Joanna Sobierska‑Paczesny Let’s Look at Luke

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With the age difference between us, I’d never had much to talk about with my brother Luke and, until three years ago, I’d never looked up to him. In my eyes, he’d always been a nerd, with his nose in the books. Then, Luke got a well‑paidwell paidwell‑paid job with a big company. He has since moved out and, although throwing money aroundthrowing money around [throw money around]throwing money around, he’s never in the redin the redin the red. Now, that’s life! I wish our parents had a budgetbudgetbudget like that. If they had what he has: a good incomeincomeincome with great fringe benefitsfringe benefits [fringe benefit]fringe benefits, like a company car and a laptop… well, let’s just say our lives would be easier. Look at my brother. The perksperks [perk]perks saved him a pretty pennypretty pennypretty penny so he bought a huge TV and now, whenever there’s a football game, he invites me to watch it at his place. I’m not saying it’s easy moneyeasy moneyeasy money, mind you. He does work a lot, often working overtimeovertimeovertime and weekends. Last week, my mom’s birthday? He only stuck his nose out for five minutes when she was blowing out the candles and spent the rest of the night occupying his old room because he had a „crisis at work.” That takes some serious determinationdeterminationdetermination. Mom was a bit upset and said she’d rather he sat with us, but he said there was nothing he could do about it. But then, look on the bright side — he has money to burnhas money to burn [have money to burn]has money to burn now and he got her the coffee maker she’d been dreaming of. He doesn’t have to worry about bills and doesn’t have to deny himself much. I’d rather work a bit less than he does but maybe it’s worth it, you know? Our parents always had problems making ends meetmaking ends meet [make ends meet]making ends meet, and I’d rather not live my entire life wishing I had things I would never be able to afford.

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Money or job‑satisfaction? Material pleasures or general contentmentcontentmentcontentment? It’s always a difficult question. Spending one third of your life (8 out of 24 hours a day) in some place and wishing you were somewhere else can be a cause of frustration. On the other hand, studies show that people who are well‑offwell‑offwell‑off and don’t need to worry about the bare necessitiesbare necessitiesbare necessities definitely feel happier. From that perspective, money does buy happiness. Having a roof over your head and being able to afford clothes, equipment, healthcare, and holidays gives the well‑to‑do a sense of securitysense of securitysense of security and, let’s be honest, a lot of pleasant moments. Passions can make your life worth living, but what if yours happens to be expensive, like horse riding or travelling to exotic destinations? Playing chess or camping in the nearby woods is fun, but not if you’d rather be doing something else. Working for peanutsworking for peanuts [work for peanuts]Working for peanuts means having to choose what you buy this month and what has to wait for next month or a pay risepay risepay rise. It’s having to live where you can affordaffordafford, not where you want. It’s putting some plans and dreams on the ‘one day when I get a bonusbonusbonus’ shelf. A good salarysalarysalary is a ticket to freedom. Freedom of choice. It doesn’t mean job satisfactionjob satisfactionjob satisfaction isn’t important. By no means should you take a job you hate or work yourself into the groundwork yourself into the groundwork yourself into the ground to earn as much as possible. But it’s up to you to decide what you need to do at each stage of your life.

1 Źródło: Joanna Sobierska‑Paczesny, dostępny w internecie: https://www.marketingweek.com/inside-the-financially-savvy-minds-of-gen-z/ [dostęp 23.06.2023], https://www.nerdwallet.com/blog/generation-z-money-survey/ [dostęp 23.06.2023], licencja: CC BY-SA 3.0.