What would you do?

An interesting scenario was talked about today on Oldies 103.3 with Zito and Karen Blake. 

I didn’t catch the story from the start but as I listened I gathered enough to understand that apparently a gentleman had recently been laid off from his job after 20 years.  I’m not sure what he did for a living but apparently his severance package was decent enough for him to want to use half of it and take his wife on a dream European trip.

I guess this guy wanted people’s opinions of what he should do because he himself wasn’t so sure.  So the listeners began calling.  Most everyone said the gesture was certainly sweet and that he must love his wife a lot.  A lot brought up the fact that he didn’t know what would happen in the future and should hold on to the money.  I didn’t get to throw my two cents in while they were talking about it, but I will now.

As the Nike ad says:  “JUST DO IT”.  First of all, you only live once.  Money is money.  You cannot take it with you.  But if you or your wife died tomorrow you would regret it for the rest of your life that you did not take that trip.  You don’t have to go all out on a trip to Europe.  Just budget it. 

Secondly, a trip may be just what you need after working all those years.  You will return with a breath of fresh air in your lungs, a new lease on life.  It will prepare you to take the next step in your life, whether that be retirement or seeking another job somewhere else.  Both you and your wife will be better people for it.

Two analogies/stories to sum this up:  A woman took a cruise and while on the cruise she encountered a very loving, elderly couple.   She struck up a conversation with the couple and learned that this was their first cruise.  They had worked all their lives and were always too busy to take a cruise.  Money had never been an issue.  Just with their lifestyle and raising kids, running here and there and working, the cruise just left their minds.  Until the husband was diagnosed with cancer.  Then they decided to take the cruise before it was too late.  Although they were finally taking their dream trip, unfortunately the man was too sick to fully enjoy it.

My own personal story:  two weeks before I was to marry, my husband-to-be called to tell me that the day before our wedding day he was going to be laid-off.  After working at this place for ten years, this facility was closing down.

You cannot imagine the panic in me as he told me this.  But I knew I couldn’t just tell him the wedding was off simply because he lost his job.  There was a part of me that felt like telling him maybe we should forego the honeymoon to save our money because who knew what the future held for us once we were married. 

We did get married.  We did take our honeymoon.  And you know what?  It all worked out in the end.  We were gone for two weeks and when we returned, my husband had several messages waiting for him on the answering machine from one of his old bosses who wanted him to temporarily work at one of the company’s other facilities.  To us, that was  a Godsend.

Twelve years later we are still together, living much different lives than back then.  We both have much better jobs.  But imagine if we had never taken that honeymoon simply because we thought the money could be used for other things?  We would’ve missed out on two weeks of very fond memories and probably would never have taken an actual honeymoon.

Once money is gone, it’s gone; but memories live forever.

Want

The Rolling Stones sang “You can’t always get what you want”.  

However, one washed up Canadian singer who decided to become a philosopher of sorts and somewhat “motivational” speaker with a book he wrote states that people “CAN always get what they want”.

To me stating that you “can always get  what you want” is preaching nothing but greed.  Can you imagine going around teaching our children that they can always get what they want in life?  What rotten people they would turn out to be!  I wonder if this is what he is teaching his own four-year-old.  If so, I feel bad for her.

I am a firm believer in WORKING for what you want to achieve in life:  home ownership, a new car, children, a better job; however, there is NO guarantee in life that you are going to get it! 

I know many people who have put in countless hours and tons of money to obtain degrees from various educational institutions.  They wanted to better themselves.  There is nothing wrong with that.  I’ve achieved that myself.  But I can tell you that not one of them is the CEO of any company and none of them make more money than I do.  In fact one of them has been unemployed for two years.  One very good friend of mine did post for a management position that he wanted but did not get it.  So telling people that they can indeed get what they want is BULLSHIT!

I want nothing more than to have total financial freedom.  So where’s my ten million bucks?  How about all those people who wanted homes, got them, and now find themselves without a home because it was foreclosed on?  How about all those people out there who want to get a loan but can’t?

I can see what this has been Canadian singer is trying to say in his quote. Like most of what he says it sounds good on the surface but needs more backbone to go with it.  Prove the theory.

I believe there is a fine line to getting what you want.  You can work yourself to the bone to become rich and famous, you can own a business and work at it 80 hours a week. Presto! You got what you wanted. “Success”. But who did you have to run over to get it? Did you have to sleep or sneak or manipulate your way to the top? Did you leave your family behind while you made trips around the world in the name of “success”? Did you miss out on your child’s first steps, first words, first day of school?  I know this has-been Canadian singer did.  I often wonder if that was what he REALLY wanted.  If yes, then I feel really sorry for him.  He can have his “success”.  One thing with success and money is that you can’t take it with you.  But you only get one family.  If no, I still feel sorry for him because he’s become a slave to his own wants. 

I recently read a very interesting article on highly successful business people in Reader’s Digest.  In a sidebar, it listed keys to how these people became the millionaires they are.  One of those keys was only taking what they NEED, not what they WANT.  For instance one states he can’t “fathom” why people buy bottled water. Another one looked at a 1.5 million home but went for one half the price because “a house with double the cost wouldn’t give me double the enjoyment”.  It goes on to say that some of the richest people “spend their money with a middle-class mind-set”. They even clip coupons and wait for sales.  Did you know that Warren Buffet, the third richest person in the world according to “Forbes” lives in the same Omaha, NE home he bought four decades ago for $31,500!

For someone to try to make others believe that they can always get what they want is like brainwashing.  It kind of reminds me of that “Secret” book because that’s the same kind of statement they were making.  Funny how all these “motivational” people all sound the same after a while!