How Money, Little by Little Grows, Proverbs 13:11

Are all your friends insurance salesmen?  The late-great John Prine, bemoans his lot in life that all his friends are, indicating that they only want something from him, which are not really friends at all!  I began looking at my “friendships” more suspiciously after hearing those lyrics. It never occurred to me that Wall Street was preying on main street! Like a dumfounded ninny, I was shocked that people were not honest about their motives for being nice to me! I think John Prine was too, which was the inspiration for his song.

 
If you’re lucky in this life and have  a financial mentor in your family, he or she can accelerate your financial learning curve.  If not, you might be something like onehundred and three before you figure it all out, which means you would have had and sad and poor life.

Now you have a choice, feel bad about it or figure it out. For John, it was getting high.

“You might see me tonight with an illegal smile, it don’t cost very much but it lasts a long while, wont you please tell the man, I didn’t kill any one I was just trying to have me some fun”

For me, I wanted to figure it out, which was better than getting high, and which began my financial literacy journey of discovery.

They say that the best way to learn something is to teach it ,which is what I did to anything or anyone that was standing still. While at a fair, my friend’s ten-year-old son kept pestering her for just one more dollar. I stepped in, offered him a five dollar bill, and told him that he could either invest it in a business he could start and make more, or spend it and it would be gone.  He thought about it, took the money and spent it! However, my friend approached me some months later and said the lesson had caught on!  He created a car-detailing business and became the family finance Nazi, telling her that she did not really need what she had just put in that shopping cart!  Oh, Gawd, I created a little monster!

Money, little by little grows- Proverbs 13:11

 John Prine ends his sad song with,

“Hot dog bun, my Sister’s a nun”… which means as a lyricist, he had to find something that rhymed with fun… not an easy thing to do, but that is a whole-nother problem for a whole- nother post.