"We are more than our investments. We are more than the year-to-year or day-by-day changes in our net worth. We are what we do for charity. We are how we treat our family and friends. We are how we treat our dogs and cats. We are what we do for our community and our nation. If you had $100 million or $100,000 a year ago and now you have a lot less, you are still the same person. You are not a balance sheet, at least not one denominated in money.
Losing and making money are not moral issues so long as you are being honest. You may have a lot less money as this year ends than you did two years ago. But you are just as good or bad a person as you were then. It is a myth that money determines who you are, and if you have gotten over that myth by now, then 2008 will have been a very good year."
In another article Ben gives this advice to his 21 year old son who has just married..
"I have been pondering what advice to give them about money. What I keep coming up with is this: Do not act like typical Americans. Do not fail to save. Do not get yourself in debt up to your eyeballs. Work and take pride and honor from your work. Learn a useful skill that Americans really need, like law or plumbing or medicine or nursing. Do not expect your old Ma and Pa to always be there to take care of you. I absolutely guarantee that we will not be. Learn to be self-sufficient through your own contributions, as the saying goes.This advice has served me well. It was propounded to me by my late father, who often said, “Be prudent.”
MY work as a freelance writer in Hollywood some time ago prepared me for extreme uncertainty. This is the most insecure existence imaginable. It mandates saving, ingenuity and nonstop work and creativity. Freelancers never have a day off. Never. They know that they can go months without a check. They absolutely have to save. They have to have five different levels of fall-back plans and financial escape hatches.
I am well past that now. Decades past. (I hope.) But the habits of thought linger, at least a bit.
I wish I could teach that work ethic to those close to me. I wish I could teach them that money is a scarce good, worth fighting for and protecting. But I very much fear that my son, more up-to-date than I am in almost every way, is more of a modern-day American than I am. To hustle and scuffle for a deal is something he cannot even imagine. To not be able to eat at any restaurant he feels like eating at is just not on his wavelength. Of course, that’s my fault. (I have learned that everything bad that happens anywhere is my fault.) And I hope to be able to leave him well enough provided for to ease his eventual transition into some form of self-sufficiency."
That first paragraph is absolutely priceless (and almost unAmerican!)
ReplyDeleteI do like smart celebrities - there are so few. I don't even have to agree with them to like them. Ben Stein I often agree with and always like.
ReplyDeleteHi Bob,
ReplyDeleteI liked the part about we are more than our investments and our net worth...and...don't let money define you...by the way...I once had dinner with Ben Stein many years ago at a fundraiser. We sat at the same table and we chatted a bit. While I don't lean with him on politics, per se, I find him a very interesting and unique individual.
This is such a refreshing article to read. When everything is doom and gloom and putting the blame on someone else, its a breath of fresh air to hear someone say be responsible for yourself and talk about the value of a person instead of money or the lack there of.
ReplyDelete