Money. We make it, spend it, invest it and save it… or we don’t. Every one of these efforts can result in something fantastic and also something dreadful. I wonder if you’ve ever thought about how your money choices affect your health and happiness.
John and I shared a weekend with some friends in Newport, Rhode Island in order to create a phenomenal marketing arm for our business and also to have some fun. One of the adventures in the fun category was a visit to the Breakers Mansion, a 4-story house with 70 rooms consisting of 43 bedrooms and 27 bathrooms. This place was truly a palace. The foundation was dug in 1892 during the Gilded Age. That basically means it was built during a time when surplus was commonplace for those living and playing in this posh New England resort territory.
Its rooms were built in countries like France and Italy and then transported to New York City. And its walls and ceilings were literally coated in 22 carat gold. Eleven million dollars was the building cost. That was a TON of money in 1892, a pretty dog-gone lot of money today too. Twenty-two contractors worked 7 days a week to see that the mansion (which by the way was the Vanderbilt’s summer home) was finished in two years.
Now if you’ve built a home you know what it can be like working with ONE contractor, let alone 22! And you know how long it can take to erect a 2 or 4000 square foot home. Imagine only 2 years to build one that was constructed of imported this and rare and precious that… and that had 70 rooms!
It was learning of the 11 million dollar price and two year timetable that the title of this article came to my mind. As we stood in the master bedroom of the home’s owner, Cornelius Vanderbilt, we learned that he only enjoyed one summer there. One year after the mansion was done he had a stroke and lived the last three years of his life as an invalid. The only room he saw was the bedroom we were standing in, and even there had to be dressed, laid in and taken out of his bed by someone else. He never enjoyed the grounds or the splendor that he had poured so much of himself into. The architect died before the house was even finished. That’s when our tour guide said the words, “It seems this house cost a whole lot more than eleven million dollars.” And it was at that moment I knew I had to share this with you.
So, let’s go back to YOUR money. Is what you’re making adding to the enjoyment of your life or is the stress of making more of it perchance shortening your years on this earth? Is your spending resulting in happiness or instead pressure resulting from too much spending? How about investments? Are you making them? Are you putting money into the building of your dreams and of your future? Are you saving money or spending all that’s coming in?
The goal of writing this article is to remind you once again that life is short and we shouldn’t miss one single solitary minute of it wasting time being worried or stressed. Whether you’re making a great deal of money or thinking you don’t make enough—you could be missing the moments that matter because of it. Make whatever amount of money you make, but most importantly enjoy life with it.
Some are so busy making more, more, more that the precious times of simply playing in the rain, making snow angels, sitting by the surf or deciding which clouds look like what objects get missed. Many times it’s the complaining that WHEN you make more money THEN you’ll be happy that brings with it the price of missing life. I’m a believer in aspiring to more… no doubt about it. I just think more has to do with a lot more than more money.
I grew up the daughter of a Stanley Home Products branch manager. That meant not a lot of income, but oh the amazing life I led. Day trips to the beach, traveling in the station wagon and staying with friends, roadside rest with picnic lunches and lots of lots of singing filled my childhood years. We had a closeness and made memories there is simply not enough money in the world to pay for. These were what I’d called bazillion dollar memories. What you’re giving up while you’re waiting to make enough money is costing you far more than the money you think you don’t have. It’s costing you moments you’ll never get back with those you love and the relationships you’re not building because of it. It’s costing you memories and it’s costing you happiness. Regardless of the amount of money you make, please don’t allow that to cost you more than money.
Let’s use weight loss as an example, because so many people want to lose weight, and because that’s one of the businesses I’m in. Are you spending on every weight loss and fitness gimmick that comes along? Have you purchased each new fad and still found no result happening? We live in an era where people seem to want to be healthy, but you need to ask yourself if it’s health you’re looking for or simply a quick way to watch the numbers go downward on the scale. The latter is not wise spending. Putting money into what may very well be the 53rd thing you’ve tried for losing weight or getting fit is more than likely making only your pocket book lighter. Spending on gimmicks and fads means losing everything except weight. I can tell you without a doubt these things make your metabolism slower and wreak havoc on your internal organs too. The result of spending unwisely on short-term result weight loss and fitness costs far, far more than money.
Investing in lasting health solutions however create a vastly different result, more like the bazillion dollar effect I spoke of earlier. When you invest in your health, rather than spend on quick weight loss fixes you win big! Invest in the wise way to health and fitness. Join a facility where you can get the support and knowledge you need. Put people around you that are like-minded in wanting to build their health. Learn how to make healthier choices with eating and even how to cook with substitutes that taste fantastic yet result in a healthy body. Purchase supplements that add to the quality and quantity of your life. Invest in life coaching and/or direct personal development material. The money you invest wisely in you will come back with a reward far, far more than the money you’ll get back. And you will get your money back. When you feel better, you do better. Not investing will cost you far more than money.
Are you investing in your dreams, your education, your personal development, your ideas? Or are you getting a day older and one day farther from that goal? If you’re not placing some sort of investment to take the risk for the business you’ve always wanted to start, build the knowledge for writing the book, screenplay or song you’ve always wanted to write or become the person you’ve always wanted to become, I assure you it will cost you far more than money. It will cost you your time here on earth. Most of us go to our grave with our gift still in us. This is the most costly of all mistakes. Equal to not enjoying whatever amount of money you make costing far more than the money itself is the fact that not investing in ourselves costs us not becoming all we were created to become. If we don’t invest in our dreams, so to build the goal into reality, the result is disastrous. We become unhappy, unfulfilled and sad. Being incomplete kills the spirit and then the person. This cost is far more than money.
Working hard is admirable, working smart is brilliant. Don’t forsake saving, no matter how well things are going. My mom was widowed at 28 with three children under eight and no income. I’ve been a place where I had to personally fund my businesses because the money was GONE. Vic Johnson was succeeding immensely in the Quick Lube business and found himself with nothing and everything he owned being repossessed. Not saving money simply steals years from your life due to the years the stress causes us to lose
Jim Rohn teaches the 70-10-10-10 guideline. Live on 70 percent, give ten, invest 10 in your own personal growth and save ten. If we go through life with no financial cushion, the result isn’t just no money; it’s no discipline. That’s costly because we need that character trait in so many other areas of our life. In life, when there is no financial safety net or no plan, the result is that we can’t breathe and we are frozen with fear, simply because we didn’t save, which results in MEGA HIGH STRESS. You got it my friend… the cost is far more than money.
What you do with yours will determine immeasurably fantastic or utterly dreadful results. What is the way you’re handling your money costing you?