The Future Cost of Today's Memories are Unaffordable

I’m fresh off 7 nights in New Hampshire’s White Mountains, a place that I’ve frequented since I was 12 years-old or so. The Whites have always been a place of adventure for me, mostly just skiing winters there, though I rediscovered it more intimately after my time in Marine Corps ended, including the summers. It turns out, I like summers in the Whites far better - there’s so much more adventure to be had!

So, each summer now for years, I’ve taken my family north to the mountains, and as my kids have grown (now 15 and 13), the adventures have gotten more and more fun. Easy walks have now turned into harder hikes to unbelievably beautiful peaks (see below pic from atop Mount Chocorua, which we hiked last week on a blue bird day). Wading in shallow streams to cool down has turned into rock jumping from 15 feet high, plunging into icy-cold waters (thrilling!).

From these trips, I selfishly get to take with me some core memories, things I’ll never forget for the rest of my life. I presume my kids have these cemented inside of them as well, and I’m hopeful to reminisce on them in 10-20 years together, and perhaps see them raise the bar even higher for their future families. What I pull out, however, is deeper than the core memories - it’s the realization that there is no other opportunity for me to create these experiences aside from the here and now. I won’t have another opportunity to do these exact things when my children are 15 and 13 - this is it, the time is now.

In the book Die With Zero by Bill Perkins, the concept of intently spending your money in the specific decade in which in most ideally aligns. He uses hiking Mt. Kilimanjaro as a prime example as to how waiting to do that bucket list endeavor for the decade of your 70s might lower or eliminate the possibility altogether - as the physical requirements might be too far out of reach by that point, despite the financial requirements being far easier. Is that endeavor better suited for one’s 40s? Conversely, a relaxing beach trip to Costa Rica, for lounging and longboard surfing, might better align with a slower pace of one’s later decades.

The point is, maybe it’s not always about NOT spending money for sake of building your portfolio to maximum levels. Maybe intentional spending (not as an excuse to just spend because “YOLO!”) at the right time, in the right places, can provide you more in intangible lifelong dividends (core memories) that 20 years of compound growth still couldn’t buy back later.

Here are my trip costs from 7 nights in the White Mountains (4 hour drive for me each way), where we hiked, mountain biked, swam in rivers, lounged and ate, and made lifetime memories (actually):

• 🏡 Lodging: $2,100

• ⛽️ Gas: $155

• 🛒 Groceries: $320

• 🥡 Takeout / Dining Out: $250

• 🚵 Downhill Mountain Biking: $491

• 🪣 Miscellaneous: $270

• 🧾 Total: $3,586

What if I instead invested $3,586 this year, assuming a 10% annual rate of return on that investment, and left it for 20 years? $24,124.82

Would I pay $24k when my kids are 35 and 33 to have them be kids again, playing in the rivers of New Hampshire again, flying down the mountain on bikes, or glancing as far as the eyes can see from a mountain summit after a long, hard hike?

I would pay far more than that to have these years back later - I’m sure of it.

Here’s the obvious catch: getting these years back later on isn’t affordable. It isn’t possible. There’s no amount of money on earth that can get me back this time.

I hope this inspires those reading to find a way to be intentional in the next 12 months with how they spend their hard-earned money on something that captures the here and now as a capsule inside, only ever yours to keep inside, knowing that’s good enough. You’re worth spending it on. Be intentional and purposeful, and spending money becomes a tool.