At the suggestion of a friend of mine, I started reading a book on vacation called The Power of Fun (Price, C., 2021, The Dial Press). The irony of reading about fun while being on vacation didn’t escape me. That being said, it made me consider the cost of having fun, because so many of the revelations made by the author made me realize that having fun can take place at any time and does not require the cost of a vacation. In fact, Catherine Price, the author of The Power of Fun, made a distinction between “true fun” and “fake fun.” 

True Fun is the confluence of playfulness, connection, and flow. Whenever these three states occur at the same time, we experience True Fun. (p.32) 

Price expressed it best in her prologue (p.15):

“True Fun is not a scarce resource, accessible only to an elite few. And while it’s easy to get caught up in materialistic striving and to be tricked into believing that if you were richer, you’d be having more fun, that’s not true, either: sure, money can be helpful, but True Fun doesn’t require wealth. While some of the changes I’ve made are things I’ve had to pay for (e.g. guitar classes), many of them have been free, and some have actually saved me money.”

Those last few words are music to a financial advisor’s ears: “many of them have been free, and some have actually saved me money.”

I still marvel at the moment several years ago when I realized how inexpensive True Fun could be. I had four bored little grandchildren at my home one day. One of the moms handed them each a gallon size Ziploc^® bag and gave them a very important assignment. “Go outside to find some treasures!” They immediately ran outside, ready to out-do each other. The kids had a blast exploring the property in search of “the best thing” (pinecones, rocks, pieces of plastic, old ropes). They returned approximately 3 hours later, exhausted and all smiles, anxious to share their findings. I was stunned. It didn’t take expensive toys or even (much) adult supervision. Just a playful concept and the freedom to put it into action.

After studying fun and taking a multitude of surveys, Catherine Price came to the conclusion that one of the most important elements of fun was human connections. She discovered that for most people, activities that end up meeting the definition of True Fun often involve other people. What caught my attention was this held true not only for extroverts, but introverts as well. 

One of the most interesting chapters in the Power of Fun was the idea of doing a “fun audit” (Chapter 4) to help you determine if activities you routinely engage in are fun or not. Here were my three take aways after going through some of her exercises in this chapter:

1. Are there ways you could create more fun in your life, and still be clearly within your budget?
2. Are you paying too much for something (either time or money) that is supposed to be fun, but really isn’t? (Think of a club membership that you aren’t enjoying, a sailboat, piano lessons that you thought would be great, etc.) 
3. If you have wiggle room in your current cash flow, is there an activity you clearly believe is NOT fun that you can outsource out to someone else? (That is, can you create space for fun by hiring out a chore that you do not enjoy?)

A perfect example of this last activity was a young married couple I knew years ago. According to the wife, when they bought their first home together, they felt they needed to spend their Saturday mornings cleaning the house before they could enjoy the rest of their weekend. Well, it sounded like a reasonable plan, except they were both miserable. The hours of cleaning after they had put in a long work week sapped them of energy. It made them both grouchy and miserable. In the end, they concluded that since they were both employed, they could afford to outsource this chore to a cleaning service during the week. This would leave them free to enjoy their weekends doing whatever activity they wanted. The wife said it completely transformed their marriage, making Saturdays a delightful time where they engaged in playing golf together or outings with other couples, instead of extending their already long work weeks. In essence, they had done a fun audit and realized they needed to change their routine.

So, irony aside, I must confess that I enjoyed reading this book about fun on my vacation. I hope it has given you some ideas for evaluating your future and daily routines, and perhaps will even infuse a bit more fun and joy into your life.

Kristina Bolhouse, CPA/PFS, CFP®

Vice President/Shareholder

© 2023 Kristina Bolhouse and The Arkansas Financial Group, Inc., All rights reserved.

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