Beating Broke

Personal Finance from the Broke Perspective

Is Free Money the Best Money?

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How many of you would turn down free money?  If someone just walked up to you in the middle of the street and offered you some money?  How about if the Publishers Clearinghouse van pulled up in front of your house, and they presented you with a big ol’ check with your name on it for $5000 a week for life!?  Would you turn it down and walk away?

Not many would.  Heck, I don’t know if anyone would actually say no.  I know I probably wouldn’t.  And, if I had to guess, I’d say you wouldn’t either.  The fact of the matter is that we all like stuff for free.  Free money is great (although rare), but we hunt down free products, free trips, and anything else that someone might be giving away for free.  Some of us spend entirely too much time hunting down free.  But, is free money (or items) really the best money?

What we obtain too cheap, we esteem to lightly; it is dearness only that gives everything it’s value.

-Thomas Paine

Paine was on to something, I think.  After all, how many stories have you heard about lottery winners spending all their millions only to end up on the docket at the local bankruptcy court?  The truth, should we really think about it, is that we do assess a portion (at least) of a things value based on how much effort it took to get it.  For you and I, a nice sandwich at the corner deli might not be something of great value simply because it can be easily attained.  An hour or so of work, and a short walk down the road and there you have it.  Those starving kids in Ethiopia that our mothers were always telling us about, on the other hand, would likely value that sandwich a little higher.  It’s not every day that they have the opportunity to eat bread or meat.  They may have to work for days in order to actually afford something like that.  If they can find work.

Don’t get so carried away in your search for free money that you forget the true value of the thing.  A dollar bill still has the same value no matter the method of getting.  Or, maybe spend some time assessing the value that you have for things, and making adjustments.  Maybe it’s not the thing you want, so much as the feeling it gives.  Freedom doesn’t have a price.  Freedom is free, but you have to be unchained from your debts and you desk in order to attain it.  It’s the long battle to unchain ourselves that gives freedom it’s value, even if it’s price is free.

Breaking Your Money Superstitions

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Did you know that when you were born, the only things you were afraid of were loud noises and falling?  It’s true.  Anything else is a learned fear.  Now, it may be true that you can learn a fear at a young enough age that you won’t actually remember where the fear originates, but it’s still a learned fear.

Stop and think about that for a minute.  What are some of your fears?  Each and every one of them is a learned fear.  And if something is learned, it can be unlearned.  Or, at least corrected with proper learned knowledge.  Take today for instance.  It’s Friday the 13th.  Well known as the day of bad luck.  Walking under a ladder today, or breaking a mirror today is double bad luck.  Isn’t it?  Well, it’s something like that, I’m sure.

Superstitions and fear have done their fair share of damage throughout the years.  The first good example that comes to mind would be the Salem witch trials.  All those innocent women burned at the stake.  It’s especially heinous when, after watching The Wizard of Oz, everyone knows that you pour water on a witch if you want to get rid of them.  Less mess too.

Merry Crisis and a Happy New Fear by Robinsoncaruso, on Flickr

Seriously, though.  Your superstitions about money, and fears about money are learned.  Somewhere along the way, you decided that the superstition or fear was a valid one to have.  Money superstitions are just as much hocus pocus as crazy Quaker witches.  Today, Friday the 13th of July, 2012, take a few moments to really think about the superstitions and fears that you apply to your money.  Then, do something small that goes against those fears.

Have a fear of losing it all?  Take a handful of change down to the river or lake and toss it in.  It’s not everything.  Just some random bits of metal in a circular shape.  Not only can you make more, but you’ll likely get along just fine without it.

What are your money fears and money superstitions?  Share them below, and let’s all compare and see how common some of them are?

And remember, there are babies all around the world being born today that have none of them, until we teach them to them.

Money is a Finite Resource

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Perhaps you’ve heard the saying “You can always make more money”, or the one that goes something like “They’re always printing more”. Perhaps you’ve bought into the guru’s advice that if you work extra hard, and save every penny, you can make way more money than you’ve ever dreamed of. If so, there’s a small problem.

Money is a finite resource.

Oklahoma Sunset, Oil Well 2 © by Clinton Steeds

Just like oil, coal, water and a bunch of other natural resources that we recycle and reuse regularly to conserve, money must be conserved.  Because, just like those natural resources, it has a finite limit.  And, until you start treating it that way, it will always have the best of you.

I think the key is in the conservation of money.  Yes, we need money to pay our bills, buy supplies that we need, and even to splurge once in a while.  But, we have to learn to conserve what we have.  Just like a natural resource, we have to learn to use our monetary resources wisely, and in a way that will not deplete the reserves that we have.  Because, at the end of the day, if we deplete our reserves, there might not be any more money to earn.

Many of us take for granted that there will be enough clean water to drink for many lifetimes.  But, if we don’t learn to conserve our water, and keep it clean by using it wisely, there might be a day, in our lifetimes, where there are severe water shortages.  In some parts of the world, that already happens.  If we aren’t careful with our usage of money, we might find ourselves in a situation where more money cannot be earned.  We might lose our jobs, have a health emergency, or just outspend our income, and our ability to earn more money will be outstripped.

My point is that if we continually treat money as an infinite resource that we can always earn more of, we aren’t being careful stewards of that resource.  Yes, you should try and earn more, but you also should stay vigilant in how you’re spending your money so that your lifestyle doesn’t expand to meet that new earning capability.

How do you treat your money?  As an infinite or finite resource?