Coming Soon!
I love to read and gather as much information as I can. I am fascinated with
people, their behavior and habits. At a young age, I noticed how people
lived and what they did with their money. I noticed our own family; we didn’t
have a new car, boat, or snowmobile. But my uncle did. Our houses were
about the same size and in the same price range. My uncle always bought
nice cars and kept them for several years, and then he would buy a new one.
Then one day, we went over to visit after he had just bought a boat. It
wasn’t brand new but it was very nice. I asked my parents why we couldn’t
buy a boat like my Uncle John and they said, “We can’t afford it.” We would
go over to my uncle’s house and go water skiing. I still remember those fun
times with my sister and cousins. My uncle always had the stuff most people
wanted, though not the most expensive things. I remember he had a VCR
(it’s like the Blu-Ray of today). It was at least a year before we got one. Even
at that, I had to buy it myself because, as my parents put it, “We can’t afford
it.” It wasn’t like my uncle would spend on foolish things, but he seemed to
have the things that their family wanted, and they traveled to Florida and
many other places on vacation.
You might wonder why I was observing and comparing my family to
my uncle’s. We lived in the same town, went to the same school and church,
and my father and my uncle had the exact same job in the government.
They both worked in the same department and made the same pay. Why
couldn’t we “afford it”?
What I noticed was my uncle would plan and budget for purchases and
my parents wouldn’t. This is what motivates me to tell people how you can
shape your future with some budgeting and planning. It really is that simple.
I hope that you enjoy this book and that you can relate to some of the
stories that we talk about. There is no magical formula or trick to accumulat-
ing money, or even to building wealth. It just takes a clear view of how you
use your money, some patience to follow a plan, and knowledge—knowledge
about how things work.
In any case, thank you, and read on.