When "Saving Money" May Be the Most Expensive Option

The “sin of omission” … ever heard of it? It’s defined as not doing something you should do. You omitted something. In contrast, sins of co-mission are when you do something you know you should not have done. You committed some act.

I believe we often focus on the sins of co-mission and ignore the sins of omission. We do the same with our spending. We focus on what something costs (costs of “co-mission”). But we rarely look at our costs of “omission”. How much do we lose by NOT spending money when we should have.

We tend to focus on the costs we see. The $5,500 investment in financial planning. The

$1,200 in annual insurance premiums. The $3,000 estate planning fee. Those are easy to measure. They show up on a statement. They trigger that little voice in your head that says, "I can probably figure this out myself."

We obsess over the first and ignore the second. But it’s the second that can cause the most harm.

The Cost of Omission

Consider an oil change. Let's say you decide to skip it and save the $60. And maybe you skipped the next one too. So, now you have saved $120. That's nice, unless your engine seizes up and you have to pay $6,000 for a repair that was avoidable. That one repair was the equivalent of 100 oil changes or about 25 years’ worth (assuming you change oil 4 times a year).

You didn’t pay the bill up front, so now you're paying it with interest.

Financial planning is full of oil-change moments. But because the cost doesn’t hit immediately, it is easy to mistake in-action for intelligent money saving moves.

Five Common Spending Omissions

1. Estate Planning

   • You save $3,000 today by skipping a trust and a will.

   • Your family loses $30,000 in probate costs and an untold number of hours spent settling your estate.

2. Life Insurance

   • You avoid a $1,000 annual premium.

   • Your disability or life insurance coverage is out of date, and your income or family is unprotected.

3. DIY Investing

   • You save a 1% advisor fee.

   • You miss tax-loss harvesting, Roth conversions, or make poor decisions during a downturn that cost you $100,000+ over time.

4. Underfunding Emergency Reserves

   • You keep cash tight to "stay invested."

   • You sell investments at a loss or use a HELOC when life hits.

5. Avoiding Hard Conversations About Spending in Retirement

   • You don’t want to hear you need to cut back.

   • So, you overspend early and underspend later. Or worse- you run out.

Not All Costs Come with a Receipt

Some expenses are visible. Others are silent. But both are real.

The cost of omission is like rust: slow, silent, and destructive. It rarely announces itself. But over time, it eats away at your financial security, your confidence, and your options.

That’s why real financial planning isn’t just about cutting costs. It’s about knowing when to spend, why to spend, and how to spend wisely.

If you’re ready to stop guessing and start building a plan that accounts for all the costs- visible and invisible, schedule a call.

It may be the smartest money you ever "spend."

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