Debunked - Money: Can’t take it with you.
Sunday, May 25th, 2008Simple enough question but has anyone ever thought about why they want to become debt free? To some, becoming debt free is an opportunity to start over and possibly acquire more debt. To others, it may be a vehicle to stay par for the course and build financial wealth. To me, it’s an opportunity create a paradigm shift and start a family legacy.
Listening to one of Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace lessons, he spoke on changing your family’s legacy and a lot of the things he mentioned within it made sense.
Growing up, I was always taught that money is… the root of all evil, can’t buy happiness, and you can’t take it with you, amongst a lot of other stupid myths. That got me thinking… all of those statements usually come from BROKE people. Dave is a firm believer of, “if you want to be rich, do and think like rich people”. The people that make those comments are usually the same people working very hard to achieve and accumulate nice things. I know it’s probably extreme reasoning but, do those people realize that when they say that they’ve basically thrown in the financial freedom towel?
I’m not stressing that money can buy happiness by any means. At the same time, I fail to believe that broke people are the happiest people on the planet. I also notice that crime is highest in poverty stricken areas, so why is the “root of all evil” comment accepted as truth?
Furthermore, the “can’t take it with you” comment is one of the most ignorant statements one can muster. YOU MAY NOT BE ABLE TO TAKE IT WITH YOU, BUT YOUR FAMILY CAN (assuming you have family). The comment is consistent with selfish and irresponsible ideology and it promotes and supports unaccountable habits that effect present and future generations.
That’s why I’m trying to get my family and anyone that’ll listen to think differently about what their financial freedom represents. It’s more than a chance to debunk the previously mentioned myths. It’s a chance to create a template of responsible behavior for future generations hence changing your family’s legacy. For when you have people working with your template and instead of against it, you have responsible family members that are fed the belief to make money work for them instead of them working for money.
Think about the hypothetical. I purchase each of my (responsible) kids their own home with cash. That one action is the beginning of a responsible wealth building family legacy that can will grow with each generation.
Before we get ahead of ourselves, I should mention that it’s very important to mold your family to think and be responsible before changing your legacy (more on this later). If not, the financial ignorance will set in and money will become, the root of all evil, nor will it buy happiness.
