06/10/2025
# Live Below Your Means. Invest Early and Often.
We often hear the phrase “Gemak gahamu” — let’s live a good life. But what does a “good life” really mean? For some, it’s a house or a car. For others, it’s travel, freedom, or time with family. The details may differ, but almost always, it connects back to money. And this truth doesn’t change whether you’re in Sri Lanka, Australia, or anywhere else in the world.
Most of us don’t come from wealthy backgrounds. We start from scratch, working hard to build the life we’ve always dreamed of. But often, it feels like a struggle — like the dream is always just out of reach. Even when we move abroad, reality eventually sets in: it’s not as easy as it looked from the outside.
That’s why the principle “Live below your means. Invest early and often.” is so powerful. There are no shortcuts to wealth for most of us. It takes hard work, discipline, and resilience. The world constantly tempts us to spend our hard‑earned money, but without a strong mindset, we risk staying stuck in the rat race forever.
Living below your means doesn’t mean depriving yourself. It means being intentional. If you earn LKR 100,000 a month, don’t spend LKR 500,000 on a phone — that’s 40% of your annual income. Even someone earning $100,000 a year — spending $2,000 on a phone is still 2.5% of their income. And what do most of us actually use our phones for? Calls, photos, maps, email, and social media. A $1,000 phone does all of that just as well as the latest $2,000 flagship.
This isn’t about buying the cheapest option — it’s about choosing wisely, avoiding unnecessary upgrades, and focusing on what truly matters. The same principle applies to every spending decision.
At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter how much you earn. If you don’t develop the right mindset, you’ll always feel stuck. But if you start living below your means and investing early, you’ll slowly but surely build the freedom to live the “good life” you’ve always wanted.
