A Fool and his Money

So glad you are feeling good! Me too!

The lesson in this article is not for everyone. If you believe that money is not important, or that it is evil even? Then bravo for you, says I! Move to a socialist country where the government will give you an apartment and a microwave, and hope they don’t euthanize you once they grow tired of giving to you, or once someone more oppressed needs that apartment worse. I assure you, there is a country just like that not very far away from where you currently reside.

Now then fellow capitalists, let’s get on with Money Management 101. I’ve heard it said that having money only amplifies what you already are. If you are good, money will help you do more good. If you are bad, it will allow you to do more bad.

So there is that. And with that said…

Anyone and everyone can have a million dollars. Here is how:

Spend less than you make.

Work longer, harder and smarter than those around you do, so that you will make even more money.

Hang around smart, hardworking people.

Do not borrow.

Invest what you can from every single paycheck, forever. Einstein called compound interest the greatest of mankind’s inventions. (For those unaware, Einstein was a really smart guy with a really big imagination.)

”But I can’t afford to get in the 401k at work,” you argue? “I live paycheck to paycheck!”

Then you always will live paycheck to paycheck, and you will never have a million dollars.

Smart people create good habits. Good habits create wealth.

Let’s take a minute to look at this big lottery number everyone is talking about, currently up to $1.7B:

Dave Ramsey (who, like Einstein is also probably smarter and richer than we are) says that, statistically speaking, “if you walk one mile to the store to buy a lottery ticket, you have a better chance during that one mile walk of getting hit by lightning… twice… than you do of purchasing the winning ticket when you get there. But if you invest $35 a week in mutual funds, ten reinvest all growth and dividends for thirty years, then you will have somewhere in the area of a million bucks at the end of that thirty years.… every… single… time.

So… if you choose to take that walk to the store for a lottery ticket… and if having money does, in fact, amplify what you already are… then I predict you will blow any winnings and die broke even if you do somehow miraculously buy that winning ticket. The old saying about a fool and his money has survived all these years for a reason.

Whereas if you choose to invest instead, if you learn to appreciate money and what it can do for you and those around you… well, for you I predict more riches than you will ever be able to spend, which is great news for you children, and your grandchildren, and your church, and your community, etc., and the gov’t. will never look to euthanize you and your large income tax contribution.

Thank you for your attention to this matter!