The Love of Money

I find myself sitting in a very strange situation in which I have a view from what seems like both ends of the continuum in regard to "the love of money," here in America.  I'm not really trying to tell all the family business, but in the past week, I've gotten to hear about it from both extremes, and both extremes can agree on one thing.  I'm doing it wrong!  I'm really not speaking out of turn, as they both speak quite openly about their perspective when it comes to money.  Another point to make, is both extreme perspectives were given by the ones who have married good providers.  Both of these women have explained to me about money, while neither have ever had to support themselves for any length of time . . .  Actually, my mother has never had to support herself and my daughter, only briefly.

I have no idea how much money my parents have, but they do own a significant amount of land and their home has been paid for for over a quarter of a century.  Daddy has been pretty much able to name his own price, professionally, since he retired.  He is skilled in an area that simply requires years of cumulative knowledge with experience and great leadership qualities, so even at 75 years old, he gets calls.  As they used to say in the 50s and 60s, my parents are "comfortable."  In the past year they announced they are getting their affairs in order and it seemed to take months and professionals, so I'm thinking they should be set to live out their golden years with as much security as is possible in these times.

On the other end of that spectrum is my daughter and her husband.  He also makes fantastic money, but he and my daughter lavish themselves in "living for the moment." They don't own their own home, still making a car payment and last I heard both still have outstanding debt on student loans for degrees neither of them use.  My daughter refers to it as a "rockstar lifestyle."   She's voiced more than once, she's expecting an economic collapse and they'll simply take on a nomadic lifestyle.  She's pushing 40 and he's just a few years younger than I am.  So there are the two extremes and I'm somewhere not even in the middle.

In the event of collapse, I plan to be a place of refuge, but not for those who expect the collapse and refused to prepare.  So this will not be a refuge for broke, unprepared, aged rockstar wanna-bees.  Also, off this continuum, unlike my parents; I don't plan to retire.  Unlike many boomers, I didn't invest in big retirement stock plans, but as it turns out, I'm not any worse off for that decision.  I did invest, but not in Wall Street.  I plan to be working, until the day I die.  Some say I'm ridiculous and that's okay.  Now, the point of this article goes beyond anyone's income or lifestyle, but rather, I get to hear the judgment and the justification of both extremes.

My mother, of course, views her materialism as "blessing."  She listens to the religious prosperity guys and the conservative talk show hosts.  She doesn't see it as the "love of money," it's American Christian Capitalism!  She is quite vocal in her admonishment of the way my daughter handles money.  In her estimation I did not give my daughter a proper value of money.  "I know, right!"  Once I voice my disdain for my daughter's values, she lightens up and then defends her.  Since my goal is to drop the subject, that works! My mother's big concern is outliving their money.  She told me she'd spend every dime if my dad's health needed.  And well she should, he's the one that earned it!

On to my daughter's amazing observation.  She refers to her grandparents' money management has hoarding.  But then, she also refers to my business inventory as hoarding.  She has a wonderful vocabulary but frequently misuses terms, for exaggerated effect.  She believes in spending everything her husband earns, on themselves and immediately.  I got to view their family vacation to Vegas this year, and watched a granddaughter skyjump off the stratosphere.  My grandson said he had the choice of doing that or two rides because the jump cost over $100.00   My daughter calls her grandparents, greedy hoarders, while her lifestyle is superficial opulence and waste.

In this country we've gone completely extreme and both ends are "the love of money."   When money is more important than people and fear overrides faith, it's a problem.  I think in the case of Daddy, their net worth reflects the result of his hard work and good management.   On the other hand saving in fear, amassing off of the hard work of others, or spending in frivolous waste, is all very self-focused and just different forms of greed.  I don't share my parents view of the importance of money, but they are always generous with gifts for family, especially grandchildren.  I have come to see, while the wealthy are blamed in this country and often falsely accused, "the love of money" is not always reflected in a big bank account.   Sometimes small bank accounts reflect greed of instant gratification and self-indulgent pleasure.

Beefing Up the Investments

This spring, I heard and have shared, that I am to prepare practically.  That meant the hobby farm herd needed to be upgraded to actual productivity.  Now that the grandkids have outgrown me, and their pygmy goats were aging and not mothering so well, it was time to reassess the whole situation.  Since they rarely visit anymore, and when they do, have no interest in the critters, it seems much more economically advantageous to stop spending money on feed and when I sell next year's kids, just put some money in their accounts.

That led to more figuring.  I figured the cost of raising my grass fed beef, which led to the discovery that the price of a milk goat is about the same as a couple of bags of milk replacer.  I love figuring stock investment on real stock and real investment.  Even if I don't process the beef myself, but pay the local locker plant to do the deed, and figure the price of a milk goat in each calf, my grass fed beef will be less than $2.00 a pound, and Abba willing, there will be kids to sell and more milk next spring.  A healthy milk goat will provide milk for about 8 years, plus produce offspring for herd expansion annually.  

I'm not counting my chickens before they hatch, but I'll give some figures, since I've been at this awhile.  The average milk goat, in milk, runs between $100 and $200 dollars.  There are cheaper ones, but they're usually old and there are much more expensive ones, but that's usually for the registered ones, and that doesn't make the milk taste any better.  Although I'm giving a single example, I keep a herd of about a dozen and generally milk about half of them at a time.  So, taking the average, a $150 milk goat will produce enough milk to raise a bottle calf and her own kid.  I don't buy any milk at the store, make my own cheese, as well as provide goat's milk for my soap company.  Now in a milk goat's lifetime, she will also produce about a dozen kids, maybe more, which are either sold or kept to replenish the herd.  Selling one set of twins usually pays for the price of mama and there are still seven more years of kids, milk, and bottle calves . . . not to mention goats make wonderful pets.  I can get 3 goats for the price of a puppy from the pet store or some breeders!   

This is the kind of stock I can appreciate.  There is minimal volatility and some fluctuation, but it's primarily seasonal variables, so it doesn't come as a shock!   When the economy began to crumble in 2007, very little of my personal investments were affected.  Since beef prices are so high, I decided to hang all the new goat investment on the cost of raising my own beef, and it's still coming in much cheaper than buying beef at the super market.  The new members of the herd are really cheap pets, too.  

A Very Odd Feeling

In fifty-six years on the planet, I've never experienced the feeling I got a few days ago and continue to have.  Let me give a little background of my view regarding money.

In my childhood, I handled money by permission, permission, only.  The allowance I earned came with a number of designated destinations, per parental mandate.  They didn't make me pay for food or pitch in on gas money, but about a third was designated for Sunday School and that much also went to my savings account, so that left me saving for the high end dime store desires.  As I got older, there were more complex arrangements made, but to be honest, in the back of my mind, I had no intention of handling money the way my parents did . . . and once I was an adult, I haven't.

I trusted the wrong person, once to make a deposit, and after that fiasco, I never repeated that mistake.  I had a husband with an addiction problem, and I learned to navigate that financial dilemma.  By the age of 25, I planned to be debt free by 40, so I developed some pretty good spending and savings habits, even a few investment plans.  From 25 on, my husband made decent money and took care of responsibility, but we didn't share the same goal.  By the time I met Messiah at 36, my attitude about money changed again.  Savings wasn't really my focus.  I simply did not spend money on something I didn't need, and my needs were diminishing rapidly.  By 40, I was debt free, and when that happens, life can become really inexpensive.  Of course, before 41, I had a high maintenance kid come home . . . so having tasted how inexpensive life could be, I had enough savings to cover that.

Since that time, I've remained debt free and maintained my attitude of saving what I don't spend, and that's what changed this week.  It began last week, but became almost urgent this week.  I felt a real constraint to see what needed to be purchased to bring everything up to non-dependent status on the system, and divest of paper money.  I knew this day was coming, when money in the bank would not be security for hard times.  I started counting my pennies and checking into nonperishable business supplies, as well as perusing Craig's list for everything from goats to tiny houses to other sites for good batteries and wind and solar items.

I've had this feeling twice before.  The first time was back in 2006 when I felt the need to divest of my stock holdings, and I did, thankfully before the crash.  The next time was when when gold was skyrocketing.  I told this individual that the gold market was being driven by fear in buyers and it was not a sustainable market.  I recommended that they divest of gold, stop buying and divest of what they had bought through the recent surge.  I stated clearly the beginning of August 2011, "The relative price of gold between silver and platinum should be around $1300.00, and the current value was being inflated.   Sell while you can get over $1800.00 an ounce because it's going to start dropping."  Gold began to drop later that same month.  It spiked once in early September, then dropped fairly steadily to where it sits today, just over $1300.00 and ounce.  This is not to take us on a tangent of precious metals, but the same feeling I had about gold in 2011 is what I have about federal reserve notes, now.

Many with pension plans and 401Ks were affected by the stock market and bank fiasco.  Not all of us were personally affected by the inflated value and decline of gold, but the loss of the value of the dollar will affect us all.  I'm going to conclude this article to order reusable canning lids before Shabbat.

Money Wise

Many are not happy with the current state of America.  Candidate Obama promised Hope and Change.  There's been plenty of change, but it isn't the change many hoped for.  I think the biggest reason for the let down and disappointment is, he's clearly just a placeholder who is protected by political correctness.  There is no way to make a claim against this man without being classified and labeled as something horrible, in the name of tolerance.

If I had a dollar for every person who said, "Well we all can't just drop out and leave the grid . . ."  Strange how becoming less dependent is now considered dropping out.  I've hardly dropped out.  I'm more vocal than I've ever been, and I can share it with the world from my obscure little homestead.  I didn't relocate and double my work load to drop out.  Hardly!  I'm working out the bugs and recapturing what our society lost, to be able to share it and offer an alternative to utter and total dependence.  The fact that I don't vote, doesn't mean I don't care.  It doesn't mean I've given up.  It means I recognize the fact:  "the lesser of two evils is still evil."  I'm not counting on Washington DC to do anything except continue in the momentum of being on the wrong side of the fulfillment of prophecy.  I've gone a step further and I've been hesitant to share it, but I will today.

In 2003, I determined that I would live below the federal poverty level, so as not to fund things I don't believe in, like unjust wars, gay rights, and abortion.  I'm not alone in this.  I still pay FICA and state tax, I just don't have an income that exceeds the federal tax guidelines.  That may prove to be an added blessing when the penalty for no Obamacare is assessed.  I've been at this for over a decade now and living quite comfortably.  Instead of pouring money into action groups that appear to be ineffective, I'm cutting the funding.  Every group in Washington is just part of the big MONOPOLY game.

The Other 1 Percent has realized we do not need Big Corporate Lobbyists to buy politicians.  I don't have to be a millionaire to be heard.  If Washington DC wants to treat us like peasants, let them.  I know how to be effective with my dollars!  They can't keep printing money, forever.  The more simply I live, the better I feel and the more freedom I have.  Technically, I don't have more freedom than any other American, but I certainly have less bondage than much of society.  Dependency is bondage.  Here's the really great thing about the decision I made.  I actually have more to share now . . .

Humble is Redefined

The new definition isn't sitting well with me.  With all the new ways to solicit donations on the net, I'm very unsettled that so many folks seem to be establishing themselves or a friend as a not for profit charitable cause, referring to the plan as being "humbled."  These sites not only solicit donations for all sorts of various causes and events, but the websites themselves exact a fee.  I have a problem with this on many levels.  First and foremost, I'm not going to pay a fee to donate.  [PERIOD]  The next concern I have, is the fact that most of this is handled by credit card, and you cannot donate what you don't really have.  A credit donation is really no different in operation than our indebted government with all of it's social services.  By taking needs to an official website to solicit funds, I'm guessing that will be assessed as income for the recipient.  Check the tax laws!  It won't be persecution, if taxes are not paid on income received!  Then there is also the ever expanding list of terrorist organizations.  The penalty for that is certainly not going to land on the politically or religiously well connected, but rather; the poor schlemiel who thought he was helping.

I do take the needs of people very seriously, especially those who do not solicit funds.  I'm going to share my way of reaching out and invite others to share their methods of discernment when it comes to offerings and assistance.  First I ask Abba for the opportunity to be a blessing to someone.  That way, I don't have to go looking and forcing my assistance on anyone.  I've been blessed with the opportunity to send product from my store, at no charge to someone in need.  I also offer financial assistance when I know of a particular need or crisis and usually that information comes from a mutual friend, not the person, themselves.  I don't believe hearing about a need or sharing one is gossip, it's simply a request for prayer or an answer to prayer to be a blessing.

By taking requests and donations to the internet, we've expanded the potential for help, but truly taken the personal touch out of helping.  We've also done something else though.  We've redefined the term humble.  There are a number of people who have no qualms about sharing their financial status and I think that should be more of a private matter.  As times continue to become more difficult, and they will, we really need to be aware that anyone can now solicit donations for anything or anyone, they deem to be a worthy cause.

I've even seen businesses seeking donations to expand their business.  Now that we have finally come to understand our economy cannot really be sustained or grow by just selling each other hamburgers and make-up, we need to realize; only politicians and big name preachers can become prosperous by donation.  Accepting donations is not universally an act of humility.  In many cases, soliciting donations has simply taken the shame out of begging.