Greg Vandagriff

So I won’t be getting my hot new MacBook as soon as I was initially hoping; maybe in a month or two. We’ll have to see. While it is true that I probably could stretch myself to get the computer, the question on my mind when considering the proposition was whether I should.

I’ve spent the last year or so using my brother’s online financial management system, Banzai, religiously. I’ve been diligently setting aside 10% of my income to my “reserves” and they’ve grown relatively sizable. If I were to get the MacBook now, it would require, among other things, a complete depletion of my hard-earned reserves to do so. Now, if I were in a situation where I had absolutely no computer, then I might feel justified in purchasing a Mac with my reserves, but as it stands, I’ve surprisingly seemed to have developed the financial discipline to say “no” to my immediate wants in this case.

My exact thoughts were “I refuse to compromise my financial integrity for a computer”. There’s some sort of psychological connection between my self-respect and the level of discipline I exercise in my daily decisions, I think. Regardless, I do have a substantial amount of money which I’ve set aside for the computer, and I will be increasing that pile over the course of the next few paychecks. Eventually I’ll be able to have what I want without having to give into the impulsive desire for immediate gratification at the expense of what little financial security I have.