HE’S SITTING ON $100,000!!!
I am the proud father of five sons. Even though they are all now grown, I still think it’s important to spend time with them. In fact, when I can I make it a point to spend individual quality time with each one. I always want to know where their heads are.
One afternoon, one of my sons and I were riding together in the car and having a great conversation. He then mentioned the name of one of his best friends. Since they’ve been friends most of their lives, I actually refer to him as my “nephew”.
When my son brought up his name, I asked, “So, how’s he doing?”
“He’s good! He’s sitting on $100,000.”
I instantly flipped out. “Sitting on $100,000?!! Is he crazy? You don’t sit on $100,000! Call him! Call him right now! Call him!!!”
“Ah Dad! We don’t need to….”
“CALL HIM! In fact, we’re driving to his house right now!!!”
As we made a u-turn and headed straight for his house, my son just chuckled to himself and shook his head. But, I didn’t care. I was serious! I got straight upset about my nephew sitting on $100,000. I had had several conversations about money with him and my son, and here he was basically doing nothing with all that money!
Before my son could even turn off the engine, I jumped out of the car and made a beeline to the front door.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
As soon as my nephew opened the door, I jumped right on him.
“What are you doing sitting on $100,000, doing nothing with it?!! Man, come on! Where is this money? I taught you that money is currency, right? That means it’s a current. Money has to flow. You have to keep the money flowing. Just like a river. A river is a current. If you stop the river, what happens? The land dries up and the animals and plant life die. Nephew, look at our economy right now. The powers that be want our economy to keep moving. Why? If the currency doesn’t continue to move because people aren’t spending money, the currency will cut off. Then what will happen? The country will dry up and the people will die. We can’t have that!”
Just as I was about to give him another earful, he stopped me.
“Unc, hold on man! Hold on! I know this. You told me this years ago. Remember you told me to have a purpose for my money.”
“Yeah, that’s right! You’re sitting on a hun…”
“Unc! Hold up! Let me finish. You told me to make sure my money has a purpose—to name my money. So, for the last three years, my girl and I have been setting aside a certain amount of money every time we get paid. We wanted to pay cash for our first rental property, and we said we were going to do it in three years. Well, it’s three years later, and we now have $100,000!”
“Oh wow! I didn’t know! I jumped to conclusions. Sorry nephew.”
The moral of the story is: Follow the example of my nephew and have a purpose for your money. What are your dreams? Your goals? Need money to achieve them? It can be done, but you must be disciplined and purposeful. And when someone like me, who thinks they know everything, wants to jump on your case and tell you what to do with your money, politely tell that person to shut up!
