As you get older, you begin to realize that all that effort you spent in your youth seeking money might have been time wasted. I’ve gotten use to the lifestyle of the “poor” student. I don’t eat ramen everyday, but I budget my allowances wisely. At a recent family gathering my friend’s father told me that health is the most important thing in this world. When you’re healthy, you can do anything. I take that to heart. That sentiment was reiterated by other family members. The thing is that they are all wealthier than I, but also wiser and older. I spend a lot of time training and exercising for my health and also to accomplish some goals in life. After staring up my training program, I’ve felt like I’ve been in the best shape of my life. I still have much more to gain, but this feeling is awesome. I make sure to make time to run everyday. That hour where I go running is my Zen moment to myself. Nothing really matters then. All my worries seem to go away. In fact, I think I really don’t have anything to worry about. The stress just seems to melt away.

If you’re in bad health, it puts a strain on your finances. No matter how rich you are, hospital bills can easily wipe you out. Some people would give all their wealth up if they could just get better from their ailment. I think that’s a reason why universal healthcare is important. Preventive medicine should save money in the long run.

You need money to buy things, a car, a house, nice dinners at the French Laundry, kid’s college education, etc. But how much of that do you really need. You could spend all your time working and never see your kid. You leave for work before your kid wakes up and you come back after your kid has gone to bed. You work to afford tutors for your kids while you could just have easily taught them. Or childcare for that matter. This goes back to that Ellen Degeneres joke about going to work to pay for your work clothes and the car you need to get to work, to pay the mortgage for that house, which you leave empty for half the day. The punchline is that is what is called “normal”. When I was a graduate student, I asked a professor about pursuing a Phd. He said I should do it straight out of school. I might get too used to the lifestyle of working and having money to be a “poor” student again. Happiness is relative. He said to get the same utility from watching a movie with his girlfriend in graduate school he has to buy a Porsche now.

I do admit I’m a bit envious when I see my friends post facebook pictures of their travels and their gastronomic adventures. But for me, it’s more having limited time rather than financial resources since flights and hotels are so cheap now in this economy.