Grandson Grant celebrates his 19th birthday on Sunday. He graduates high school in less than a month and then it is on to Iowa State. Busy time! Lots of dreams! Scary! Happy Birthday Grant!
Grandson Dominic participates in the State High School Skeet Shooting Championship on Saturday. I’m told that when the “bird”, which is a clay disk, is pulled and launched into the sky, if the shooter nicks the bird it is considered a hit. Dominic allegedly destroys the disk. It literally explodes. Yeah, right.
Sunday is also Mother’s Day. Show your mom “the love”. She is one of the few people in this world who cares unconditionally. You are lucky to have her.
My Mother’s life didn’t turn out as expected. She married earlier than her parents would have liked. I think having four kids overwhelmed her and her husband dying early embittered her. Yet,she persevered. She was smart (she got straight A’s in high school). Because our family never had much money, my mother’s view was from the bottom of the social heap. I thought I’d share some of my Mother’s insights about money with you (it could be her belated gift).
Money begets money. It means, if you have money, you have a better opportunity to earn and acquire more than someone who is poor. Really?
The rich get richer and the poor get kids. This is from a Mom who was struggling to survive and noticed that families with lots of kids generally didn’t have a lot money. The rich don’t spend on kids. They keep more of their money. Dah!
The world is filled with “10 cent millionaires”. This was her description of people who acted like they had lots of money but were one step from being broke. They had cars, houses and country club memberships on borrowed money. Nothing has really changed except credit cards now create the same illusion of wealth.
You can be insurance poor. You can spend so much money on insurance that you have no money for yourself. Don’t do this!
A penny saved is a penny earned (she borrowed this from Ben Franklin).
So, you see, my Mom was really pretty savvy and street smart. This was a Mom who kept extra cash in “apple and pear shaped sugar jars”. My lament is that when all her personal things were disposed of, there was money hidden somewhere.
Happy Mothers Day to all you Moms out there.
Love,
Dad