Breastfeeding, Sore Nips, and Why Cash Isn’t King

Breaking down the reality when it comes to figuring out if paying cash increases your financial security.

If when I first had my son you told me three years later I'd still be breastfeeding him, I would have thought you were crazy.

Yet here we are.

I never planned it this way but it just seemed the natural thing to do. Just like co-sleeping. We have co-slept everyday since he was born. It was the only way I could get any sleep.

When my little would wake up 10 seconds after laying him in the bassinet no matter how slowly and gently I laid his tiny body down, he would jolt awake and wail with the utter grief of abandonment (at least that’s how my ears heard it). 

So instead of the bassinet he got my “protective C” (at the expense of my aching hips and freezing arms) for his first few months of life. He could suckle and sleep at his leisure and we both got to actually SLEEP. 

And here we are, three years later still nursing to sleep. Still nursing when he gets hurt and needs help feeling better. Still nursing when this boobie monster of mine gets up in the morning and stares at me with sleepy eyes and happy smile while curled up in my arms. 

It’s my favourite time of day and part of the reason we are still at it. But it’s not all roses. My nips HURT sometimes. I question how much longer we are going to do this. Will it stop when I just get fed up and touched out? Will it stop because I need it to so I can have another baby? Will it stop when he just decides one day he’s done? I don’t know the answer yet. I probably won’t know until it one day just happens. I don’t even know if I’ll KNOW it’s the last time we breastfeed before it ends. 

Breastfeeding an older toddler is something I get a crazy amount of flack over. Seems it’s completely not acceptable in North America. 

The stares. The sneers. The judgement. I have to deal with it all and try to boldly stand and face it trying not to feel shame at my choice. The choice that works best for us just because it isn’t the “normal” way.

Not doing things the “normal” way seems to be a pattern in my life. Everybody does things this way? I try to find out the ‘WHY” then decide if the “normal” makes sense for me. I read research, question things and try to figure out why we as a society do things the way we do them. That process usually leads me to doing things differently.

Like paying for things with cash. I used to think this was the smartest move. After all, it’s what I had been taught by my mother and what her parents taught her. The financial gurus shout from every corner that “Cash is King!” But is it best?

TRUTH BOMB

The truth is, you finance everything you buy, even when you pay cash.

You think I’m nuts, right? 

You’ve always believed if you pay for something in cash you’re way ahead of the game. It makes sense on the surface but we need to dig deeper and look at the actual numbers (and yes, I AM doing all the math this time.)

What nobody ever talked to you about was this thing called opportunity cost.

Think of it like this:

Imagine you got a bonus, an inheritance or won some money in the lottery - you have extra money and decide to buy a new car in cold, hard cash. 

Now you’re thinking “Great! I have a new car and I don’t owe anyone anything!”

But here’s the thing: you used that money to buy the car, now you can never use that money to buy anything else. It’s gone for good. That means you’re still “financing” or giving up the chance to do anything else with that money. You’re giving up the opportunity to earn interest on that money. FOREVER. Not just for your lifetime, but for every generation to come. That’s A LOT of interest you never even realised you couldn’t earn anymore.

This is opportunity cost - what you have to give up (earning interest) to buy (or invest in) what you want now. So you finance everything you buy.

Understanding this concept blew my mind. It changed everything for me when I started looking at the money I spent or invested through a different lens: the lens of opportunity cost. 

Not paying for things in cash can have a huge impact on your financial stability. Let's look at some numbers (putting my nerd cap on now!)

Let’s say you have $40,000.00 from saving money monthly or from that bonus we talked about earlier. You can choose to keep your money in the bank earning 4% interest or get a loan for the car at 6% interest. What would you do? Sounds like you’d be farther ahead by paying for the car in cash, right? Let’s look at the numbers.

See what happened there? If you kept the money in the bank and got a loan for the car, you would have earned $8,840.00 in interest at paid $6,399.00 in interest so you are still ahead by $2,441.00. 

This is even still true if you were paying 8% interest on the loan.

Your financial security INCREASED when you made the choice to get a loan. Not only do you end up with more money in your pocket each year, you also still have that money to use for emergencies. Lost your job? You can pay off the car with your cash or use it to live until you get a new job (because the bank sure isn't going to loan you money without a job). Unexpected medical expenses you desperately need to cover? Your $40,000.00 (plus the interest you earned!) can be used to pay them . You can’t do that if you paid for the car with cash.

If you're wondering HOW and WHY you end up with more money even when you get a loan at double the interest rate, the key is COMPOUND INTEREST!

Broken down, you earn more money each year on the savings because you get interest on an increasing pile of money. 

You pay less interest every year on the loan because you pay interest on a decreasing pile of money. 

We are covering this crucial 8th wonder of the world more in depth in an upcoming newsletter so if you don't get it now, don’t worry! Next time you’ll get pictures too!

Does seeing the math surprise you? Is it not what you expected? 

Chew on that for a bit and let me know what you think in the comments or reply to me in an email. I’d love to hear YOUR thoughts on this topic or if you already knew the way the math maths here! 

Do you have any things about money that are a mystery to you? Let me now what they are and I will do my best to break it down for you and other readers as we build up knowledge to understand where financial security comes from and learn different ways to move your money. 

Until next time, 

Becky “sore nips” Webster

Disclaimer: This information is for educational purposes only and not intended to be considered personal financial advice.