Money money money

 

Week 11 Journal entry by Colleen Manley            

Thinking about the lens I look through about money brings me to my home I was raised in.  My father was once a successful businessman but lost his money due to following many entrepreneurial ideas here and there.  I can’t even list all of them.  Since my father’s death, my mother says he should have been a schoolteacher or a postal worker so they could have had a steady income and retirement, but this was not in his nature.  He had so much ambition and after his first successful business, which he sold, he went on to other things, never to see success in his entrepreneurial journey again.  He died without a penny to his name.

After seeing my father be unsuccessful in his business life, I searched for a man to marry who would give me stability and security.  When I met my husband, he had dreams to become a doctor.  He had such drive and was extremely intelligent, I believed in him.  He did go to medical school and got his medical degree.  We put saving for our retirement a top priority because neither of our parents had a penny to retire on.  My mother and his father have had to rely on social security and their kids for support. 

My attitude towards money came from these life experiences.  We have passed up entrepreneurial opportunities to play it safe because of our parents failed financial decisions.  Even though we took the safe route in our journey, we have a nice nest egg and full government retirement available to us in just a few years, so we are very happy with our financial decisions in our life.

We have always been very generous.  I do not consider us rich, but comfortable.  We have always lived by the rule that if we have it, it is yours.  We had to adjust that when we had a family member take advantage of our generosity, but we feel that we have been blessed and because of that we need to  share what we have.  Money is a tool for good or evil, I choose good.