Nonlegal But Meaningful
I really have always thought of myself as an old fashion family solicitor who offered generally wise counsel on life, some of it legal and some not. The most enjoyable part of being a family friend is to help your friends avoid trouble. I want you to know that I am conservative and my advice is conservative.
These are my observations from visiting with several thousand clients through the years and hearing each one’s stories. Sometimes these observations were my own distillations resulting in truths which perhaps even the client, now my friend, who had lived the story did not realize. I’d like to share them with each of you and hope that these observations will assist you in living better, planning better, and gaining a better and more satisfactory result as you age and look at your life in retrospect.
We all set our priorities, some of us intentionally, some unintentionally. Live life on purpose. The good result is not guaranteed, but is certainly promoted. Some of these observations are counter to prevailing opinion. However, in observing the contemporary masses, do you really want to gain their result?
1. Money should not be invested if it is likely to be needed in the short term. An investment’s value can always fluctuate downward just when you need the principal.
2. One of the factors most determinative of personal wealth of those age 60 and older is whether their children are self sufficient and the extent to which their children are self sufficient. Many parents who are supporting their children for any reason (1) unemployment, (2) divorce, 3) slothfulness, (4) disability, etc., simply are unable to accumulate the cash resources necessary to discharge remaining debt and retire well.
3. Poor health will cost you. Understand the principal of: “Pay now or pay later“ It is wiser to expend the funds for nutritious unprocessed foods and time for exercise now, together with reasonable boundaries on obligations and time commitments, or chances are increased for a host of diseases which reduce life long productivity, length of years that one is able to produce, and general happiness and well being.
4. Be happy in your work if at all possible:
(A) Less depressed,
(B) Increased creativity
(C) Increased productivity
(D) Likely there is a correlation between A-C above and greater earnings.
5. Do not rely on government programs of any sort. The promise and the program is here one day and gone the next.
6. Marriage
(A) If one is not married, consider carefully any prospective mate.
(B) If married, maintain your marriage.
Divorce is expensive! The more years one has been married, the more expensive it may be.
(i) Financially, one may lose roughly one-half (½) of the community estate.
(ii) Children of the marriage who do not adjust well –
- Will likely suffer academically forfeiting many scholarships for college.
- This loss alone may be a cost of $40,000 and upwards for one child.
- May incur expensive therapy to cope.
(iii) Emotionally exhausting.
(iv) Decreased productivity, meaning that if one’s pay is commensurate with productivity one may likely lose financially here as well.
In marriage, spouses change, mature, have new or different aspirations and dreams, and must continue to work on this relationship, just as they would any other relationship. Spouses sometimes treat their friends better than they do one another. This should not be so. A good set of manners simply goes a long way.
Read These Books* Together And Discuss (honestly);
The Five Love Languages By Gary Chapman
Wild At Heart By John Eldredge
Captivating By John & Stasi Eldredge
Friends, Foes & Fools By Dr. James Merritt
His Needs, Her Needs By Willard F. Harley, Jr.
The Total Money Makeover By Dave Ramsey
DIY Financial Renovation Kit By Crown Financial Ministries
Making Love Last Forever By Gary Smalley
*(Another Rule of Thumb: Not everything in a book will speak to you necessarily. Take what is good for you and leave the rest. If you learn one new thing per book, then it was not a waste.)
