Apparently, I am wired to think of limits to things. At least, that’s what one personality inventory told me.
And it seems to be true. To me, it’s quite obvious that if you spend a dollar for one thing, you can’t spend the same dollar for something else.
Understanding limits are an important aspect of budgeting. If you can’t spend the same money twice, what are your priorities for spending? If you plan ahead with your spending, you can make sure that it goes for what is more important to you.
While it’s true that there are limits with money, the opposite is also true, but from a different perspective.
To illustrate, a long time ago, when there was just a handful of our human ancestors. They were dirt poor. Probably literally dirt poor in the sense that they didn’t have much beyond dirt. In short, a few people collectively had almost nothing in terms of wealth.
Yet thousands of years later, there are billions of people on this planet. The tiny bit of wealth that existed at the dawn of civilization would be counted as zero compared to the total wealth of all of us now. Wealth actually appeared where it didn’t exist before.
In short, it’s a bit of a paradox that money is limited when it comes to spending, but wealth can grow so that there is more money to spend. Just remember: when it comes to your spending, there are limits!