Wednesday, February 24, 2010

How do you measure the power of money?

I had this friend who measured time in cigarettes. Whenever I asked him how far something was, he'd always come back with the number of cigarettes he could smoke in the time it would take to get there :) So if we were hitting up this bar down the street, say 10 blocks away, instead of just saying so he'd tell me it was "2 cigs" away. Haha...I guess for him this just made more sense.

The same can go for understanding amounts of money too. I like to measure smaller amounts in the number of lottery tickets it could buy ;) To me, that's a great way to spend $1 and it's easy for me to comprehend (in high school, it was double cheeseburgers off the $1 menu!). For larger amounts - $100 and up - I tend to use Air Jordans or whatever else I'm interested in at the time. It doesn't matter what you use really, just that it puts things into better perspective for you - we're all going to differ.

Knowing what $XX can buy is very important - money is some powerful stuff! If you don't think about what it's really "worth," you could blow through it a helluva lot faster (like all those times we drop $10 or $20 bucks on God knows what). And you know what? It helps with motivation too! Similar to my "I can't afford that" post yesterday, knowing that you can buy X or Y or even Z all with $10 is a very cool thing. The dollar is almighty!

Appreciate the power of money, and keep those valuations of yours on tap . The more we understand how far the dollar can go, the easier it will be to make decisions and stick to our goals :) I don't turn down all those cab rides for nothing, baby! For every 6 I pass on, I can get a whole share of Berkshire Hathaway's Class B stock! Haha...and that's freakin' awesome.

Labels: get your brain right, personal finance

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

No More "I Can't Afford That"

If there's one phrase I hate more than douchebag (although it's a close call) it would have to be - "I can't afford that." It drives me bonkers! Most people CAN afford "that," they just choose not to (right Evan?). It's a big difference if you think about it.

Saying you can't afford something gives all the power to a magical object out there looking to tease you. It knows you want it, but guess what - You can't have it! "Hah!" it laughs to itself. Little do they know how wrong they are. Sure, some things really are off limits (mansions, private jets, playboy bunnies) but the majority of stuff IS attainable - we just don't desire 'em enough to trade our money for the other things we could do with it. We've got houses to save for and debt to pay off, ya know?

We are the ones who decide where our money goes and how to prioritize it, not some $50 tee or 60" flat screen. So tell those jackals to back off. They're not in control of us, WE are. We may secretly lust after them, but we're not about to wreck our financial goals for the quick high... at least not today ;) And even if we did that would still be okay because it would be OUR choice - not theirs. We're the empowered ones here, it's important to remember that.

But before you nix it from your vocabulary (because I know you will now, right? RIGHT?), let's get these objects out in the open for everyone to see! We're not afraid of them - we just prioritize our money! We like money, and we like having options. So pray tell, what is something YOU can afford but choose not to? Here are some of the answers my V.I.P. Crew holler'd with:

New cars, mountain bikes, Louboutins, flat screens, computers, $300 jeans, soda makers (what the?), canoes, golf clubs, fishing boats, blenders, sewing machines, furniture, Wiis, hair cuts, and on and on and on...

There's nothing wrong with prioritizing our money guys. It's time to empower ourselves and acknowledge we hold a lot more buying power than we let on! We're rock stars, and we're proud to spend intelligently ;)

Labels: get motivated, get your brain right, money management, saving, shopping

Friday, October 9, 2009

Obsessing about Sex, Money, and Cars.

That was a line straight out of our pastor's mouth last month. I can't remember much of the sermon right now (or the reason why it's just decided to pop back into the mind all of a sudden), but I'm pretty sure the moral was to NOT obsess about sex, money, and cars :)

Catholicism aside, I'll have to agree. Not getting caught up is great for both the mind and the wallet, it's just hard to do sometimes. The media wants us all decked out in the latest fashion, sportin' that bling and glamourizing us up all so they can make an extra buck or two. And for the most part we fall for it! Well, "we" as your average American consumer, not you and I because we know better. Or at least we're trying.

The one line I do recall from the sermon, however, was his point that all these new obsessions are a luxury of ours. Not the items or acts themselves, but just the way in which we THINK and fawn over them. Hundreds of years ago people weren't lusting over diamond earrings or the latest model corvette, but rather food. Plain ol' rice and beans and whatever else people ate back then :) Sure there were richies who could still buy their way to exorbitance - extra mules, furs, buffets of fruit - but for the most part people yearned for a week worth's of food or clean water to drink. Those were the real necessities back in the day, and people craved them.

Times have surely changed since then, and I'm incredibly grateful they have!, but it's something to keep in mind the next time your wants start overcrowding your needs. It's quite alright to dream about winning the lottery or scoring with the Girls Next Door every now and then (Lord knows we all do it), but just make sure you snap back to reality and be happy with what you've got. You've worked hard to get where you are, so be proud and rejoice! You can have all the sex and the money and the cars when you fall asleep tonight.

Labels: get your brain right, life, morality, randomness 3000