My Personal Finance Philosophy
Sometimes I feel like a scam artist for writing a blog about personal finance without really explaining how I feel about money. Before I get into the details I want to give a little background about myself, since it is the basis behind my beliefs.
My folks immigrated here ( United States) when I was 8 years old. We were fairly well off in our homeland by the standards at the time, as well off as you can be in a communist state. When we arrived here we were what most people would consider poor. It took many years, but my family has been able to reach a much higher level through hard work, persistence and education. Since I know what it is like to be poor and what it is like to have steady money I have had a very rocky relationship with money.
The first time I realized I was poor was when my mother asked me to help her pick up some groceries from town hall. It did not click right away where these groceries are from, but I soon realized I was that family you hear about during Thanksgiving whom the community helps out. I remember listening to the teachers in class describe such families and thinking “thank God my family is not like that.” Soon after I noticed other things, like most of my clothes were older than I was, go Dolphins Super Bowl Champions 1974.
I wanted money very badly at that point, and I guess you can say that drive is in me still. In college I went through the money is evil phase. It was probably because I was an economics major, even though I disagreed with the underlying belief in economics, that people are self maximizing rational beings. People are not rational, and never have full access to information to make the most self maximizing decisions. In college I decided that money was the root of all evil. After a few more classes and some drunk debates with some of my buddies, I started to realize money does not have an intrinsic value. The value is what people believe the value is. The secret behind money was value not the amount of money you have. If you don’t believe me just realize that a dollar today will not have as much value tomorrow.
Currently I have a much healthier relationship with money. I realize in that the way our society is structured money is the ticket to freedom. No, I don’t mean freedom to buy things, but freedom to do what you want. Lets face it even if you are poor, chances are you are still way better off then poor people in developing countries. Rule of thumb, if you have cable you are not poor.
Freedom is the power to act or speak or think without externally imposed restraints.
Recently I quit my job, and many people could not understand why I would do this. I just got promoted, things were looking up, the company was doing well, yet I did not feel free. Money, or better yet, the fear of not having any drove me into the corporate world working for other people. That fear of money led me to be a wage serf. I worked for a boss doing things I did not want to do, working hours they dictated, and having to act in a way they deemed acceptable.
My goal with money is to make enough of it so it no longer controls my life. I want to escape the fear of not having it, and feeling like I have to work for others rather than follow my own ambitions.
My current personal philosophy is to build value for others around you and stop fearing the lack of money.
