Unapologetic Wealth

A friend of mine told me a story I’ll never forget. Her family had gathered to celebrate her mother’s seventy-fifth birthday. It was a full house, filled with children, grandchildren, and laughter. The kind of moment you want to bottle up and keep forever. She turned to her father, who was an avid wine collector, and suggested they open one of the really nice bottles to add to the celebration. He shook his head and said, “We’re saving the good wine for a special occasion.”

She thought to herself, What could be more special than this?

Within six weeks, her father passed away. The bottle of wine remained unopened.

It’s a heartbreaking reminder of how often we postpone joy. We hold back from buying the shoes, wearing the outfit we love, or opening the wine we’ve been saving. We tell ourselves we’re waiting for the right time, a bigger milestone, or the perfect moment. But life is happening right now.

The celebration can be right here, right now, with the people you love, in the milestones you’ve already reached, in the ordinary moments that become extraordinary when you let them. Buy the shoes. Drink the wine. Light the candle. Stop saving everything good for someday, because someday isn’t guaranteed.

I was reminded of this when my mom passed away, and I inherited all her china, along with her mother’s. None of it was particularly expensive or fancy. It was just what people did in earlier generations, collecting a full set of dishes for special occasions. After unpacking it, I realized something: No one is going to care about this after I’m gone. It won’t be treasured in the way it once was. So why not use it now? Why not eat dinner off the special plates on an ordinary Tuesday night while I can actually enjoy them?

Holding back doesn’t make life more meaningful. Living now does. The wine, the china, the little luxuries—we honor them most when we use them, not when we hide them away.

Sometimes our thoughts can convince us to wait, to downplay, or to postpone joy until we’ve earned it or hit the next milestone. But waiting only robs us of those moments. Choosing to enjoy life now is not reckless; it is a way of refusing to let anything dictate how and when we’re allowed to feel joy.

It is for these everyday special occasions that we need financial fluidity. In Chapter 1, we defined financial fluidity as using money to create a life that aligns with your values. It reminds us to live in the present, encourages us to value joy, and enables us to celebrate daily life as a special occasion. It’s about making intentional choices rather than reactive ones. And it’s about having the resilience to adapt to life’s changes, whether that means scaling back, moving forward, or taking a pause.

These choices are part of a flexible framework that serves your actual life. Traditional budgeting often fails because it assumes life is predictable and that everyone’s path should look the same. Financial fluidity acknowledges that your twenties differ from your forties, that unexpected opportunities arise, and that sometimes the most responsible choice involves reshaping the mold.

Think of it like learning to drive. At first, you follow every rule precisely—both hands firmly gripping the wheel, making complete stops, and honoring the speed limit. As you gain experience, you learn when to flow with traffic, when to take a different route, and when to make quick judgement calls. You continue to be a safe driver while responding to real conditions rather than following a rigid script.

Financial fluidity in real life means not panicking when plans change but adapting to them. You don’t abandon your values because something unexpected occurs; instead, you return to them and let them guide your next step.

Financial fluidity creates a solid foundation that enables you to adapt without breaking. It provides the space to navigate change with clarity rather than shame. It allows you to make decisions based on alignment instead of fear, and to let your values lead, even when life throws you a curveball.

You can save for the future and still tend to what matters now.

You can plan and still pivot effectively.

You can be responsible while remaining flexible.

Fluidity is about choice, presence, and, above all, trust—trust that you don’t need a perfect formula, just a clear understanding of what matters most to you and the courage to let your money reflect that.