The theme this week on the Retirement Quick Tips Podcast is: Can Gratitude Help You Make Better Money Decisions? 

Today, I’m talking about how gratitude will help you be more patient. We live in a culture today that is increasingly impatient. Giant leaps in technology and innovation have made it possible to have nearly anything on our doorstep within a matter of days. You want an answer to a question? You can find out right now by googling it. You want to listen to your favorite song. You can type it in to YouTube or whatever streaming service you use, and bam! My kids are irritated when we watch certain shows on demand where they have to watch commercials. They’ve always grown up in a world that is designed for their instant gratification. 

When I was their age, we didn’t have the internet & cassette tapes were still the dominant way to listen to music. Remember the delicate dance of fast forward and rewind if you wanted to listen to your favorite song? It might take you (God forbid) several minutes to find that song! 

Without gratitude and the patience that comes with it, especially in our culture today, it’s easy to have this attitude of quickly moving on to the next shiny object and whatever is next. 

I don’t think the connection between gratitude and patience is self-evident, so let me explain this a little more. The definition of gratitude is “the quality of being thankful; readiness to show appreciation for”. So when you’re thankful and appreciate what you currently have, you’re not in a rush to have everything you want right now. If you want something that’s a big expense - like a kitchen remodel, a new car, or a big vacation, and you are patient, grateful, and content today, you’ll be okay with saving up for it over a period of months or even years. 

You’ll be less likely to go into debt or own things that are superfluous. Sound financial habits are built on patience. And since patience is a fruit of gratitude, we need gratitude in order to have the patience to save for retirement, stick with a plan, pay off debt, and stay invested when the world is going crazy.

We need patience for all of that, and we need gratitude to be more patient. 

That’s it for today. Thanks for listening! My name is Ashley Micciche and this is the Retirement Quick Tips podcast. 

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Tags: retirement, investing, money, finance, financial planning, retirement planning, saving money, personal finance