I’ve been having so many good discussions with my daughter. She’s learning that she can’t have everything and she has to prioritize her money spending. She been eyeing to buy a Nintendo Switch but she also wants to buy a skateboard. $400 vs $80. With every decision, there’s more than one path and you have to decide which way to go, left or right. She’s experiencing fork in the road decisions.

I said to her that don’t look at the cost. Look at the value and the return you would get from each item and each decision you make. A $400 Nintendo Switch is nice to have. It’s entertaining. You can take it anywhere and play with it. There’s lots of games out there for it. A skateboard is also nice. It’s great exercise and it’s physical. You can learn a skill. It’s entertaining and it gets you outdoors.

Our home doesn’t have a game console. We have iPads and the kids play games on them. And I know the games aren’t as good as the console games. In my opinion, by not having console games, my kids picked up other hobbies that doesn’t involve screen time. They are biking more. They picked up knitting and sewing. They are cooking. They are gardening. They like puzzles and board games.

With the COVID-19 pandemic, we are staying home more and as a parent, I’m glad they picked up these other hobbies. I told my daughter, the returned value on my decision not to buy a game console was just this and luckily they picked up other hobbies.

I told her you will have so many forks in the road that you have to make a decision on. I told her I would support whichever decision she makes but tell me which one is more valuable. She thought about it and said that she thinks she will want to get a skateboard instead of a game console.

I used to skateboard as a kid and I said that knowing how to skateboard, it was easier to pick up on snowboarding. Last year we went snowboarding and she loved it. I told her that if she were to learn skateboarding, it would help her with snowboarding. The great thing about this is that she made up her mind before I told her about the snowboarding piece.

She was excited! Now, she has to save up for a skateboard.

I’m so glad to have this talk because it’s a reminder that I’m still facing these forks in the road decisions all the time in my life. When you think about financial investments, do you buy or sell? Do you invest or do you not invest? Do you spend or save?

Not just financial investing but this can be applied to any fork you come across. Should I go study a certain career? Should I buy a from Amazon or Target or Walmart? Should I move to a certain neighborhood? Should I send my kids to private school? Should I buy that car or house? Should I walk or Uber/Lyft? Should I eat out or eat in? Every day we make so many decisions. Ask yourself, is there value and what is the return I will get from my decision? If you are interested in following my journey, email subscribe to get alerts of latest posts or follow me on Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest.

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