I recently noticed something really obvious: the purpose of money is to be spent. That is money’s life mission. If money does not get spent, it has not served its purpose.
So then, I notice, the purpose of a person saving money is for that person to spend money later. Nobody’s purpose is to save money and die. (Leaving money for your kids counts as money being spent).
So, this is about the balancing of long term and short term thinking.
Generally, people want to make life, as a whole, easier not difficult. And they invented money as a way to help each other make their lives easier. It’s a tool for efficient reciprocity.
It’s an obvious but useful thing to notice because there seems to be a lot of problems in people making, saving, and spending money.