Teodor de Mas (Barcelona, 1973) has been reflecting on money for years. As an investment director for business angels and family offices, he has helped many to earn it. But after publishing The Art of Making Money, he has decided to address the other side: what happens when you already have it? What do we do with that money?
The result is The Art of Spending Money, which he himself defines as "the definitive manual for spending better and living without anxieties." A book born from experience —and also from contradictions—. Teodor de Mas, in fact, admits that he doesn't always spend money well and confesses a weakness difficult to control: books. He defines himself, in fact, as a "compulsive book buyer" and, despite reading two books a week on average, he believes he could hardly read all the books he owns and buys. At home, in fact, he has about 6,000, of which 2,000 are left to read. And he keeps buying.
Perhaps he will have to learn to say no to so many books. For a matter of money, and also of time —which perhaps are not two such different things—. But about that, about all the things we have to reject to have more money, he will talk in his third book, which he has already written. On this occasion, we meet with him to learn how to spend it, and we do so in an ideal setting to talk about consumption: the Sant Antoni Market.
— With an average salary of about 2,000–2,250 euros per month (average salary in Barcelona according to Idescat) and a rent that already exceeds 1,150 euros on average in Barcelona, what is really left for people to invest or spend money well?
— Well, this is the game of statistics. If you have two cows and I have none, according to statistics we each have one. But the reality is that you have two and I have none. And with money, exactly the same thing happens: the big problem is that it is poorly distributed. There is a lot of inequality.
Teodor de Mas: "Having a job no longer guarantees a dignified life nor does it assure you that you are middle class"
In Barcelona there is still a middle class that can continue to live in the city because they don't pay for housing. They live in inherited apartments or those of relatives. I remember that when we lived in Gràcia with my partner, in the nursery school we were the only ones who paid rent. The rest owned their homes, either their own or family-owned. And it's not that this is a problem, huh? There is simply a great inequality.
— Beyond the divide not shown by statistics, access to housing is the main problem for Barcelona residents.
— Yes. The housing situation is dramatic. In fact, today housing is the main economic obstacle for households. A few years ago, the big problem was unemployment; now it's not. Now people find work, but having it no longer guarantees a dignified life or ensures that you are middle class. Wage conditions have not grown at the pace of inflation and have fallen below the standard of living we had become accustomed to.
But there are formulas to reverse this situation. That is, living alone on a salary of 2,000 euros is possible with a rent of about 700 euros, something we know is very difficult to find. In contrast, as a couple, with two average salaries, a rent of about 1,300 euros can be comfortably afforded.
— But the trend is going in the opposite direction: more and more people are living alone. In Barcelona, one in eight inhabitants lives alone.
And, depending on the income we have, this is madness. We have become increasingly individualistic, we want to live more and more alone... and we have gone too far. Perhaps we should start to rectify and realize that we need to go back to sharing housing, life, and time. Because being alone, in the end, is very boring!
Teodor de Mas: "Having money doesn't make you happy, but the lack of money does make you unhappy"
— Is The Art of Spending Money intended for those who are short on money or only for readers who already have it?
— The Art of Spending Money is the continuation of the book The Art of Making Money. It is a consequence. If someone is short on money, what interests them first is making money. And spending it can only come after. When you already have money, and this is not your first concern when you wake up in the morning, that's when you can dedicate yourself to spending it: to investing, to having a purpose, or simply to having time. If you are too short, you can only think about money.
In the end, money is a hygienic factor. Having money doesn't make you happy, but the lack of money does make you unhappy. Therefore, having twice as much money doesn't make you twice as happy. The difficulty is not having it. Like not having health, or not having love. It can obsess you and destroy everything.
— And if it doesn't bring happiness, why do we want it?
— To improve our life. Money has no utility if we don't convert it into goods and services that improve it for us. There are people who accumulate money all their lives and then don't spend it. They are not capable of transforming it into experiences, into traveling, into eating well, into having children… They are not capable of moving it, investing it, or returning it to society.
— A tip for spending or investing money well?
— Talk about it! Money is a language we have to know how to speak well. Because if we are not able to understand and manage it, it will make us suffer.
And September and January are two perfect times to review our finances. To sit down with our partner, for example, and see if we are doing well, and detect what we can manage better. Calculate income and expenses, decide if we will allocate money to a new sofa, to training or to moving to another city. It is time to regain control of our income and expense flow.
— What is the ideal formula for distributing expenses?
— Everyone can make their own. I have mine: a quarter for the house, a quarter for the children, a quarter for consumption and a quarter for saving and investing.
"As housing takes up more of the family pie, other expenses must be reduced"
— But we return to the housing problem…
— I know that in '98 or 2002 this was affordable due to the cost of housing. And that now that theoretical 25% easily reaches 40%.
Therefore, we have to be aware that, as housing takes up more of the family pie, other expenses must be reduced. Like savings, consumption… or children! And then it's time to consider whether, perhaps, it's better to move to another city, or have fewer children, or travel less...
— Or find a way to earn more money.
— Of course! In these cases, there are two ways to live peacefully: either spend less or earn more. And it is true that spending less is much more boring, more depressing. It is more stimulating to put the family strategy into increasing income than into calculating the coffees we should drink per week.
— We don't want to be the richest in the cemetery, but those who have lived happiest. But how can money help achieve this?
— Turning it into a tool to have time. Being rich is having time. Whoever doesn't have it because they are "too busy" is not rich, they are poor. The truly rich are those who can go to the market any morning without rushing.
If you look at happiness charts by age, the happiest are those who are in this market this morning buying: they are the rich. It's not you and I trying to produce money. It's those 70-year-old women who come to buy at the market, who already have their housing paid for and that no longer distresses them, who buy healthy and quality food, and stay for a while, and are personally attended to... Who can do that? Someone 30, 40, or 50 years old cannot. We are too busy producing money.