Mad Money Machine

MMM-163: Twenty Lessons for the Next Generation [ 25:24 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Topics in this week’s show include:

• I sure wish Tom Watson had made that putt.
• Did Tiger Woods have an injured hand?
• I found my golf books.
• The story of the Pigeons. Don’t be a pigeon.
• DH podcast. Don’t they know why gold is money?
• Our two new kittens. One is "Mojo." The other? "Mystie?" We’ll see…

Twenty Lessons for the next generation:

1. 1. Don’t listen to the media. In fact, make a habit of turning off the TV. And if you must watch, at least skip the ads. All TV is trying to sell you something. Doesn’t matter what it is… news, business, comedy, sports. And if you have to be sold something, it is usually something you shouldn’t want. Especially CNBC. Don’t listen to politicians for the same reasons.
   2. Learn to think from the perspective from the other person not just yourself all the time. Do they really have your best interest at heart? Be wary of anyone to whom you are paying money. Doctors, dentists, lawyers, accountants, financial planners, realtors. You have to assume they did not go to the trouble of setting up their professional career just to help you personally or to be your friend. Also, think about what they may actually be needing. How can you help supply it?
   3. Think for yourself. Don’t let your peers con you into thinking math is boring, for example. Recognize peer pressure and revel in your ability to thwart it without being obnoxious.
   4. Try to do the opposite of the first three. Try to help people at a reasonable fee, don’t get into a position of having to sell something to someone.
   5. Don’t worship people: celebrities, actors, musicians, athletes, or even their ideas. As for people, they do not possess godlike powers. They are not smarter than you. Maybe they just worked hard on something. They do not deserve your worship. Instead, pay attention to the people you actually come in contact with. As for ideas, you may later learn you were wrong. Hedge your bets.
   6. Be selective in your friendships. There are different levels of friends: brother or sister, close, proximity, acquaintance. Make sure you choose brotherly and close friends that are good people. Still, don’t be disappointed if they sometimes disappoint you.
   7. If someone is angry with you, take a break before trying to calm them. Time heals.
   8. Don’t wait to be educated. There is just about nothing that you cannot learn on your own with all the resources available today. Books everywhere, blogs, online video. Before you sign up for classes, think about self-training first.
   9. Work hard. Nothing comes easy. 10,000 hours to get great. Work on the important things. Work on things that will have a meaningful result. If you are going to spend you time anyway doing something anyway, why not spend it on something that in the end you’ll have something? Guitar, piano, painting, golf, volunteering, building. Anything worth doing is worth doing right.
   10. Everything in moderation, even moderation.
   11. Set yourself up for happiness by setting your expectations low, then be pleasantly surprised if they are exceeded. Every year before we go to the beach we say, "It sure is going to be stinky weather this year."
   12. Watch out for one-way functions. You can’t unbreak glass. Pause before you make a long term commitment. Time shares. Club memberships. New cars. Cell phone plans. Subscriptions. Cable TV. Then don’t make it.
   13. Optimize delayed gratification. Most money should be saved. Yet you do need to have some fun today. Try to have fun in inexpensive ways. This can help smooth out pain of not having enough money or time later on to have fun. The more you do early in life, the harder it is to exceed it later.
   14. Learn the difference between food and candy. Eat food. Go to your local farmer’s market. Plant an earth box.
   15. Buy used. Houses, cars, golf clubs. But make sure you know the real reason they are selling.
   16. Be alert to things that might not go the way you expect. Car breakdown. Power outage. Sickness. Then be prepared.
   17. Take pictures. Your first car, your kittens, your friends, that special moment. iPhone helps here. Copy exceptional ones to a special folder.
   18. Learn about the time value of money. Learn what money is. Learn how to use money efficiently to maximize your lifelong happiness. Don’t spend beyond your means.
   19. Check your assumptions. Consider alternatives. Just because something has always been done that way does not necessarily mean it is the right way. Feel free to innovate.
   20. Embrace the freedom you do have. Recognize that most jobs make you a slave to someone. Even if you own your own business you are enslaved to your customers. All people have to be enslaved to something in order to get food: either hunt it, farm it, or trade for it. Try to find an enslavement that you can make fun.

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