The $64,000 Question...

[Jenifer Madson]

“Can I afford it?”

In the last week, I've heard this discussed no less than thirty times. In 95% of the conversations, the gauge for affordability was only whether there was money to accommodate the desire, and the answer to the question a resounding “No.” At least twenty-eight times I heard people say they couldn't be, do, or have something, because the money wasn't there - including a ten-year-old boy who already thinks he has only one choice for where he can go to college because of what Mom says they can afford.

The funny thing is, I think all of us can remember a time when we wanted something badly enough that we found the financial means to get it, for better or worse. So is it really just about the money? Are we limiting our lives by using money as the only benchmark for affordability?

Let's look at what we really want to know when we ask ourselves if we can afford something:

Can we afford the consequences of bringing this into our lives?
Does it support the bigger picture to have it in our lives?

If the quality of our lives is determined by the quality of the questions we ask ourselves, maybe a better question is,

“What needs to be in place for “x” to make sense?”
Or
“How can I afford “x” in a way that really supports me?”

In all of life, if we say we can't, we can't. If we take our questions to greater depths, if we say “Maybe I can”, it opens up a world of possibilities.