Loose Changing

Friday May 7th, 2010 - Lake Villa, IL

I want to be a millionaire. Period. No, a multi millionaire. Can I say that? Too bad, I am saying it. I’m saying it because I want to get the message out to the universe that I’m tired of scraping by each month and it’s time to change my financial vibe. I’m ready to be rich.

Money and all that goes with it is a skill. I know that. I’ve always known it. It’s just like learning to be a plumber or a bus driver or a sushi chef. There are a set of skills one needs to learn to make the most of one’s income that I’ve never taken time to master properly.

That’s completely my fault, and I’m putting it out there. I don’t like it and I want to turn it around right now and get myself corrected. I could offer all kinds of reasons for doing it but none of them would be excuses. I’ve treated money very loosely and it’s reciprocated.

My grandfather was my biggest life mentor as a kid, but he died when I was 18 and just out of high school. After that I was on my own, always trying to keep myself alive for one more month. I was so busy with the everyday worries I never took time to even study that there may be a big picture and I should be saving at least a little something every month.

I think we’ve all looked at what we could’ve and should’ve done in life, and sometimes it can be so painful it hurts just to remember. I remember having a few talks with Gramps about money and savings, but nothing too in depth. When I really needed it, he was gone.

I bet a lot of young people could use a financial plan, but in my experience the family or school system doesn’t provide it. We venture out into the working world blind and stupid only to mangle what little financial resources most of us do get. By the time we’ve finally learned at least a little of what it’s all about, it’s too late. I’m going down that path now.

That’s exactly the path I do NOT want to be on. If I keep doing what I’ve been doing all these years, I’ll wind up broke, broken and miserable - and there’s no reason I need any of that to be part of my life. I’m making a decision today to turn my financial mess around.

I can blame situations and circumstances, and I’ve had plenty of those. I did have a nice situation about ten years ago, and then I bought a house in Salt Lake City and it was a big long ugly toboggan ride down into the pit of financial hell and I’ve never been able to get myself out. I thought things would all work themselves out, but who was I really kidding?

There has to be some effort there, just as there needs to be with everything else. Life and money and marriage and career and anything else one can think of need to be planned out in the head, and executed from there. The whole thing starts in the brain, and that’s where I’ve been lacking. I’ve been focusing on all kinds of other things rather than my money.

Money won’t make me happy, but it sure will afford me more choices to see what does. I can also help others who are in situations like I was and continue to be. I put myself in a bad spot, so I believe I can get myself out. It might take a while, but it’s got to be worth it.