Here’s Why You Should Treat Your Relationship Like An Investment

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[social_warfare]

Lately, I have been doing a lot of reflecting and learning. I have had my outlook on a few things change and have looked back on my past experiences and realized that I may not have made the best choices along the way. While I already knew this, and “hindsight is always 20/20,” a new light has been shone on it.

Cars have always been my passion. I got my first car when I was 15 and loved it. I spent some money I had made teaching martial arts on modifying it and making it better looking and faster. I continued this pattern for over a decade, except each car was faster and more expensive than the last.

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Anyone who is familiar with cars understands that first of all, unless you buy a collector’s item or something rare, they are an item of debt – not an asset. You very rarely make your money back due to depreciation, and modifications only lower the value quicker because fewer people will want exactly what you have created. But, I didn’t care. I loved what I built and took pride in each car I have owned.

The problem, though, is that it was instant gratification. It was short-term happiness that, when it came time to get another car, would slap me in the face and remind me that I had just made a rather poor financial decision, regardless of how fun it may have been.

It may not be easy to draw a parallel between cars and relationships (aside from the fact that some guys treat their car like a girlfriend…) but I think we can do it if we try.

Over the past couple of months I have had my eyes opened to how this pattern spread further than just cars for me. I spent much of my early 20’s in nightclubs and enjoying making new friends and having great experiences – but I wasn’t building anything for the future. I wasn’t investing in anything that would last.

Of course, we all go through our less serious phases in life. I had no interest in getting into a relationship in my early 20’s, particularly during my “party phase.” Furthermore, I wouldn’t have even appreciated the type of woman who you marry or have a long term relationship with, because I just wasn’t ready for her.

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But for people who are in relationships and are in a different place in their lives, I think this is an important question to ask yourself. We can’t put an age on it since we all want different things at different times in our lives, but it seems to me that many people in our generation are sort of just killing time. They are staying with men and women who they see no real future with just because they think it is better than being single.

They are staying in relationships that are lacking in trust, passion, love, and a real foundation. To draw another car analogy – staying in a relationship without these qualities is like staying in a car without any fuel. You can stay in it as long as you want, but it’s not going to go anywhere.

For me, at almost 30 years old, I am finally recognizing the value of investments. Both financial and personal. Both individual and intimate. The importance of assets rather than debt. Something that is going to gain value over time, not lose it.

Relationships are like investments in more ways than one. Like financial investments, if you want to get anything out of it, you have to put something into it. Not just once, but consistently over time. As you do this, it grows and becomes more valuable. It gives you returns with interest.

Except, the returns from investing in a relationship are much more valuable than the returns from investing in the stock market. Rather than dollars, you get hope for the future. You get excitement. You get a teammate in life. You get happiness, and you get love.

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The next time you ask yourself whether or not you are in the right relationship, start thinking about it like an investment. Are you and your partner working towards something? Can you see yourself contributing to this fund over a long period of time? Or are you just driving around in a car that you’re going to sell as soon as you find a better one?

Wasting your time in bad relationships is worse than wasting your money on bad investments – money you can get back, but time you can’t.

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7 Comments

  1. SASS-A-FR-ASS on January 9, 2015 at 12:14 am

    Because your blog is amazing I just nominated you for the Inspiring Blogger Award.
    As I am a newbie here at WordPress I am still learning but haven’t learned how to post the link to my nomination post. ☺
    So please check out SASS-A-FIED BLOGGER AWARD (MAYBE…?) 2015/01/08 for your nomination.
    Thanks for writing quality beautiful work!!

  2. TheNakedAdvice on January 9, 2015 at 10:30 am

    “…staying in a relationship without these qualities is like staying in a car without any fuel. You can stay in it as long as you want, but it’s not going to go anywhere.” Excellent, excellent, excellent!

  3. rlcarterrn on January 9, 2015 at 3:01 pm

    Great post (as always)! I guess I am really lucky that even as a teenager I realized that I didn’t want anything that wasn’t going to last . . . And I was even luckier that my very first boyfriend felt the same way & that we became best friends & ended up married at 22 & 23 years of age respectively. I know our investment in each other starting from a very young age has led us to only grow more & more in love & friendship over the years. I wish more people would realize the value of something that LASTS. I realize not everyone will have an experience like mine & that is TOTALLY FINE, but I also worry that too many people of our generation are burning themselves out on relationships that aren’t going anywhere or on flings & one-night stands. Then when they get to an age/stage of life when they DO want to be serious about relationships, they find they don’t have the energy or gumption to actually go through with it because they are so burnt out from prior bad relationships.

  4. theunspokentruth12 on January 9, 2015 at 11:26 pm

    Reblogged this on theunspokentruth12.

  5. Relationship MBA on January 11, 2015 at 2:59 pm

    Great analogy! Also, before tying up my money to a stock I usually follow it for a quite a while. Looking at numbers and waiting for a right moment. My girl-friend is telling me that doing the same to her for 7 years should be enough!

  6. […] Relationships are an investment. They may not be a financial investment, but they are an even more valuable one: An investment of your time. Of course many of us will have flings and be in situations that are fun but we know will not last, but I think we all reach a point in our lives when it comes time to take things a little more seriously and make sure we are not wasting our time with the wrong people. […]

  7. Want Love? Break These Ten Common Dating Habits - on January 21, 2015 at 3:32 pm

    […] Relationships are an investment. They may not be a financial investment, but they are an even more valuable one: An investment of your time. Of course many of us will have flings and be in situations that are fun but we know will not last, but I think we all reach a point in our lives when it comes time to take things a little more seriously and make sure we are not wasting our time with the wrong people. […]

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