The turtle and the hare

I'm sure by now that most people in life have heard about the turtle and the hare. I was asking my 7 year old about this story and if he understood it. He told me that being in a rush and always wanting something now is not always good for you. I thought that was a pretty good answer. A lot of us are that way when it comes to money and finances. We want to rush it and get it right now. We want to be rich over night. The amount of scams that people are able to fall victim too have grown rapidly. That's because we continue to think like the hare and want to get rich quick. We have all heard the saying that if it sounds too good to be true it probably is. If becoming rich was easy everybody would be rich. Gaining financial prosperity takes time and determination. If you start a savings plan and stick to it the money will continue to grow.

When I was younger I knew people who thought like the hare. They wanted money quick and now. They decided to sell drugs to get the fast and easy money. They eventually got busted and had to serve time in jail.
Slow and steady wins the race. There is a book called "The Millionaire Next Door," that explains that many people who are millionaires you would never be able to pick out walking down the street. The books talks about everyday people who decided to make little changes in their lives that made big differences that just so happened to turn out to be million dollar differences.

If we pace ourselves like the turtle and continue to be smart in our ways of thinking when it comes to finance we too will win the race for riches.

Who is Bill

I am pretty open with my kids about money and how I manage it. I want them to know the things that I know about money that were never taught to me. I am pretty similar to most people who came from a similar background where as you always paid Bill first and sometimes you didn't pay him all the way, just enough to get through to the next month. My kids would see my bank statements and see how much money I had and they would ask if we could go buy something. I would give them the typical response that most people give their children. I have to pay bills with that money. Just like most kids mine asked me who was Bill. Since they had never met him they was wondering why I was always giving him money. I explained to them that Bill wasn't a person but something that you received every month for services around the house like your lights, gas and water. Most people use a budget to pay bills so that they know how much money they will have left after paying the bills. I set a budget for my bills so that I know how much money I will have period. 70% of my checks that I receive is for bills period. If my bills exceed that then I need to re-budget what I have for expenses and change things. If having cable exceeds my 70% budget I drop the cable. If internet exceeds my 70% budget I drop the internet. I do whatever I have to do to stay within my budget. I don't know about you but I like to have money for myself, not just for Bill. If my kids can understand the concept that why should Bill( a man we've never met) get all of our money and we never have any for ourselves then why are most adults not understanding this. I know who I am, I know the people I have to buy dinner for and the people I buy birthday and Christmas presents for but I personally have never met Bill. If we want to have something for ourselves or for our families and children we need to learn how to  pay ourselves first then pay Bill.

Paying yourself first is not hard. Paying yourself first is not splurging and not having money to pay bills either. Paying yourself is about making sure you spend your money wisely so that you can do the things you want and also pay your bills. I was taught how to sew, cook, clean and various other things in home economics in high school. Not once was I taught how to set a budget. Not once was I taught how to pay myself first. I had a really great math teacher who could teach me how to find square roots or the answer for y but no one taught me how to mange my money. I don't like going into a store and telling my kids I can't get them what they want because I don't have the money.I don't think anyone likes that feeling. Some of us buy their kids what they want even when they can't afford to and struggle all the time. Money management isn't taught in schools, it's taught at home and just like me many people weren't taught that by our parents. It is up to us to teach ourselves and it is our responsibility to teach our kids how to manage money. My kids get allowance if they do good in school and at home. They are also required to budget their money. I got my kids savings accounts not too long ago and you should have seen their faces light up. They were excited to be able to put their money into a bank. Not only that but I taught them about interest and they were excited to start earning interest on their money. I want to continue to teach my kids about  how to respect money and how to manage it. Since my kids understand that we shouldn't pay Bill first, I truly hope that others will learn the same.

You are what you eat

I remember when I first heard the statement, "you are what you eat." I didn't understand. I kept thinking how does that make sense. If I eat chicken am I a chicken? If I eat cow am I cow? When this was finally explained to me it made a lot of sense. If you eat healthy you will be healthy. If you eat unhealthy you will be unhealthy. Same is true when it comes to what we surround ourselves with in life. The things that we read and watch are what we become. I am like many people in the fact that I can quote lines from movies or remember the words to a song. If I were to say "I'll be back," most people would know that I was quoting a line from terminator. The reason that we study when we are in school is to fill our head with knowledge and the subjects that we are studying. The more we read about them and test on them the more we know about those subjects. If you are always watching cop dramas or reality shows on TV that is what you will know. Think about when you talk to someone who watches a lot of sports. They can quote you all kinds of facts and tell you you play by play. That is how we should be about money. If we truly want to become financially healthy, financially free or financially successful we need to fill our heads with financial success strategies. If you walk into a book store most stores have the finance and self help section towards the front of the store. It's not the most popular sections like the gossip magazines that have a bigger selection and bigger area in the store. The finance section is like the candy in the super market. The milk and eggs are in the back of the store because that is what you really came to get but if you walk pass the candy and chips you might pick up some of those things too. The finance books are an afterthought. After we go to the back of the book store to get the latest New York Times best seller we might pick up a book on how to be more successful in our lives. We need to stop putting out financial success on the unimportant list and start making it more of a priority. Stop reading(eating) all of the stuff that is not going to benefit you or your financial situation. We need to start reading(eating) and surrounding ourselves with more success books, with more financial literacy. You are what you eat(read) and if you continue to consume the wrong things you will continue to the wrong results. I do not like going to the store and telling my kids that I can't afford something. I'm pretty sure you don't enjoy telling yourself or your family these things either. Next time you wonder why someone is doing good in life and you are not take a look at what you are surrounding yourself with. Just like losing weight, training for a sport or studying for a test. We need to surround ourselves with the right tools, with the right equipment. Without money we cannot pay rent, buy food or put gas in the car. Money is the start to everything we need in life. Without money we cannot enjoy life the way we should. Make a habit to start putting your financial success as a priority and notice the difference your life will make.

Producers and consumers

I make it a habit to ask my kids what they learned in school. If you aren't learning anything in school what is the point in going. I was talking to my 7 year old and he told me they were learning about producers and consumers. This is something I have been trying to teach him as well but in different terms. I asked him what each of things were. His response was producers make things or produce things for consumers to buy. Consumers buy what producers make. That was a good answer to me. It explained it in simple enough terms for anyone to understand. I asked him what category was he in. He told me he was a consumer because he went to the store to buy things but he would like to be a producer because they get the money. If a class full of 7 year olds can understand this concept. Why can't adults. Many people want to become more financially stable or want to have more money but do not understand this basic concept. As long as we are spending money and not making we will never achieve our financial goals. Going to work everyday you are producing an income for yourself. Like most people that money is probably already spent or consumed since there are bills to pay. Let's make an example and say that by going to work we produced $2. Our rent is $2 which is consumed from our paycheck. We now have nothing left over. Let's take that same example as say the $2 we made at work we didn't spend and held on to it. We now just produced $2 and have $2 more to our name. Wouldn't it be even better to turn that $2 into $4. That is where the real producing comes in. There is nothing wrong with working a job to produce an income. What we need to do is take that money and produce it into even more money. Then we will become true producers. You can do this many ways such as own a business, sell stuff on the side, invest your money and more. It is up to you but we all have to start some where. As long as we continue to be more consumers than producers our finances will always be difficult. I am like my son. I want to be a producer because they get to make money.