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Cost vs. Expense

  • Writer: Deric Hollings
    Deric Hollings
  • Aug 8
  • 5 min read

 

On their 2025 album Breakfast at Christie’s, Breeze Montana and Chase N. Cashe released the track “All’s Fair” which contained an interview sample featuring French businessman and the artistic director of Hermès, Pierre-Alexis Dumas. On the outro of the track, Dumas states:

 

The cost is the actual price of making an object properly with the required level of attention so that you have an object of quality. Expensive is a product which is not delivering what it’s supposed to deliver, but you’ve paid quite a large amount of money for it, and then it betrays you – that is expensive.

 

In support of Dumas’s distinction regarding cost versus expense, in common parlance, cost is defined as the amount or equivalent paid or charged for something: price. As an example, there’s been relatively recent discussion within the United States (U.S.) regarding the cost of eggs.

 

Expense is defined as involving high cost or sacrifice, especially one that is not based on intrinsic worth or is beyond a prospective buyer’s means: burden. For example, a U.S. president pays the high price of socioeconomic capital, which is expensive, if eggs prices aren’t reduced.

 

I appreciate Dumas’s distinction between cost and expense. In particular, it helps me to better understand the psychoeducational lesson I recently encountered in a book that I’ve been steadily reading.

 

As Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT) is informed by Stoic philosophy, this blog entry is part of an ongoing series regarding a book entitled The Daily Stoic: 366 Meditations on Wisdom, Perseverance, and the Art of Living by Ryan Holiday and Stephen Hanselman.

 

Given that cost is the price one pays for an item, as expense relates more to the burden of a faulty or mismanaged element which carries a relatively high cost, I think of how cost vs. expense apply to REBT. For instance, authors of the book quote Seneca who stated (page 81):

 

So, concerning the things we pursue, and for which we vigorously exert ourselves, we owe this consideration—either there is nothing useful in them, or most aren’t useful. Some of them are superfluous, while others aren’t worth that much. But we don’t discern this and see them as free, when they cost us dearly.

 

I understand Seneca’s quote as relating to both cost (price) and expense (burden). Further addressing this matter, authors of The Daily Stoic state (page 81):

 

Of Seneca’s many letters, this is probably one of the most important—and one of the least understood. He’s making a point that goes unheard in a society of ever-bigger houses and ever more possessions: that there’s a hidden cost to all that accumulating. And the sooner we’re aware of it, the better.

 

I could tell you the cost of my home. Though, you may not understand the expense it took for me to purchase it. Similarly, you could tell me about how the price for my REBT service is too high. Yet, you may fail to realize what burden the provision of my services may have on me.

 

Therefore, it’s important to understand the difference between cost and expense. Now, I invite you to consider your own personal examples. What are the costs and expenses for the elements of your life? Regarding this topic, authors of The Daily Stoic conclude (page 81):

 

Remember: even what we get for free has a cost, if only in what we pay to store it—in our garages and in our minds. As you walk past your possessions today, ask yourself: Do I need this? Is it superfluous? What’s this actually worth? What is it costing me?

 

You might be surprised by the answers and how much we’ve been paying without even knowing it.

 

Adding to the challenge issued by the authors, I encourage you to contemplate the cost and expense of neglecting your mental, emotional, and behavioral health-related wants and needs. Putting off your psychological well-being may be free, though at what expense to you?

 

If you’re looking for a provider who tries to work to help understand how thinking impacts physical, mental, emotional, and behavioral elements of your life—helping you to sharpen your critical thinking skills, I invite you to reach out today by using the contact widget on my website.

 

As the world’s foremost hip hop-influenced REBT psychotherapist, I’m pleased to try to help people with an assortment of issues from anger (hostility, rage, and aggression) to relational issues, adjustment matters, trauma experience, justice involvement, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, anxiety and depression, and other mood or personality-related matters.

 

At Hollings Therapy, LLC, serving all of Texas, I aim to treat clients with dignity and respect while offering a multi-lensed approach to the practice of psychotherapy and life coaching. My mission includes: Prioritizing the cognitive and emotive needs of clients, an overall reduction in client suffering, and supporting sustainable growth for the clients I serve. Rather than simply trying to help you to feel better, I want to try to help you get better!

 

 

Deric Hollings, LPC, LCSW


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References:

 

Apple Music. (n.d.). Breakfast at Christie’s. Apple Inc. Retrieved from https://music.apple.com/us/album/breakfast-at-christies/1822333822

Apple Music. (n.d.). Breeze Montana. Apple Inc. Retrieved from https://music.apple.com/us/artist/breeze-mantana/307961276

Apple Music. (n.d.). Chase N. Cashe. Apple Inc. Retrieved from https://music.apple.com/us/artist/chase-n-cashe/294643747

Breeze Montana. (2025, July 17). All’s Fair [Video]. YouTube. Retrieved from https://youtu.be/q5EnZyO_TzM?si=K7xrWmnK5kTMi2Gf

Daily Stoic. (n.d.). Translating the Stoics: An interview with “The Daily Stoic” co-author Stephen Hanselman. Retrieved from https://dailystoic.com/stephen-hanselman-interview/

Goldman, D. (2025, May 13). Trump’s egg price fiction has suddenly become reality. CNN. Retrieved from https://www.cnn.com/2025/05/13/business/egg-prices-trump-inflation

Holiday, R. and Hanselman, S. (2016). The daily stoic: 366 meditations on wisdom, perseverance, and the art of living. Penguin Random House LLC. Retrieved from https://www.pdfdrive.com/the-daily-stoic-366-meditations-on-wisdom-perseverance-and-the-art-of-living-d61378067.html

Hollings, D. (2022, March 15). Disclaimer. Hollings Therapy, LLC. Retrieved from https://www.hollingstherapy.com/post/disclaimer

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Hollings, D. (2024, May 17). Feeling better vs. getting better. Hollings Therapy, LLC. Retrieved from https://www.hollingstherapy.com/post/feeling-better-vs-getting-better-1

Hollings, D. (2023, October 12). Get better. Hollings Therapy, LLC. Retrieved from https://www.hollingstherapy.com/post/get-better

Hollings, D. (n.d.). Hollings Therapy, LLC [Official website]. Hollings Therapy, LLC. Retrieved from https://www.hollingstherapy.com/

Hollings, D. (2023, September 19). Life coaching. Hollings Therapy, LLC. Retrieved from https://www.hollingstherapy.com/post/life-coaching

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Hollings, D. (2024, January 1). Psychoeducation. Hollings Therapy, LLC. Retrieved from https://www.hollingstherapy.com/post/psychoeducation

Hollings, D. (2024, May 5). Psychotherapist. Hollings Therapy, LLC. Retrieved from https://www.hollingstherapy.com/post/psychotherapist

Hollings, D. (2022, March 24). Rational emotive behavior therapy (REBT). Hollings Therapy, LLC. Retrieved from https://www.hollingstherapy.com/post/rational-emotive-behavior-therapy-rebt

Hollings, D. (2024, April 21). Stoicism. Hollings Therapy, LLC. Retrieved from https://www.hollingstherapy.com/post/stoicism

Hollings, D. (2025, February 28). To try is my goal. Hollings Therapy, LLC. Retrieved from https://www.hollingstherapy.com/post/to-try-is-my-goal

Hollings, D. (2023, May 3). Want vs. need. Hollings Therapy, LLC. Retrieved from https://www.hollingstherapy.com/post/want-vs-need

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Murphy, J. and Chiwaya, N. (2025, February 11). Graphic: Track grocery price trends. NBCUniversal Media, LLC. Retrieved from https://www.nbcnews.com/data-graphics/grocery-price-tracker-inflation-trends-eggs-bread-trump-administration-rcna191508

Wikipedia. (n.d.). Hermès. Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herm%C3%A8s

Wikipedia. (n.d.). Pierre-Alexis Dumas. Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pierre-Alexis_Dumas

Wikipedia. (n.d.). Ryan Holiday. Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ryan_Holiday

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