily sense of achievement. Taekwondo was the catalyst that fed my needs as a human being and even ultimately lead me to meeting my wife! It also didn't cost much which fitted my frugal nature well. I would often help out in class, and for that my instructor gave me a discount. I could also attend an unlimited number of classes each week for a flat fee, and by paying months in advance my instructor gave me a further discount!

How does money and early retirement work into this theory of needs and wants? Some people see retirement as the happiness light at the end of the tunnel, but because of how they live their life they continually push retirement further and further away by spending large sums of money on their wants in pursuit of quick happiness fixes. There is a sad paradox here. By examining what their true needs are, they could live incredibly happy lives now while simultaneously chipping away at saving for early retirement.

1. You don't need to buy lunch, take it from home instead.
2. You don't need to buy coffee, make it yourself.
3. You don't need someone to clean your house, clean it yourself and get some exercise at the same time.
4. You don't need that $3000+ handbag. The $300 one on special looks just as good and is just as functional. 
5. You don't need to replace your 12 month old phone with the latest model.
6. You don't need a 5+ bedroom multiple bathroom multiple living room with formal dining room house for two people.
7. You don't need a brand new $60,000 car.
8. You don't need that expensive foreign holiday.
9. etc

The list really is endless If you spend your life pursuing wants thinking they will make you happy, you will die an unhappy poor person. 

I'm not here to judge you or your lifestyle. Hell, I like to indulge in the occasional want like a hamburger, video game or overseas holiday. It is your choice and it is quite OK to satisfy a want**. The point I am making is be conscious of the fact that it is a want, not a need, and how it impacts your financial or life goals (whatever they may be) and that filling wants is only a temporary happiness fix. Like so many things in life, it is about finding the right balance.

This is an early retirement AND happiness blog. The two are not mutually exclusive and can be achieved by anyone who recognizes the needs and wants in their life. Once you have identified your needs, the path to early retirement will be much clearer.

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*unless your only pair of shoes are falling apart.
**provided you are not breaking any laws or causing anyone distress or pain.