Feeling of Entitlement

[chaboydatdude]

How do you deal with any sense of entitlement that comes from reaching your financial goals? Do you reward yourself when you achieve one of your financial goals or use the accomplishment of the goal its self as the reward?

I will be reaching a goal of saving $5,000 (This is big for a guy who never had more than a few hundred at any given time) at the end of this month. However, I get the feeling that I should reward myself for accomplishing this. Is this just my social conditioning surfacing from my pre mustache days or does anyone else do this to keep motivated?

Just in case you were wondering i was thinking ~100 for some cozy winter boots.

[matchewed]

Positive reinforcement is a great way to establish habits. It's a simple trigger/action/reward system. But making sure you keep those rewards also optimized for the lifestyle you want to lead is key. I thought MMM had a post about habit forming/breaking but I can't seem to find it, my search-fu must be broken.

But with that said allowing yourself to feel entitled to those rewards is a recipe for making those rewards just another part of your lifestyle. It's a tricky balance between entitlement and a legitimate reward system which does not turn into entitlement.

[olivia]

I agree with matchewed-I think there's a delicate balance.  I definitely went out to eat after not eating out for a full month, but I also don't want to make it a habit where I expect a reward for being "good."  Because I want this to be my new lifestyle, not just "being good" for a short time period.  But I think a reasonable reward for meeting big milestones isn't completely anti-Mustachian...plus you may not feel the need once you get used to it.

[Zoe]

I view it a little like binging. At least in my situation. We have saved and saved and saved, and used a budget, and saved. We've had a little spending spree here lately. A refurbished Vitamix, some used books, going out to eat a few times (I cook 7 days a week. It's nice to just go out and have someone else cook.) We were so strict for so long that it was bound to happen. We need to find a better balance.

I think it's fine to "reward" yourself with cozy boots, or whatever. And I definitely don't view it as entitlement. I view it as "I worked hard and am going to purchase myself something nice".

[GuitarStv]

If you need new winter boots, then by all means get some!  Don't buy them because you feel you 'deserve' them for saving money though, and aim to find some good quality boots for as cheap as you can find them.

[JohnGalt]

If you need new winter boots, then by all means get some!  Don't buy them because you feel you 'deserve' them for saving money though, and aim to find some good quality boots for as cheap as you can find them.

This would be my thought process... but then saving and general financial self control has always come naturally to me. 

If you know that you'll need the positive reinforcement to keep going at your current pace without having some big spending blow up down the line - by all means do what works best for your particularly psyche. 

[Hugh H]

Boots? Go buy some stocks.

[plantingourpennies]

Congrats on the 5k!

I think you are asking two separate questions-

Q1-How can I reward myself for a good job saving 5k?
A1-Reward yourself with something that will make continuing the action easier! If you wanted to reward yourself for running every day for a month, get an awesome new pair or running shorts, or splurge on the entrance fee for that big race, etc. But make sure the reward will make reaching your next goal easier!

Q2-Should I buy the boots?
A2-See Vimes Boots below-

“The reason that the rich were so rich, Vimes reasoned, was because they managed to spend less money.

Take boots, for example. He earned thirty-eight dollars a month plus allowances. A really good pair of leather boots cost fifty dollars. But an affordable pair of boots, which were sort of OK for a season or two and then leaked like hell when the cardboard gave out, cost about ten dollars. Those were the kind of boots Vimes always bought, and wore until the soles were so thin that he could tell where he was in Ankh-Morpork on a foggy night by the feel of the cobbles.

But the thing was that good boots lasted for years and years. A man who could afford fifty dollars had a pair of boots that'd still be keeping his feet dry in ten years' time, while the poor man who could only afford cheap boots would have spent a hundred dollars on boots in the same time and would still have wet feet.

This was the Captain Samuel Vimes 'Boots' theory of socioeconomic unfairness.”

Best,
Mr. PoP

[desk_jockey]

OK, the boots were bought, but anyhow I agree GuitarStv that a pair of boots were/might be a necessary purchase that should be considered on its own. 

Ignore feelings of entitlement.  Regardless whether it’s with employees, children or your own self, incentives should be used to incent the behavior and results that you desire.

If you want to give yourself regular milestones rewards, then one such reward might be “I will only buy a bottle of wine each time when my net worth increases by $5000”. 

If you want to use big rewards then they should be for stretch goals, for example:   Using $1K to go on a desired vacation if your savings reach $100K by Dec2015, when your budget/plan today has you tracking towards early 2017.
 

[chasesfish]

I'm not a fan of "reward" spending.  Either you can afford something or you can't, and you bu diet and save appropriately to meet your goals.

[kudy]

I'm not a fan of "reward" spending.  Either you can afford something or you can't, and you bu diet and save appropriately to meet your goals.

I'm not either; what I like even less is emotional spending in general (reward spending seems to be a type of emotional spending), but I think it's really hard to break free from that as the norm for most people.

[Nords]

Is this just my social conditioning surfacing from my pre mustache days or does anyone else do this to keep motivated?
Just in case you were wondering i was thinking ~100 for some cozy winter boots.

Depends on your perspective.  If you lost 10 pounds would you go eat a quart of ice cream and drink a six-pack of beer as a "reward"?

I think you should devote part of your spending to the things that you value, including entertainment.  As for $100 for a pair of boots, how many hours of your life (after tax) are you willing to devote to paying for them?  That will tell you whether they have value or if they're just a transient mouthful of ice cream.