Why I Invest In Travel And Not Clothes (2024)

I’ve never been big into clothes, fashion, shopping, labels, sneakers, etc. While I occasionally envy someone that can put together a great outfit or pull off anything they put on, fashion/shopping have never really been my cup of tea. Now don’t get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with wanting to look nice or even dropping some serious cash on quality clothes; however, I can honestly say it’s just something I’d prefer NOT to spend money on. When I took an inventory of the clothes I purchased in 2017, I wasn’t surprised at how little I had spent on clothes over the course of a year. In total, I purchased 14 items of clothing:

• 2 Dresses for weddings
• 2 Shirts
• 3 Work shirts
• 1 Pair of shorts for vacation
• 2 Pairs of jeans
• 1 Hat for vacation
• 2 Pairs of sandals
• 1 Pair of heels

According to some research conducted by the Bureau of Labor Statistics from 2010, households on average spent $1,700 in 2010 on clothes (appeal, footwear, etc). Now I know this information is a little outdated but apparently, I’m not even close to hitting that mark ($1,700) in the clothing department. Clothes just aren’t that big of a deal to me, I spent approximately $325 on clothes in 2017, not anywhere near $1,700.

There are moments where I wish I was a fashionista, but I personally feel that the Return on Investment (ROI) is greater from spending money on experiences over clothes. I like to think of clothes and experiences in terms of investing because, at the end of the day, that’s kind of what they are. An investment or the act of investing is defined as allocating money (or sometimes another resource, such as time) in the expectation of some benefit in the future.

We buy clothes to cover our bodies, express ourselves, look cool, and keep warm. We travel to different places, read new books, eat new things, meet new people, all to immerse ourselves in the unknown with the expectation of gaining something from it.

Whether we receive a benefit or not, from our clothes or various experiences, we are allocating our time/money towards something that we perceive to be beneficial to us in some way.

Some people would choose clothes over new experiences any day of the week. Clothes, shopping, and shoes bring some, a far greater ROI than any trip to a foreign country could ever give them, so I get it.

However, since I am writing this post through the framework of investing, I want to shed some light on why I personally choose to invest in experiences rather than clothes. I also understand that NOT everyone can AFFORD to travel, foreign or domestic, especially if you are working on paying off debt. I truly understand and get all of that but hear my argument out anyways. Now that all the disclaimers and qualifiers are out of the way, let’s take a step back for a second before we dive into my “ROI on experiences” theory.

What is ROI?

ROI is computed by taking the Gain from Investment and subtracting the Cost of investment then dividing by the Cost of Investment (ROI = (Gain from Investment-Cost of Investment)/Cost of Investment) to actually get the return. For example, do you remember back in the day kids selling candy at school? Let’s say you knew a kid who’s side hustle was selling candy between classes. Let’s say he spent $50/50 pieces on a box of candy from Sams Club, then marked them up a little bit and sold each piece of candy for $2.50. His cost of investment was $50 and his gain from investment was $75 which equates to a 50% ROI (ROI = ($75-$50)/$50= .5 or 50%).

Now I know that experiences and clothing are somewhat hard to quantify because they are extremely subjective things (experience is an intangible thing, kind of like the saying “beauty is the eye of the beholder”) but hear me out. My clothes from last year cost me approximately $325 dollars, my gain was a few compliments that I can’t even remember today and at least 10 wears minus the 2 dresses I got for weddings. So far, thanks to social media and trying to avoid a fashion faux pas, I’ve only worn each dress once. What was my ROI? Well, let’s say, if I had to quantify my gains based on the above (based on how many times I wore it, compliments, adding value to my life, etc), I’d say my gain was a measly 5%. If I had to rate it based on a scale of 1-10, I would give it a rating of 2, to frame it a different way.

Since shopping isn’t a big deal for me, I try to buy stuff that I can wear in a variety of ways, different outfit combinations, etc. To date, as I mentioned earlier, I have only worn each dress once. I have also only worn the pair of heels once, the hat maybe 2-3 times, I got one pair of cheap jeans for $20 bucks but they now have a hole in them but got a lot of wear and the shorts 3-4 times.

After a few wears, a few compliments, and dust collecting in my closet, my ROI of 5% seems to align with my investment. Goose Egg, nada, close to no return at all on the clothes I bought last year other than having something to cover my body and keep me warm.

Now, let’s turn our attention to experiences like traveling, reading a new book, learning something new or meeting new people at a networking event.

Have you ever been asked that question, “when’s the last time you did something for the first time?”

As we get older, our first list starts to dwindle. However, the first thing that comes to mind for me, as far as experiences are concerned, is an experience that added a lot of “firsts” to my life. A volunteer trip I took to Sri Lanka in 2014.

Up until that point I had done two other awesome volunteer trips, one in Kenya with my mom and another in Peru by myself. Volunteering, to me, is a great way to fully immerse yourself in a culture because you stay where the locals stay, eat what the locals eat, and do what the locals do. This trip, however, was slightly different because I planned it with a group of friends. We decided on Sri Lanka because the volunteer organization we went through offered a variety of programs that suited all of our needs and I can’t lie, Sri Lanka seemed a little exotic which added even more appeal to traveling there.

I can’t remember the exact cost but for the purposes of this example, let’s say it was roughly a $2,500 trip for 9 days.

My List of First Includes:

• First trip taken with friends overseas
• First time meeting up with someone from Instagram in a different country
• First time I tried Lychee (fruit)
• First time I met a young Buddhist monk
• First time I worked at a baby orphanage
• First time I had been to South Asia
• First time I learned some Sinhala words

All the memories, the laughs, and the experience of meeting new people and learning a little Sinhala are as fresh in my head today as they were 4 years ago. When discussing travel with friends over dinner or telling coworkers about the experience at a networking event, I find in some ways it gives me an edge. Not in a bragging type of way, but that it allows me to talk about something unique you typically don’t hear about every day. It also allows me to use my experience to relate to a more diverse range of people.

I often revisit the moments I spent with my friends just hanging out or visiting a local spot where a lot of foreigners liked to go after a long day. Now, what was my ROI? If I had to give it a percentage I’d give it a 70%, which is HUGE. On a scale from 1-10, I give the experience a 9. That’s only because I can’t recall every detail of the trip and because there happened to be A LOT of roaches in the house that we stayed in which was not FUN at all. Even though I didn’t make money back on my trip and that doesn’t mean I didn’t gain a ton that can’t be quantified.

Other than the house being a little sketch, the experience was literally priceless. I got to hang out and love on babies all day and no one will ever be able to quantify the impact that I made.

I also learned a lot about myself on that trip and how to roll with the punches. We had to wake up pretty early, sleep in a crappy house, and didn’t get a cold drink until after our work was done for the day. You quickly learn self-reliance and how to adapt because you don’t speak the language or know the lay of the land. The trip offered me far greater value and lasting memories than any wardrobe could add to my life. I often think about all the fun times we had and all the funny stories we have from the trip but I can’t say the same thing about the clothes in my closet.

Maybe travel isn’t your thing and you prefer clothes over books or books over traveling, the list is endless. Perhaps you don’t like any of that and love learning new things or taking classes to help develop your skills even more. Whatever gets you going, I hope this post inspires you to stop and think the next time you go buy something or invest in something that may not give you as much return on investment as you previously thought. Every purchase won’t add or bring immense value to your life but with a little extra thought and care, it could mean the difference between wasting money and investing it. Being intentional with your money is the first step to improving your situation regardless if you are flat broke or have $500,000 sitting in the bank, everyone can always improve.

Questions for you:

1. Can you remember everything you purchased last year?
2. Do you know where those clothes or things are? Have you worn those clothes or used those gadgets/things more than a few times?
3. Do you view clothes as an investment?

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