Bold Money Sense

One of the ultimate bold acts, in my view, is to take an unblinking look at one's finances.

I've just read a book that has relieved me of that dread -- and of the guilt and blame that come from discovering the precise results of one's less good decisions.

For getting rid of the fear, The Cure for Money Madness , by Spencer Sherman, presents a few brilliant and do-able ideas that work:

Figure out the message I got about money in childhood. Replay a specific moment that gave me that idea and catch on that maybe I misinterpreted what was going on, maybe I jumped to some unnecessary conclusions. Come up with some other possible endings to the story.

Okay, just reading this summary of mine, I have to say it doesn't sound so convincing. But for me, it has already worked.

So, if you have mental money issues, forget my little summary and get the book.

(A clear-eyed bold approach to money is very helpful in setting up an extra life.)

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Brass

Browsing the magazine-swap corner at my local library, I ran across a small treasure that I, a magazine junkie, had never heard of: Brass Magazine. Publishing for five years, it appears to be a financial/inspirational magazine for young people. Mantra: "young today * rich tomorrow."

If it were just about money in conventional numerical terms, an old English major like me would be bored. But I started freelancing full-time when I was 22 (that's 38years ago now), and I could have used this info and encouragement about running my one-person business. (My best help on this was my entrepreneur mom, but at that age I wasn't greatly inclined to seek too much help from a parent.)

In the Feb. 2007 issue I picked up, the point seemed to be helping people get started at "doing their thing" and doing good as well as well. And the cover story was about, of all things, a poet, Carlos Andres Gomez!

The column "I'm Young, Not Dumb" by CEO Bryan Sims showed some of the ironic difficulties the young entrepreneur faces. When he applied as a student for "independent" study credit for running his own business, he was asked to call the work an internship and have one of his "more experienced" employees to sign off as his supervisor.

The advice he gives: "...We all find ourselves in frustrating situations that seem unfair. Keep going. And along the way, make sure you don't make the same mistakes. Don't judge people by their appearance or age...And if someone tells you your dreams are impossible, go do something about it. Go prove them wrong."

I need to be reminded myself not to discriminate based on age; I very often make negative assumptions about people under twelve who are not my nephews.

Probably most of us can use some encouragement to keep on paddling toward our dreams. Might be some help also to people of any age who are still novices at the financial part of dream-realization.

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Bold Money Management in Tough Times

Lately I've been wondering if it's better for all of us if I cut back and spend as little as possible, or continue spending as usual, or do what I can of next year's Christmas shopping now in order to spur the woeful economy. So far my own income has held steady in these trying times, so it's not a matter of having to decide between food and prescriptions, the situation that many are encountering.

Of course my decision is quite small-scale, but if everyone who could made an extra purchase or two now, it seems to me the economy would be quite stimulated.

So far,though, I've instinctively been cutting back. Most everyone seems to be doing the same thing, whether from need or caution. Not sure that's the best approach. Certainly it's not the boldest approach.

What do you think?






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Boldly on Hold

Seems to me that though there's a lot of scrambling going on in these difficult economic days, in some sense the country is on hold. Lots of decisions, actions, expenditures have been delayed. (Yesterday a writer told me about her novel, which was close to sold in October. A well-known editor at a major house loved it, needed only a committee's expected approval, said it could take as much as a week. The writer is still waiting. Her agent says it's going to happen but not soon because, "Things are a mess here.")

This brought to mind a question: how does one best handle being on hold? A lot of that depends on money of course: whether, primarily, to focus on writing another novel or on finding a job bagging groceries. However, there's a psychological part of the response that is also important. It's a question of keeping on with what's important anyway.

Once in my early pre-email years of freelancing, I had a few days when I didn't have enough money to buy stamps. I just kept writing the letters, so I'd have them ready to send, when I got hold of the stamps. It was only letters, and it was only a few days, so no big deal. But now, we face something like that situation nationwide, and I think it's important that we keep on with our important work, even while on hold.

And maybe there are ways that being boldly on hold can offer something new and useful to the process. I also remember a screenwriter talking about how upbeat and productive she was during a writer's strike of many months. She had a sense of freedom, because she knew the phone wasn't going to ring, knew already that she wasn't going to sell anything today; and so she worried less and felt free to concentrate on her work.



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