Treat Yourself

Confession… I spend lavishly when it comes to vacation.  I think it is OK to ‘treat yourself’ occasionally.  Let’s flesh this out a little bit more, because there is a point to all of this. 

There is a time and a place for lavish expenses

To begin, my primary audience for The Motivated M.D. tends to be healthcare workers who are living below their means.  This lifestyle serves to expedite their goal of financial independence.  I too fall into this category completely.  Check out one of our classic posts on how my wife and I are working to pay off our combined $670,000 medical education debt fast! 

To achieve our lofty financial goal, we have to live well below our means.  We are very fixated on our day-to-day finances so that we can continue to funnel more money towards our debt as often as possible.  We have a relatively fixed monthly budget.  With this, we try and live off of a single salary so the remaining income can go towards debt elimination. 

This is all fine and good, but we cannot live our lives perpetually in a state of minimalism.  I mean… theoretically you can, but for my wife and I, we have a few outlets where we allow ourselves to spend our hard-earned money.  One of our few vices is vacation.

Vacation… all I ever wanted

I would be willing to bet that each and every one of our readers has something they are passionate about in their lives outside of their medical profession.  Yes… personal finance is a passion of mine indeed.  However, what I mean is, each of us has a hobby or pastime that often requires some amount of monetary expense.  These pleasures bring us joy.  These are the passions that prevent burnout.  In an era when physician work-life balance is being tested, flexing our financial power and enjoying ourselves can often be the antidote to our burnout. 

For my wife and I, vacation is that passion.  A quick story…

Intern life

When I was halfway through my intern year in internal medicine residency, my wife and I went on vacation. 

She was in her third year of emergency medicine residency at that time.  Her residency had a partnership with a hospital in Honolulu, HI.  Her EM program had worked out that every third-year resident, once a month, was offered the ability to rotate out to this hospital in Hawaii.  During that time, they were obligated to work a predetermined number of shifts.  In return, the emergency medicine program in Honolulu would provide room and board for the resident the entire month. 

We were fortunate enough to coordinate my internship vacation with her time in Honolulu.  It was during this vacation that we were engaged. 

Soak it all in

This particular vacation was an awakening period for me in many ways. 

See, I was halfway through my intern year.  I was exhausted and sleep deprived.  I was overworked and underpaid.  It felt like there was no end in sight.  This vacation offered both a geographic and lifestyle escape from the norm.

One of my favorite aspects of our engagement was the day it occurred.  Following my proposal, we both agreed that we would keep this information to ourselves…just for a day.  We didn’t want to ruin this life-changing moment by being glued to our phones, answering texts and phone calls. 

I remember sitting on the beach with my toes in the sand.  My arm wrapped around the woman who agreed to spend the rest of her life with me.  For an hour or so we just sat and watched the sun creep down below the skyline.  People came and went, yet we remained…soaking it all in. 

The Vacation Pact

It was during this trip that we made a pact.  We work way too much to not enjoy our hard-earned money…occasionally.  We decided form that point onward, when we plan vacation, we would do it in style.  We would prioritize traveling at least twice a year.  Thus, we formulated our plan to take a winter vacation and a summer vacation every year. 

The kicker was, we promised we would not let money hinder us from enjoying all aspects of our travels.  If we wanted to eat at one of the nicest restaurants in town…we booked a reservation.  If we wanted a private tour…it got booked too.  We wanted to make sure that while vacationing, we optimized our leisure and our experience.

Within reason…

To be fully transparent, we still operate with some component of frugality.  There are aspects of travel where we feel the extra expense does not correlate to gains in satisfaction.  For instance, we always fly economy class.  Paying double or triple the price to fly first class just doesn’t change the experience for us.  A plane is like a car to me… just a way to get from ‘A’ to B.’  Save that money and spend it on another restaurant or experience!

To continue an example, we still prioritize traveling during times when there is less global traffic.  Our hope is that the bolus of travel that occurs during the holidays falls off when we decided to venture out!

How does all of this pertain to you?

I provide these stories to get one point across…it is OK to ‘treat yourself’ occasionally.  In the personal finance sector, much of our time is spent maximizing the effectiveness of our dollar.  Yes, you should be saving 20% of your paycheck.  And yeah, you should be maxing out your retirement accounts.  If you can, eliminate your student debt as fast as possible.  All of these things remain true.  But the journey towards financial independence is a marathon, not a sprint. 

If we do not stop and reflect on our achievements occasionally, it can be easy to lose momentum.  This loss of momentum is what can spiral into burnout if not addressed.  Vacation was how my wife and I decided to combat burnout.  Not a vacation passes where we do not catch ourselves reflecting on our successes over a spectacular dinner.  It is in these moments where I feel a great sense of pride in my profession; In our motivation towards our financial goals.  Getting to revel in that sensation while putting money towards something that brings me joy is worthy of celebration. 

Take home points

Each of us has at least one passion where, for better or worse, we pour money into.  For my wife and I, this has become vacation.  We prioritize experiences over material goods…for the most part.  This may be different for you.  If you’re an electronics guru…save for that new top-of-the-line television.  If you’re a gardener…exercise your green thumb and invest in a green house.  If you love cooking, buy the top-shelf kitchen tools.

Yes, you cannot have everything.  If your passion is automobiles, maybe buying a Tesla Roadster is off the table.  You want to create a scenario where you indulge after you have streamlined progress towards your financial goals.  Don’t let passions prevent you from working towards financial freedom.  Build your budget, max out your retirement, pay down your debt…then ‘treat yourself!’

Stay motivated!

The Motivated M.D.

I hope you enjoyed our article on treating yourself. It is ok to spend lavishly, within reason. In the great words of Jim Dahle from The White Coat Investor, ‘you can have anything you want, but you cannot have everything you want.’ If you liked this article above please share it using the icons below! Also please make sure to follow us on social media using the links provided in the sidebar to the right.

What do you ‘treat yourself’ with? Let us know in the comments down below! We would love to hear from you!

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