Being Rich

This is an interesting debate, since I have never been rich. So, it's easy for me to speculate how my life would be if I were rich. Although, if we cashed out our home and moved to Nebraska, we would be sitting pretty. I'm sitting here thinking of this subject because I'm reading a book, which I am embarrassed to name (Rich Dad, Poor Dad: What the Rich Teach Their Kids About Money - That the Poor and Middle Class Do Not!). I saw it at the library last week and was curious to see what it is that the rich teach their kids that my parents didn't teach me. It's not that profound or novel, so don't waste your time, but I was sitting here and thinking about my middle class upbringing and even the times in my life that were less than middle class. As a child, I didn't know the difference. I take that back, I think I sensed a difference, but didn't recognize it. I think I appreciated what I had so much more because it wasn't just mine for the asking. It wasn't so easy to get what you wanted and a lot of times you had to give up on the dream of having something or just become resourceful.

Joe and I frequently have conversations about the lure and power of money and what it does to people. We try to be very wary of its influence in our lives. We almost pride ourselves on the fact that we struggled growing up and understand the value of money a bit more than those who lived comfortably their whole lives. Even when my parents became more financially stable, they didn't let my brother and I know about it. I think they feared they'd spoil us. I went to college with a huge lump of guilt in my stomach because I thought my parents couldn't afford it. Not until I went to the financial aid office to question the meager loan package they had offered me, and the loan officer laughed in my face, did I realize that my parents weren't as poor as I thought. My parents did pass on some incredibly valuable financial lessons growing up. Because my mom is so extreme in her view of money (the woman doesn't have a single cent of debt - not even home or car), I adopted the same ethics. In today's world, instead of saving for the future, people are constantly borrowing from the future. Look at Social Security. In my mom's world, if you didn't have the cash up front, you didn't buy, whether it was a car or a loaf of bread.

I often worry that our children will grow up too comfortably, because what do we do when we think our children are in need? We provide, the best that we can. I would hope that my first inclination wouldn't be to buy them what they need. But so often, without thinking, that does seem to be the quickest and most direct solution. Will we have to hide our income from our children, too, until the day they get laughed at by a loan officer and deemed unable to qualify for all the low/no interest loans because of our financial status? I guess that wouldn't be so bad. In the same way that trials make us stronger and more resourceful, will our children become weak and unwise in terms of money because they never tasted struggle or financial difficulty?

I admit, it's nice not having to worry about money. I don't like having to worry about how we're going to buy the things we need or what our future holds. I like not thinking about money and having just enough of it, so it doesn't become a burden or an obstacle. I also worry that having money will change us and influence us to make choices that are not prudent. Fortunately for us, we live in Southern California, so we will never be rich.

Money really is evil, isn't it? Once you have it, you can never go back. Money doesn't calm our fears about being materially comfortable. In fact, the more you have, the more it seems we fear losing it. I catch myself thinking sometimes, if we had a bit more money, we could do this or do that. I think about ways we could make more money if we only had a little more money. It' s never enough. And that's the danger with money. Much like a drug, the more you have, the more you want and the harder it becomes to get out of our dependence on it. It's an insatiable need.