Zariah: Do Maturity Affect Spending?

Cashier: The ready-made chicken wings and the video game, Wii Resort, will be $70.

While lining up and watching all these people buy groceries, business supplies and other “adult-preferred” products, I found myself staring at the two items I picked out and thinking “Aren’t these things for kids?”

It got me thinking some more. Do mature people spend less money?

I know this sounds a little ridiculous but hear me out first. It’s true that as we age, items on our wish list become pricier but aren’t there fewer items in there as well? Even if a kid hasn’t added that lavish vacation yet, he will eventually right?

Here’s a theoretical example:

Let’s say that Joe and Sam are young kids. Joe, like everyone else his age, likes video games. When he grew older, he fell in love with guitars and subsequently spent a ton of money on them. Later when he finished college, he realized that guitars helped him meet many girls but he was never good enough to turn professional. He moved on, but he’s found a new love – cars.

Sam on the other hand was always a little bit more mature. He never really liked video games much, but he certainly loved guitars as much as Joe. They spent all their money on the equipment for years, but he too realized that playing guitar is really a hobby and not necessarily a career. When Joe bought a car, Sam was jealous and wanted to lease one as well.

Sam, for some reason, never liked video games. He seemed to have “skipped” that phase and went straight to guitars. If Sam could fast forward a few years and know what he knew about guitars early, would he have spent all the money on them?

Part of me believe that splurging is tied to experience and maturity. If I knew what I now know back then, I would’ve spent much less than I did.

Doesn’t that in a way suggest that mature people spend less? If I could somehow skip ahead of the thinking of my age group, wouldn’t I somehow be able to control my desires a little better?

This post might be way out there, but it’s some food for thought! Let me know what you think!

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