What does money mean to you?

I'm sure everyone has a view about money and what it means to them. I think it is simply a tool.

Money means I can do the things I would not be able to do without money. Comfort is important to me and life without money is uncomfortable. Wallis Simpson said that you can never be too thin and some people think you can never be too rich -- but I'm not one of them!

I'm with you there, Abe. I see it as a means to an end. Of course, the end result is hopefully the comfort that Shelagh is hoping for. Money keeps the bill collectors away, and the electricity flowing.

Keeping money in the right perspective is important.
People who chase money just to have it find that it is elusive and meaningless. If they work for the end result - of what money can buy, then it has meaning.

What is the "right perspective" Abe? Young people today need money not just for the things money can buy but for services.

They cannot fix anything, have low cooking skills, don't know how to grow anything and have no idea how to entertain themselves. Everything they do requires money. So, how should young people today keep money in the right perspective?

That'a almost another subject, Shelagh.
Of course everyone needs money to survive. The system of barter is not one the average person can use. Even a welfare recipient needs something they can exchange for food.

What I mean by "the right perspective" goes beyond the basic needs. And I said, "needs" not "wants." The basic needs being food, shelter and clothing.

Food: Having enough to eat to survive. Dining out is a want. Eating to excess is a want, etc.

Shelter: A roof over ones head. Keeping up with the Joneses by having a large house is a want.

Clothing: To cover oneself and keep warm. Having the latest fashion is a want.

Getting back to the perspective thing. If we have the basic needs, then the wants are those things that define our goals and ambitions. Setting worthwhile goals will cause one to find the vehicle to get them where they want to go. Perhaps they can't achieve it in the job they now have and need to change, otherwise the goal is a pipe dream and not realistic.

Did I answer the question or create confusion?

That's an excellent point, Shelagh. Too many young people are just handed everything they need, and given other things they really don't need, and don't have to work for.

This follows along the lines of the lottery question. The things we must work for mean much more to us then those things that simply appear when we have had to put forth no effort to gain them.

There are many young parents who do not have skills for living and therefore cannot hand them down to their children. I would not like to be a parent of young children today. The problems encountered seem much larger than the ones I encountered.

Many young adults in this country are losing their homes due to overspending, and making poor choices for financing. They are not living within their means and are paying a dear price for it.

I think some of the life skills, such as cooking and budgeting will eventually be learned out of necessity. Lessons more easily learned as children will have to be force fed to them.

I am seeing more and more grandparents being left with the chore of raising their children's children. Possibly due to the lack of skills they were able to hand down originally. Perhaps it will turn around as they are able to pass on necessary skills to their grandchildren.

Abe, that is a very good example of need vs. want. That can be a hard lesson for the young to learn. With credit so easily obtained in today's world, they can get into dire straights reaching for wants and neglecting needs.

Zada,
you're right. I suppose my ideas are considered those of an old foggy. We grew up in a different age with a different set of values. If you didn't work, you didn't eat. I think the big change came when things got better and parents said, "I don't want my kids to go through what I had to go through" and then they gave their kids all the things they didn't have. That turned out to be a big mistake in most instances with kids not learning the value of money - the hard work it takes to earn it. That gets back to "something for nothing being worth nothing," not having a real value.
That's just my 2 cents.

If we hit another depression, which we will at some point or other, this generation will learn the value of money the hard way - those who learn how to grow food and make their own clothes again, that is. I suspect most of them will die of hunger shivering around their candles, moaning about how the world owes them everything.

There is a Country and Western about "A country boy can survive." I don't think it is so much about when people grew up as where they grew up, or perhaps a combination of the two.

Where I grew up we always said we were 20 years behind the times. I grew up in rural New Mexico and learned to fish and hunt at an early age. We grew or raised all our own food, and only bought the most basic staples, flour and sugar. Because my sister and I were so tall, we made all our clothes, and we knew how to harvest firewood, make a camp and repair the line shack. Although we had a small ranch, my dad made a good living working in the mines, but he also taught us to survive. Which was a good thing because when he died at 45, we were forced to used those lessons.

I have come a long way from that small little ranch on the edge of Navajo Reservation, but I haven't forgotten how garden, fish, or sew.

I love that term old fogey Abe, and I sure can relate to this thread. It was really satisfying for me the first time I heard one of my kids talking on the phone about how she had to do her own laundry from the time she was 13. Then when my oldest daughter thanked me - at 21 - for making her learn to cook because many of her friends cannot, I thought it was funny because I had only done what I thought was a good idea (and was exactly what my own parents had taught me).

You all are missing the most important thing about money.

IT BUYS CHOCOLATE.

I had to laugh when I read the chocolate line.

I am not too sure it depends on where or when one was raised as much as who they were raised by. It is up to the parents to instill values and skills in their children. Many parents today think that will happen in school, but teachers today have their hands full just trying to get kids to learn the 3 R's.
Parents are often too busy working to teach their children any values or skills, so they hand them 'toys', hoping to occupy them enough to keep them out of trouble. Parents of today who manage to teach their children the things they need to know in order to survive are to be commended.

If anyone here has a problem with money, you can send it all to me!

And all the overflow that was sent to George, he can forward to me.
I'd like to buy some chocolate for Madhatter. Perhaps something heart-shaped since it's valentine's day.

If anyone feels like throwing some money around, my book is online:

http://www.lulu.com/content/2048817

My grandmother always said having money would never make you happy. By that I think she meant having too much would never make you happy. I think in some ways she was right.

I would far rather have sufficeint to clothe, feed me, provide a roof over my head, and keep me in reasonable comfort and good health, than have pots of the stuff in the bank.

Perhaps, as we get older, our perspective changes. When we're young, we want everything - the latest car, phone, designer clothes, etc, etc. At the end of the day they are only possessions. Ask someone who has been seriously ill if they would prefer their health or money - I'm sure they'd say health. I know I would.

Congratulations Shelagh!

It's true that too much money cannot make you happy...but chocolate, now that does make me happy.

Jenny wrote:

Congratulations Shelagh!

Thanks Jenny!

I also means being able to hire a driver so I won't have to fight traffic!

Money has its importance, but that importance is finite. Personally, I would like to have enough money to pay the bills and be able to buy a luxury or two now and again. However, money should not be the sole purpose of our existance. Money should not be the only force guiding our lives. After all, what's the point of having a ton of money if you never have the time to enjoy it?

Putting money in its proper place might be explained this way:
Let’s suppose you were placed in a room that was stacked from floor to ceiling with $1000 bills. There was just space for a chair in the middle of the room and that was where you sat. Then they locked the door. You were filthy rich but you were going to die since you couldn’t eat the money and you would eventually starve to death.
Having money means little unless there is a purpose for which to use it. How much is enough depends on the individual’s needs and wants. Money does not bring happiness. The more money you have the more problems you have and that can lead to a different subject. Money is a means to an end. Do you know what the end is you seek?

It's a values call as to how much importance that money has for you, as is what you will do with it.

I tend to look at money in a very practical sense, more like Bob Cratchit than Ebenezer. I think of the example of a single mother with two children who has to choose between groceries and rent. That mother will probably put much more value on money than people who have not had to make those kinds of decisions. Money cannot bring happiness, it's true, but it is an essential part of survival in this world.