Business

5 Investments You Should Never Pinch Pennies On

These days, being money smart means knowing when to save and when to splurge. It’s not always easy to part with those hard earned greenbacks, especially when times are tough and everyone’s practicing frugality. So, if you’re wondering which areas of life you can still live to the fullest, here are a few suggestions from the pros.

1. Food

Far from an invitation to eat every meal at a five star bistro, the first rule of spending wisely is to look at the long term benefits and disadvantages of your investment. Where food is involved, it’s all about long term health. American’s spend a dismal amount of money on health care, most of which can’t qualify as preventative. Eating healthy, organic, and fresh foods, on the other-hand, is exactly that.

So, while many who are scrimping and saving trim their their grocery budget, the smart spender knows that keeping room in the budget for the best possible foods is an investment in your long term health (and pocketbook).

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2. Treatments and therapies

Now, don’t use this as an excuse for financing another round of botox. Mental health and physical well-being are absolutely necessary if you’re thinking in the long term. No giant yachts or fine jewelry will make you happy if you aren’t well enough to enjoy it.

So, for everything from rehabilitative care to dental care, splurge on the best possible programs and facilities. Again, long term health is worth the short term expenditure. Top quality treatment, like a high quality diet, will save you long term expenses.

3. Shoes

Following the same logic, it’s truly important to provide your body with ample support throughout the day. Knee and foot problems (including arthritis) are beyond prevalent in the geriatric community, and result in more pain medicine consumed than almost any other kind of ache (aside from back pain, which is directly related to posture and footwear).

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4. Your home

Before the housing bubble popped, the prevailing wisdom told us that investing in property was always a wise choice. Well, with the exception of the years directly preceding 2009, that wisdom can still be considered a cornerstone of investment truth.

This is, in part, because rent is such a huge expenditure, and a perpetual one. While mortgages can be intimidatingly high, nothing compares to the amount of money you’ll spend over your lifetime if you never own your own home. And if you own your own home there is no better way to ensure its long-term value than investing in proper care and maintenance from a company like Tredent Contracting who can address any issues with critical areas like your roof, siding, or foundation.

5. Travel

Studying happiness is a new kind of trend: both campy, and enlightening. What we’ve learned by exhaustively questioning the happiest communities and cultures among us is that individuals who spend their money on experiences are happier than those who invest in possessions.

Hence the happy hippie who sleeps on beaches and in backyards, but has seen so much of the vast world, and the miserable millionaire, who possesses so many fine vehicles and expensive pieces of art, yet gleans from them little joy.