Does Your Favorite Money Philosophy Trend Explain How You Feel About Dying?

If you found out today that you would die tomorrow, how would you feel about your savings account?

No doubt your feelings will depend on your personal situation. Are you leaving behind a wife and kids with no savings? Are you kicking it as a bachelor with expensive belongings that will be sold at an estate sale someday?

Anyone who’s read around the blogosphere long enough has run into a number of trendy personal finance philosophies like YOLO, FOMO, FONSY, and the Less is More mentality of frugality.

And while on the surface it might appear that it’s all about the benjamins, the deeper you look the more it becomes spookily clear that what’s really at play are conflicting philosophies on mortality.

YOLO

“You only live once” is pretty obvious in its undertones of life and death. But when people use #yolo as a hashtag, do you think they really mean it? Depending on your religious beliefs, it may even be sacrilegious to make decisions based on the idea you’ll only live once!

FOMO

A little more subtle, a “fear of missing out” indicates that you don’t believe in the equal importance of every experience. If you never stop thinking about what you could be missing out on, you never truly take into account the people you’re with, the thing you’re doing, or the experience you’re having. Without doing a thing, you’ve discredited your existence as it is with the fear that something better is happening somewhere else!

FONSY

A little-known acronym, a “fear of not saying yes” puts the power of your life into the hands of someone else. It’s not about what you want to do and what you need to do, it’s what the people around you want and how you are trying to come across to them. FONSY begs the question, “Who is in charge of your life?,” and often the answer is surprising.

Less is More

Finally something more positive — the “Less is More” philosophy asks you to refocus on what you do have and appreciate it. Rather than surrounding yourself with new things or tons of distractions, you choose to slow down and give more attention to your surroundings , resulting in more satisfaction… with less.

While it’s likely rare that someone would hear of a money philosophy and follow it blindly, it’s worth thinking about. When you espouse one of these philosophies, does it really align with your thoughts on life and death? If it’s not accurate, you might want to think again.

Have you ever let a moment be guided by one of these philosophies? Do they align with your deeper philosophies? What is your money philosophy?