
Do Something Well or Age Your Money?
Really, it should read, "Do it well or be good at it? - A relational connection to saving with Rule #4."
I'm not a fan of using this phrase "relational connection." Either I'm tired and it conveys what I want, or it doesn't and I'm too tired to think of a new phrase. Anyways.
The way I see it, there are two* types of musicians: those who focus on making good music, and those who focus on being good at making music. Typically, the people who care about "being good" are thinking about how others view them (and that other person can be a judgemental critic from your own head in this mindset) while performing. On the other hand, musicians who focus on the music are literally thinking about the music (and the many things that must be coordinated to make it happen). Which person do you think performs better?
Perhaps unsurprisingly, the musician who thinks about the music will naturally give a better performance than the person concerned with "being good, " since the latter is not thinking about the things that lend to a superb performance.
Likewise, the budgeter who focuses on saving specifically (using the 3 rules) will naturally end up with older money, while the person who tries to "age money" is looking at a metric as fickle as another person's opinion.
You want to be good at something? Forget about being good - do it well. You want to age your money? Forget about it - save well.
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Whenever people talk about aging their money like it's an actionable thing, like budgeting $150/mo for a future insurance payment, I try to stress that the easiest way to increase the AOM is to consistently live below your means. Living below your means is actionable - though not always possible because in reality, sometimes the income is just not sufficient - and the increasing AOM is a natural byproduct of the action. Whereas delaying paying bills so that money can age is kinda like deliberately dehydrating yourself in order to drop a pound to make weight.