Blog 787 – 09.27.2017
If I Had A Nickel For Everytime I …

That is an expression that I used to hear a lot as a boy, not so much lately. Perhaps nickels don’t mean as much to most people as they once did. Many people throw their pennies away these days and do not even stop to pick up a penny, a nickel or even a dime. I picked up three pennies and two dimes just the other day. I save all my change, that is part of my “cash back program” only mine is real and not just a credit card ploy to get us deeper and deeper in debt and paying higher and higher interest rates and wondering where all the money went. About every couple of months I roll up enough coins to turn in for a Benjamin to put in my “FU Credit Card Companies and Banks Cash Stash” – “FU Stash” for short. FU stands for among other things “Funds Unlimited.” I try to limit my credit card use. I pay in cash. I save all fives, fifties, and hundreds. Those are mine and I tell myself don’t let them go. My goal is to be my own Banker, self insured, and if I run short I borrow from myself, pay myself back quick as I can with ten percent interest. That is a better deal than most banks and credit cards will give you on personal loans and I know me so I never get turned down and I am a sure investment.

You see, I no longer believe the great lie called “Shortage” nor do I believe that I am going to win the lottery or that someone, Bill Gates, or a rich relative, is going to leave me a fortune. They don’t need to I have plenty of money coming my way and to prove it to myself I put some of all that comes in aside, not for a rainy day, not to save for a house, or to put away for my real retirement some day, or to have to leave to a poor relation (don’t hold your breath), but just to remind me how truly rich I am and have always been.

If I had a nickel for every time I heard the excuse, “But you just don’t know how tough that I have it. It takes every penny that comes in just to pay the bills.”  Really every penny, dime, and nickel too? (How about what you waste on lottery tickets?) Is there really not enough to to put even a few cents aside?  We think so because we don’t have our priorities straight. We should put ourself first. Determine how much we think we are worth and start putting some aside to celebrate that we are worth more than our weight in gold. Gold is about $1500 an ounce, sixteen ounces in a pound, and we weigh. And there is no since fudging the scale in this case – wow and we are worth way more than that but sell ourselves short too often.  And oddly enough when we really start believing that, then what is blocking the flow to us will begin to dissolve and before long we’ll find ourself rolling in dough with more than enough to pay to ourself, to pay all our debts, to fulfill all our obligations, to have some fun, and to still have some left to share with those who still think themselves poor. Think and grow rich one book title says. There is little more too it than that, very little in fact, just a penny, nickel, or dime’s worth.

As our personal “FU Stash” begins to grow we might be tempted to put it in the bank, invest it, hire someone else to grow or manage our own wealth. Ha, they are lining up with their hands out but will nickel and dime us to death with fees. If we have money, we are always in the cat bird seat, and sound investments with great returns will present themselves without a banker or a broker. They want our money and the interest we pay on money we borrow to make tons of money with for themselves. Why shouldn’t we be making that money off our own money? And who in their right mind would give their money to anyone who called themself a “broker” anyway? The irony of that one baffles me. The old addage is take care of our pennies and the dollars will take care of themselves. If I had a nickel…but we often do and if we just hang on to a few, we can watch them grow. Let’s not do if for our spouse, our kids, or for anyone else but us. We are worth it and don’t need to prove that to anyone else, just ourselves.

Your friend and fellow traveler,
David White