Research and articles about how to get the most happiness from discretionary spending is to spend on experiences and not things. I mostly agree with this, but not fully. The example often given is to treat yourself to a nice dinner, or a vacation. You’ll appreciate that spending more later on than if you had bought something else like a lamp or a pair of shoes or a bathroom remodel instead of a vacation. Here is the gap I haven’t found mentioned in articles or research: Tools, and equipment that you experience like speakers, TVs, etc.
Other than travel, I want to spend most of my discretionary money on tools for my hobbies: cameras, lenses, video cameras, a good computer with good monitors to edit stuff on, and woodworking tools. A good lens gives me pleasure when using it because I like taking pictures. Over and over I’ll use that lens. And then I like looking at and using pictures: printing them, making books, sharing them, making videos. Depending on the situation, a well chosen $800 lens lets me take pictures I couldn’t otherwise take. Indeed, I think that is worth as much or more than a $800 vacation. I think I certainly derive more pleasure from it than from a handful of nice dinners. I would advocate the same for other kinds of tools people may use for hobbies: woodworking, art, for working on cars, etc. One trap people may fall into is buying a tool just to buy something as opposed to giving you the ability to do something you can’t already (or do it a good amount better). So for example, I’ve stopped buying lenses because basically I can do everything I want to be able to do.
The next item that I don’t see mentioned is quality equipment that is used for experiencing something. Mostly: audio equipment. You could also advocate quality TVs / projectors, and a gaming computer. We have music on in the kitchen most of the time, and it is good sounding music thanks to a pair of Wharfedale speakers and a decent amp. This setup would cost maybe $500 now, and I have enjoyed it almost every day for 7 years now. Worth much more than a few dinners to me or a weekend away, or say a pair of front row concert tickets.
Like for everything, spending on tools and audio/video/computer equipment has a bang for the buck curve. A $500 audio setup maybe much more pleasurable than a $50 bluetooth speaker. But stepping up to a $5000 setup may not bring that much more pleasure. I personally feel that my cheapo $300 50” TV is a good use of money, but a $2000 65” TV would not be. At least not now… I did buy a $2000 plasma TV back in 2004 which I think was worth it at the time. The same goes for vacations – just because it is a good use of money doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be aware of choices and take care accordingly. We spent maybe $3000 on a trip to Italy (about the cost of all my cameras & lenses). I consider the Italy trip and the equipment to both be good decisions and good buys. But a $12k trip to Hawaii, for me, would not be four times as pleasurable.
Thoughts?
Other than travel, I want to spend most of my discretionary money on tools for my hobbies: cameras, lenses, video cameras, a good computer with good monitors to edit stuff on, and woodworking tools. A good lens gives me pleasure when using it because I like taking pictures. Over and over I’ll use that lens. And then I like looking at and using pictures: printing them, making books, sharing them, making videos. Depending on the situation, a well chosen $800 lens lets me take pictures I couldn’t otherwise take. Indeed, I think that is worth as much or more than a $800 vacation. I think I certainly derive more pleasure from it than from a handful of nice dinners. I would advocate the same for other kinds of tools people may use for hobbies: woodworking, art, for working on cars, etc. One trap people may fall into is buying a tool just to buy something as opposed to giving you the ability to do something you can’t already (or do it a good amount better). So for example, I’ve stopped buying lenses because basically I can do everything I want to be able to do.
The next item that I don’t see mentioned is quality equipment that is used for experiencing something. Mostly: audio equipment. You could also advocate quality TVs / projectors, and a gaming computer. We have music on in the kitchen most of the time, and it is good sounding music thanks to a pair of Wharfedale speakers and a decent amp. This setup would cost maybe $500 now, and I have enjoyed it almost every day for 7 years now. Worth much more than a few dinners to me or a weekend away, or say a pair of front row concert tickets.
Like for everything, spending on tools and audio/video/computer equipment has a bang for the buck curve. A $500 audio setup maybe much more pleasurable than a $50 bluetooth speaker. But stepping up to a $5000 setup may not bring that much more pleasure. I personally feel that my cheapo $300 50” TV is a good use of money, but a $2000 65” TV would not be. At least not now… I did buy a $2000 plasma TV back in 2004 which I think was worth it at the time. The same goes for vacations – just because it is a good use of money doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be aware of choices and take care accordingly. We spent maybe $3000 on a trip to Italy (about the cost of all my cameras & lenses). I consider the Italy trip and the equipment to both be good decisions and good buys. But a $12k trip to Hawaii, for me, would not be four times as pleasurable.
Thoughts?