This may turn out similar to an earlier post, but I got my salary and a separation payment paid into my bank account in the last few days. And I started wondering what people do with all their money. It’s true that at the weekend I went on an online Amazon spending spree, which is easy to do when you have a bit of money, you’re bored and you’re far from almost any decent shops, but it didn’t come to a huge amount. Still I have a new camera on the way, even though I have a perfectly good camera with an amazing new lens (which won’t be compatible with the new camera I just bought).*

But really: I’m youngish, I have two daughters in higher education, I’ve had an expensive year with lots of travel, homes rented in various cities and of course a baby, and yet I don’t know how to spend my money. Why don’t I hear anyone else complain about such problems? I suspect that the most significant thing about my current situation is that I’m far from shopping, and more importantly, I’m only going to leave here in 3-4 years with the contents of a few suitcases so why buy more?

I think what a lot of people my age are doing is investing in buying homes, equipping homes and upgrading homes, whereas I don’t have as much as a tin opener to my name. They key thing is that I don’t have a mortgage, which probably means in 20 years’ time everyone my age (at least among Western friends) will be living in their own homes and I’ll be renting (though I do have a house in Abidjan). If the second expense is transport, as I’ve said earlier, in this sort of situation, a basic 4×4 does the trick. And of course life is pretty cheap. I eat almost the same meal each evening. My sporting activity comes from jogging (one set of expensive trainers per year) and circuits (free app on phone).

As an aside, one thing that I use my money for in recent years is work. As a journalist, I didn’t like the equipment I was given by the BBC so bought my own. Ditto for the camera. Even now, I’m taking pictures, video and interviews for work on equipment that is my own, often processing on my own personal computer. My philosophy is that we get paid well enough, and why let administrative procedures and lack of budgets at work stop you doing the best job on the best equipment you can?

The funny thing is that even though I’m working long hours including weekends, I have a fair bit of time as well. So, with some spare money and time what’s stopping me doing a lot more? Sadly the answer is probably laziness and cowardliness. What I should be doing is writing novels, hanging out with friends and doing photo shoots. The sad truth is that I’m not doing a huge amount with my time.

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*The idea behind the camera purchase is that there are now some really exciting sub $500 mirrorless cameras that are really small. My idea is that this will be a throw-around camera that I can use to hit the streets with, with the acceptable risk that it will get damaged or stolen one day. I’ve heard lots of other photographers say that these new cameras have released a new lease of creativity in their work. Watch this space.