We might not want to admit it, but the truth is that we live in a world where everything has a cost.
Afterall we need money to pay for the house that we live in, to buy food and clothing, to purchase gas or to pay for public transportation, to fund our education, and a whole lot more.
Some might even say that when you have money, you can pretty much buy anything you want!
While merely having money is not the end goal, it can be a valuable tool for us to utilize to make our dreams into a reality.
But have you ever thought of the question “what are the best things that money can buy?“
We asked 14 experts to give light to this question. Here are their insights.
When you use the money to purchase healthcare, you are spending your money on the best thing that it can ever buy
This includes health insurance, doctor visits, medicine, and even nutritious food and exercise programs. Your health can never be replaced and restored once it’s gone. The money you spend on medical attention that diagnoses, treats, and/or helps you maintain your health brings a renewed significance to the quality of your life.
It allows you to enjoy all of the other parts of your life and even extends the time you have.
If and when you have every creature comfort you can think of such as cars, boats, fancy clothes, and jewelry, it will do you little or no good if your health has declined so that you can’t possibly enjoy any of it.
Without good health, the ability to enjoy everything else that you experience is never appreciated to its fullest.
I learned this lesson the hard way. When I was younger, I took my good health for granted and neglected preventative doctor visits, not to mention healthy eating and exercise habits. Now I’m dealing with multiple chronic illnesses and spending a small fortune to cope with them. A small investment upfront might have prevented a lot of suffering.
There are no guarantees that you can buy good health, but spending your money on healthcare gives you a much better chance of achieving that goal.
Bottom Line: Spending money to maintain and protect your health can buy you a quality life and more time to enjoy it.
You can buy “financial freedom”
I am a veteran in financial advice and planning and I always tell people/clients that they can buy “financial freedom“.
What this means is essentially being disciplined with saving such that you build up enough investment money to the point where you can take your foot off the gas pedal of life.
Quit your job, retire, work part-time…whatever.
It’s that point in life where you are no longer dependent on the daily grind of work, perhaps a job that you don’t really enjoy anyways. It means you have enough of a cash reserve that you can tap in to for living expenses that should last you your entire life.
How do you find what your number is? Simple.
Look at your annual expenditures, which should include all the necessities and all the nice-to-haves. Multiply that by how many years you will expect to live, and that’s your number.
For example, if you can live on $100k a year and expect to live another 30 years, then $3 million is your goal. If you can live on $30k and think you will live 50 more years, then your goal may be $1.5mil. Regardless, save like crazy to get to that point.
As a general rule, you should be saving at least 20% of your gross income, if not more.
Many of the success stories I have heard are people who save 40 and 50% of their income until they saved their goal. Having discipline with your finances and your money can very easily buy financial freedom!
The best thing money can buy is the freedom to be your own boss
If you have money, you don’t have to work hard to make anyone else rich! You can enjoy your life on your own terms.
In my case, money allowed me to launch my online business at ASelfGuru in 7 days while working full-time as a lawyer. It does cost money to turn your dream into reality.
My dream was to become an online entrepreneur because of the autonomy it offers – you can work from anywhere in the world and set your own hours. But in order to start the process and fulfill that dream, I had to invest in the right tools, courses, products, and all those things cost money. A lot of people can’t afford them though and that hinders their progress in life.
So if you have money, you not only gain financial freedom but also the autonomy to do whatever you want and be the master of your own destiny!
- Experiences with friends and loved ones — buying things gives you short term pleasure but buying experiences give you a lifetime of memories and laughs that you will share forever.
- Something really special that has meaning to you as a goal or achievement may be a piece of art or furniture that signifies reaching a milestone that you can look at or use for a long time as a constant reminder that something big happened and you did it.
- Leaving a legacy to honor loved ones or help those in need less fortunate — it becomes the gift that keeps on giving making it bigger than you with ripple effects for years to come.
As a life coach and mom of three girls, I think experiences are more valuable than things.
For example, I would rather take my girls on a hot air balloon ride than buy them the newest gadget or electronic device. Experiences are what memories are made of and what I believe children will remember one day.
Personally, I remember the trips we took growing up rather than the things I owned. I believe experiences help us grow as people and broaden our minds to see things in a different way. These experiences may cost a little bit more, depending on what it is, but even a quick trip somewhere for the weekend is a chance for amazing memories.
Deborah Sawyerr
Author | Public Speaker | Money Literacy Educator, Play Your Cards Right
Buy as much education as you can possibly afford
We often hear so many sayings about money such as money can’t buy you love, money is the root of all evil, money can’t buy your health and much more.
Some buy earthly possessions and feel that is the best thing that money can buy. On the other hand, some buy experiences such as traveling and those once-in-a-lifetime opportunities.
For the intellectuals, the best thing that money can buy is as much education as they can possibly afford. These are great things that money can buy.
Inasmuch as I agree and indulge in many of the things that I have mentioned, there is definitely one best thing that money can buy. Often, we do not think about this thing because it eludes us from a young age. It eludes us because our parents do not feel it is necessary to buy it for us – or it simply wasn’t available to buy in the days of our parents. In some cultures, it is even taboo to mention it, let alone buy it.
The thing is, it took me experiencing some very traumatic experiences in my life to realize this great thing. It took me watching my two daughters go through life without being cognizant of this thing. It took many years of research, trial, and error to discover this thing.
Let me put you all out your misery – or should I say, out of the mystery.
The best thing (not things) that money can buy is very simple. It’s in Financial Education. Yes, I said it. Financial Education is the best thing that money can buy in my very humble and honest opinion. My take is this, what would it profit anyone buying all the wonderful things that I have previously mentioned and remain financially illiterate?
After all, come to think of it, money is needed to be able to buy all these wonderful things, but lacking financial knowledge to either buy these things n the first or be able to manage life once these things have been acquired seems pointless.
Wouldn’t you agree with me that this is the best thing that money can buy? Food for thought!
Tickets to concerts, plays, musicals, operas, ballets, and more
I believe the best thing money can buy are tickets to concerts, plays, musicals, operas, ballets, and other performances.
Whether attending a local theater company’s production of Shakespeare or seeing Hamilton on Broadway, witnessing and experiencing the performing arts is a celebration of humanity. Not only will you learn a little more about yourself, but you may also walk away with a slightly different perspective of the world around you.
I think that people shy away from symphony concerts and other classical performances because they’re not quite sure how to interpret it when in reality, there is no ultimate “right” way to experience it. Simply the instinctive reaction of “I liked that” or “I hated that” is a perfectly valid response, so long as you take the next step and ask yourself why.
Supporting the arts is also a way to “pay-it-forward,” because a lot of arts organizations have educational outreach programs. A portion of your purchase could go towards those programs that teach kids how to put on plays and how to play instruments, nurturing the love of the arts in the next generation.
A home full of love to be shared
We have all heard money can’t buy love, and that’s true.
What is a wonderful thing, is that money gives the individual options.
A home is something that money can buy and more than a home. A home to be shared with your family, friends. A home that has care and love within it.
It’s a home where Thanksgiving dinners are eaten around the table with those we love and care for.
A home where you raise your children and memories are made. Markings on the door frame keeping track of each child’s height each year.
A home where you grow older with the one you love and have your grandchildren over to make even more memories.
One beautiful item money can buy is a home full of love to be shared.
To me, the best thing that money can buy is travel and the experiences that come with it.
I love to see and visit new places, and being able to travel with family is one of my favorite things to do. Family trips and vacations create memories and are well worth the money. I have two young kids (6-years-old and 3-years-old). Already, some of our best times together as a family have involved travel, and I’m looking forward to more as our kids get a little older.
Books are an investment that always pays in massive dividends for life
Books can reward you with ten, twenty, a hundred, or even thousand times what you spend on it. The ten dollars it costs to buy a book could give you the knowledge that earns you thousands, finds you happiness or gives you a new outlook on life that you would gladly pay thousands of dollars for.
Books are the gateway to all of the above and give you a real bang for your buck in terms of value. To this day, I have yet to buy a book and regret buying it. Even if it’s a bad book overall, one little gem can be ten-times the money spent on buying that book.
Books are an investment that always pays in massive dividends for life, more than any stocks or bonds you can find.
The best things that money can buy are those that offer the best intangible things (or feelings and values).
The things that give an individual utmost happiness is driven by intrinsic motivations and passion and those are the best things that money can afford.
For example, if reading is your passion, books will be your best bet. If bringing happiness to underprivileged people happens to be your way to happiness and peace of mind, you can use your money for charity or to buys food, clothes, toys, and books for them or else supporting education and life of some poor students.
Yet, for some others, there can be a host of things like traveling, completing a certification, music, gadgets, or others- which can be their way of feeling good about themselves and the best things for them which money can buy can be travel passes, guitar, a new phone or camera, or a certification.
Money can buy more money: If you have some money, you have to start working on growing this money and making it more.
The best way to do that is to invest your money, and one of the top investments out there is real estate. Investing in real estate allows you to make money both in the short term (through rental income) and in the long term (through appreciation).
Money can buy you financial independence: When invested properly, your money will start growing, making you even more money, and giving you financial independence.
One of the best gifts you can give yourself is to stop worrying about covering your day-to-day expenses in order to spend more time doing things you love doing instead of things you have to do. Real estate is one of the top investment strategies. Passive income is achievable with rental properties.
The best thing that money can buy is the ability to travel.
One of the things that I most value is the ability to meet people from different cultures and see how they live, whether that’s in a beautiful pristine place like Bhutan, or in a still-developing country like Nicaragua.
Photography is a passion that frequently accompanies the love of travel, and money can also buy some great cameras, but it’s just as important to make sure you put the camera down from time to time to just relish the moment. People frequently say that money can’t buy happiness, but it can buy life experiences which lead to happiness and inspiration, and I can’t think of a better money-bought experience than travel!
