Doodads aka "Big Expensive Toys, Gadgets and Generally Useless Stuff"

The term "Doodads" is used in the book "Rich Dad Poor Dad" to refer to expensive trinkets that you and I like to buy where we have a bit of spare cash. Who among us have never regretted buying that expensive Rolex or Omega, that Louis Vutton handbag, that Hermes scarf, that BMW 5 Series when we would have been happier with a complementary good that would function just as well?

In the local context, home proud Singaporeans love our $50,000 to $100,000 renovations to make our homes look perfect for that Life! lifestyle reporter's visit to feature those choice homes that we would love to show off! We love our big cars, fancy clothes and ostentatious displays of wealth.

Do not get me wrong, I make no judgements about people who have it and want to flaunt it. But how many of you out there really do have that income level to sustain yourself with those "doodads"? More importantly, how many among you out there feel satisfaction and happiness from possessing such items? If you feel that you deserve that bit of pampering and luxury good because you worked hard and earned it, by all means enjoy your wealth. But if you are among those who are leveraged to the hilt or about to embark on your life as a new employee, an NSF, or even a mid-career family man/women, consider what is your net worth if you had not bought such items.

Our lives are filled with "doodads" and one of the key to achieve financial freedom is to establish if these are really the assets that we think they are. For example, a car in Singapore is a horribly fast depreciating "asset". In 10 years, one only gets scrap value out of it. Even if you sell your car after a few years, you know that the value drops very fast in the first few years. Luxury goods are that... for luxury as they do not really satisfy the basic need but more a higher order need to feel that we have status and class. Different strokes for different folks. If you want to be one of the folks working steadily towards financial freedom, that we should be conscious of how "doodads" take away our hard earned money away from our savings and investment that will generate the future cash flows to grow our
retirement nest egg.

A young ex-colleague of mine owns 3 bicycles and one of them costs $8,000. To him it is his interest and passion, to me it is a classic "doodad" and I worry for him if he continues with his current lifestyle. Sure he can currently afford it as he is a single professional staying with his parents but once he needs to settle down and start a family, this "doodads" will slow down his accumulating of investible savings and restrict the choices he has to decide when and how he can retire from the rat race.

If you want to get out of the rat race and have sufficient cash flows from investments that exceed your living expenses, walk around shopping malls with a different mindset. "Doodads" and trinkets exist at every corner to ensnare us in this web of consumerism and materialism. Resist it and focus on what you want to achieve.

Financial freedom, one realistic step at a time.

Be well and prosper! ;-)