The First Six Myths of Money

When we celebrated Christmas
last year, the recounting of the
Christmas stories reminded me of how
quickly we can let variations of the
truth invade our thinking. For instance,
if you consider the story of Mary and
Joseph traveling to Bethlehem, surely
everybody knows Joseph walked
while Mary rode on a donkey, right?
In fact it’s probably wrong! That’s the
TV version of things. The truth is it
isn’t mentioned anywhere in the bible
how they traveled. What about the
stable where Jesus was born? Doesn’t
everyone know there were a cow and
a donkey in the stable? Again this may
be wrong! Nothing is mentioned in the
bible about any animals being in the
stable. In fact, we don’t even know if he
was born in a stable. All we know is that
he was laid in a manger after he was
born, and that’s where the shepherds
found him. Finally, what about the three
wise men, doesn’t everyone know that
they came and kneeled down in the
stable at Jesus’ feet while he lay in the
manger? Wrong, on two counts! The
number of wise men isn’t known and the
ones that came arrived much later and
visited Jesus when he was in a house.
The myth of them visiting the stable
probably came from early artistic scenes
where, for convenience or perhaps out
of ignorance, they presented all the
Christmas characters in one place.
These are all good examples of myths
that many of us take for granted as
being true. In the same way some myths
about money are equally as deceiving.
We will look at some of them here.

Myth #1: You need money and things
to be happy
Most people know this isn’t true but
they don’t live like it isn’t true. There
are probably countless thousands
of shoppers every day who are out
looking for something to make them
feel good. Some people even make a
habit of shopping for something new
when they feel down. They think that a
new purchase will somehow magically
pick them up. In truth it will only be a
temporary distraction, and at worst it
will cause more problems if it causes
fi nancial stress.
Want to know a secret? I will tell you the
secret to happiness and contentment.
It is to not want. That was so short and
simple I’m tempted to repeat it. The
secret to happiness and contentment
is to not want. Sounds too simple?
Consider this: if you had no wants
for (that is, you were satisfi ed with
your level of) food, clothing, housing,
health, friendship, love, spirituality,
relationships, creative expression and
anything else you can think of, could
you possibly be anything but happy and
content?
Contrary to popular thought, the secret
of happiness is just the opposite of
running out to buy something when you
feel blue. The secret of happiness is
to not want these things. Many people
still think that satisfaction comes in
amassing things. But realistically it is
impossible for most of the people on
the planet to acquire everything they
lay their eyes on. Even if they did, there
would always be one more new thing
that they would need to purchase to fully
satisfy them.

Myth #2: Somewhere there is a Get-
Rich-Quick scheme that will work for
me
This is a popular misconception
because there are so many companies
spreading it around and milking this
myth to their benefi t. Let’s be honest,
there is no legal way to get rich quick.
Yes, some people do get rich from
lotteries and large inheritances. But
the odds of these working for you are
usually tens of millions to one. In other
words, don’t count on it.
There are many proven ways to get
rich slowly. In fact getting rich usually
takes at least 5 to 10 years and more
commonly 20 to 40 years. You can
do this by frugal living, wise savings
and investing in a solid business or an
appreciating asset like real estate.
If you are self-employed read the
Baker’s Son story on the member’s part
of the Scrooge Guide web site. It will
give you lots of ways to improve your
business.

Myth #3: The quickest way to have
more money is to earn more
Unless you are blessed with unusual
and rare talent, it is often not easy to
quickly change jobs and instantly earn
substantially more money. Even if you
do land a bigger paying job, the hours
or the stress level may not be worth the
extra pay.
For most people the fastest way to get
more cash is to spend less than you
earn. This may not sound very profound
but it always amazes me how much
time and effort is spent on earning a
little more money and how little time and
energy is spent on saving money. When
you consider taxes, it often takes $150
in earnings to give you $100 in spending
money. But when you look at it the other
way around, you only have to fi nd $100
in savings to equal $150 in earnings.
If you don’t get a grip on your spending,
then it doesn’t matter how much you
earn because it will never be enough.

Myth #4: I can’t be a saving-type of
person. I’m a good earner and I like
to spend.
Saving money is something you learn,
and the younger you learn it the better.
Just like quitting smoking or changing
eating habits, changing your spending
habits takes focus and effort at fi rst.
It may even be very diffi cult in the
beginning, but eventually it will become
a habit and a way of life that will reward
you richly. It will vastly improve your
quality of life as you become less
dependent on credit, and less worried
about living from paycheck to paycheck.
No matter how good your earning power
is now, someday it will come to an end.
And no matter how good your income
is, if you don’t have your spending
under control your income will never be
enough.

Myth #5: I’m too old to start saving or
I’m too young to worry about saving
Both of these are myths. As you get
older and enter retirement your income
level will drop signifi cantly. It’s then that
you need to have good frugal habits in
place.
Likewise, all young people need to learn
to be more like Scrooge. They have the
special advantage of being at a stage
in life where learning is easy and habits
are ready to be ingrained. As a younger
person, you have the advantage of time
being on your side. A small amount
of money put away in an investment
each week will grow into a tremendous
amount of money over a long period of
time. It’s never too early to start saving.
A savings investment should be started
for a child as soon as they are born. As
the child grows they need to be taught
how to save money and put some away
each month as an investment for future
education and a future home. Both
of which can be paid for in cash if the
savings are started early enough.

Myth #6: I can’t afford to save.
Cutting back on spending will
destroy my standard of living.
The truth is you cannot afford not to
save. Even if you have a small income
you can usually fi nd some money that
you can put away in a savings account
and every so often transfer it to an
investment for earning higher interest.
Cutting back on spending and learning
how to save will, in fact, improve your
quality of life.
Now that you know the truth about these
myths, hopefully it will help you work
towards living the best life with the least
money.

Scrooge