Self Discipline

As you can tell from my recent posts, I have been thinking about prom and the costs associated with it.

Yesterday I attended a seminar entitled, Surviving Financial Meltdown: Confident Decisions in an Uncertain World. There were close to 600 people in attendance.

The speaker, Ron Blue, said alot of things that made tremendous sense to me when it comes to money. One of the things he talked about was a four-part financial plan that the average American family could benefit from:

• Spend less than you earn
• Think long term with goals and investing
• Maintain emergency cash
• Minimize the use of debt

There were many other great points made throughout the presentation, but here is what I walked away thinking about.

I see so many parents going deep into debt in order to make sure their kids have an over the top prom, a car or some other thing. When we as parents do this what are we teaching our children about money? My guess is our children are learning that you don't really have to have the money in hand before you spend it. Which is somewhat risky because that assumes that the money will be there in the future - and based on the experience of the last 12 months - I don't know that we can bank on that. No pun intended.

I don't want to be preachy. It does weigh heavy on my heart that alot of good kids are learning really bad money management principles.

What are your thoughts about this and what are you teaching your kids about managing money?

Tough Economic Times

So here's the biggest thing I have noticed about not having television. I don't walk around all day worrying like Chicken Little that the sky is falling. It seems like everywhere I turn people are talking doom and gloom about the economy and what is going to happen. It is like folks have been brainwashed and that is all they can think about. Are things bad? There is no question we are going through a tough time, but we have all been through tough times before. But, if we are constantly thinking about how bad it is and operate out of a state of fear, how does that help us or anybody around us?

Maybe this is the time to reflect on the fact that we are so blessed compared to the rest of the world. Our children have the opportunity to go to school. We have access to so many services and it is often times like these that bring out the generosity of even those that seemingly have nothing left to give.

One of my favorite sayings is "Garbage in garbage out" The more I let myself take in a bunch of unfiltered junk the more my mind gets weighed down thinking about all that junk. So I have made a conscious decision to stay informed about current issues BUT on my terms.

I have spent time talking with people who experienced the Great Depression and one of the themes I hear over and over again was it brought us together. We had to work together to survive. I'm thinking that isn't such a bad thing!

If these hard economic times bring couples and families closer and create an environment where friends and even strangers learn that we can depend on each other then that would be a really good thing.