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Tuesday, July 3, 2018

Why Giving up My Life, Saved My Life

With Canada Day in the rearview, I reflect. We have a lot of things going for us in this country. Clean air, fresh water, an abundance of resources.  The government also subsidizes a large part of our lives, albeit with our tax money, which allows us to not have to worry about much. Of course, with that kind of system begets a whole new set of problems. Wages are low, savings are down, taxes are high, the cost of living is through the roof, and overall optimism about the current state of affairs is extremely poor. Our system has given us a false sense of security when it comes to our finances. This must be why we cling to the idea of some leader coming in to save us. Like that has ever happened in the history of the world. Just a heads up, no one is coming to save you, ever. Perspective is everything and for me, I gained a lot of perspective over the past 8 years. During those years I learned more about the world and myself than I did in the previous 25. I want to tell a little about why “Giving up my Life, Changed my Life.” My hope is that it will shed some light on what is actually important and give some perspective on what it takes to achieve financial freedom.

 

 

Debt destroys lives, and there is no one to blame but ourselves

Right-wing politics always pushes a narrative of shunning debt and deficit. Although I am not right wing, not even close, I will admit one thing, they are right. Debt is terrible for anyone. For a country, a business and especially our families. But here is the part that confuses me about debt. If we should care that the government is in constant debt and the deficit is constantly rising, shouldn’t we be just as concerned about our own debt? It seems that caring about government debt while not caring about our own is somewhat hypocritical. So why do we do that? With the average Canadian household hovering over 20K in consumer debt, the answer to me is simple. Government debt is something other people must deal with, so we care. Our own debt is something we must deal with, so we don’t. What other reason could it be? It seems to escape us that debt destroys lives. The only thing that ruins lives more than debt is bad health. In my life, I have dealt with both. Debt breeds poverty and breaks up families, perpetuates more debt and even causes health problems.  I could not fully control my health, but I could control my debt. No one got me into debt, I did it all on my own. It wasn’t the government, or my parents, or my boss. It was all me and I had to get myself out of it. The day I realized that was the most important day of my life, so far anyway. When I say realized it, I mean truly realized it. Realizing it means coming up with a plan and following it through. I got into it, I had to get out of it.

How Debt Can Affect Your Life – Life and My Finances

Those who don’t care about money, don’t care about much

I always say there are two people who say money isn’t everything: Those who have too much of it, and those who have too little. The first is trying to get you to think it isn’t important so you don’t take theirs, the other is trying to justify their lack of it. I have always believed that money is important. One thing I did do, however, was treat my money like it wasn’t important. I spent money like it was water. I then drank that water, with vodka and bar lime in it. Many of us have stories of our early 20’s and how they got out of hand. The hope is that it changes by the time you are 30. Sadly, for many, it doesn’t. So why is caring about money very important? The answer is simple. Caring about your money is quite simply, caring about yourself. It is caring about your time, your well-being, your future, your family. Does the way you spend show the world what you care about? Now that sounds a little dramatic but hear me out. We all care about fun and want more of it. But do we care about our future more than fun? If you don’t save money and spend money on fun, that is essentially what you are proclaiming. But we can die tomorrow is a normal reply, YOLO. Yes, you could die tomorrow, very true. But more than likely you will live to the average life expectancy of over 80 years old. Not preparing for that is troubling. The day I really started caring about my money and using it to reflect what I actually care about was an important day.

What Is Money Silence And Why Should You Care? – Forbes

 

There is an epidemic of bullshit out there, and people love it

So, if we don’t care about money, what do we care about? The answer is simple: stuff. While in the theme of self-degradation I will throw myself under the bus. Celebrity worship has always puzzled me. I mean who really cares about these people? Then again, sports worship is equally as stupid. Call me guilty as charged on that one. I absolutely love sports. I will defend my worship, however. I try extremely hard not to contribute any money towards this worship. I know there is a correlation between my watching a game on TV and making someone, somewhere some money, but other than that and the occasional hat or shirt, I’m off the grid. How about social media? This seems a bit odd for someone who is all over social media to say, but we definitely spend too much time on it. The selfies, posing, pictures of ourselves getting lit, is a huge waste of time. What about politics? People who know me, know I am a very political guy. I always find it funny when someone says, “Well that person is just trying to buy votes.” Uhhh, well yeah, that’s their job. If your job requires as many people as possible to like you, I am sure you would tell a lie or two or twelve. To me, it’s all bullshit. It is used to fill the air with noise, so we get distracted from what is really important, giving a shit about ourselves. If every celebrity, sports star, and politician disappeared tomorrow, the sun would still come up and you would still have figure out how to make your life better. The day I realized that was an important day.

Ignoring Others Is Necessary To Reach Your Potential – The Future Buzz

Financial Advisor

 

 

What matters and what doesn’t matter?

You wouldn’t believe how many people I know that allow themselves to be walked all over on a daily basis. It makes me sad to think about it. Why am I bringing this up? I bring it up because, between those 2 people, the walker and the walked on, lies a simple truth. Both have an underlying issue in their life. If you are walking all over someone it means that you fear your worth. You fear your position, your role, your standing can be taken from you, so therefore you walk on someone else. For the walked on, it is almost the same thing. You have that same fear except you believe capitulating in that event will make it stop. So what matters and what doesn’t? I probably should answer that right? Well, what doesn’t matter is very simple. Race, gender, religion, sexual orientation, societal body image are all things that don’t really matter. Caring, courage, compassion, trust, equality, and abundance are all things that do. So why do I bring this up? I bring this up because when we about the things that don’t matter, we discount the things that do. Stupid stuff takes up our time and our mental headspace. Why is it even a debate on whether certain people can get married? Why do we care when this person prays or how many times? What is the difference what a person looks like? There are only so many hours in the day and if we fill them up with those kinds of thoughts, we are lost. Again, it is an outward focus that should be directed internally. This may sound selfish, but we should all focus on ourselves. By focusing on yourself and the way you want your life to be, you then see that others may want to do the same. Do you want abundance? So do others. You don’t want your rights taken away? Other don’t either. If we remember that, all the meaningless things will disappear. The day I realized that was an important day.

Prioritizing Your Spending – Budget Boss

 

 

So what does the title of this post mean?

I always get asked about the amount I work. Many call me a workaholic to the point of it being a fault. They might be right, but there is a reason behind the madness. When I wasn’t doing what I am doing now, I was living a destructive life. I was going nowhere and fast. I had to give up that life. I had to give up my life, to save my life. I was sick, poor, in debt and an overall crummy person. By giving up that life I am not all a sudden a saint, far from it. One thing is for sure however, I care about what matters to me. People often wonder why I talk about history, or politics or even myself when it comes to money. I am a financial advisor, so what does any of that matter? My favorite professor during university, Dr. Anton Allahar at the University of Western Ontario, strongly believes that all division in society stems from an attempt to divide us through class. People use these divisions to separate us from our money. We use these divisions to keep us thinking about what is not important and prevent us from doing something about what is actually important, our money and our future. I had to give up the life I was living in order to live at all. Sure, I would be alive more than likely, but would I actually be living? I think as a society we need to let go of the life we are living as well, in order to focus on what is really important, each other and ourselves.

 

My Dad, who is my hero, is probably one of the smartest guys I know. Why do is say that? I say that because he doesn’t give a fuck about anything. Anything except his family, his loved ones, his livelihood, his future and himself. When you care about those things and put into place a plan to take care of those things, you are essentially caring about everyone. If you want a brighter future for your family, logic dictates you want a better future for all families. It is a simple concept when you think about it. It gets lost when we start caring about the things that don’t matter. I am trying to give that life up. Maybe we all should.

“Decide what you want, decide what you are willing to exchange for it. Establish your priorities and go to work.” – H. L. Hunt
Financial Advisor

Abundance versus Scarcity Mentalities

Email – joe@budgetboss.ca 

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