YesterYesterYear
It is funny what time does.
- Two years ago yesterday was the market low for the S&P 500, ending at 677. For those not familiar, basicly the S&P 500 tracks 500 of the largest publicly traded companies in the US. It ended yesterday at 1315.
- S&P 500 has surged more than 95%, as of Tuesday's close.
- That is the strongest 2 year bull market since 1962
- This added $6.2 trillion in market capitalization to the S&P
Those numbers may not mean much to you but it is interesting what time does and lessons I have noticed. Time can torture, trap, and hurt in the immediate. Two years ago yesterday, people were panicked. People were in crazy bad situations financially through the poking of the housing bubble. For those who haven't or can't refinance, there will be more people in crazy bad situations, as Adjustable Rate Mortgages (ARMs) change these next few years.
This 'challenge' has helped. Adversity has helped. People (and our nation) were living way beyond our means. Not just the individual, but municipalities, states, and the government were saddled with debt and we still are. Even businesses made themselves lean. Businesses cut off departments that they felt were unnecessary, watched expenses, and cut out excessive expenditures. I believe many of the large US companies are well positioned for future growth. Although we did let the competition gain a few steps on us, we still have the lead.
Two years later, there are still issues but not as dire as we thought only two years ago. Time can trap, torture, and hurt in the immediate. But time will free, save, and heal in the long run.
Patience is the state of endurance under difficult circumstances, which can mean persevering in the face of delay or provocation without acting on annoyance/anger in a negative way; or exhibiting forbearance when under strain, especially when faced with longer-term difficulties. Patience is the level of endurance one's character can take before negativity. It is also used to refer to the character trait of being steadfast. Antonyms include hastiness and impetuousness.
Those who were negative and hasty 2 years ago would have lost out on all the gains. People assume time is patience. Patience takes time but time is not patience. You can take time but not be patient. You can be patient but not give it enough time. In either cases, you are not patient. In the definition above, endurance and perserverance mean you are working toward a goal, you are hopeful, you are not negative. Patience is the level of endurance one's character can take before negativity. Patience is a virtue. Why is patience a virtue? I am not entirely sure. I just know that the last two years has helped open my eyes. Patience.
Share on FacebookIn Debt Over Our Heads?
When you read reports with numbers in the billions or trillions, do you get what they mean? I know I don't really grasp some of those numbers, which is probably a reason why most Americans (1) Don't know (2) Don't care about issues of GDP, economics, and our budget deficits & debts. We are lazy beings. Put things in front of us that don't make sense and are 'hard to figure out' and we will default to not learning. That is why TV, video games, and movies are so popular.
This is my feeble attempt to address the deficit and debt specifically, relevantly, and contextually.
In October 2008, the U.S. government bailed out banks and financial institutions to the tune of $700 billion. That’s the numeral 7 followed by eleven zeros! $700,000,000,000. Does your mind wrap its head around that? I know it really doesn't for me. San Jose Mercury News reporter Scott Harris put the number into a context his Silicon Valley readers could understand:
- $700 billion is twenty-five times the combined wealth of the Google guys.
- It is the equivalent of 200 billion venti lattes at Starbucks or 3.5 billion iPhones.
- The government could write checks for $2,300 to every man, woman, and child in America or provide free education for twenty-three million college students.
That is how much that bailout cost. Can we try talking in the trillions now? With our national debt almost at 14 trillion dollars, do we grasp our head around that number? Not really. But 14 trillion dollars maybe a small or large number depending on what we compare it to, which is why we make it relative. That is why we use percentages. We can make sense of percentages.
On current policies the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) reckons that the federal debt, now 62% of GDP, will hit 87% by 2020. Add in state and local-government borrowing, and the total approaches 110%.
Lets try to relate this back to simple terms. GDP is kind of like US' yearly income and debt is debt.
- Lets say our country is a person who makes $50,000 a year.
- If we equate our 62% debt (our debt to GDP percentage) ,we would have $31,000 in debt.
- Now we use to make $60,000 but had to take a pay decrease. We put all our money in a zero percent interest card but know in the next few years our promotional rate will expire (elderly + Medicare, Medicaid) This will make our percentage 87% by 2020, which is $43,500.
- Now we have a brother who isn't doing well with finances either. He thought he could spend and spend and got stuck in debt too. You make a better wage than he does and you are older so you may or may not foot his bill. All local and state level borrowing is 23% of GDP.
- That makes our total debt $55,000 with a $50,000 salary. I don't know your preference on debt and don't care if you think there is good debt and bad debt. I don't care if it was from student loans (infrastructure), credit cards (lavish and excessive programs), car loans (bailouts), whatever.
I know we are leveraged up, maybe not to our eyeballs but to our chest with debt. I know how hard it is to climb out of debt. I have done it myself. If we think of our GDP and debt in terms of a person, we can see that we are not doing too well. China is the well off, well positioned 'financial individual' who is buying up or 'loaning out' to everyone else they choose.
Share on FacebookThe 10 Rules Great CFOs Live By
The following is an excerpt from Your Life & Your Money.
Your actions speak so loud, I can’t hear what you are saying.—SCOTT FEHER
1. Always take responsibility and accountability for your financial affairs. Take responsibility for your role in all your affairs, not just financial. Do not blame others. Understand that you can’t change people. You can only make the necessary adjustments and changes to better prepare yourself for your next fi nancial investment or transaction. It’s easy to blame others, but your role is the only one you can take responsibility for!
2. Master your expenses. If you don’t, you’re destined for financial failure. Manage your expenses and you’ll pay off your debt faster and have more to invest for your future. That future is in your hands. Invest wisely and you’ll be able to retire comfortably. Remember, if you can’t afford something, don’t buy it!
3. Develop a mission statement and improve it annually. It’s vital to put your individual or family mission statement on paper. It’s a commitment to you! Be true to your mission statement, and all the rest falls into place. This will force you to dig deep and fi nd out what’s really important to you and your family. Know thyself—what a present to give yourself. As you track your improvements annually, make bigger goals to achieve every year!
4. Track your expenses, taxes, and investments with quarterly reviews. Staying on top of these important items will ensure that you become and remain a duly diligent CFO. If not you, then who? Meet with your spouse quarterly to track these and any other items that are part of your mission statement. Make sure you’re making marked improvements. This is also a good time to communicate how everything is going, and to hold each other accountable to the mission statement. It’s also an opportunity to make any necessary adjustments for the next quarter. Keeping up with these items will become easier over time!
5. Read books and business journals to become financially savvy. I recommend reading one fi nance-related book every three months. There are so many great books and journals to read. I suggest that you subscribe to the Wall Street Journal or Investors Business Daily for a couple of months to get a feel for what’s going on out there in the fi nance world. You might think it’s boring, but as the CFO you need to be well-read. Read a variety of business journals to find the one that best fits your personality. Then make it a perennial daily read. I like the Wall Street Journal because it covers more than just financial topics. I know a lot of people who like Investors Business Daily better. Everyone has a favorite for various reasons. Wake up fifteen minutes earlier or spend fifteen minutes at night before bed to read, read, read!
6. Meet with all your consultants (financial advisor, CPA, insurance agent, and estate attorney) semiannually or annually. Please take this seriously. Keeping in touch with your financial, legal, and tax professionals is vital to proper planning for the following year. I recommend a meeting with your CPA and financial advisor every November to see how you can benefit from any tax advantages, such as exercising capital losses to offset any capital gains, or possibly harvesting any gains for the following year. Your CPA needs to be very proactive prior to the New Year. There’s usually very little a CPA can do for you on April 15 to implement tax strategies from the previous year. I repeat: make sure you visit your financial advisor or CPA every November to plan for the upcoming New Year! Also, visit your insurance agent every year to check that your car, home, and life insurance policies are in order, and to confi rm that all necessary insurance policies are in place. See your estate attorney every two years to make sure that your family trust is current with any new estate tax laws. If you do all of the aforementioned tasks without the help of a professional, make sure to track and check them all just as a financial or tax professional would.
7. Don’t invest in any product or service that isn’t aligned with your mission statement or that you don’t understand. As a financial advisor, I am solicited regularly by wholesalers who want me to sell different products and services. Many of these products would incur too much risk for my clients, and therefore I would not present them. If I’m interested, and the product or service is aligned with my clients’ mission statements, then I begin to research vigorously. I read through the prospectus, research online, and discuss the product with other advisors who sell it. Then I watch it for three to twelve months. There’s no rush, since I represent products and services on a large scale, and people are depending on my recommendations. Who relies on your research and investment strategy? You do. Your family does. Do your homework, and make sure that you or your advisor thoroughly research any hot stock or mutual fund tip or offer. Make sure that this hot stock or fund is aligned with your mission statement and risk tolerance no matter how good it sounds. Remember, this book is about you knowing you, and being a smart investor, not a careless gambler!
8. Don’t allow fi nancial mistakes to hinder your progress. When you do make mistakes, forgive yourself and move on. I know many wealthy people who’ve had their share of financial hardship. Meeting thousands of people in my career has allowed me to survey many different levels of wealth. The very wealthy usually learn from their mistakes, and use them as motivational steps to reach a higher level of wealth. Even in their darkest moments, they stay true to themselves and believe that they’ll improve their lot in life. On the other hand, I’ve met people who live paycheck to paycheck, and have let their past financial mistakes become their permanent life story, thereby keeping themselves from achieving financial greatness. It’s such a fine line that it’s scary. Allow yourself to make financial mistakes, and never, ever give up on you or your family.
9. Your word is your bond! Hold yourself accountable. Integrity is essential in all your affairs. When you say you’ll do something, you need to follow through. If you don’t, how will you achieve your goals? When you design your mission statement, and you and your spouse agree to hold each other accountable for taking care of each other’s assignments or chores, then it’s important to be there for one another. If you’re single, be there for yourself. In either case, it’s vital to follow through on your word and on your promises to yourself. Is there anything more important than keeping your word? Rare is the story of financial success or goodwill in which people do not keep their word.
10. Having it all depends on YOU! If you don’t take care of your financial affairs, who will? It doesn’t matter if you’re a paycheck-to-paycheck family or a very high-net-worth individual. You have to follow the laws and principles of sound financial money management or you’ll eventually end up in a place you never intended.
Lastly, I wish you all the best in your endeavors to become a quality CFO, and I pray that you fulfill all of your dreams. Always stay focused on preparation, and the rest will fall into place. Your future is up to you.
If not you, then who?
Share on FacebookRaise My Taxes, Mr. President!
Good read I found in Newsweek by Fareed Zakaria on August 1, 2010.
We can’t afford the Bush cuts anymore.
For the last few months, we have heard powerful, passionate arguments about the need to cut America’s massive budget deficit. Republican senators have claimed that we are in danger of permanently crippling the economy. Conservative economists and pundits warn of a Greece-like crisis, when America can borrow only at exorbitant interest rates. So when an opportunity presents itself to cut those deficits by about a third—more than $300 billion!—permanently and relatively easily, you would think that these very people would be in the lead. Far from it.
The Bush tax cuts remain the single largest cause of America’s structural deficit—that is, the deficit not caused by the collapse in tax revenues when the economy goes into recession. The Bush administration inherited budget surpluses from the Clinton administration. What turned these into deficits, even before the recession? There were three fundamental new costs—the tax cuts, the prescription-drug bill, and post-9/11 security spending (including the Iraq and Afghanistan wars). Of these the tax cuts were by far the largest, adding up to $2.3 trillion over 10 years. According to the Congressional Budget Office, nearly half the cost of all legislation enacted from 2001 to 2007 can be attributed to the tax cuts.
Those cuts are set to expire this year. The Republicans say they want to keep them all, even for those making more than $250,000 a year (less than 3 percent of Americans). They say that higher taxes will hurt the recovery. But for months now they have been arguing that the chief threat to the economy is our gargantuan debt and deficit. That’s what’s scaring consumers, creditors, and businesses. Given a chance to address those fears by getting serious about deficit reduction, though, they run away. Look by contrast at British Prime Minister David Cameron, a genuine fiscal conservative. To deal with his country’s deficit, which in structural terms is not so different from America’s, he concluded that he would have to raise taxes as well as cut spending.
The Democrats, for their part, are also running scared, proposing to keep all the tax cuts except those affecting the very rich. But they were opposed to these tax cuts in 2001 and 2003. If they were a bad idea when budget deficits were small, why are tax cuts a good idea when deficits are in the $1.3 trillion range?
The idea that the average American is overtaxed is a nice piece of populist pandering. In fact, federal taxes as a percentage of the economy are at their lowest level since the presidency of Harry Truman. Chuck Marr and Gillian Brunet of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities have calculated that a family of four at the exact middle of the income spectrum will pay only 4.6 percent of its income in taxes. Remember, almost half of the country pays no income taxes at all. The top 3 percent of Americans contribute almost 50 percent of federal income taxes.
The simple fact is this: all the Bush tax cuts were unaffordable. They were an irresponsible act of hubris enacted during an economic boom. Conservatives thought they would force us to shrink the government. But with Republicans controlling the White House and both houses of Congress, did reduced taxes cause reduced spending? No, they led to ever-increasing borrowing and a ballooning deficit.
We have one of the smallest governments among all the rich countries in the world. Yet we refuse to pay for it. (Yes, health-care spending is the big exception and, yes, we will have to get those costs under control.) I understand the fear that this is not a good time to raise taxes. But the impact of marginal shifts in tax rates on growth is pretty unclear. Clinton raised taxes in 1992 and ushered in a period of extraordinarily robust growth. Bush cut taxes massively in 2001 and got meager growth in return. Three tax cuts enacted since the financial crisis have done little to spur growth. In any event, if timing is the issue, Congress could extend the tax cuts for a year but then let them expire. Better yet, spend money on far more efficient ways to spur job creation, such as tax credits for jobs, which the CBO estimates would create four to six times as many jobs as would tax cuts.
I don’t like our current tax system. It’s unwieldy, taxes the wrong things (income instead of consumption), and is filled with loopholes that are legalized corruption. But we are not going to create the perfect tax code today. We have in front of us a simple, easy way to bring America’s fiscal house in order, reduce our dependence on foreign borrowing, restore U.S. credibility and power, and give us a stable revenue base from which to make key investments for future growth. All we need is for Congress to do what it does so well—nothing.
If I could, I would have highlighted the last couple paragraphs in full. Taxes as a percentage of the economy are at their lowest level since the presidency of Harry Truman. Some of the tax cuts were irresponsible, in a time when the economy was greedily propped up by our own desire. How do you get out of debt? You PAY it off. I agree with Zakaria that our current tax system needs a fix, but it won't happen anytime soon. I don't like how 50% of America doesn't pay income tax, either by mooching or by tax loopholes. I really don't like how the top 3% is footing almost 50% of all federal income tax. Our tax system definitely needs to be re-evaluated.
Excellence in the Ordinary
'We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.' - Aristotle
'Excellence is doing ordinary things extraordinarily well.' - John W Gardner
'The people that win are those that have excellence in the ordinary.' - Unknown
ordinary: commonly encountered; usual. Of no exceptional ability, degree, or quality; average. the stuff you do daily
This is kind of a paraphrase to one of Dave Ramsey's podcast rants. I totally agree. He can be a little much at times.
Do ordinary stuff everyday with Excellence! Stop your whining. Grow some and get to work!
- It's hard to execute the excellence in the ordinary when the suns out and the surf is up
- It's hard when you had a fight with your boyfriend/girlfriend/wife/husband & go to work and smile and do your work with excellence
- It's hard when there is only an hour left on Friday
- It's hard when you're sick (actually you should be at home)
- It's hard when you've not slept enough the last week
- It's hard when your vacation/event/party is looming
- It's hard when you're broke
- People can do it in flashes, but its hard for people to do it every single day, day in and day out.
- You control your attitude. Unless you are a child. There are 33 year old children that cant control themselves. They have a temper. Everyone they turnaround they cuss somebody. Every time they turnaround they roll their eyes, they never have anything good to say to anybody. And then they cant figure out why they cant prosper.
Can you do it every single day, every single hour, every single minute? It is training, training your mind. It is behavior. It is your decision. These decisions become your habit. Habits with your employees, employer, spouse, friends, family. If one minute you are smiling and the next minute you are cussing out your employees, and then you cant figure out why they dont work hard.... you are not a leader. It is not hard to figure out. Nobody wants to follow somebody who is bipolar and cant make up their mind if they are a good guy or not. IT ISNT HARD. but it is hard. It isnt hard to grasp what we are doing, but it is hard to be have excellence. Do the ordinary things, every single day, every single time. with excellence. Excellence with the ordinary.
(This will give you energy. Energy to win in Finance, Business, Family, Friends, Relationships, you name it. There is no energy in losing.) Think about it.
Share on FacebookDefining Financial Freedom
This post is from Kent Thune. Kent urges and guides readers to place meaning and purpose before money and planning at his blog, The Financial Philosopher.
Can freedom be bought? Are there any (financially) poor people who are free? Are there any (financially) wealthy people who aren’t free? If someone were to ask you, “What’s your definition of financial freedom?”, what would you say? Be honest with yourself: Would you reply with a concrete definition? Or would your answer be more abstract?
“Man acts as though he were the shaper and master of language, while in fact language remains the master of man.” ~ Martin Heidegger
The conventional definition of financial freedom goes something like this:
Financial freedom comes when you’ve saved a nest egg large enough that the interest earned from your savings will replace 80% of your current income, adjusted for inflation, when you decide to retire. (Assuming your savings are your only source of retirement income.)
Because of its abstract nature, financial freedom is among the most abused ideas in the world of personal finance. In my early training as a financial planner, I was taught to use questions like these to provoke action. (Or, more accurately, to provoke anxiety.)
- Are you on track to reaching your retirement goals?
- Are you paying too much in taxes?
- Are you a slave to your debt?
- What will happen to your money after you die?
- Are you on course to achieve financial freedom? If not, would you like to know for sure?
The idea of financial freedom is no conspiracy to deceive the masses, but it sure has sold vast quantities of financial products and services! How many books, websites, blogs, magazine articles, media advertisements, and financial planners have used the term financial freedom as leverage to sell something?
But how can a person be free if their idea of freedom is defined by monetary means, by someone else — or not defined at all?
It’s important to be aware of abstraction, ideology, and dogma when you encounter it. If the term financial freedom isn’t made concrete (defined by and for a specific person), there’s a danger that true freedom may never be obtained regardless of financial wealth.
“Life is about life and not the result of life.” ~ Johann von Goethe
Would you agree that life isn’t about the destination, but about the journey? Financial goals are destinations; they’re not life. But isn’t the freedom that money apparently purchases worth the sacrifices we make to reach this freedom? Try answering this question by asking another question: Can freedom be bought? If not, then what does this say about the pursuit of financial freedom?
“Ever more people today have the means to live, but no meaning to live for.” ~ Viktor Frankl
Meaning precedes money; purpose precedes planning. It’s contradictory to believe that a given life objective can be reached by financial means. The blind pursuit of financial freedom is often closer to slavery than it is to liberation. It’s making life a tool for money, whereas money should be made a tool for life.
I believe that financial freedom, if it exists, lies at the point at which the utility of money begins to diminish, the point at which the basic sources of physical well-being — food, shelter and clothing — have been met. At this point, financial freedom may be had by (and defined as) the capacity to eliminate the desire for more money. Or, expressed in one word, contentment.
Really, though, the only wrong definition of financial freedom is the one that isn’t yours. Don’t allow any financial planner, family member, friend, blogger, or anyone else to influence your definition of financial freedom!
With that in mind, what is your definition of financial freedom? Does it even exist? Can freedom even be bought? Are you free yet?
Share on FacebookShow & Tell
When you are confident about something, you want to show it off. When you really like someone, you tell people about the experiences you had with them and how awesome they are. When you really enjoyed the service or food at a particular business, you recommend that restaurant to other people.
When you really: believe, trust, have faith in, enjoy, like doing, gives pleasure, in something, someone, or someplace; you will show and tell.
You will talk about it. You will bring it up as soon as you have an opportunity. You refer it so others can have the same experience.
What are areas that should be show and tell but aren’t? We all have areas in our lives we do not SHOW and TELL. Why is that? We are ashamed of the areas we do not want to talk about. Or we are indifferent. You do or talk about what you really give importance to.
Here are some areas where I see a lack of ‘Show and Tell’ whether that is from societal taboo or self shame, it would do us good to talk more about our issues:
Finance: whether it is debt, how much we make at work, our house value. We tend not to involve others into the discussion of personal finance. We feel ashamed, relative to our peer group, about how much we make or what kind of job we are doing because we don’t make as much as this person.
Religion: speaking about what you believe in. Proselytizing. Evangelizing. Whatever you want to call it. There is a definite hush by the public, who are made up by people, to talk about their faith, their religion, their God, Gods – or non-existence of god.
In both cases, all the self shame comes from the thoughts that others are judging us. We think and not do because we believe people will not be your friend or think lower of you if they ‘really’ knew what you were doing.
Share on FacebookThe First Million is the Hardest Million to Make
The following is an excerpt from Your Financial Playbook: A Guide to Navigating the World of Personal Finance.
Why does the 1st million seem so difficult to make? It’s the principle of compound interest that makes the 1st million the hardest million that you will ever earn. Here are a few examples.
- If you started with $100,000 and would like it to grow to $1,000,000 than you would need a 900% return on your money. ($100,000 + $900,000) = $1,000,000
- If you started with $10,000 and would like it to grow to $1,000,000 than you would need a 9,900% return on your money. ($10,000 + $990,000) = $1,000,000
- If you started with $1,000 and would like it to grow to $1,000,000 than you would need a 99,900% return on your money. ($1,000 + $999,000) = $1,000,000
- If you started with $100 and would like it to grow to $1,000,000 than you would need a 999,900% return on your money. ($100 + $999,900) = $1,000,000
As you can see it takes astronomical returns on your money to make $100, $1,000, $10,000 and $100,000 grow to a million dollars. Suppose that you already had $1,000,000 dollars and would like to turn it into $2,000,000 dollars. What type of return would you need to achieve that?
($1,000,000 x 100% = $1,000,000) You would need a 100 percent return in order to turn $1,000,000 into $2,000,000 dollars. A 100% return seems paltry compared to the returns listed above. So, what does all of this illustrate? This explains why it is easier for a millionaire to become a multimillionaire than for an individual with a few thousand dollars to become a millionaire. Remember it’s not impossible to become a millionaire just remember two simple rules.
Share on Facebook1. You need to continually increase the amount that you are investing. The greater the amount that you are willing to invest can help lower the return needed to achieve your goals. Saving more money today means that you don’t have to chase high returns tomorrow. It’s better to be in a position where you can accept a 10% return on your money rather than chasing a 1,000% return.
2. You need to give yourself ample time to reach your financial goal. The principle of compound interest works best for you over longer time periods. All things being equal an individual that invests for 20 years has the potential for a greater return than someone who invests for 5 years.
Six Things Your Parents Never Taught You About Money
The following is a guest post from Life Cover.
Most parents try to teach their kids about money such as how to make it and how to manage it but only life experience can give us the full picture. With that in mind, here are six things your parents never taught you about money.
6. Hard Come, Easy Go
Making money is hard work. However spending money could not be simpler or easier. Not only are there the things we want to buy for ourselves (whether they be necessities or treats), but when you factor in bills, mortgages and debts and so on - our pocket might as well have holes in them.
5. Just the Tax, Ma’am
There’s only one way for lessons about taxes to stick and that’s by paying them. When you’re a kid, the idea of taxes is hard to wrap your head around. But once out in the real world, taxes become a fact of life. Death and taxes. And sometimes the latter can help bring about the former.
4. Hold The Gratification
The word child must, in some forgotten Latin dialects, mean Instant Gratification. Cravings are continuous when we’re young and patience is pretty hard to come by. Well, who knew it takes money to fulfill those cravings? Sometimes a lot of money. And once you’ve lived the first two items on this list, you know that the carrot on the stick must occasionally stay out of reach a lot longer than we would want.
3. What’s it Worth?
We’ve all heard it, whenever we didn’t want to finish our peas. You remember: “Don’t waste food, there are people starving in Africa.” Remember that one? Well, when the fridge is always full and our allowance isn’t the reason there are groceries in the house, wasting food does not seem like that big a deal. And so we learn how much things like food, shelter, clothes and gadgets are actually worth only when we start paying for them ourselves. Suddenly wasting things we shelled out our hard earned money for isn’t the picnic it used to be.
2. What Do You Want To Do With Your Life?
Astronaut. Fireman. School Teacher. Mailman. The answers to this question roll off the tongue when we’re kids. Realistically, though, the only true answer to this question comes through the benefit of life experience. It’s only after we’ve test driven various jobs do we begin to get an idea of where our destiny lies and whether or not we can earn a living at the job we choose.
1. Happiness, Not For Sale
When we’re kids, it seems obvious that money buys happiness. After all, our needs usually consist of whatever passes in front of our eyes when we’re dragged along on shopping runs. It’s on the store shelf, things in the store cost money, you’ve got to have this doodad or life isn’t worth living, therefore money gets you that item and saves your life. Well, it doesn’t quite work that way in the grown up world, does it?
Share on Facebook