Unless you were vacationing on a remote tropical island somewhere, you probably heard about what happened on February 11.
Singer Whitney Houston was found dead in a hotel room. She was 48 years old.
If you know anything about her – and if you didn’t but watched the news at all when she died – you know that she was a talented but troubled musical artist. It seems there are all too many of those throughout history: Elvis Presley, Jimi Hendrix, Michael Jackson, and Kurt Cobain, to name a few.
It’s enough to make you wonder if there’s a correlation between being super-talented and troubled. Whitney’s troubles included domestic violence and substance abuse. Her disheveled appearance and reported erratic behavior in recent years made her death, even at such a young age, shocking but not surprising. People mourned her death as soon as it was announced, yet there were “Yeah, buts” everywhere.
But you know what? As soon as all the networks and websites started airing clips of her singing the Star Spangled Banner at the Super Bowl in 1991, you stop with the “Yeah buts.” The woman opens her mouth and the sound that comes out of it makes everybody’s jaws drop. You listen and you realize that so very few people on earth can do that. The voice comes out, and you forget about the volatile marriage and the drugs. You are in awe of the talent. The rest melts away.
Maybe it’s sad that it takes someone dying before we all appreciate what talent they possessed when they were still with us. I prefer to think that early death provides the necessary jolt we need to see what’s around us. Sometimes, you have to stop the car to see the view for what it really is.
Now, cynics will say that society has a problem with what happens when famous people die young. Their lives are extinguished early, they might say, and people react as though death absolves them of their poor behavior in life. Michael Jackson comes to mind, as his death seemed to obliterate the memory of child-abuse allegations.
But famous people die all the time. And not every one of them is remembered or paid tribute to in the same manner. Fame alone is not a legacy. Talent is the legacy.
It’s important to remember that. So many people spend their time on this earth hoping and waiting for their big break. That stroke of luck that will make their lives more meaningful. They utter phrases like “I’d rather be lucky than good.” But being good is the quality that rises to the top.
Whether it’s at your career, your family life, your business or anything else, your talent is what defines you. Developing your talent is what should be expected of you, not being in the right place at the right time, or being “good enough” to get by at something. And being lucky instead of good is just hogwash.
The nice thing is that you can work on your talent. You can get better at what you do, improve, learn, grow in whatever it is your talent happens to be. You can’t work on luck, and in that regard alone, luck pales in comparison. You control what you do with your talent; you can’t control the good-fortune/bad-fortune part of the equation.
Maybe that’s what happens to the supremely talented who are found dead in hotel rooms at relatively young ages. Maybe they are so immersed in their talents that the bad fortune they can’t control gets the better of them. It’s sad, but in the end, it’s STILL their talent that’s their legacy.
So few people, when their time ends, are remembered as the best at what they did. But as Whitney’s death reminds us, being the best is what even the most troubled talents are remembered for. So shouldn’t that be what we all strive for?
Nobody remembers lucky. Everybody remembers greatness.
If you happen to know any home builders, you might know that they’re not as busy as they were five or six years ago. Last year, in fact, was a very slow year for new homes.
Recently, however, home builder sentiment picked up. On average, builders across the United States are more optimistic about the market now than they’ve been in over four years.
I had a conversation recently with someone in the home building industry, and he said that builders have held on to land even if they’re not building homes on it. This is different than how the business typically goes, as in a normal market, the carrying costs of holding the land have traditionally make it less profitable to buy, build and sell.
Builders, the man said, are waiting now for demand to become stronger before they build new homes on land they have. They do, however, expect to be busy when demand returns. It was interesting that he added demand WILL return because, he said, “homeownership still matters to people.”
It would be hard to find a real estate professional who wouldn’t agree; just about everybody in the business believes that homeownership matters, or else they wouldn’t be in the business. Sometimes, though, it’s hard to remember that as homeownership rates dip below normal levels, as they are now.
But even as homeownership rates are lower than normal, surveys indicate that people do still want to own homes. In fact, it’s often the sentiment of an overwhelming majority of people who respond to the surveys. Homeownership does still matter.
It matters in part because for most, it still remains part of the “American dream.” The real estate bubble and financial crisis might have blurred the vision of white picket fences and pies cooling on window sills, but the vision is not obliterated.
Why? Well, aside from the kind of intangible “pride of ownership” feelings that have always been used so frequently, there are still kids who need yards to play in, and solid school systems to attend. There is still a recognizable feeling of community in neighborhoods that are full of homeowners. There are still tax deductions to be had, improvements of your own to make, and the “forced savings” that paying down a mortgage and gaining equity provides.
If anything, the real estate bubble was caused by a heightened attitude that homeownership was a get-rich-quick vehicle, fueled by rapid appreciation and the ability to cash out equity almost at will. Those things aren’t so present in most markets today, yet the attitudes of people toward homeownership haven’t seemed to waver much.
In other words, dollar signs might have contributed to a spike in ownership that was above normal levels – nationwide it peaked around 70 percent – but it’s the other things that have remained that make people continue to believe in the concept of being a homeowner.
And even after the foreclosures and price drops, the majority of people surveyed still describe buying a home as a good investment. Which means that even though the idea of quick money that drove up the homeownership rate is gone, it’s not as if people are saying that buying a home is a bad investment. The reality is that it’s still a good investment, but financial reasons aren’t the only things driving attitudes about homeownership’s benefits.
And that’s the way it should be.
Homeownership does give you certain freedoms. It does allow you to plant your roots in a community you choose. It, as corny as it sounds, does provide a sense of pride and sharing in the American dream for many people.
In the words of the man in the home-building industry, homeownership does still matter to people.
Since the peak of the housing boom in the United States in 2006, home sales have declined. Despite low interest rates and affordable home prices the volume of existing home sales has been relatively sluggish, and new home construction has been way down.
One of the most-cited reasons for the low sales volume has been lenders’ tightening of qualifying standards for home loans. Recently, data have been analyzed to show that, in general, banks require higher credit scores and more documentation for home loan applicants now than they did prior to 2006. Unfortunately, as I have I have written before, that’s kind of like closing the barn door after the horses have gotten out.
At the same time, it might be a necessary inconvenience.
Truthfully, I thought that by now, mortgage lending would have loosened a bit. By now, the market should have become more normalized, and banks would have sorted out their previous messes and would want to start lending again. That’s what they need to do to make money.
Instead, there is less money to lend. The ability of financial giants to package mortgages into instruments that investors could buy has all but dried up. The federal government now backs the overwhelming majority of home loans, and the drying up of that private secondary market has led to a limited amount of money for homebuyers to borrow. With less money to lend, is it any wonder that banks are being more careful about to whom they lend it?
At the same time, lenders are being pressured by the government to reduce principal balances on bad loans they’re already carrying. Many of the nation’s largest lenders are in talks with states’ attorneys general over billions of dollars in possible settlement money to homebuyers. The same banks are now under renewed scrutiny for their foreclosure practices. All this while they battle the public perception that they were undeservedly bailed out by taxpayers.
So is it any wonder that they’ve done away with a lot of the mortgage practices that go them – or others in their business, now out of business – in hot water in the first place? If making a bunch of loans to people with credit scores of 500 and no documentation of their income, no verification of their ability to pay, was the problem, doesn’t it make sense to not make the same mistake?
As much as more careful lending has been a part of what is a slower housing recovery than many would like to have seen, is it such a bad idea to make sure the same kind of crash doesn’t happen again? Could you imagine, for example, what would happen if sub-prime loans became all the rage again? What the damage would be a few years from now if banks just started passing out money again to make the recovery faster now?
If banks were to sacrifice their long-term security just to make some short-term gains and had to be bailed out again, there might be a taxpayer revolution!
And if you think about it, tighter standards actually protect the borrower, too. Many people bought homes they couldn’t afford during the bubble, when no standards were around to tell them they couldn’t afford it. Look where those buyers are now.
In the short term, tighter standards might be uncomfortable. But in the long-term, they are probably a good thing.
That said, it’s not as if it’s impossible to get a loan these days. It takes a good credit score – in most cases upwards of 700 – and required documentation of income. Does that sound so crazy? Actually, it’s what it used to be like, before the crazy appreciation of the bubble years caused standards to fall by the wayside.
The danger is assuming that you can’t get a home loan just because you’ve been hearing that. That’s not the case. If you have a steady income, have been in the same career for a while and have good credit, you don’t even always need 20 percent down. The word that banks aren’t making loans to anybody is a myth.
But the fact that they’re not making loans to just anybody isn’t a bad thing.
You don’t need to follow sports to know who Tim Tebow is.
For the unfamiliar, Tebow is the quarterback for the Denver Broncos in the National Football League. They made him the quarterback after they started the season poorly, and he won six games in a row to help them make the playoffs. They lost Sunday, but it was unexpected for them to make it as far as they did.
Along the way, Tebow was a polarizing person. Some people loved him, some kept saying that he isn’t good enough to be an NFL quarterback. The Broncos changed the way they play offense to suit his strengths and hide his weaknesses, and that made him stand out even more.
He became associated with “Tebowing,” a gesture made famous by his kneeling and giving thanks to God (he is very religious). He had tons of articles written about him and was the subject of sketches on “Saturday Night Live.” All the while, it seemed as though people kept looking for things to criticize about him.
That will happen when someone is outwardly expressive about his faith. Adding to Tebow’s persona is the fact that he is a self-proclaimed virgin and is outspoken about being a good guy. And you know what they say about where nice guys finish.
I recently read an article on Inc.com with the headline “Why you should hire Tim Tebo.” It went on to explain that he’s a winner, a proven leader, a team leader, etc. So I started thinking about what employers look for when they make hiring decisions and took it a step further.
Would you be a business partner with Tim Tebow, investing your money with him in a project? Would you be his friend? Would you consider working for him, instead of being the one who hires him?
I firmly believe that the people you surround yourself with have a major impact on you. Surround yourself with positive, interesting, challenging people, and you are more likely to be more positive, interesting and productive yourself. I think this is the case whether it’s friends, co-workers, business partners, or other people.
And from what I’ve read and heard about Tebow, he would be a good person to associate with. He’s loyal, he has respect for others, and he’s committed to being the best he can be. I like the fact that he seems to know that he’s considered to have flaws, and he doesn’t shy away from the criticism. I read that theUniversityofFlorida, where he played in college, has a plaque hanging at its stadium with something called “The Promise,” which Tebow made following a loss.
The plaque reads:
The Promise
To the fans and everybody in
Gator Nation, I’m sorry.
I’m extremely sorry. We were
Hoping for an undefeated season,
That was my goal, something
Florida has never done here.
I promise you one thing, a lot
Of good will come out of this.
You will never see any player in
The entire country play as hard
As I will play the rest of the
Season.
You will never see
Someone push the rest of the
Team as hard as I will push
Everybody the rest of the season.
You will never see a team
Player harder than we will
The rest of the season.
God Bless.
Say what you will about his religious devotion or his ability to throw a football, but you can’t deny his commitment both to his own contributions and to making those around him better. You can’t question how he holds himself accountable as a leader for his team’s failure. And you can’t help but feel like he’s a guy who will learn from, and be motivated by his mistakes.
Later in the year he made that promise, Tebow’s team won the national championship.
So he gets made fun of. He’s called a bad quarterback. Even his bosses on the Broncos won’t commit to Tebow as the long-term quarterback of the team.
But he’s a winner. He’s steadfast in his beliefs. He is a hard-worker, a positive person and motivated to bring success to those around him.
That’s not a bad guy to be around.
This is the time of year when most people are paying lip service to resolutions – they are going to exercise more, eat better, quit a bad habit, etc. But what if you set the bar a little higher than that for 2012.
What if your goal was to make 2012 your best year ever?
What if, instead of promising yourself you’ll stop snacking between meals, your resolution was to change your mindset? Your new mindset would be making this year your best.
It’s true that smaller, attainable goals can add up to big changes, but big goals are sometimes necessary, too. For example, with the mindset of making 2012 your best year ever, your big goal will help the little goals fall into place. With the overall goal of making 2012 the best, you could improve your life in so many areas:
You’ve no doubt heard the old phrase “Opportunityknocks only once.” I recently read a column, I forget where, that said that notion is complete nonsense. And the more you think about it, the more you will realize it IS nonsense.
Opportunityknocks all the time. But it takes the right mindset to realize that.
Every good idea you have is an opportunity. Every project you take on at work is an opportunity. Every trip to the gym, every book you read, every conversation you have with your child – they’re all opportunities. But most people need to practice seeing things that way. I think if you open yourself up to the idea that opportunity is all around, you will see opportunities that maybe you haven’t yet.
And setting the bar high on 2012 – “best year ever” – is a great way to start. That kind of mindset almost forces you to have an open mind when it comes to opportunities. That’s the kind of big goal that REQUIRES you to start noticing opportunities. If you want to spend more time with family and friends, or if you want to significantly increase your income, get in shape – whatever – you are going to have to first recognize opportunities, then capitalize on opportunities.
The Best Year Ever mindset is ambitious. It’s BIG. But if you want real change in your life, that’s what you need. There’s another old saying: “The only way to get what you’ve never had is to do the things you’ve never done.” Chances are, you’ve lost weight before, quit smoking or watched less TV. You’ve done those things, and you have what you have.
To have the best year ever, you’re going to have to do things you probably haven’t done. That’s a sometimes scary reality for a lot of people. But it being scary doesn’t make it any less a reality. It’s easier to accomplish, however, it you make yourself accountable. And by sort of putting yourself on the spot with your “Best Year Ever” goal, you are putting the kind of pressure on yourself that will be required.
In fact, it would probably be best to share your Best Year Ever goal, because when you tell other people that sort of thing, it REALLY makes you accountable. And being accountable to such a big goal will help you make better decisions. It will force you to see the opportunities so many people miss. It could push you to live life rather than sleepwalking through it day to day.
It’s true that little, attainable goals can add up to big change over time. But sometimes, it’s that one BIG goal that kind of forces you to change all the little things so that they do add up.
So think big for 2012. Think “Best Year Ever.”
It seems as though this is the time every year when we’re inundated with lists and year-end wrapup articles and news stories. In a way, it’s silly every year. But I think this year, it’s been good to look back on the last 12 months.
There have been so many things that will make 2011 memorable – big things, like the deaths of Osama bin Laden and Steve Jobs, and seemingly small things, like the debt-ceiling mess, that were more significant than we might have thought at the time.
But I think this will go down in memories as, well, one strange year.
The nation was gripped by the trial of a young woman many people thought killed her own child, and she went unconvicted. We had a presidential candidate with a tax plan based on the number 9, and whose accusers of sexual impropriety numbered at least five, leading to him abandoning the race.
The year 2011 is the one we will remember as the first time we started hearing about “the 1%.” Mostly, we have the Occupy Wall Street movement to thank for that, and though there is no clear goal the OWS people are trying to achieve – other than gripe about rich people – we’ll remember that somehow the “occupy” motive spread, to logical destinations such as Washington D.C. and head-scratchers, like Oakland, Calif.
It will be the year we remember as one when whole countries (Greece) and continents (Europe) looked as if they might go belly-up. Stock markets jerked us up and down all year as the world watched governments try to deal with debts and deficits, the Dow Jones Index alone moving along a 20-percent range of highs and lows.
It was a year marked by civil war in the Middle East, withSyria,Egyptand Liby experiencing major unrest, regimes falling and dictators dying. It was the year ofJapan’s earthquake and tsunami. Closer to home and emotionally painful were the shooting of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and the almost-unbelievableJerrySandusk-PennStatescandal.
We had the final space shuttle landing, an Amish beard-cutting spree, aU.S.credit downgrade and a phone-hacking debacle at News Corp. Gas and food prices soared, hitting American famililies right in the checkbook, as IPOs made billionaires out of internet geeks.
It was a year when Kim Kardashian’s scam marriage and a Royal wedding made headlines for weeks, and Netflix announces a pricing change that outraged people. Meanwhile, a straight-facedU.S.congress passed a version of budget bill that labels pizza a vegetable in children’s school lunches, and no one seems to care that it’s a blatant insult to our common sense.
It’s been a topsy-turvy year indeed.
And we survived it.
Things appeared bleak at times. Financial markets and inflation scared us. Natural disasters and the idea of radical government shifts in faraway parts of the world made us wonder in awe. Stories of violence and corruption are what made it onto our plates as part of our every day digestion of news.
But you’re still here. I’m still here. We have made it through the topsy-turvy in one piece. Hopefully, you have your health, your family and your friends. Those are the things that are important – more so than the money, politics, scandals and gossip that get too much of our attention too much of the time.
If there’s a lesson to take from 2011, it’s that when all the topsy-turvy and distractions are over and we finally raise our heads, the things that are most important are largely unchanged. The noise around us shouldn’t change who we are, and it certainly can’t change those things and those people important to us. That’s what survives, no matter how up-and-down or round-and-round the year has been.
Now let’s welcome 2012, and let’s remember, as we make our way through it, that after 2011, we will survive any amount of topsy turvy it throws at us!
I hate writing articles like this, and I especially don’t want to sound grumpy around the holidays, but it has to be said. So if I sound like one of those crotchety “Kids these days…” old-timers, so be it.
This, folks, is what you get when you coddle people.
There, I said it. What I’m referring to is the Occupy Wall Street (and wherever else is has evolved to) movement.
Forgive me if you are part of this movement. I don’t mean to insult you personally. But the movement as a whole, to me, has a scatter-brained, ununified message that goes something like “We don’t know what we want, but we want you to give it to us RIGHT NOW!”
As fringe-of-culture movements and their messages go, OWS is not destined for the Movements Hall of Fame. It’s light years behind the civil rights and anti-war movements of 40, 50 years ago, and it’s nowhere near as respectable as the suffrage movements that came decades before.
You know why? Not just because the kids who marched and shouted and made signs and burned bras had a more meaningful, clearly stated message to convey. It’s also because they walked to school, did chores, played outside and fought their own battles while growing up. They weren’t coddled.
You see the younger participants in the OWS movement on TV and read their inane signs, and you can’t help but think they’re spoiled college kids. “Legalize pot.” “Pay off my student loans.” “Create me a job.”
Those are self-entitled, self-indulgent and self-delusional messages. If that’s what you want to call them – again, there really doesn’t seem to be more of a message beyond “We hate the 1%.”
I have been thinking about this for a while, since I saw a YouTube video of a college kid protesting things about which he had absolutely no idea. He was holding a sign that said “Throw me a bone; pay my tuition,” and rambling on about corporate tax rates and other statistics. When pressed by the guy filming the video to explain why he wanted the 1% percent to pay for his college, after a bunch of mumbling and stumbling he finally got right to it…
“Because that’s what I want.”
That’s the message of the OWS movement. And I think it exists not just because this generation – Millienials or Generation Z or whatever we’re on now – is the first generation with some kind of beef with their lot in life and no tools whatsoever to deal with it.
They’re the first generation of not keeping score during little league games, the “everybody’s a winner” generation. They’re the product of moms and dads who don’t spank, of parents that become chaffuers at a momen’t notice. They’re the video game players, not the dodgeball players who learn a lot from the “only the strong survive” lessons only the rougher kids games impart.
They’re the generation who’s never had to wade through a card catalog at the library or do actual, stick-your-nose-in-an-encyclopedia research. They’re the “give-it-to-me instantly” generation of emails, texts and internet searches.
They’re the generation that got paid for what previous generations called “chores” and did without pay – that is, if this generation even had chores. They’re the generation that spawned all this attention on bullying – which I’m not saying is right – but bullying has existed forever and somehow kids of the past survived.
“Spare the rod and spoil the child,” the old saying goes. And the new saying should go something like “Spare the rod and your kid will be on TV with a sign that says ‘Pay my tuition.’”
This is what happens when you coddle. Nobody has any idea how to handle adversity. Everybody has a grudge against those who achieve. The “where’s mine,” entitled attitude has replaced the determintion and self-awareness of previous generations.
I’m not saying there aren’t raw deals out there or that Wall Street is full of a bunch of saints. There are plenty of things that aren’t right with the economy, society, government, whatever right now. But there’s got to be better ideas how individuals can change that, or at least how they can improve their own situation. Standing there with a stupid sign isn’t going to get it done.
But hey, when this whole thing’s over, maybe you’ll get your medal for participating.
There’s a quote I heard a long time ago that I remember just about every year around this time. I’m not sure who said it, and I haven’t looked it up. The quote is:
“When somebody asks me if I see my cup as half-full or I see it as half-empty, I tell them I’m thankful that I have a cup.”
See, I am one who sometimes loses sight of things to be thankful for. I am getting better at it, but being busy and committed to all the things I do, it’s almost as if I am distracted from being thankful for all the things I have, all the time.
Most people might assume that optimists – the glass-is-half-full folks, like myself – are probably quicker to feel grateful. Optimists are naturally more prone to believing things are going to be OK, and that belief is probably more in tune with being thankful for things than pessimists might be. Pessimists, inclined to believe that everything is going to turn out not-so-good, might logically feel there is less about which to be thankful.
But no matter how well or how badly you might think things are, you can always be grateful just to have a cup. It would seem that if you have a cup, you will always have a chance to fill it. Not everybody has that.
If you have food on the table, a roof over your head, family and friends around you and/or your health, you have plenty more than some others. These are the kinds of things we take for granted, and maybe, say, you’re looking at your home or your relationships as a half-empty cup, there are a ton of people who would be glad to have what you have. Thinking this way is humbling, but it’s also necessary from time to time.
I also think that if you are not grateful for the things you have, you won’t be successful in ever having more things that you want. There’s no accomplishment, no high level of success that can be achieved without motivation, and if you’re not thankful for the blessings you already have, you’re going to be lacking motivation in pursuing additional blessings.
I really believe that taking time to feel real gratitude for things makes you more at peace with where you are in life, and it makes you more connected to your goals in the future. Like I said, sometimes it’s hard for me to do, and I’m sure it is for others, too. Not because we’re ungrateful people, but because we’re going through life at such a fast pace that we naturally feel more thanks when things slow down.
You know the cure for that? Slow things down more often. I love it when somebody forces me to slow down by telling me when I sound like I’m complaining. When I think I have it bad, there always seems to be somebody around me who reminds me that things aren’t bad. This is usually the slow-down I need to starting being thankful for the things I have.
I also work on being thankful for the challenges I have. Challenges and tough times are the things that allow us to learn and grow. Without some of the challenging times we’ve been through in our past, we wouldn’t be the people we are today. Be thankful for the good times and what seem like the bad.
Look at how people who seemingly have no challenges. Kids who grow up rich, then tank as adults because they’ve never dealt with adversity. Spoiled millionaire athletes who are jerks because everything seems to go their way. Part of who you are and how you handle yourself today is due to having been through times of challenge in your past. Be thankful for them, and be thankful for the ones you’re going to face.
I don’t know whether you’re a half-full or half-empty type person. But I do know that you have a cup. As this holiday season kicks into high gear, starting with Thanksgiving, try to be thankful for at least your cup.
Can money buy happiness?
The traditional answer is “no.” We’ve all probably heard that a million times. The more money you have, the more problems you have, people say. There are things money can’t buy, we’re always told.
But there is some truth to the argument that money CAN buy happiness. And maybe, we’re seeing more and more of it.
Recent marketing studies and sales figures have shown that sales of higher-priced, “luxury” and brand-name products are doing well – far better than middle-of-the-road brands. Companies are shifting their marketing focus, in fact, to low-priced and high-priced products – de-emphasizing the middle-class “value” shopper and going after those who want to pamper themselves a bit.
Some of this phenomenon can probably be attributed to pent-up demand. The recession in the U.S. has been followed by a rather slow recovery, and people have had a mindset of self-control and frugality for some time now. Eventually, that self-control is going to crack, and people will have impulse buys.
That, however, is not the sort of spending that buys happiness. It’s evidence, maybe, that people are using money to pursue happiness, but my guess is that buying that expensive handbag or set of new golf clubs isn’t going to bring lasting happiness.
An email newsletter I subscribe to recently had an article about buying happiness. Actually it was about buying things that bring happiness. Happiness that’s truer than that new designer pair of shoes or foreign sports car.
Instead, the article focused on people who have spent money to buy freedom. Or spent money to buy more time at home, or traveling or doing a hobby. Instead of buying THINGS that they perceive will make them happy, they have bought experiences, time and memories. Those things make them happy a lot longer than “toys” will.
As an example, could you invest money into a “side” business that can earn you extra income so that you could afford to work your current job part time, or maybe even quit it altogether? Could you save money over a year or two so that instead of going away for a long weekend here or there, you can splurge on one big vacation adventure for your family?
Spending money that way is more an investment in worthwhile experiences than it is an outright attempt to buy happiness – and it’s bound to be much more successful.
And I know I’ve written before about living below your means, saving money and investing wisely – I am still a firm believer in those things. But if spending money in ways that help you enjoy life without hurting you in the long run, then it’s more investing in happiness than it is irresponsible spending.
Should you get that $4 latte every day if you’re struggling under a mountain of credit card debt? No. But if you can pay all your bills, put food on the table, have no debt and an emergency fund and can earn only a half-a-percent of interest on that cash in the bank, then have the latte if it makes you happy.
For as long as I can remember, there have always been articles titled something like “What to do with $1,000 right now.” They are published quite frequently, and, depending on the economy, vary a little but not a lot. A couple of years ago, such an article might have said “Put it in the bank, your job is not safe.” Or, “Invest in gold.”
Nowadays, these articles have changed their tune a bit. One I recently read used the logic that with cash earning so little these days, people might be better off spending it rather than sitting on it. One recommendation was to purchase a certain type of computer. Another bit of advice was to buy a treadmill. One recommendation was to buy a new mattress, and yet another was to give your self a makeover that might help your career.
Sure, there were some standard bits of investing advice – energy and health care stocks, for example – but the items on the list were much more self-indulgent than others. Actually, they were centered more around having a happier, more comfortable life than they were about earning money with that money.
And the more I thought about it, the more it makes sense. Maybe a new laptop will make your life easier and your data more secure. Maybe the good night’s sleep a new mattress provides or the better health a treadmill can bring are worth whipping the wallet out for.
Hopefully, you can see the difference between these types of purchases and buying “toys” and baubles with your hard-earned cash. Money can’t buy happiness, but it can buy things that improve your quality of life.
And that’s the path to happiness.
