needs versus wants
Essential versus optional
Needs versus wants is the distinction between essentials and desires—what you must have to survive or function versus what you'd like to have.
Financial literacy often emphasizes this contrast: Before you budget, separate your needs versus wants.
Needs cover basics like food, shelter, and healthcare; wants include luxuries and conveniences.
The line blurs in practice—is a smartphone a need or a want?
- necessityIndispensable requirement
- bare necessitiesMinimum requirements for living
- luxuryExpensive nonessential comfort
- desireIntense wanting
- cravingPowerful urge to have
essential · frivolous · survival · indulgence · guilty pleasure · priority · splurge · treat yourself · basic · extravagance · require · impulse · impulse buy · budget · rainy day fund · temptation · practical · wishlist
- tough choicestradeoffs, compromises, sacrifices, work-life balance, catch-22
- simple livingsimple living, frugality, minimalism, decluttering, back-to-the-land
- Consumer Financecredit, credit cards, credit score, credit scores, credit reports
needs versus wantsimpulse buying
Unplanned purchase decision
conspicuous consumption · retail therapy · keeping up with the Joneses
need, needs, needful, needless, needlessly, neediness, want, wants, wanted