Money only buys time
I want to be clear from the get go that this is not an anti-Dave Ramsey post. In many ways it is very pro-Dave Ramsey post, I just feel that he is definitely missing something.
It is great that he wants to give people hope and help them take charge of their finances. But in much of his material he asserts that we have been lied to about money and that the American dream is alive and well. He even asserts that America has lots of millionaires. He bases this off of net worth. I was filling out an application recently and realized that even as we struggle with finances and continue to live paycheck to paycheck (at the time of this writing) we have a much higher net worth then I would have guessed. This is based on the fact that we got a really good deal when we bought our home almost ten years ago and the obscenely high increase in home prices recently. So I am not sure that net worth is really a viable metric for wealth.
The Problem with Inflation
Also he does not take into account wage discrepancies or how wages have not kept up with inflation. I know someone who has worked at their job for almost 20 years and is in good standing. He has not received a cost of living increase in the past 10 years. This means that with inflation (we all know there is inflation, I mean remember housing prices) he is actually making less then he did 10 years ago–i.e. his money buys him less then it did 10 years ago. Now the company has increased how much they pay for him, but that increase has gone to the health insurance company rather than him. This is another issue for another post.
What Does Money Buy Us?
Now what does money actually buy us–time. We can use this time to work on the 2 important things in life–our personal growth and our relationships and connections to others. If you really think about it nothing else matters. Or we can spend our time buying things. But do not mistake that you are spending your time, literally your life at something. Ask yourself what you want to use your life for.
I did take a Financial Peace University course recently. And I found some of the information really really helpful. It did change the way we looked at money and I am happy to say that we are on our way to getting out of debt. But it really saddened me that in the beginning when you are trying to get your $1,000 emergency fund (which is the main step that requires you to work harder then you already are) you have to really hustle. I am a mom of 8 kids. I hustle all the time and I am constantly feeling like I want more time to just be with them–not hustling to make ends meet.
One area where I feel our culture really misses the boat is that parents are not encouraged to actually raise and connect with their children–especially in poor families. Honestly even adults are not encouraged to pursue personal growth, but again another post. We value childcare providers and schools (these should be valued and some families need them) so that parents can work and build their careers. When they do get to retirement and are finally able to rest their children are now in the same cycle of hustling. Even Dave Ramsey says that you should live like no one else now so you can give like no one else later. I appreciate the fact that he is valuing giving and living below your means but wish he would acknowledge that there are real financial issues at play that are affecting the social fabric of this country.
My beloved Botany teacher Jolie Elan passed away suddenly last year from cancer. She was 51. Less then a week after diagnoses she was gone. She said at the end, “Why did I worry so much about retirement?” This only reinforced my opinion that we really need to focus on how we want to spend our time, not our money right now.
Focus for a New Age
In this stage of growth on our planet with all our advancements in communication and transportation we should be able to finally acknowledge that maybe the whole concept of scarcity and survival of the fittest is hurting us. What if we realize that we have a world of abundance and possibility? Some countries have already started employing this theory to their social policies by investing in human capital.
By all means have hope, make the financial changes you can, be guided by making the two important things (personal growth and connections) in your life the priority, but don’t be afraid to work for social change so that others can have a similar opportunity.
