This is another tough lesson to learn. There’s seemingly two parts: the planner and the partier; the saver and the spender. On the surface they seem to contrast one another, but the reality is that they should be working together.

If you don’t plan for the future and only live in the now, you will make decisions that end in regret. This is the person who parties all the time, but is barely scraping by and sometimes not even that. This person will look back with regret because he will be struggling when he’s old, unable to take care of himself or others.

If you don’t enjoy life and only plan for the future, you’ll also look back with regret as you will feel like you did not live life. While this person will be well off, he may ask himself what was it all for? In addition, the unfortunate thing is that tomorrow is not always guaranteed. Being young, it seems like life is a long long road. But as you get older you’ll learn to appreciate the finiteness of it. And that something can happen to end that life short: a terminal disease, a car accident, heart attack, or just really bad luck. It’s a bit dark and to be fair, not as common, however it is a possibility. And then again, you don’t want to focus on building a life that you forget to live.

So it’s not focusing on one or the other, but working to optimize both. You want to work on both at the same time: enjoy life to a degree while also planning for the future. Work towards a better future, but do something everyday that you enjoy and that fulfills you. Because while life is not guaranteed, it is likely to go the distance.

So what does that balance look like? There’s no perfect ratio. It’s a spectrum depending on where you want to be, but there’s this idea by philosopher Aristotle of the middle path (his term I believe is the virtuous mean) where you aren’t too far one way or the other, but somewhere in the middle. That middle is a bit of a personal choice. Some lean towards planning and others leans towards living.

Personally, I lean towards planning, trying to set myself up to live comfortably while I’m older. The way I see it, if something happens and I can always give what I’ve made/earned to family and friends. However, if I don’t plan enough, I’ll end up destitute in the years I would yearn for comfort. And odds are I’ll likely live a decent amount of time.

You don’t want to be struggle paycheck to paycheck, but you also don’t want to be miserable while saving a fortune. Spend enough to not be miserable. That’s the bare minimum, but don’t spend so much that you can’t save at least 10-20% of what you earn. There are some people that are save 50%+ what they earn, so again it’s all contextual and individualized to specific person in life.

Enjoy today tempered with the belief that you’ll likely be around until you’re 80