I heard this term lately and it is worth talking about.
A Legacy Tax is you paying the price for decisions you made in the past.
There are bad decisions you are paying for. You bought something you don’t need and are making payments on it. You bought a new car and made payments for two years, and it’s still not worth what you owe (a used car would have been a better choice). But it’s not just about money.
You decided to live in this place. You chose this mate. You joined this board and now have to go to meetings all the time. You joined this country club and feel you have to go all the time to justify the dues. You got this dog and now you can’t go away for long. You formed this bad habit because it feels good but you are paying for it now.
Here’s the thing. You don’t have to stick with your decisions. You can reinvent yourself. Just because you started, if you don’t want to stay with it because it is not serving you or is taking up all your time, then don’t.
We tend to make decisions early in life and they become who we are. We stick with them even though we don’t like the results (anymore), or we are over it and could use the time back to do other things.
Now that you are here and knowing what you now know, what would you undo?
What Legacy Taxes are you paying?
What do you want to change?