My Financial Rant

Excuse me... pardon me...

Watch your elbow there... I've got this big soap box here under my arm. Here, let me just set this down. Ooofff. There we go....

Wow. Soapboxes are heavy. I see why they are only made figuratively now days and not literally. Lend me your shoulder would you? I'm just going to step right up here and don't want to tip...

Thank you! Ah, that's much better. Quite a view from up here.

So, look. There's been something I've been wanting to write about for weeks, nay, months even. This is something that's been going around and around in my head for a long time, but every time I start to write about it, it comes out as a rant. I don't consider this blog as a place for rants so I kept stuffing in back down into the old mental filing cabinets, but it won't stay there anymore. I have to write about it and along with writing about it I am going to make a deep confession about something I am not very proud of. However, instead of jumping right into the dark and nasty stuff, let's start with something positive, shall we?

I started this blog at the tail end of May last year. Before that time I was always interested in finance (in fact, I got myself completely out of debt... twice) but since that time I've become enamored, enraptured by personal finance; some might even say obsessed. Part of it is pure and simple - I'm picking up survival techniques, but it isn't just that. It is also fascinating to me how many people out there are on their own financial journeys.

Take a look at my blogroll over there. There are people like the author of Bouncing Back From Bankruptcy, who has been through bankruptcy and is now working her way back to financial freedom. Or the author of Moolanomy, who not only shares his financial wisdom, but is also working on really innovative ways to network personal finance folks together, (see pfbuzz for an example.) There is Passive Family Income, a blog by a father who wants to create passive income streams so he can spend more time with his family, and then there is J. Money who actually wildly maintains that Budgets Are Sexy. And that's just a few of the folks, click over to pfbuzz and pick an article at random - there are all kinds of folks out there who are dedicated to one kind of financial path or another.

Bloggers aren't the only ones that inspire me. I have friends and family members that do the same. Those that will talk to me about finance (which is still a pretty taboo subject for most folks I know) tell me about how they are creating budgets of their own, scaling back on purchases, and using creative visualization to get more work.* Over and over I see people striving for their financial goals, and doing whatever it takes to make it happen.

Which leads me to both my rant and my confession...

When I hear of people who are giving up, I get angry. Really angry - and (here's the confession) I find myself being judgmental. It is terrible. Here I am try to be the best all-inclusive "support others" liberal that I was never raised to be - and I find myself wanting to just shake people. In the last three days I have heard two stories on NPR and read another in a news magazine about people losing their homes to foreclosure and I find myself thinking, "But did they really, truly try or did they just give up?" When I hear stories about people I know that aren't paying their bills and aren't even making the effort, I want to walk up and smack them!

It is like there is two extremes in me. I have the highest respect for anyone who tries to do something - even if they fail. Anyone who is out there, brushing off the dust and picking themselves up has my sincere admiration. Anyone who takes on a a financial challenge, whatever it may be, I just want to give them a standing ovation. But when I hear in the news about those who seemed to give up their homes, lives and happiness without even trying - without even a fight, I can't find a lot of pity.

Oh, I know there are two sides to every story - and I also know that what I hear on the news is just a brief human interest segment on the finance show, but I still can't help thinking things to myself like, "So, you need more income? Don't we all! What are you doing about it? Have you checked out Moolanamy's 40+ Alternative Income Ideas and Resources?" or "You - over there complaining about not being able to pay down your debts, have you read Mrs. Micah's post on How to Manage and Start a Debt Snowball?!?" It isn't just bloggers - there are 34,736 books on Amazon all under the heading of Personal Finance (really, I checked.) Trying to save money? Then go check the books out at your local library!

The thing is, personal finance isn't hard. None of us are geniuses. When I hear people say to me, "Oh, you can do it because you are so... (fill in the blank)." I get angry. I'm not any more fill-in-the-blank than anyone else. Okay, some of the terms in finance are complex - I will give you that, but that is why people invented things like dictionaries, libraries, bookstores, Wikipedia and Google... so you can look things up. Much like many things in this world, like plumbing or cricket, for example, it all becomes a whole lot less complicated once you know the terms. There a couple of more things you need for personal finance goals - drive, the willingness to learn and some motivation, but really that is it.

You know what I want? I want every single person who is struggling with a personal finance goal to do two things, 1) go out and get help - whether that is asking a friend or family member for advice, hiring a professional, reading a book or perusing blogs - whatever it takes, I want them to get the information they need. I guarantee it is out there somewhere. 2) I want them to make a effort to reach that goal - whatever that goal may be. I want people to stop sitting on their couches waiting for the president or the tooth fairy or whoever to bail them out. I want them to take matters into their own hands and just try.

Oh, and I also want world peace.

...told you I was a liberal.




* Speaking of creative visualization, Master Your Card has a really great blog post about using creative visualization to complete your personal finance goals. Seriously, it is worth checking out!

Photo by: /\/\ichael PatricI{