Sometimes the Best Financial Decision Is to Make Less Money
I can write for years about all the ways we might choose to reduce or completely halt our income long before retirement age. Sometimes it's hard to pick just one angle that spotlights this concept, but when news hit last week about the tragic flooding in Nepal, I recalled a vivid example from my own life when choosing less income gave me something far more valuable in return.
In 2011, I asked my employer for an extended vacation. I would use all of my paid leave and one week of unpaid leave so I could take a month off to visit Nepal. The year before, I had negotiated the same arrangement so that I could take a month to travel to New Zealand.
My trip to Nepal, which I took with Ryan while we were dating, was transformational. To this day, we both call it our favorite trip, and dream of bringing our daughters there to do a family trek. Our objective of the trip had been to hike the Annapurna Circuit before a major, planned road was set to be constructed through the region. When we arrived, we spent two days in Kathmandu before taking a taxi out to our trail, and, with our packs on, took our first steps of the 140-mile trek.
Over three weeks, we stayed in a dozen villages, each with its own character. We ate just as many varieties of Dal Bhat, slept in tea houses made of straw, wood, or stone, depending on the elevation, hiked through lush jungles, crossed raging rivers, soaked in Himalayan hot springs, and climbed an 18,000' mountain pass. In each village, we encountered friendly, curious, and hospitable locals. While we hiked, we met porters who were carrying loads heavier than their own body weight, and still managing to smile.
The trip was a very 'choose-your-own-adventure' type of vacation. We could walk into a village for lunch, fall in love, and decide we'd stay for the night. Other days, when we had more energy than normal, we'd get to our planned destination but decide to keep hiking. We had moments of pushing our limits, and moments of pure relaxation.
Our trip to Nepal taught me how I love to experience a new place, and forever changed the way that I travel and spend money. I would never have had that lesson if I hadn't decided to skip a paycheck in favor of a little adventure.
We often think financial freedom means having enough money to stop working. But there's a lot of freedom available long before that point. Sometimes financial freedom looks like choosing a month off, even when it means earning less.
Recently, I was talking with a neighbor who was lamenting the leave policy at his office. His employer allows employees to take more than a month of unpaid time off throughout the year, and he couldn't believe how many people actually used those days. When I told him that I would 100% take those unpaid days, he rolled his eyes and called me a Millennial. But truly, what is the point of making money if we never give ourselves permission to use it for the things that make life worth living?
There's nothing wrong with choosing to work and get paid instead. In fact, most years I decided that earning the money was more valuable to me. But remembering that we have the choice is important. Money isn't just what allows us to eventually stop working, it's what gives us the ability to make choices about our time long before we ever get there.
I had expected Nepal to be a once-in-a-lifetime, bucket list trip. But even though I haven't yet, I expect to return, and next time as a family. I love that Nepal became a part of our story, and I expect it will also leave a huge impact on our kids. I hope it gives them the chance to learn that sometimes the best use of the money we make isn't to make more of it; but it's instead to buy ourselves the freedom to choose the adventure.
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