I went on an archaeological dig recently - through my wallet.  I got out my toothbrush and dental pick and began sifting through the hardened layers of sediment.  I discovered things I haven’t see in a very long time.  And I discovered a little about myself.

Apparently, I like to stuff things into my wallet.  I must be hoping they’ll magically - what?  What am I hoping they’ll magically do?  Disappear?  File themselves into folders for easy searching?  Find a mate and multiply?  Whatever I was hoping would happen with all that stuff, it hasn’t.  Well, maybe the multiply part.  Where does all this junk come from anyway?

I have credit cards, debit cards, grocery store rewards cards, a book store rewards card, library cards, and gas station cards.  I have six frequent diner cards - for restaurants I haven’t been to in years.  I have pictures of my kids - from when they were babies.  I’ve got receipts from McDonald’s from before Christmas; a receipt for a bottle of soda; a receipt for a handful of screws from the hardware store.

I didn’t find any pictures of dead presidents in my wallet.  I’d like the presidents to take up permanent residency there, yet all the receipts seem to imply the presidents are wandering nomads, looking for a place to call home, but not content to dwell long in my back pocket.  It’s too bad, too.  With a little spring cleaning and a fresh coat of paint, my wallet would make a lovely home.  They could have parties, invite their friends, maybe some of them could stay a while.  Maybe big brother Ben would stop in and say hi.

But no, there’s too much crud.  Too much dust, parched paper, and other archaeological detritus for men of their caliber.  I guess I’ll have to be content digging through the evidence of the past.

This post originally appeared in the January 27, 2008, edition of the Greenhorn Valley View.

Haven’t you heard?  There’s a recession going on.  Well, technically, it’s still a little early to call it a recession.  To officially be called a recession, our Gross Domestic Product must decline for two successive quarters.  But that’s not much comfort to the people today who are worried about job loss, declining sales, or even business failure.  If recession is on your radar, what can you do prepare?  How do you plan to withstand it’s impact?

Obviously, if you are worried about your income being reduced for any reason, you should immediately put yourself on a financial diet.  Spend as little as you possibly can.  Try to build up a short term cache of cash you can use to even out dips in your income stream.  With any luck, the recession will be over before your cache runs dry.

You should also dust off your networking skills.  What industries seem to be unaffected by the present downturn?  Who do you know in those industries?  Give ‘em a buzz.  The worst that can happen is you’ll get reacquainted with an old friend.  And don’t forget to be on the lookout for other people who are affected by the recession.  If there is any way you can help somebody else, their gratitude may be invaluable down the road.

Is there any way to take advantage of a recession?  If you aren’t worried about any sort of income loss, you might be in a position to make a little money.  You’ve heard the saying, “Buy low, sell high,” right?  Stock markets around the globe suffered huge losses this week, with drops as high as 10% in just a few days.  If you believe, as I do, that the markets are fundamentally sound, then this may be a great time to buy.  If you do buy in now, just be prepared for further declines before the climb back up.

So stow the sails, batten the hatches, and keep your eyes on the horizon.  I’ll see you on the other side.

This article originally appeared in the  January 23, 2008, edition of the Greenhorn Valley View.

I know something about you.  I know you don’t have enough money left at the end of the month.  There are things you wish you could do, but you don’t have the funds to do them.  If you had just a bit more money, everything would be fine.  This is true whoever you are, whatever your income.

Think about it.  No matter how much money you make, it isn’t enough.  If you make $20,000 a year, don’t you wish you made $30,000?  If you make $200,000 a year, don’t you wish you made $300,000?  This is a near-universal experience.  But rather than whine and moan about it, I wonder if there’s a way we can use this to our advantage?

Let’s say you’d like to be saving 10% of your income, but you haven’t started yet because you don’t know how you’d get by without that money.  Things are so tight right now - there’s no possible way you could survive on less.  But we just established that ALL income levels feel inadequate.  If you earned 10% less than you earned right now, would that really feel any different than what you make now?  Yes, your checkbook would notice, but would you feel any different?  My guess is you’d only notice the difference for a week or two.

Try this experiment.  The next time you get a paycheck, put 10% away somewhere - anywhere, under the mattress if you want - it doesn’t matter.  Then try to make the rest last until your next paycheck.  If you’re like me, just the thought of 10% less scares you to death, but I bet you’ll make it to the next check without much difficulty.  If you’re successful, you’ll be living on less, AND you’ll be saving up for a rainy day.  And you’re doing it EVEN THOUGH you don’t have enough!

This post originally appeared in the January 16, 2008, edition of the Greenhorn Valley View.

Who in the public school system is teaching that government should be less involved in the lives of it’s citizens?  Which teacher is teaching that schools should be less well-funded and smaller?  What student is being taught that capitalism is a superior form of government than socialism?

These are all valid points of view, but you will not find them taught - or even mentioned - in public schools.  If you have any form of political, religious, or social views that are outside the current norm, you have no hope of having those views taught to your kids in public schools.

Schools receive their funding from the government.  You will not find opposing viewpoints taught there.  That would be like a Coca-Cola executive saying people should drink less Coke.  It doesn’t happen, it doesn’t make sense that it should happen, we should not expect it to ever happen.

All of which are good arguments for homeschooling.

There are certain character traits that are extremely important in life.  Traits like a strong work ethic, understanding the value of a dollar, and the importance of generosity and hospitality, for instance.  These qualities are far more important than skills like the ability to understand math or the ability to start a new business.  People who are nearing the end of their lives don’t want to pass on the knowledge of starting businesses, they want to pass on the knowledge of being a better human.  Skills are important, of course.  They are the tools that can help us reach our goals.  It’s just that our goals should be more others-oriented than self-oriented.  The goal should be to make the world a better place, not to start a business, but starting a business may be a valid method of achieving the goal.

I just read The Ultimate Gift, by Jim Stovall.  In it, a wealthy cattle-baron has just passed away and in his will he lays out a plan of action for developing strong character qualities in his grand-nephew.  The nephew isn’t excited about the plan, but as the book progresses he becomes a better person as he submits himself to his uncle’s plan.  The uncle has the nephew perform twelve month-long tasks, each task teaching him a new, and highly valuable, quality.  The nephew learns lessons about work, money, friends, and the thirst for knowledge, to name a few.  By the end of the year, the nephew has become a new person, having been transformed by the hard lessons he has learned.  Because he has learned all these lessons, he earns the ultimate gift, control of a $1 billion charitable trust.

Here’s the thing, I don’t have a $1 billion trust to leave my progeny.  And even if I did, I’m a long way from leaving it to them in a will.  But I desperately desire my offspring to understand and internalize all these lessons just like the nephew in the book.  How do I instill a strong work ethic in my children?  How do I get them to crave spending time with people and giving themselves away?  How do I instill any of these desirable character traits?

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