The more I talk to people, the more I look around I am throughly convinced that money (namely future wealth) isn’t important to people. Rance is no finance guru and I’ve never claimed to be. Actually gurus scare me, actually self proclaimed gurus scare me. More and more I see that my generation is probably going to be pretty jacked up in the future. I’m 28 so I’m apart of the cool, fly, hip-hop, MTV Cribs, My Super Sweet/Ballin’ 16, technology, internet start-up, Web 2.0 generation.

We try to buy as many pairs of Jordans, denims, leather, dope cars, and “STUFF” as much as possible. Having a good time is the commodity and we HATE, I mean HATE HATE HATE HATE being told what to do. My generation, we love time and we hate for that time to be messed with. That’s why punching the clock is the most unappealing thing in the world for my era. My mom and dad’s era, they begged for overtime. But, we “love” money too. Not in the Depression Era, Baby Boomer type of way, oh no. We love the ‘big win” type of money.

I feel like your apple pie eating Grandpa with this next statement “I remember life before the internet!” Yeah I remember the time when things that are common news now were once in seperate spaces. Tech people were up on tech junk by reading magazines and certain sections of the newspaper. Sports fans focused their efforts on the newest edition of Sports Illustrated. So the “big wins” happening in the tech world wasn’t common knowledge. But, then phenominal crap like venture capital to internet companies started happening often, sport contracts were already growing humongous, our favorite music artists became more flamboyant and materialistic and everything became focused on “the big win.” Especially with the help of Yahoo and Google we all became knowledgeable about the what we could accomplish quickly and easily. WEALTH. When the term “BLING” (Thanks alot Cash Money Records!) became so main stream that even Robin Leach used it, we were all in trouble.

The sad part of the whole jig is that the same way there will only be a limited amount of “mega” music stars, “mega” movie stars, super-models, and professional athletes, the bar of entry for “THE BIG WIN” is pretty limited too. One thing that the baby boomers know that my gen doesn’t grasp is that it’s good to dream but it’s better to prepare while dreaming. Everyone won’t be Taylor Swift or Drake. We all can’t be LeBron James or Steven Strausberg. For some of us, the “BIG WIN” has to come in a different way.

Commercial-ISM

This morning at 5 A.M. while I was smacking on some Apple Jacks waiting for Sports Center to come back on this commercial for the investment company John Hancock came on. A guy is sitting in a fancy office (man what a view he had) in a city like San Francisco. He has salt & pepper hair and is probably getting to the age of thinking about retirement. His wife hits him with an IM on his phone saying “I just read how much the average couple needs to retire and we’re nowhere close.” arrogantly he writes back “We’ll be okay. We’ll take it…one step at a time.” She rebuts “Well how many steps and how big are they?” and she stuns him like Buster Douglas did Mike Tyson. Commercial then fades out.

This is what is happening to alot of us. Everyday we are rockin’ fly fashions, eating out in fine establishments, driving nice cars, have credit card debt, student loans, mortgages, we travel like crazy. I’m not knocking anybody living it up, but at the expense of living it up, am I at risk of being the elderly parent telling my daughters how I can’t make ends meet. I refuse to be living on SSI (laughter breaks out and FOX News pundits say in stereo: “Like there’ll be any left!!”) I don’t wanna be the Hancock Commercial Guy.

We Must Hate Money

So do we hate money? I hate to use words like ‘discipline’ and ‘budgeting’. But if I’m not doing something then I’m screwed. You too! My genius conclusion then is, I know that I’m going to want money in the future and that I don’t want to RETIRE and try to enjoy life when I’m all old and jiggly then I need to do something now. I don’t mean cut out what you like. I don’t mean that you can’t enjoy a Ruth Chris steak every now and then. What I am saying is for every buck you spend on stuff you don’t really need, you should work to get out of debt and then work to put maybe 25% of every dollar you make in a money making savings account like an IRA.

I’m starting to think that if I don’t start saving and getting my money right then that is a direct reflection of what I think about myself. Shoot, I know I want to live good now and later but not preparing for later now while I actually feel like it has to be some form of self hatred isn’t it? It’s like becoming morbidly obese and doing nothing about it.

In the literal sense nobody hates money I don’t think, but a person’s unwillingness to prepare for their own future, their spouses futute, and their kids future has to be the equivalent of mild terrorism. This is theory only but when you look back in 20 years on all the drinks you bought at the club, all of the outdated stilettos, will you regret it? It’ll probably feel like that ill-advised one-night-stand that had you reeling when you woke up the next morning. But you’ll feel it everytime you get the mail, hear the phone ring, that’s no way to live. Who needs money? I do.