Member-only story

The Simple Mental Model That Changed My Financial Life

Focus on the big-money decisions

Darius Foroux
5 min readFeb 22, 2023

When it comes to spending money, I’ve made so many mistakes. When I think about the amount of money I’ve wasted in the past, I feel bad in my stomach.

I didn’t have the best mental model for my financial life back then.

As someone who practices Stoicism and Mindfulness, I don’t get attached to those feelings. But still, it does hurt a little bit.

For instance, I think I bought a new winter jacket almost every year until four or five years ago when I finally decided to spend a grand on a high-quality jacket.

I spent probably twice as much in the ten prior years. But now that I have a great (and warm) winter parka, I don’t even think about getting a new one. So I’m not spending any more money. I’m also not spending time and energy on finding new jackets.

I call this way of looking at the world, or mental model, “Save time and money by spending well.”

In most languages, there’s a saying that captures that philosophy. In The Netherlands, we say, “Buying cheap is expensive.” But this is not only true for buying things.

In this article, I will share 3 personal examples of my life where I applied this mental model and how it…

The author made this story available to Medium members only.
If you’re new to Medium, create a new account to read this story on us.

Or, continue in mobile web

Already have an account? Sign in

Darius Foroux
Darius Foroux

Written by Darius Foroux

I write about productivity, habits, decision making, and personal finance. Join my free newsletter here: dariusforoux.com

Responses (123)

Write a response

Don’t be one of those people who turn everything into a rush job. Take your time. Invest time and energy in your projects. Do a GREAT job. Do the job as best as you can.

Lately, I've been trying to rush-write my articles because I felt bad that I wasn't churning out 5x articles a week like many of the writers on this platform. But I found that when I did that, I didn't enjoy the process of writing as much. I much…

I live in The Netherlands, and I even drove all the way to the south of Spain.

We did this too last summer. We had several stops in France and Spain. It's not just the destination, it's also the journey that counts.

Darius, thank you. Your writing has had a meaningful impact on my thinking, and therefore on my life and legacy. 🙏