Pride in What You Paid For

We often think:

Oh… if I just got all this for free, I’d be so happy.

We wish to get ‘sponsored’ and to get free things. And I think many people desire to get a huge inheritance, etc.

But in actuality, the best life is in which you pay for everything. Why? By paying for something … you signal what you truly care for. And this also signals:

You have pride in what you paid for.

What you paid for either monetarily, time-wise, or what you sacrificed in life for it!

So in other words,

It is good to pay for things to exercise your personal judgement, aesthetics, ethics, ethos and taste.

How to have pride in what you paid for

Scrutinize over what you desire to buy, and have pride in what you buy. And once you finally figure out what you like, cling to it ferociously and tenaciously.

For me, I prefer to buy things used/refurbished ‘luxury’ goods. For example, when I bought my Leica M9 and Leica 35mm f/1.4 Summilux (later traded/bought it for a used film Leica MP and Leica 35mm f/2 Summicron) — I bought it all used (huuuuge discounts, in pretty much 90-95% good condition). More recently, I bought my first car since college (a 2003 Subaru Outback Legacy Wagon, 5 speed, 200,000+ miles for only $800 on Craigslist!) And in terms of my tools, my pride in my RICOH GR III, my iPad Pro (10.5 inch), my 2017 13” MacBook Pro TouchBar (maxed out, bought refurbished from Apple store online), and more recently the iPhone Mini and iPhone 11 Pro (refurbished from Apple online store).

Thus some simple takeaways:

Sponsorship is bad, and getting things for free is bad. Even to an extent, getting gifts is bad … how do you know you *really* like it or not, whether you paid for it (skin in the game) for it yourself or not? Moving forward, the only gifts I want is meat-related gifts, or food gifts, or coffee gifts.
Be very very wary of ‘free’ things. You will eventually get suckered somewhere. Even with blogging, I prefer the theme I paid for (Genesis).
The goal isn’t to get all the best luxury goods and things and items in life. More interesting to be picky, scrutinizing, opt for a more minimalist approach, and to make/build/create/customize things yourself than just buy it!

ERIC

Economics by KIM

Money thoughts:

ERIC KIM

Pride in What You Paid For

How to have pride in what you paid for

Economics by KIM

The Philosophy of Money