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Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio. Good Morning.

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Speaker 1: This is Laura, Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's

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Speaker 1: tip is to consciously think of spending money on certain

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Speaker 1: experiences as making investments and happy memories. It is not

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Speaker 1: quite the same as investing money in the market, but

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Speaker 1: in terms of living a satisfying life, it is not

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Speaker 1: a bad idea either. So the title of today's episode

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Speaker 1: comes from a wise grandfather I know of. When he

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Speaker 1: gives cash gifts to the young people in his life,

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Speaker 1: he tells them to invest this in your memory bank.

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Speaker 1: I really like this idea. By now you have probably

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Speaker 1: heard the advice that spending money on experiences tends to

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Speaker 1: make people happier than spending money on things. There is

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Speaker 1: a lot of gray area between the two. Of course,

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Speaker 1: a car enables you to have various experiences, so does

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Speaker 1: a tent. Correspondingly, a cheap pair of shoes might ruin

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Speaker 1: an experience if you get a lot of blisters, so

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Speaker 1: you would be happier paying up for the good ones.

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Speaker 1: That said, the grandfather's advice gets at the connection between

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Speaker 1: experiences and happiness. When you have a good experience, you

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Speaker 1: create a memory, just as investments can grow in value

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Speaker 1: over time. Your experience and the subsequent memory becomes more

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Speaker 1: valuable as the days and years pass by. I have

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Speaker 1: certainly seen this in my own life. When I was

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Speaker 1: in college, I studied abroad in Australia and chose to

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Speaker 1: spend money on traveling around that country, more money than

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Speaker 1: I had ever spent on anything before. But those memories

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Speaker 1: are completely irreplaceable. Now I have made more money, but

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Speaker 1: with the business of life, I haven't been back to Australia.

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Speaker 1: That was a good investment in my memory bank. When

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Speaker 1: you have money that is not already designated for a

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Speaker 1: necessity like rent, or groceries or retirement, consider whether you

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Speaker 1: can invest the money in your memory bank. Is there

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Speaker 1: an experience that you would enjoy while it lasts and

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Speaker 1: enjoy looking back on. Maybe you've always wanted to take

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Speaker 1: your kids to the Grand Canyon. A trip there will

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Speaker 1: probably give you a lot more happiness than a new couch.

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Speaker 1: You'll have fun while you're there and enjoy looking back

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Speaker 1: on the memories. Or perhaps you're a foodie and you've

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Speaker 1: been dying to go to a restaurant in your town

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Speaker 1: that you keep hearing rave reviews about so try it.

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Speaker 1: You'll enjoy savoring the meal and joining in the conversations

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Speaker 1: with others who have dined there. Even smaller scale experiences

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Speaker 1: can be good investments. The money I spent taking my

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Speaker 1: kid's toolip picking at Holland Ridge Farms and eating at

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Speaker 1: the lobster rolled truck park there one Saturday has created

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Speaker 1: lovely spring memories. Enjoy every time I look at those

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Speaker 1: bright photos. When you give cash gifts, consider encouraging the

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Speaker 1: recipients to spend the money to make memories. You could

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Speaker 1: even write the advice invest this in your memory bank

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Speaker 1: in your note accompanying the gift on the memo line

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Speaker 1: of your check, or the what's this for field and venmo.

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Speaker 1: If you give your kids an allowance, you could coach

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Speaker 1: them on spending money on making memories. Many families have

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Speaker 1: the norm of kids donating some of their allowance, saving

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Speaker 1: some of it, and spending some of it. You could

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Speaker 1: add an additional category for investing in your memory bank.

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Speaker 1: You might not know what your kids will come up with,

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Speaker 1: but the odds are good that it will yield some happiness.

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Speaker 1: As with a financial investment, investments in our memory banks

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Speaker 1: benefit us over time, as the memories become part of

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Speaker 1: our identities. As you plan out your spending for the

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Speaker 1: rest of the year, maybe think of the discretionary categories

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Speaker 1: with this and mine. Some money simply has to be

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Speaker 1: spent on stuff that no one is excited about, but

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Speaker 1: some can be spent on other things. And when you

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Speaker 1: spend with the goal of adventure and memory, you are

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Speaker 1: far less likely to wind up with buyer's remorse. In

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Speaker 1: the meantime, this is Laura. Thanks for listening, and here's

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Speaker 1: to making the most of our time. Hey, everybody, I'd

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Speaker 1: love to hear from you. You can send me your tips,

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Speaker 1: your questions, or anything else. Just connect with me on Twitter,

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Speaker 1: Facebook and Instagram at Before Breakfast pod that's b the

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Speaker 1: number four, then Breakfast p o D. You can also

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Speaker 1: shoot me an email at Before Breakfast Podcasts at iHeartMedia

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Speaker 1: dot com that before Breakfast is spelled out with all

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Speaker 1: the letters. Thanks so much, should I look forward to

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Speaker 1: staying in touch. Before Breakfast is a production of iHeartRadio.

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