Well, we have reached the end of our series on personal finance. I have learned a lot from this experience, and I don’t mean I have learned a lot about finance, I mean that I have learned a lot about people. It is a tad disappointing to me to watch my readership fall as the days go by. On average, my humble, no name blog gets between 60-130 reads per week, depending on how many entries I do, I have watched that number plummet while I tried to give out important information that might be of some help in today’s trying times. I guess what is truly sad to me is that people are much more entertained by me bitching and complaining than they are by me trying to help out.
I have come to a realization of late, I have come to realize that there are two types of people in this world, those who complain about things and those who try to fix them. I am tired of being the former, and wish to be the latter. I realize that personal finance isn’t an exciting topic, I know this, but it is important nonetheless. My sincere hope is that people stopped reading because they already know this stuff, if that is the case, bravo! I will be going back to my usual format, but will be making a conscious effort to try and solve problems or recommend better options rather than just lampoon and point out the absurd stupidity of your average American. To those few, very few, who stuck it out until the end, I don’t know who you are but I hope you got something out of this. It took a lot of work on my part and a lot of time, and I enjoyed every second of it, stopping people from ruining their lives is a sort of passion of mine… it’s gotten me in trouble in the past, it may have even cost me a relationship, but I refuse to stay quiet in the face of foolish decisions. Everyone has a right to ruin their lives, but I also have a right to try and stop that! If I didn’t, what good would my complaints be? How could I claim to care about someone or something if I just let it fall to shit? It’s ludicrous (not the rapper).
At the end of the day, your success or failure at managing your money and preparing for retirement by saving are dependent upon your desire to sacrifice for the greater good. I will say this to those advocates of living life “Day by day”; those who walk life’s path looking straight down at what is right in front of their feet won’t see the Cliffside until they plummet over it. Ponder what I have just said, ponder it well. No one is asking you to plan your life 30 years from now, no one is asking you to fill out a living will at age 29, no one is saying the end is nigh! All I am saying is that it is never too early to prepare yourself.
Want to get married one day? Want to have kids? Want to visit Egypt before you die? All those dreams take money, and unless you are doing very well and have no debt whatsoever you will probably have to set aside some money. We of the young generation tend to look to our parents for salvation, but we fail to realize that sooner than later, we will probably have to be their salvation… Will you be prepared?
Our financial crisis is much deeper than a simple economic one… it is a moral cleansing of sorts, the Four Horsemen of Financially Irresponsible Practices I suppose. It may be hard to accept, but we started it, we ignored it, and we have ultimately caused it. Our greed, our desire, our selfishness, has caused the ruination of our once great nation… They have caused America to become little more than a debtor nation that owes more to the rest of the world than it possesses. Our leaders spent irresponsibly and we followed suit, now, we must reap that which we have sown, both personally and as a nation.
I must tell you, nobody is going to look out for you, nobody. And if you do not empower yourself to make the important decisions prudently you will ultimately be the only one who suffers. That sounds harsh, but truth often is. Lies and pretty songs may be gentle on the ears and the smile, but when the music ends and you are faced with the reality, what do you see?
I was raised by a single mother, who worked her ass off to support me, and buried herself in debt for a time to provide for me, to make sure I could afford to go to College, to keep me dressed and wearing a pair of shoes without holes in them, even when I was a spoiled asshole of a brat who didn’t appreciate everything she did for me. She did all this, but still saved some money. My mother is the person I love most in this world and she has been my shining example of what is possible in the face of terrible odds and a terrible situation. After I got myself into financial trouble at the ripe old age of 21 and had to rebuild my credit and my reputation number by number, I really began to appreciate what it is she did for me and for herself. Although she never taught me these lessons (maybe part of the reason I messed up so young) she knew them herself. Sometimes parents assume school is teaching their children, often times these important lessons are skipped altogether.
If we wish to claim that we try to be ‘good people’ we must dutifully try to help others, but before we help others we must first help ourselves.
I know I said I would put a synopsis here for the lazy… I lied. I just wanted the lazy to read this.
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