Are Vacations Worth the Money?

Can you afford the vacation you really want? On this episode of The Dentist Money Show, financial advisors Matt, Will, Taylor, Jake, and Lauren discuss the financial trade-offs of travel and how to balance spending on experiences with saving for the future. They explore the pressure to take vacations, why it can be difficult for dentists to step away from their practices, and how to decide when a big trip is worth the cost. Whether you love to travel or would rather spend your money elsewhere, tune in to hear a fresh perspective on aligning your spending with your values and enjoying life without losing sight of your financial goals.

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Podcast Transcript

Matt: Welcome back to the Dentist Money Show where we help Dentist make smart financial decisions. I am a guy named Matt, and I’m here with a gaggle, a bevy, What what’s the what what do we call a group of advisors? The squad? The squad? My favorite is a murderer of crows. but I don’t know what you call a group of advisors, but we are here with the game. We we got the whole crew. We got Taylor, we got we got so wait, sorry, let me back up. We got milk mustache, we got brain, will, we got baby watch Lauren and we got hot take Jake. Was that pretty good? That’s

Jake: What’s up? This is awesome. Yeah.

Will: Yeah, it’s good.

Matt: pretty good.

Lauren: Squad.

Taylor: It’s apt aptly named for Jake today.

Matt: Yeah, this is perfect for Jake today. So we’re gonna jump right in after I do the quick intro about where the show is brought to you by or who brought brings you this show, which is Dentist Advisors, Dental Specific Financial Planning and Accounting Firm for Dentist all over the country. you can always find us at DennisAdvisors.com and book a free consultation. We’d love to talk to you. Okay, we’re jumping in, guys. We got a lot to talk about. We got hot takes. Glore. We’re gonna let Jake set this up. we were in a meeting the other day. Jake brought some heat on a Monday morning, so we’re gonna let Jake take it from here to set up what we’re talking about today.

Jake: Yeah, I’ll give some of the backstory. I think this podcast was, I don’t know if inspired by me is the right word, but it’s a consequence of me complaining about some things. And so we’re just gonna

Matt: Okay.

Jake: complain to it to everybody. So, as some of you may or may not know, I am probably the least traveled person on this podcast currently, I think. most people here, especially Taylor and Will, I think. I don’t know, Matt, if you consider yourself in that category, like to take vacations and like to travel a lot, which is awesome. It’s kind of their thing. That has not been me really s it kind of used to be me before kids, and then kids came along and it wrecked our schedule. Like we would do two to three vacations a year when we were just happily married with no kids and it was awesome. And then kids have still happily married, just the kids. There’s the kids part now,

Matt: Wait, are you no longer happily married?

Lauren: Ha ha ha.

Jake: so the vacations are less available or we think this. Anyway, so I have not again, we do not vacation as much as maybe some other people on this podcast. This all came about as one afternoon. My wife was like, Hey, we should do like a fall trip here. We have a newborn baby. She’s like, let’s get out, let’s maybe go somewhere fun that we haven’t been before. Maybe somewhere on the East Coast, see the leaves, just hang out for like a week together. We’d leave our boys behind and just take the baby,

Matt: Sounds lovely.

Jake: which sounds really nice. It’s like, great, let’s do it. This is awesome. So

Will: Any

Jake: I fire up the old computer. I start planning this thing, looking at flights and hotels and the rental car and the things that we’re gonna need. And to my surprise, which you can call me naive, I guess, maybe on this, but to my surprise, I was like, man, this little, you know, fall weekend that we wanted to take or fall week for five days is going to cost us five to seven thousand dollars,

Will: which you can call me naive, I guess, maybe almost a to my surprise, I was like, man, this little you know fall weekend that we would have to take or fall week four or five days, like to cost us five to seven dollars.

Taylor: All weekend. Weekend.

Jake: probably all in. Even maybe conservatively speaking, is like the ballpark of what we were looking at. And for some reason, again, you guys can call me naive here off base, but like that shocked me, that number. I’m like, I thought we just wanted to like fly away,

Will: And for some reason, again you guys can call me naive here on Facebook, you’re like, that shouldn’t be that number like the look like that. We just wanted to.

Jake: get away for five days. come back home, see some leaves. And that’s gonna cost us $7,000 to do that. and so I was shocked. And that’s like

Will: season moves and that’s gonna cost us seven seasons.

Lauren: See some leaves.

Jake: that all happened. and then I came and talked to these guys. You guys hear about it. I don’t do we want to start there. Where do we want to go from that? And me just being shocked of the price of this trip.

Matt: Yeah, I think we start I just wanted to

Will: I just really need to.

Taylor: First first we need to qualify what Jake calls a weekend trip to Maine, which is six nights. Six nights. It’s six nights, which Jake Jake qualifies as five days.

Jake: Five days, sorry, five days.

Will: Six nights. Six nights. Six nights? It’s six nights for John. I wanna call by five days.

Matt: Was it six nights? Jake, get out of here.

Jake: We wanna we wanted to go Friday to Friday to Wednesday or Thursday was our kind of outline. Friday to a Wednesday or Thursday.

Lauren: Where you’re like, anyways, have you heard of the Alpine Loop? I think we can see leaves over there.

Jake: We can yeah, we can get into that too. Yeah.

Matt: Okay. So I’m glad you c corrected that, Taylor, because it’s yeah, that is important. You were talking about a week.

Jake: The point still stands. If you want it five days, six days, regardless, I was still surprised at like the seven thousand dollar-ish price tag on the trip.

Will: six days regardless. Yeah. I was just surprised like the seven thousand that we have

Matt: Yeah. Yeah.

Taylor: Six

Will: to six six dances a week that just

Lauren: Not the luck.

Taylor: six nights is a week. Let’s just let’s get that out there.

Jake: Okay.

Matt: call it what it is. okay, so I wanted to, I’m glad you yeah, set it up that way. So we’re this conversation gets sprung in a meeting with the with the

Will: This conversation gets wrong in a meeting.

Matt: crew and we start having part of the meeting just end up being this discussion. And as we’re talking through this, I was like man, this is this is a discussion for the podcast. I think this resonates a lot. And obviously we talked to Dentist I think most people who listen to the show are dentists. So obviously that’s who we want to kind of frame this around. But we wanted to do a panel specifically because Jake, you said it already. I think we have people on the across the spectrum here. We’ve got Jake on one end, who you will hear his take on vacationing. And then you’ve got Taylor and Will on the other end who travel like travelling is your top out your time. I don’t even think you guys are home. Anytime I’m like

Lauren: I don’t even think you guys are home. Anytime I’m like messaging Taylor,

Taylor: Mm-hmm.

Lauren: he’s gone. Same with Will. I feel like you guys are just gone.

Matt: I was trying to be I was trying to be measured with

Jake: Hmm.

Matt: that. I I truly look at it as just you guys value travel more than most people. I think that’s I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that at all. But you you guys

Will: You you

Matt: are certainly on the other end of the spectrums. And then I would say I’m in the middle somewhat.

Will: guys are certainly on the other end of spectrums and then I’m gonna say I’m in the middle.

Matt: I’m probably tilting more towards Will and Taylor, but I’m definitely in the middle. Lauren, where do you land on the spectrum of travel?

Lauren: I think I’m also in the middle, but I’m I tilt more towards taking more vacations too.

Matt: Yeah.

Will: Let me just qualify this by saying I think everybody tilts towards make taking more vacations. We’d

Lauren: Except Jake.

Will: Maybe except Jake and Matt. I I think you guys are actually in the minority, I would argue. we ask a question to every single client that comes on board around like what would you do if you had a limited money? I I would s

Lauren: Travel more.

Will: I would say ninety-five percent of people be like, Man, I wish I could travel more, man, I wish I could take more vacations,

Lauren: See the world.

Will: See the world, go to Europe, whatever it is. I I think that’s a pretty commonly held

Jake: It is.

Will: human value.

Jake: It is. And my purpose on this

Lauren: American dream.

Jake: podcast, I guess what we can get into is my hot take. And we can dive into all the details of this and nuances. Is that vacationing and travel is overrated, is kind of my main statement from the cost of it. And I really do believe I am here. I am the Jon Snow, if you’re a Game of Thrones fan, I am the Jon Snow taking out a sword against the army meme right now.
I feel like that is my spot on this podcast, not only against people here, but I do agree, Will. Like everyone, we have gone to a point in our society where I think traveling is the number one thing that people want to spend their money on, and I think are okay spending their money on. And I’m kind of just throwing out a take here that I’m just questioning that overwhelmingly consensus take.

Matt: And I don’t want to jump ahead here too much, but I cause I t Will is totally right. Totally right. I’d say 99 out of a hundred times, if you ask that question, dentists are gonna say travel, right? Is their number one thing, if like they had all the free time in the world. I do wonder, and again, not to jump too ahead too far ahead, but I think this is part of the discussion, is like, has that just become kind of like the response? Like is that actually what people like

Jake: What?

Matt: It’s what they say, but it’s what is it how is it how they actually live? Or is it just kind of like ’cause I’ve done that too. I’m like, I have, you know, this past Labor Day. It’s like I have an extra day. Like, maybe I’ll go take we should go do go somewhere. And then at the end of the day, it’s like, nah, I’d rather just like hang around and be in the yard. You know? So I I do question that. We’ll hold that for for

Will: Like hanging the in the yard. You know, so I I do question that we’ll hold for

Lauren: Yeah.

Matt: As we get into this. The the number one question I think that sets this whole thing up is Jake, something you said during our discussion that we’re gonna bring up is is travel the one budget

Will: The number one question I think that sets this whole thing up is Jake, something you said during our discussion is travel drive.

Matt: Thing in the budget that nobody’s allowed to question? I think that kind of sets up this whole discussion. But before we do that, Taylor, I wanna you wrote an article about this and we podcasted about this a a while ago. I want you to kind of set this up, kind of give some bring some of the stats if you have them

Will: That was more discussion. But before we do that, Taylor, you perform about this fantastic about this. I want you to kind of sync this up, kinda give some bring some test stats if you have

Matt: There in front of you.

Taylor: Yeah, yeah. And and this is

Matt: around travel and vacations.

Taylor: this is something, I mean, just to kind of piggyback on what you were saying here, Matt. I I remember back in college when I was having conversations with people all the time, just like the get to know you classic things. And I feel like every single person I talked to would be like, you you’d ask them, what do you like to do? And they’d be like, I like to listen to music. And I got so fed up with that, like, you like to listen to music. Like everybody likes to listen to music, right?

Matt: Is that a hobby? Yeah.

Taylor: I but I I had to

Will: Jake Jake actually doesn’t listen to music, so there’s a there

Jake: Yeah, we don’t need to get into that’s a bad coincidence there. Yes, I’m also not a huge music listener.

Matt: Ha ha

Lauren: I actually like to also sit in silence, so music is also not my thing.

Taylor: I had to qualify my question and be like, all right, what music do you like to listen to? Because that’s a different question. And I’ve had to do the same thing with clients because I think travel is just a buzzword now. But travel means a lot of different things for a lot of different people, right? Some people, it is big, long, international, fly to Japan, go to Europe, go to the Philippines, you know, whatever it may be. And for other people, you know, I have clients that that means they go to their local fishing spot. Right. And that’s travel to them. Right. So I think that’s the big qualifier we have to do here. Is like a lot of this is it depends. And travel means a lot of different things for a lot of different people. But just to put some numbers to this, I I was writing an article about this very thing. And there was some data going back to the 1970s, specifically like 50 years ago. What did travel actually look like for Americans? And Travel back then basically meant get in the car and go up the road, right? Go camping, do something really small. And if you look at the numbers, on average, the average American family went on less than one trip per year. So it was not uncommon for you to never travel. And if you did travel, it was really close in the car once per year.

Matt: Yeah, your definition of a vacation was way different too, yeah, back then.

Taylor: Right. And then if we fast forward to today, travel, we on average travel three times a year. Right. But the biggest change from 50 years ago to today, and all these numbers are adjusted for inflation, is that 50 years ago America spent 25 billion on travel, and today they spend one point three trillion. Which all of those numbers just sound really big, right? But essentially that’s an 8x increase on the amount of money spent. Right. So if we look at that, we’re traveling three times as often, but we’re spending eight times more than we were 50 years ago.

Jake: Can I ask, just jump in here, why do do we have any opinions or thoughts on why that is? Like what the generational change there from kind of our parents generation, how they view travel versus our generation now, how we view travel. Why do we love it so much more or so much more willing to spend money on travel? I’m curious.

Matt: I’ll be quick. I think access is one of Super it’s a lot

Jake: Probably.

Matt: more e it’s a lot easier to get places that you wouldn’t before, but I’ll let other people jump in.

Lauren: I have an I have an interesting take. I might have an interesting take, but I agree on the access. Okay, here’s mine or one that I you guys can disagree with me. But how many women were in the workforce in nineteen seventy versus now?

Matt: Hmm. That’s a good question. Yeah.

Lauren: Where like to be honest, both me and my

Will: Where like to be honest, both me and my spouse were and I’ll tell you what, doing groceries and making dinner and doing laundry is

Lauren: spouse work. And I tell you what, doing groceries and making dinner and doing laundry is a full time job. And it’s so hard. So here’s the thing, when both me and my husband work and we’re about to like have a baby, it is really important to me for having quality time with him. And

Matt: Yeah.

Lauren: I tell you what, I don’t wanna do it here. I wanna go somewhere else. So so

Matt: Yeah. That is a good take.

Jake: Good take. Good take.

Lauren: I have a take that part of it is like having A stay at home wife or or husband would be fantastic. Where I’m like, if I didn’t have to do laundry and dishes and like the access to that, I’m like, maybe I’d stay home way more often than I would. Where I’m like, I’ve

Matt: Yeah.

Lauren: Got to escape the home life because working and running a household is tough.

Matt: Yeah, that’s a really good point. Will, do you have a take

Taylor: Yeah I

Matt: on that? Or this?

Will: Yeah, social media. That one’s that’s the obvious one I think is like we just see it more. You see what Japan looks like, where you know it’s the access for sure too. Like we maps back then you had to read a paper map to like go to the hot springs near your house, you know, and now it’s like easy it’s just easier to get places, go places on your phone and you can have

Lauren: That’s true.

Jake: You can purchase a plane ticket in five seconds on your phone. Yeah.

Will: AI now plan your whole trip. It’s just and and you’re gonna see like all the restaurants that you wanna go to on YouTube and you know. Rabih literally went to China because he like saw some YouTuber that ate at all the spots he wanted to eat at. You know, like it’s just a totally different wor Yeah, exactly.

Matt: Yep. He’s going back next year.

Lauren: Wait, really?

Taylor: he went with a travel influencer. You know, she she had a trip planned for him

Matt: Yeah.

Will: Yeah. So I mean it’s just Yeah.

Taylor: that he went to and went with her, right?

Matt: Yeah. Yeah.

Will: Obviously we live in a different world. The co the s I that doesn’t surprise me at all, frankly. the I think to Jake’s point, it feels like it’s gotten out of hand from an inflationary perspective over the past couple of years.

Jake: Can I get to some stats about that then really quickly, just like maybe pivoting more to just cost of vacation? Because that’s really we’ll get into my take, but I love vacationing for the people. That’s great. Every time I go, I love it. And I do go on vacations. My question is more of like, is it worth it? Would kind of be what I’m throwing out there. So some few, a few like recent stats here. The average vacation cost in twenty twenty five. So like again, determine what vacation means. I think this is from the Motley Fool just taking aggregate of all vacations was estimated at seven. $7,200 essentially was the average vacation cost in 2025. That is up 11% from 2024 and double the vacation cost from 2022. The cost has doubled in four years. From 2022 to 2025, the average vacation cost doubled.

Matt: So I wanna clarify that. Is that cost or what people spend? ‘Cause I think those are two different things. Like it okay. Got it. So

Jake: This is I think what people spent would be I th this was I think what they’re using here. just what people spent there.

Matt: it’s people are spending more ’cause I I’m yeah, so like the average vacation’s gone up. Because I’m I’d be curious to know like

Jake: Cost for the average vacation though, for one vacation. Not just that’s not including people who went on four, yes.

Will: cost for the average vacation for one vacation. Yes. Or because I’ve been interested.

Matt: you take the resort, the flight, the all the food, like h like A five day vacation at the same place three years ago is that much more today, or are people just spending more on vacations now than they were three years ago? That’s what I’m curious about.

Jake: I guess it could be that too. Yes, it could be that too.

Matt: Yeah.

Jake: International vacations are ten grand. Just quick like international vacations are ten thousand dollars on average. that is up from four thousand dollars in twenty twenty-two.

Matt: Yeah, that’s wild.

Jake: just over a couple of years there. And so not only is like are we spending more, but the vacation costs, or I guess Matt, you could argue like people are just spending more, whether it’s spending more or just the cost of vacations, either one of those has exponentially again doubled essentially in three years here. which is kind of bonkers.

Matt: Yeah. Yeah, it’s wild. Taylor, you were gonna say something?

Taylor: Yeah, I was gonna say the definition of a vacation has just changed, right?

Jake: That could be it too, yeah.

Taylor: when I’m thinking about that, I’m like, that makes sense. But it’s also like this this beginning of this year in January, we had our fourth baby. And so we were like, we’re

Will: It’s also like this this beginning of this year, like January, we have a movie and so we were like

Taylor: not traveling this year. And when I talk to clients, I’ve said, I haven’t traveled at all this year. But I think back and it’s like, I went to St. George twice, I went to Park City, I went to Jackson Hole, I went up to Idaho, right?

Jake: These are places around Utah, by the way, for people who are not being from here, little places around Utah, yeah.

Taylor: So I went to I

Matt: Yeah.

Taylor: went to multiple four or five hour drive vacations, right? And stayed,

Will: Yeah.

Taylor: but my definition is I didn’t take a trip, right? Because those were they were drivable, right? So it wasn’t a trip. They were drivable.

Lauren: That’s wild. That’s wild to me.

Will: Field.

Jake: To the statistics, these vacation costs are for people who paid for a flight. So any vacation that required at least one flight is what those numbers were too. Anyway.

Matt: Yeah. But it comes back to what what Will was saying, which is that the definition has expanded because of the view we get to other people’s lives and

Will: definition has expanded because in the you begin to other people’s

Matt: like where where they’re going and what this place like in nineteen seventy camping was a vacation because that’s all you ever saw. Like you would a a a trip to Europe would be a once in a decade, maybe once in a lifetime event for a family. And now if you’re not going to Europe every other year, you feel like a peasant. You feel like you’re something’s wrong with your life. Yeah. So

Lauren: Fake loser.

Jake: So much so so, sorry, it’s a few more statistics to that point, Matt, which is Bank Rate also did a survey that said one in three people, thirty six percent, were willing to go in debt to pay for travel or a trip. Meaning that like it’s become so much part of our culture that people are like, I would actually rather go in debt than not take the trip. Those numbers go up to forty seven percent for millennials and forty two percent for Gen Z. So essentially

Matt: Yeah.

Jake: half of the younger people would rather go into debt than not take the vacation in a given year,

Matt: Yeah.

Jake: which I think is a Pretty interesting cultural, I don’t know, talking point or observation there.

Matt: Yeah, that is that is interesting. Yeah, I did I

Will: That is interesting. Yeah, I did by

Matt: I was talking d talking to a a a young dentist, not even out of school yet. I believe she was a D four and doing a student loan consult. This was like a few months ago, and we went through the whole thing and talking about her career and kind of where she was headed at for school and all that. And she went on to talk about how they had this hu or two huge trips coming up, and I was like, What are you talking? She was going to Asia. She was going to Europe, like doing all these trips, which I I don’t I don’t smirk out of judgment. I really don’t. It’s more amazement of where we are today. Like that a D4 is like, well, I gotta get my trips in first to Europe and you know China

Jake: Got to. Yeah.

Matt: and do all these things. And it’s like it that just I don’t think that happened 20, 30, 40 years ago. So it’s kind of interesting. any other thoughts Anything we’ve hit so far of Will’s Will’s itching.

Will: The debt thing’s crazy. It is like kinda shocking to me and I think it i I mean, I I love going to the happiest place on earth. AKA Disney

Matt: How many times you been this year, Will?

Will: AKA Disneyland, one time, one time so far.

Jake: That’s you gotta get those numbers up. Those are rookie numbers in this racket. Those are rookie numbers around here, Will.

Matt: okay. Year ain’t over yet. It’s not over

Lauren: Wait, really? Why did I think it was way more than that?

Will: Yeah. Yeah, we’ll get it going.

Lauren: That like your fiscal year or like this year?

Will: Yeah. Well

Lauren: He’s like, My fiscal year started last month, so yeah.

Matt: fiscal year. My Disney year.

Will: for those that vacation at the happiest place on earth, do you ever do like mu like mental math as you’re walking around the park around about like how much money Disneyland and Disney World makes like throughout the day? Do you ever think like the like this is unbelievable to see the amount of

Matt: Yeah, I mean I’m a dad, yeah.

Will: people in here paying the same prices that we’re paying? I’m always I’m always just like, How does anybody afford this? Let alone every single person that I can turn and look with my head and see thousands and thousands of people, right? Like It’s just kinda an and I mean the sad part is is I I would assume a a a good chunk of the people there are probably financing it to go there. And and you know, like we’ll get into this a little bit and maybe that’s the one time they make it to Disneyland while their kids are young and there’s some memory dividends there that we’ll come back to as part of this, but it is that’s that’s a different side of this angle that I would never stand for going into debt to go on vacation.

Taylor: really target to do it to go there and and you know like looking at the just a little bit. Maybe not the one time they make it a design app while their kids are young and there’s some bit free dividends there that will come back to as part of this, but it is it’s if they’re satisfied

Matt: Yeah. Yeah. That is huge. And if we’re again talking to dentists here, we don’t see that too often in

Taylor: That you can just do a lot of state percent.

Matt: Our demographic of of clients and dentists that we’re talking to that often. Like I’ve yet I don’t think I’ve seen personally a situation where one of my clients or a dentist I talk to is going into de I’m not saying it doesn’t happen, but

Will: But maybe on the same vein there’s dentists that are sacrificing their savings rate in order to travel at a younger age and there’s some trade offs there.

Matt: Sure. Totally. They’re still sacrificing something.

Jake: How many times do we see, okay, here’s your overall spending? Cause the way that we look at spending at Dentist Visors is we take like an aggregate, right? Like six months, twelve months, we average it all together and like spit out a spending number for you. Which we like to do because people say, like, this is my typical spending month. And there kind of are no typical spending months. You know, you’ll have a vacation one month or Christmas, you know, another month and there’s someone’s birthday. So there’s always like ups and downs that happen. But when we take a spending number, say, okay, here’s your overall spending, here’s your debt payments, and here’s your taxes. Here’s what’s left over every month. And a lot of people are like, man, there’s not a lot left over every month after my spending there. And a lot of times that spending number includes three vacations that they are going on per year that is keeping them from getting to an appropriate savings rate. Right.

Taylor: And I would argue that the average on the vacations that we see are higher than that seven thousand number.

Matt: much higher.

Jake: Yeah. Yeah.

Matt: Yeah, for sure. Totally agree. Yeah, their sacrifice being made somewhere. It’s not going into debt, but it’s certainly stealing from, let’s say, their future investments

Lauren: Sure. Mm-hmm.

Matt: and and things like that. So that’s a good point. we’ll we’ll get to this too. I I think we’ll circle back to this idea

Will: Even so back to the side.

Matt: of what are you getting out of these vacations? I think that’s part of your argument too, Jake, is And Taylor, I know you’ve got some stats

Will: Taylor and you got

Matt: On this that we’ll circle back to as we get to the dental specific piece of just like not only are costs up and we’re doing we’re spending a lot more, but it’s like what are we actually getting out of these vacations? But before we do that, I want to get to Jake’s kind of core argument here. Jake is the John Snow of this. and I’m just like the MC. I’m just like, I don’t have an opinion. No, but I think Jake’s core argument here is the trade-off discussion.

Will: kind of argument here. Jake is the Jones Congress. Yeah. And I’m just like DMC. I’m just like I don’t an idea. No argument here is the trade on the discussion.

Jake: I am I.

Will: So so Jake what’s what’s hit that yeah.

Matt: So so Jake, let’s let’s hit that when you i in

Jake: Yes.

Matt: this meeting and in this discussion, kind of this idea of trade offs the money you’re spending on travel versus elsewhere.

Jake: This is the core argument. And I think this is what we want to center the podcast around. As I am not anti-vacation by any means. Again, as I mentioned, I like going on vacation. It’s great.

Taylor: But he kinda is. He kinda is everybody.

Will: Kind of is he kinda is great.

Jake: My question is: I am just wondering, yeah, like what are the trade-offs there? Now, so again, let’s just use some broad numbers. I wrote down a list of things, okay? They’re like trade-offs that we can put in instead of a vacation. So let’s use that $7,000 number as like average vacation, average cost of one vacation. I made a list of like things you could buy with $7,000 thousand dollars okay instead of this vacation short list kind of what about like a full kitchen appliance refresh for seven thousand dollars that some people might like what about a brand new wardrobe is anyone out there like man i really don’t like my clothes you can get entirely new wardrobe for that they one vacation if you wanted to flooring carpet ever thought about that like they have some houses or things in your room that you need to change how about that there a fence deck or patio

Matt: Okay, I’m in the middle of a house remodel, my guy.

Jake: A couple of rooms here. Okay, we’ll talk about the housing stuff there.

Matt: Just saying seven

Jake: What about a country club membership or season tickets to a sporting team that you enjoy that will give you experiences for a year? weekly date nights for an entire year. You can spend a hundred and fifty dollars on a date night every single week for an entire year for the same cost of that one vacation that you’re going on. You could actually get three coffees a day, every single day, including Sundays. For an entire year for the cost of that one vacation? What about like Christmas, like entire Christmas funding for kids for the cost of that one vacation? you’re getting the point. You’re like, the list goes on and on and on. And I just wonder if we sometimes don’t step back and consider, like, yeah, it’s like for a vacation. Of course I’ll spend seven, eight thousand dollars. Why not? But are we stepping back and considering could this money benefit or help us elsewhere? Like, do we really want the vacation? Are there other things in our life that you could put this pretty sizable amount of money to? That would give you like more happiness and benefit in the short term and long term. that’s kind of the angle that I’m coming at. This like, man, vacations are great. They are probably one of the most expensive things that we can do with our money. And are there other places that we could put that that would be more beneficial or useful?

Matt: I’m gonna let Will respond to this directly before

Will: I mean the list is fine. Yeah. So it’s just like the I mean, we said this at the beginning, it’s just what you what do you value, right? Do you value carpet and new like a brand new dishwasher? Or do you want to go out and like make a memory with your family that you’ll look back on for years and years and years to come that I don’t I don’t I don’t know. New dishwasher’s not gonna make me happy, new appliances, new carpet. Like that’s all good and fine. I just don’t think like that

Jake: Date nights with your wife for a full year, not interested in that.

Lauren: Ha ha.

Will: yeah, so like you could get me with the jazz season tickets and the date nights and those kind of things. Like th again, that’s a there’s an argument there.

Jake: Now I am not talking to the people who are like, Will’s maybe like, well I’ll just do both of those things, right? I’m not talking to the people who are like, I’m gonna do both. I’m talking to the people out there, like most of us with like a finite resource, right? Money just isn’t infinite. And so for most things, we have to choose and pick what we want. So if you’re the dentist out there being like, Well, I do all these extra things and I and I go on vacations and do that, you can maybe turn off the podcast, right? I’m not talking to you if you’re going on a vacations and doing everything else that you want to. That’s great. Awesome for you. Talking to the other people, like maybe, you know, my savings rate’s not as high as it. as I maybe want it to be. There’s all these things in my life that I’m trying to prioritize. I guess I’m asking the question of should travel be at the top of your list?

Lauren: Yeah, it’s like the values part. I think like for myself personally, like I had parents who both like passed away really young and neither of them got to travel. And I just remember like in my at least my mother’s last days, she talked about how much she was sad that she didn’t get to do that. She never went to Europe in her life. And I think it really stuck with me that I’m like, the world is something to be seen and to, you know, have memories and be able to go to different places and look at it. So I think for me that is a value because I’m like, it was so important. And she didn’t get to it. So I think it’s like it weighs heavily on me. But I’m like, I don’t care about an oven, right? Like, that’s so lame. So I feel like yeah, it’s really comes down to your values and what’s important to you.

Will: I think the value is working to you.

Matt: Yeah.

Jake: Great. I think it’s a great point.

Matt: I like what I like about the list is and what I love about this discussion why we even are doing this is because that list specifically I think highlights this something that I don’t think a lot of people do often, which is actually take a step back and say, Do I actually value this? And and am I just doing this kind of unconsciously because I’m ’cause you’re supposed to ’cause everyone says they like listening to music.

Will: is where I love to have this discussion about me even doing this black list specifically I think highlights this something that I don’t think a do often, which is actually take a step back and say, Do I this? Am I just doing this kind of consciously because I’m ’cause you’re supposed to, or you see people on social media doing it. Yeah. Right.

Matt: Right. So it’s like everyone just says vacation is their top value. And I’m not saying that’s not. I think from most people experiences getting novel experiences. Like there’s actually research on this of like the anticipation of the experience and then like the memories that you make after are actually often better than the experience itself. there’s a ton of research on this. So I think it at a default, most people we’ve already highlighted like to travel. But again, I like this list. that Jake is highlighting ’cause I d I just don’t think people do that enough around stopping and thinking about what they’re actually value. That’s yep.

Jake: Or they think they’re just gonna do both. They’re like vacations is part of an American life and I have to do these and I wanna afford all those other

Will: Yeah. And that’s where a little bit of like a you know, awareness of it comes in. And like you said, you can’t just have your cake and eat it too. And if this is causing your savings rate to suffer, then there needs to be a little bit of look in the mirror and say, ha what do I value? Right. I I I I agree with Matt a hundred percent where it’s like experiences will win every day over stuff. So if you’re picking like stuff versus going to do something, I I just think I I mean to your point, Jake, you know, what do you val what are the best If you had to a answer the question, what are your top memories in your whole life? Well w what would they be? Like if you could you if you could name the top three, Jake, would it be a jazz playoff game probably?

Jake: Well there are probably things, right? It’s like my wedding is up there and kids being born, right? Experiences are probably, which those are not cheap either. those cost some money. but like outside of those things, yeah, this is where again I’m just curious on our mentality as a society where my family went on quite a few vacations when I was younger and they were great. We did the camping ones obviously and but we’d also do we did Disneyland every year until I was like from like one until twelve. so we did that every year. Do I remember anything from those Disneyland trips? No, I don’t. maybe. Maybe he does.

Lauren: Nothing, not a single one.

Will: No, but does your dad so like think of think of our favorite movie on this podcast, which is about time.

Jake: okay. I’ll talk about about time if you want to.

Taylor: Ha ha ha.

Will: Okay, let’s talk about it. Let me get mine first. I

Matt: Ha ha.

Will: always use the time machine example. Like this is to me, this is this is money well spent. And it’s an investment in your like what is what’s the whole purpose of life is to enjoy it. And yes, don’t do it irresponsibly. But like when I get in a time machine, if I could travel back in time, just like how b right before the dad dies, he goes back to spend time with his son on the beach. Sorry for spoilers.

Jake: Funny out I don’t know how many I would I wonder what

Matt: It’s old enough that

Jake: percentage of the listeners have watched this movie about time, but we’ll see.

Matt: Yeah.

Lauren: If you haven’t, you should. Great movie.

Jake: It’s an awesome movie.

Matt: It’s a great movie.

Will: Mm, I have a spot. I have a place that I know I would go and it’s in California on a beach with like my son. And it’s we’re catching we’re no,

Jake: So not in Disneyland, it’s on the beach.

Lauren: well.

Will: No, we’re catching crabs at the beach. And it’s like

Jake: Okay.

Will: That’s the it’s my number one memory. It really is. And so I just like I couldn’t have had that. I I it’s a it’s a beach that I like I wouldn’t have known about had I not traveled and done stuff. You know, I mean there’s just there’s so many of those in my life that I I we have to to Lauren’s point, let’s go see the world. Go it’s I don’t know, it’s a cost money, but go do

Jake: That’s awesome. The funny thing about about time is actually I think the purpose, ironically, of the story is you have to make the most of the normal everyday life moments is the point of it’s not the vacations. It’s like every day picking your kid up from school and having dinner together. I would say like my childhood, I have memories of my dad when we would just go out to dinner for my birthday. I remember more than like a vacation. Or we would go to a

Matt: Yeah.

Jake: Jazz game together. Like just those little moments I kind of every day breaking up the routine, I actually might remember even more than some cruise we took when I was thirteen.

Matt: But yes, I but I I think I think what I I’m I’m I agree with Will where and Lauren mentioned this earlier, it’s it’s the it’s the indirect benefits that vacationing brings. So it’s the breaking of routine, it’s the forced isolation with people wh wh maybe you do or don’t want to be with. But like if you’re going on vacation with your family or your friends, like it’s a forced isolation. You’re you’re I think you’re more likely to create core memories on a vacation, a novel experience that is away. And by the way, that doesn’t mean you have to go to Europe or you have to go to Hawaii. Will, to your question about like what are your best memories? I’ve grown up every year. I’ve missed one year in my entire life. I’m going on 40 this in next month. one summer I’ve missed Lake Pal with my whole family. And by far my fondest memories as a as a child was Lake Pal. now Lake Powell is very expensive. I think back then it wasn’t wasn’t as bad. But it was because we broke the routine. We we were isolated on a boat together. It’s

Lauren: It’s like intentional.

Matt: very, very intentional. Jake, I I’m with you that like we can actually manufacture that intention or those experiences outside of travel. I just think

Lauren: Yeah, I agree.

Matt: travel’s the best conduit for it. That’s what I would that’s my take on it. Let’s get Taylor in

Jake: Probably right. Sure. I think that’s probably right.

Matt: here.

Taylor: Well, there’s been actual studies, data, there’s numbers around this, but I love that you brought this up, Matt, because over the last 10 to 15 years, there’s been this like psychological cultural phenomenon that’s been studied and and named vacation guilt, right?

Matt: Yeah, I w I’m glad you brought this up.

Taylor: And vacation guilt, for those who have never heard of this, everyone’s felt it at some point. It’s the feeling of anxiety, shame, or unease people experience when they take time off from work. Especially for leisure, right? So basically it’s when individuals feel they’re letting their team down or employer down, falling behind on responsibilities, appearing lazy or uncommitted, being judged by peers or managers for taking a break, right? So with the advent of everybody taking a lot of vacations, there’s also been these like psychological repercussions that are starting to pop up, right? People are feeling guilty now when they take vacations for Any number of reasons, right? And I think in the past, people were like, take a trip because it’s a break and it helps you. Right. But then this study kept going and it talked about, well, people on vacation, 54% of people now work when they’re on vacation. 47% of people feel guilty for not working during vacation. So

Matt: Yeah.

Taylor: If you add those two together, that means 100% of people are thinking about work

Lauren: Ha ha.

Taylor: on their vacations, right?

Matt: Yeah.

Taylor: They either Work or they feel guilty for not working, right? 59% of people struggle to switch off work while on vacation. 63% of people feel anxious if they don’t check their work-related messages on vacation. And 86% of people receive relaxation disrupting calls or messages from colleagues while on vacation. Right. And so what what I was gonna

Matt: Yeah. yeah. Go ahead, Taylor.

Taylor: say here, Matt, to your point about Lake Powell, one of the beauties of Lake Powell back in the day was

Jake: No cell service baby. Still there. Yeah.

Taylor: There was no cell service, right?

Lauren: No self service, yeah.

Taylor: But most recently, I think I talked to you about this, Matt. Didn’t you get Starlink or have cell service on your most recent Lake Pile trip?

Matt: So there’s there’s Darylink on the boat now. You can turn it on and off. There’s like a plu a switch or whatever. So yes, there is that.

Jake: We leave phones, our family is we leave phones in the cars at the dock and one person has the phone for emergencies is kinda how we like to do it, which is nice.

Matt: You can’t be doing that in the middle of summer. Your your phone will melt. Yeah.

Jake: It’s fine. It’s just dead in there. It’s okay.

Matt: Yeah. No, that’s a good point, Taylor. It’s it’s forced. It’s a forced isolation. you know, turning your phone off, disconnecting. It’s it’s I think that’s huge.

Will: I mean how this applies to dentists too is especially business owners, you do the math on production missed and you know, it you know, is it ten thousand dollars of production a day that you’re missing out on that would have ended up in your pocket had you not taken the vacation?

Matt: Yeah, they get hit double.

Will: So you kind of do the you do the math on what it’s costing you to not only pay for the vacation, but to take the vacation.

Matt: Yeah, this is that I’m yes, I’m so glad you went there, Will, because this pertains I’d love to see those numbers, Taylor, that you referenced, specific to dentists. Cause I bet they are way higher. I mean, we hear this all the time from dentists where there’s like this internal angst and tension they constantly feel where they’re just like everyone else, where they want to travel, they have the means to do it better more than most. Where they’re often poor is time. And that’s where it really gets them is Will to your point, this double this double hit of a schedule of like if I’m not producing, I’m not only paying for the vacation, but I’m losing out on my income and production. That causes so

Taylor: And it’s not always

Matt: much angst.

Taylor: it’s not always entirely selfish, right? Like a lot of times it’s like, my team, if I’m not there, then who’s producing? And then my team doesn’t have I’m not paying my team members and I gotta make sure that I’m because you know, a lot of these dentists have families that depend on them for their livelihood, right? And they need their hours and they need to be able to work and all the things. And so there’s a lot of pressure for a dentist, especially a dentist that owns their own practice, to be in the chair to be producing, to not miss the production and to employ an entire team of individuals and families. So there’s just a lot of a lot more to think about than just like, I’m gonna take time off and go on a trip when you’re a dentist.

Jake: I think that’s one of the biggest benefits. Like if you’re trying to argue, like and I think that’s a great argument for vacationing is it’s like in our in today’s day and age where we work so much and work it just permeates permeates everything that we do, the forced break that a vacation can offer might be kind of nice. Again, hopefully you don’t feel too guilty on it, like Taylor said. it’s an expensive break, sure. but you can do it. The whole see the world thing. I mean, for

Lauren: Ha ha.

Jake: all of human h humanity like lived in the in its entire existence without seeing any part of the world, I think are okay. If you don’t go and see

Matt: Ha ha ha.

Jake: different parts of the world, we’ll be fine. You’ll survive and be pretty happy.

Matt: I think there is I think there is something interesting and like grounding in some ways or creates empathy for you when you see other cultures and other just the way other people live.

Lauren: That’s a good point.

Matt: I think it’s interesting, but y well, it’s d it’s it’s obviously different. And that I

Jake: ‘Cause you really do see that when you’re at a resort in Hawaii. You’re really seeing how the other people live.

Matt: mean that comes back to this point of what

Lauren: Yeah.

Matt: what are we talking about when it comes to Like we’re using this broad term of vacation. That’s a great point, Jake. We’re using this broad term of vacation. And I again I’m glad we’re talking about this because it comes back to being really intentional and thinking about this. So if we’re sitting here talking about the val Jake, even you’re agreeing, like the value of the vacation is the forced disconnection from your regular life, creating novelty, isolated with people isolation with people you love, like all these things. The question I think there is. Are people actually doing that? The data doesn’t support that. So what are you actually getting out of these vacations? So A, asking yourself, is this something I actually value, or is this just something I’m saying because everyone tells me I’m supposed to say it? And I’m seeing it on Instagram, I’m being influenced without even knowing it. It’s just the mimetic desire. Like I think uncovering that is huge. And then B, I think it’s this idea of like, am I actually doing this right? Like I I really do think there is a right ish right ish way to do this. If you go and you’re working all day, like you go to get a break, you’re working all day while you’re in Hawaii. You’re stressed out of your mind. You’re screaming at your kids because they’re annoying you. Like I think this happens to a lot of people. You come back and you’re like, that sucked. I need a

Lauren: Yeah.

Matt: vacation from my vacation. So I think those are important nuances

Jake: Vacation from the vacation. Yeah.

Matt: there too. and then yeah, see the world, Jake. It’s like if you’re going to Europe or another country to see the world versus Disneyland you’re seeing a bunch,

Jake: yeah, it’s a Yes, exactly.

Will: Paris, Disneyland Tokyo. Yeah.

Matt: There you go. There you go.

Jake: Exactly.

Taylor: All you need to go is Epcot in Disney World or in Orlando and you’ve you’ve you’ve seen everything in one day.

Lauren: Ha ha

Will: yeah, see the world.

Matt: Yeah. There you go.

Jake: Yes.

Matt: There you go. Yeah, go ahead, Will.

Will: I think I got one more quick point on this. I think there’s two there’s a spectrum when it comes to spending money. And there’s people that spend too much money and don’t have the money and shouldn’t be spending the money. And then there’s people that spend too little money and have the money and should be spending the money. And you know, we see clients that have these networks that they’ve built and they’ve worked so hard for and you know, they’re if they don’t start utilizing it, then they’re going to die the richest person in the cemetery. And I’d argue that that, like maybe just the frugality in general, and and maybe I would apply this to Jake’s position a little bit, where like the the the sticker price of the trip is what like I think scared him off a little bit. But the reality is you could afford it. Like you have a solid savings rate and like you could take the trip if you wanted to, but you’re choosing not to because you’re like it seems expensive.

Jake: You wanna know what’s funny to end that story is we are actually not going on the trip now. for our listeners

Will: Right.

Jake: to see or we are not now this was not because

Lauren: Re really?

Jake: of again, this was not a like we don’t have the money to do it, but Kate my my my wife Casey, who is kind of I think we got married because we think somewhat the same. She’s like, Man, that’s kind of a lot of money. Like, and we gotta take our baby and we gotta like pack the stroller in a car seat, and how’s that gonna work? And maybe we just stay home. And she’s like, I’ve been wanting some new curtains for our house that we’re getting kind of in the house curtains. And she’s like, what if we did it on our weekly date night? What if we went to really fancy restaurants for the rest of the year? I’m not even kidding you. She said this. And I’m like, great, let’s do that instead of the trip. And so that was our trade-off. We value those things more right now than going on this trip in a month or so. like I think our money would be better spent elsewhere is kind of where we came to, funnily enough, with that.

Will: Right. Which is good. I think that’s smart. Like now now

Lauren: Values in motion.

Will: You actually have to do the date nights though. That’s the thing. Like don’t just not you know what I mean? And you’re not going to. You can do it once and then you’ll just sit and then you’ll just save your money. So like that’s kind of my point is

Jake: Yeah. We do it. We do it. we do it.

Will: If you ha if you have the means to do it, what good is it to die like I to Lauren’s point about her parents maybe not getting to s see the world, my dad also like worked his whole life. Yeah, he’s he went on some trips, but like he there there’s there Take the tr I my whole argument is if spend the money before it’s too late and do it wisely and enjoy it. Your your your argument here is yeah, we’re gonna spend it on curtains and date nights. You gotta you gotta you gotta do those things. Yeah, you gotta like actually make the memories.

Lauren: Do yeah. It’s the quality

Jake: Course. Again, the tip that we have to walk is as a society, I think that, like, if I said, Man, I couldn’t really save any money this year because I spent all of it on McDonald’s, that’d be pretty frowned upon. People’d be Jake, you are making bad financial decisions. Why are you eating McDonald’s?

Lauren: I don’t know, man.

Jake: If I said, and

Matt: I would be questioning you.

Jake: I hear this often, man, I didn’t spend any money this year because I went on a few trips with our family that were really important to us and I didn’t save any money, people would be like, Awesome, you’re great. Like that’s fantastic. Like, good for you for going on the trips and not saving any money. And that’s the thing that I find interesting is it is the most I think traveling and vacation spending is the most ex socially socially acceptable form

Lauren: Acceptable

Jake: Of spending these days. And people actually think it can be good financial decision making if you do that above all else. And I don’t know if that’s true.

Matt: Yeah, it’s it’s interesting. Like two sides of the same coin of like the most socially accepted addiction is work and then the most socially

Jake: Yes, that too.

Matt: Accepted, I guess, f break from that addiction is spending all your money on vacations. It’s kind of interesting.

Jake: Yeah. If your friend says we spent so much money on this, and your first response, it’s okay, you’ll never regret it. The memories, yay. You know, that’s

Matt: Ha ha ha ha.

Jake: like the natural response. And it’s like, well, if I said that about other things, like if I said, Man, I spent all my money on this couch, they’d be Why’d you buy the dumb couch? You know? so it’s interesting. Like that’s why I think we tend to spend a lot on vacations because it is so acceptable. And it’s like no one will blame you for spending on the vacation when maybe I’m here as a financial

Matt: It’s so relatable.

Jake: advisor saying, I’m gonna blame you a little bit if you can’t save and you’re spending on vacations.

Matt: Yeah. Yeah.

Jake: Well, I don’t think most NSR but they already have a pretty high debt rate because of student loans and the practice and the mortgage and it’s like, Okay, well we gotta function that with the savings. Yeah.

Matt: Yeah.

Jake: And maybe it is. Maybe it’s like, we don’t want to give up the trips, but we are giving out giving up eating out on other days of the league, right? Or cutting back spending in other areas, right? Type of thing. It’s like, Okay, we actually do want to do the two or three trips. Those are very important to us. Let’s do those things. But we may need to cut elsewhere.

Matt: See, but I think more likely with dentists, it’s to the spectrum conversation that Will brought up. It it’s it’s not that the typical dentist goes into debt. It’s that the typical dentist doesn’t do that, Jake. Like they don’t they might they might understand the trade off, they’re not making the trade off in most cases. They’re just not saving the money. Exactly.

Jake: Usually it’s your savings is the trade off. It’s not other forms of spending. Yeah.

Will: Yeah, and to Taylor’s point, like, you know, I’ve been a proponent for taking the vacation on this podcast, but I’m also like we all agree on the fact that you need to have a solid savings rate. Like you can’t you can’t just close your eyes and hope you make it and spend every dollar on extra dollar on vacation. So y there is there is some some foundations, like Taylor said, to get right first.

Taylor: Yeah. there’s like we’ve we’ve circled this as well. Like Matt mentioned this earlier. The reason you take a trip is for the break, for the like mental rest of not having to manage and maintain a practice and manage a team and do all the things that you have to. Does that mean that you have to spend $20,000 to do it? Right. Maybe we don’t stay at The nicest resort and go to Hawaii. Maybe it is until we’re in a better spot financially. We are taking that local camping trip, or we’re just disconnecting, taking the time off and going to, you know, the local spot with our kids, right? those are things that I think are important takeaways for anybody, not just Dentist, of like really make sure that you’re in a healthy spot before you go drop 20,000 on a vacation because. That’s what everybody’s doing. Right. And I think a lot of dentists feel that. Like there’s so many times where I’ll hear someone be like, well, you know, I’m a dentist. So I like I need to drive a nice car or I need to have a big house, or like I need to stay in a really nice resort, because that’s like the expectation because that person is a dentist. Right. And unless you can actually afford it, that is really detrimental to Jake’s point to your financial health.

Matt: Yeah. Yeah, it’s a what are you trying to accomplish with this? I think it’s a great point, Taylor. Asking that question, what are we trying to accomplish? And it’s always I think the answer in the heart of hearts is always gonna be those indirect things that you’ve already mentioned. And then I love that you just asked that. Does that mean you’ve got to spend 30 grand on this thing or 20 grand on this thing to accomplish the core what you’re actually trying to accomplish? So the other thing that I’ll say that it was interesting. Wit Lauren and Will specifically brought up like the reason they like to vacation is so core to their like identity now because of the experiences that they’ve had in their life. I have very similar things, like why I love gardening so much is it’s connected it’s connecting me to my mom. And so I spend way too much on my garden that people would be like appalled. But it’s like

Jake: Probably doesn’t come close to vacation spending, honestly.

Matt: It probably mean it probably I mean, I’ll tell you what I spent last weekend on some trees, but

Lauren: I don’t know.

Matt: yeah, yeah.

Jake: the trees. Okay, trees are a separate category.

Matt: To be fair, it’s a new yard I’m putting in landscaping. But either you’re right, it’s not probably equivalent to like some of these big vacations, but it there’s there’s a I I would I do not regret any dollar I spend on my yard or in the garden because of for me personally. So the end of the day, this is just a values discussion. It’s just a values thing. But I Jake again to To bring your point home, I think it’s the fact that you didn’t go on the trip, I don’t think that necessarily means that it was too expensive. I think it means that you don’t value it enough. Right.

Jake: Right now at least, right? Yes, right now. That was kinda like, yeah, it’s just not worth it right now, is what we got to. Now maybe you think I’m crazy and thank you guys for letting me, you know, come on our podcast, have a platform and spew my complaints and my crazy takes. I know that ninety nine percent of the the listeners agree with all of you guys. they’re like, Who’s this crazy Jake guy? but anyway.

Lauren: I do want to hear where you go to dinner though. I better we better get a report of where you’re going to Friday night dinners.

Jake: Utah just got its first ever Michelin star restaurant, right, Will?

Matt: Yes.

Jake: I looked at the menu the other day. We might actually go hit that up, so

Will: Let’s go. You got a hundred and fifty bucks to spend there.

Taylor: You can go fifty times. You can go fifty times.

Jake: Or more because we’re just at the end. We could go yeah, think about how many how much you can spend on that seven thousand dollars just for food for the the next next couple of months anyway. Okay.

Lauren: I can’t wait to hear about the food reviews.

Matt: Let’s go let’s go final takeaways, Taylor. I know you need to hop off. Let’s go final takeaways if if any.

Taylor: again, I just think you all this comes down to what your what are your values, right? If vacationing is an important value to you, please do it, right? But that may mean that you’re not driving the nicest car in the neighborhood. It may mean that even though you want the bigger yard that’s gonna cost you three to four thousand dollars more a month on your mortgage, right? Maybe don’t do it because you like to travel, right? maybe make some concessions in other places so that this can be the case. and just be smart about it. Don’t just travel to travel. Travel to the places or spend the time and money and energy to the places that are going to bring you value. And if that’s the happiest place on earth, then you’re

Lauren: No.

Taylor: Probably right, like Will and I. And if not, then you can stay at home and look at your car, your drapes like Jake.

Matt: I love it. Lauren.

Lauren: Just I think there’s balance in everything. Yeah, kind of like to Taylor’s point. It’s just finding your values, finding a balance and not going too overboard. But also, yeah, if it that ends up in the happiest place on earth, so be it.

Jake: There we go. You guys are confirming my priors. Yep. We are ending with just do the vacation in the end. my

Matt: Not even close to the happiest place on earth.

Jake: last take, I’ll end with another just hot take. I think you can really value vacations and love them and have them be really important to you. And they can also be too expensive. I think both can be true.

Will: Yeah, that’s fair.

Matt: Yeah.

Jake: and so that’s just anyway, I’ll end with that.

Will: That’s fair. Mine is just I think the purpose of being here on this planet is to enjoy it and have joy, right? And shout out. So yep, that’s a hot take. So

Jake: Hot take. Hot take. That’s a very hot take. I thought it was to be miserable, yeah.

Will: so go do it. What does that mean for you? How do you how do you have a happy life, right? And if that means going and spending quality time with the people you love somewhere else in the world, then then make it happen and make it a priority and figure out how to make it affordable to you and your situation. So that it doesn’t bankrupt ya, ’cause yes, it’s gotten more expensive. I’m not gonna argue with Jake on that one. so make sure it fits into your life and your plan and go from there.

Matt: Yeah. Yeah, I I I agree. I think we’ve we’ve agreed on the core principle of s of this. Like the guiding principle of this is just like be more intentional with your money. I think that’s the key. As Taylor pointed out, the minute details of where that money goes is gonna differ across not only us, but everyone out there listening. I do think the real work to be done for most people is taking a step back and being truly honest with yourself of like what you really value. And are you just being handed this desire? unconsciously or you do you actually care about it? And I think that that takes intention that takes a lot of work for a lot of people. And so I yeah, I I think we all agree though. the the the core the core message is not just take the trip, Jake. I think we’re saying

Jake: No, I am anti just take the trip, but I know that is a controversial take. I understand that. ‘Cause that is

Matt: Yeah. No, I

Jake: the prevailing sentiment. Yes, is it’s always just take the trip. But

Matt: Yeah. I I wouldn’t fall there. I would say just again, be more intentional with your money. That would be my take. My my takeaway. Okay, guys, this was great. It didn’t get as spicy. I I was hoping for maybe some yelling. I was hoping maybe we’d go viral for some some

Jake: We like each other too much, I think.

Matt: clips. Yeah, we do like each other too much. We worked together too long. but this is great. Really good conversation. Really appreciate it. we’d love to hear your take as well. You can always submit Questions or comments, I believe the email now set up is podcast@dentistadvisors.com So you can tell Jake or Will or Taylor, Lauren, or me why we’re wrong or why you agree, or submit any questions that you want. And then of course, again, we’re always here to help at dentistadvisors.com. For now, everyone, thanks for being here, sharing your hot takes and words of wisdom. Everyone, thanks for listening. Appreciate it. Till next time, take care, bye bye

Keywords: vacation, travel, spending, financial planning, life priorities, societal norms, cost of vacations, personal values, financial advice, lifestyle choices

Spending, Work Life Balance