What are Financial Wants?

A financial want is something that you would like to have, but do not need in order to live. Common examples of wants include vacations, expensive shoes, and dining out.

 

Sometimes you have to be honest with yourself when it comes to financial wants and needs. You need food to live, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that you have to have Chick fil A for lunch everyday, for example. Some cost-effective alternatives to getting fast food include packing your meals or putting your food in the Ozzi containers at the dining halls. If you want to allocate some of your spending towards dining out, you should do that. Just make sure that it is a planned purchase and not an impulse purchase.

Always buying things we want without planning can cause you to go out of budget. When you go out of budget, you still need to buy things that you need and then you leave yourself no room for saving for the future. If you want to retire early, go on a trip, or have any other goal that requires savings, going out of budget by overspending is not doing yourself any favors. 

Part of financial success is giving up what you want now for what you want most. This line of thinking does not mean that a person cannot have short term wants. It simply means that you limit your spending so that you can save up for important goals. Live like a student now or live like a student for the rest of your life.

 

Next Chapter: 

What are Financial Needs?

All Chapters:

[Chapter 1]: Introduction to Needs and Wants

[Chapter 2]: Why Differentiate Between Needs and Wants Anyways?

[Chapter 3]: What are Financial Wants?

[Chapter 4]: What are Financial Needs?

[Chapter 5]: How do I Differentiate Between my Needs and My Wants?

[Chapter 6]: Wrap-up Wants and Needs