This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure for more information.

Personal finance is about investing in yourself, not just cutting expenses. Click through to read more.

We’re pretty bad at taking care of ourselves. Usually when it comes to health. How many times have you used that gym membership you got three months ago? Health and eating one-to-many sweets aside, the area people just as often neglect is personal development.

Most of us just don’t make space for it in our lives and our budgets.

One of the first things to do when getting serious about your money is to look for ways to cut back your expenses. Cut the cable. Don’t eat out (no more Chipolte 🙁 ), make your coffee at home instead of getting it at the coffee shop. You know the gist.

Everyone is told to do it because of the importance of awareness in spending. It’s what I did when I first set out to understand my personal finances. I looked up “how to make a budget”, quickly got distressed because several of the budgeting styles sucked, then found a budgeting style that worked for me (!!) and got to work on figuring out where I could cut back.

While I didn’t have the big evil cable bill, I was able to find different areas I could cut back. Some of my bills, auto insurance especially, I was able to get reduced by calling in and asking about ways to lower my bill.

Fresh off from cutting expenses, I felt great. My budget categories mirrored what was on other popular budgets, so it made me feel good. I’m in with the crowd! I have a budget and know where my money is going! *gives self a high five*

But then things started to suck. Not in the typical, “I hate budgets” kind of way (because I had found a budget style that worked for me). What sucked was guilting myself out of buying anything that interested me educationally or in a growth sort of way.

A membership to Treehouse? Sounds awesome! But it’s not really necessary, so I don’t need to buy it. *spends the rest of the day passively watching TV while the thoughts of not having the thing consume my mind*

Often times, in the quest to cut expenses, spending on personal development gets cut. Sometimes without even realizing it. Many budgets don’t have a category for personal development. And if you do spend on personal development, then it’s seen as wrong or unnecessary.

When a book lover mentions that they *actually* spend money on books for leisure reading, the spending is knocked down. You know there are libraries, right?! Just read stuff online for free!

These purchases aren’t bad. Spending money on yourself, on things you feel will enrich you, is not bad. When you consider how personal finance is largely behavior and personality influenced, you can start to see how closely it relates to personal development. Personal growth matters in personal finance.

Recently I’ve started allotting money towards personal development every month. It’s now factored into my budget. Sitting pretty right in between that pesky electric bill and my entertainment budget. So next time I see an e-course on self-pub book design, photoshop, or a hand-lettering guide, I can buy without remorse because I know I’ve made space and budgeted for it.

The following two tabs change content below.

Colin // RebelwithaPlan

Colin Ashby is the writer behind Rebel with a Plan, a website dedicated to people who choose to rebel against the norm of living in debt and feeling financially unenlightened. He believes everyone has an eccentric quality to embrace and that lattes are sometimes a necessity (despite what the personal finance community tells you).

Latest posts by Colin // RebelwithaPlan (see all)

7 Comments on Don’t Neglect Personal Development

  1. The Green Swan
    August 30, 2016 at 12:27 am (8 years ago)

    Great idea to make an allotment in your budget for personal development. It can’t be neglected at all and can in fact be what propels your net worth forward by leaps and bounds. I was faced with a choice of whether to go to a nights and weekends MBA program or be satisfied with the status quo. Thankfully I committed to the MBA because even though it set me back tens of thousands of dollars, it paid off super quickly. Even smaller expenditures for personal development can make a difference. Far too much importance is put on cutting expenses rather than on advancing your personal skills, etc. Thanks for the post!

    Reply
    • Colin // RebelwithaPlan
      August 31, 2016 at 2:45 pm (8 years ago)

      Doing the nights and weekends MBA while working full-time? Hats off to you! Great job!

      Reply
  2. Shaina McGregor
    August 30, 2016 at 4:41 am (8 years ago)

    I agree 100% that personal development is very important and it is healthy to buy things that are worthwhile. I believe as a millennial it is essential to have a budget and have financial education, so we know how to spend our money wisely. I too have started bringing coffee from home (extreme coffee lover), and it saves money but sometimes I do love to buy coffee and sit in a cozy coffee shop and work. In addition, when you deprive yourself it often makes one irritable. I think balance is key. Maybe make a list of what is most important for you, and then set a budget around those items. Thanks for the great ideas.
    Shaina!
    Blog: themindfulrise.com

    Reply
    • Colin // RebelwithaPlan
      August 31, 2016 at 2:44 pm (8 years ago)

      Great idea to make a list! I found out over time that coffee shops only work for me when doing short bursts (2 hours or less) of work but I still super love them! Read your blog, I can’t wait to get back to Brooklyn!

      Reply
  3. Dear Debt
    August 31, 2016 at 3:55 am (8 years ago)

    I think this is so important! Too often we neglect things that can propel us forward. Then we splurge elsewhere to compensate. Glad you’re adding it to the budget 🙂

    Reply

1Pingbacks & Trackbacks on Don’t Neglect Personal Development

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Comment *






This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.