Some Rich Thought About – Money

Is there anything more important than money in your life? There should be quite a few things! How about your family, dearest friends , your spiritual life – heck, what about a beloved pet? I know a grocery clerk who spent over $7,000 on her cat just to hopefully buy it another year to live when it was old and sick.
Money is just a means to an end. Money represents what it can buy and the time and energy it took to generate it. If the average person stopped to think before spending their money just a little longer – like a cooling off process, counting to 10 perhaps, maybe they would make better decisions. Who am I to be pontificating about all this? I have made every dumb , emotion driven mistake you can related to money, so in that regard, I am an expert at spending foolishly. I should clarify that to say I WAS. Now, that I am older and definitely wiser, my attitude toward spending has taken a 180.
Having raised 4 children 2 boys and 2 girls, (the girls have definitely been more of a challenge), I tried to teach them some money lessons I had to learn the hard way. The boys are doing a great job. The girls are catching up.
There are several principles, I have attempted to pass on to my kids when it comes to spending their money. It can be summed up with some key questions such as…Do I need this or, do I merely want it? How will it benefit me now and later? (this is why spending money on things like food and rent are so easy to answer). One key question centers around feelings related to spending. When my oldest daughter was about to make a major purchase (a vehicle), I told her that she should compare the short term feelings of happiness generated by the new car smell with the longer term feelings of facing a $400 payment every month. I know that is much easier question for an older person to answer objectively.
Whether you are young or old, your spending habits can make or break you. One thing I have observed about Chiropractors, is that once we start to getting our head above water financially, we always manage to spend just a little more than we take in. It’s like the practice will continue to grow and that the money will continue to roll in forever at the same rate. I have learned that it just makes more sense to hope for the best but plan for the worst.

My dad was an engineer who achieve quite a high level of success in his career. He got a nice letter from President Reagan when he retired from running our nuclear reactor research projects in Oak Ridge Tennessee. He was the original negative thinker. His approach was to always assume the worst so that whatever the outcome, you would be ready. I can’t say I agree with the whole concept, but as in so many other areas, the older I get the smarted he has gotten.
Since I mention cars, stay tuned for my story about how I bought a $79,000 Lexus recently for 5 cents on the dollar!