To no surprise, even after almost 3 years since the pandemic upended our lives, ancient commuters are now trickling back into offices as industries across the board from finance to tech hail workers back for at least 2–3 days a week.
As a Gen Z student, intern, entrepreneur, and lifelong New Yorker, I’ve found this new wave has certainly recieved mixed reviews, both as a relief and hinder to productivity. However when it comes to the commute, besides the influence on our mental health, nothing is impacted more than one’s savings and financial targets. Funny enough, workers got comfortable saving a little extra these past few years and prefer it.
During the lockdown days of the pandemic as Americans became either binge-watchers or homebodies glued to GrubHub, I got cracking on my financial checklist and made it a priority to make myself a little uncomfortable on the couch. With 3+ hours to spare not commuting each day to the island of Manhattan from up north, to no long salad lines and cramped train rides, I decided to save until it hurt, without of course flipping my entire lifestyle around.
I wanted to become independent during sophomore year of college and figured there would be no better opportunity than to scale my income streams, both passive and active at home since having all this free time wouldn’t last forever! Time is money after all!
Compared with commuting, I not only had more opportunities to grow my income streams and diversify my portfolio during a roaring market when it wasn’t that difficult after all for most investors to earn above-average returns and confuse brains with a bull market but also to be able to save in a massive way as well on everyday staples. Newly minted remote or hybrid workers at the onset of the pandemic encountered massive savings that were enticing at home and many, including myself played the game of how low I could save all lock-down long. This lead to my minimalist frugal tendencies I’ve kept till today. As long as you aren’t cutting back on your lifestyle too heavily, saving aggressively shouldn’t hurt although as they say, if it doesn’t hurt to save, you aren’t saving enough! You do you.
Clearly given all the revenge spending and stubborn inflation that has finally shown to moderate last month to below 8% since most Americans are in a better place financially now than pre-pandemic, there are plentiful reasons to finally enjoy life again. Whether it be hitting the beach or taking more weekend trips to the new upstate second property you snagged a great deal on in 2020 before the bidding wars, froth and speculation in the housing market, enjoying yourself, even during a bear market environment and when markets aren’t faring well isn’t selfish and instead recommended, especially since your return on effort is lower in the equity markets and it’s more difficult to have your investment income outpace the broader equity indexes anyways so live it up while you can. After all, the best time to start a business is when people are fearful of starting one, such as today.
Commuters Splurge
I know for a fact when I’m out and about all day, I’m more likely to spend almost double than what I normally would get myself to splurge on at home. It’s not only easier but many times, I have to since a girl’s gotta eat! Sure, I could pack lunch which I’ve been doing here and there whenever I venture out to downtown Manhattan but once again, I remind myself that stuffing my backpack with middle school lunch every week takes considerable time to prepare and the meal may not be as enjoyable anyways as opposed to eating out once in a while. Plus it’s a bit weird when you’re the only one with squared PB&J!
Moderation is essential in everything in life, from saving to crypto investing, and spending money shouldn’t a bad thing, as long as it helped advance or enhance your life in some sort of way. As a result, I buy lunch 2x a week! It’s not a waste if it makes it easier for yourself in the long run. That’s my limit since more than that, the frugal minimalist in me starts to regret saving that money or deploying it into the market to take advantage of discount bargain-basement deals.
On average, to no surprise, commuters and or in-office workers spend roughly twice as more money per month as remote workers.
This equates to roughly $862 per month versus $431 for those fully remote! Now before we start arguing that spending money is bad, even as a personal finance enthusiast and saver myself who gets more joy from saving more than spending sometimes especially as I’ve gotten older, it’s important to remember that just like arguing that going to the office doesn’t lead to as high productivity rates for some workers than being home, the same case can be made for overall happiness.
If you enjoy spending quality time in-person time among your colleagues in the office, realize that that’s the most priceless form of enjoyment and success later on. That’s where business gets done! That pricey Sweetgreen salad will end up paying for itself if your headspace is on top of the clouds, your mind is in the right place, and you get a few laughs in with your colleageues than drained and burnout with the kids at home.
There’s a compromise to everything, even spending money. At work, you shouldn’t expect to be as productive, efficient, or financially rigid than on the couch because that’s what the comradery, community, and being back in-person is for! Not everything in life needs to be cost-effective. Networking is a perfect example. If you want to get to know someone, you have to make an effort and spend it on something.
If you’re like me and need to set some boundaries with yourself on how much to realistically save and spend without going crazy, I’ve found what is best for me in order to enjoy life to the fullest is by splitting my time in and outside of the home office. The truth is, we always want what others have but once we are able to compromise and enjoy the pleasures and savings, even if it’s not monetary but sometimes only mental, in the end, that’s all that matters.
Money comes in different shapes and sizes. Life is made to be rich on different levels and dependent on your scale.
Spend what is necessary, save when you can and make sure to connect daily since health = wealth after all!