Guys, it’s time to grow up

Well, after much thought, I did it. I went out the other day and used 1 million worth of CDs. That’s right; I dropped a grand in a matter of minutes. After seeing so much new material out there, I figured it wouldn’t hurt if I splurged a bit, treated myself right. In the past, I would have eagerly showed off these CDs to my buddies, bragging to them about what I had that they didn’t have. But this time I didn’t. Because these CDs are not compact disks released by artists who will be has-beens a year from now! They’re Company Documents showing shares bought in a particular company, investments that will bring a new kind of music to my ears when they mature in 12 months. You see, that’s how I’m rolling nowadays. I no longer need the latest material stuff. I no longer need the latest music, the latest kicks, the latest model ride, and the best clothes. Now I’m more interested in saving than spending, investing not splurging, receiving interest instead of paying interest. Don’t get me wrong. There’s nothing wrong with living lavishly ever so often. There’s nothing wrong with indulging yourself every once in a while. Pay yourself first, that’s what all of the psychologists say. But too many of us pay ourselves first, second, third and last. Heck, we even pay ourselves with money we don’t have, with somebody else’s money I call it being ‘ filthy stinking rich’. It’s a poor mentality that has many of us needlessly living paycheck to paycheck, week to week. On the outside, we look like a million bucks. But on the inside, we are never able to breath, never able to move to the next level. Inside, we are never able to enjoy life, I mean really enjoy life, the kind of enjoyment you get when you don’t have bills and notes and payments hanging over your head. For men caught up in this `filthy stinking rich’, many times it becomes a vicious cycle, a way of life that sucks them in and quickly sucks them dry. Once you’re in, you have to keep up, you have to keep maintaining, and you have to keep representing. Because once you roll up in a $50,000 automobile, it’s hard to go economy a few years later. Once you bust out with the Rwf100, 000 sneakers, it’s hard to downgrade to the Rwf15,000 variety. And it’s not just some of us men caught up in the perpetration. Some women too are rolling the same way. And there are others out there who are ‘blinging’ with the best of them. (I saw a guy on T.V the other day with a mouth full of gold teeth.) In fact, I don’t think race and gender play any role in how we roll. Much of our mentality is picked up from who we roll with, family and friends and co-workers and complete strangers. Most of us want to be like the people who look like they have it going on. Those people, or rather their material possessions, become our standard, our goa The problem lies in the fact that while we can see the car, see the clothes, see the jewelry, the crib and the cash of the `filthy stinking rich dude’, we can’t see the shares for the dude who really has it going on. We can’t see the property he owns. We can’t see his investments, tax records, his MBA. We can’t see the inner peace he feels because he knows his well-laid plans are working to perfection, his sacrifices are paying off. We can’t see the inner peace his family feels because his children’s education is already paid for, his elderly parents are being taken care of, and his wife is working because she wants to, not because she has to You see, I want to have a plan, a master plan for the next decade and beyond. I want to lay a solid foundation for my future before I begin investing in the pretty wall-paper and expensive paintings to cover it. And starting out, I know my master plan won’t include the top-of-the-line luxury car, the platinum and diamond watch, the designer Italian suits. Wish it did. But it won’t. I know it won’t. And you know what? I’m okay with that Because greater than my desire to have those things (and we all have a desire to have nice things) is my fear of not taking it to the next level, of not using my money, my mind and my available resources to move myself, and my family, to a more financially secure status. Life is all about choices, making good choices now to give you more and better choices later. I don’t want to have to write these stories, when I’m an old man because back in the day, I lived for the day and never gave much thought about the future. I don’t want to be sitting behind a computer 50 years from now writing something like: “dude, I remember when I was young; I used to be the cleanest guy around.” That’s it. Slumped over my keyboard. I’m gone. Finished. History. “Get him out of here,” they would say. “That deadbeat couldn’t even finish his story.” That’s not the way I want to go out. When I’m an old man, I want to be sitting on a beach somewhere, counting my ‘gggggggg’s’ in-between getting some ‘zzzzzzzz’s’. When I’m an old man, I want to be cruising around town, bling-blinging with the best of them. That’s when I want to be the epitome of ‘filthy stinking rich’ Because then if all of my plans worked out, if all of my sacrifices paid off, I would have laid a foundation solid enough to afford to roll like that. And when you can afford to bling-bling, you’re not ‘filthy stinking rich’, you’re just richly fabulous, a smart dude who made wise choices by investing in his future. And isn’t that what we all should be striving for? jeav202@yahoo.com