A fool and his money are soon parted, so the saying goes. Except in my case it was not merely a saying, but my reality. I was the fool. The fool was me. And the money departed from me. Perhaps I should rephrase the adage to ‘a fool and her money are soon parted’.
If I am honest, I have been this fool many times. And because of this frequent folly, I have learnt some do’s and don’ts of money that will hopefully save me and you from being involuntary divorced from our money.
1) Don’t Know, Won’t Part
There is something about having money that brings out the hounds. The hounds are people who can not only smell money, but also the ignorance of the money holder.
I had just started earning a “respectable” income when I was smelled out by one of these hounds. They presented me with an investment opportunity that seemed too good to pass. The brilliance of this hound is how they packaged the investment, and who they used to present the package…someone close to me.
Before I knew it, I had gone to the ATM, withdrawn some money and handed it to the hound.
A few days later when sanity returned I realized that I was no longer interested in that investment. Why? Because the area of investment was of no interest to me. But mostly because I did not understand the investment, which in this case was a retail business.
I passed on this regret to the hound, who was suddenly nowhere to be found. They are still “missing” eight years later.
Lesson learnt: If I don’t know how an investment works, I will not part with my money. Ignorance is too costly.
2) Life For One
This has been a repetitive lesson 😂 Hopefully I have mastered it now.
A few years ago, I went on holiday to Dubai as part of the perks of having a family member who worked for Emirates. You would think being in Dubai would be good enough for me, but it wasn’t. Why? Ego! I mean how do you go to Dubai and not have anything to show for it!
I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that this opportunity came when I happened to be B-R-O-K-E. So what did I do? I put my shopping on my credit card, knowing full well that I did not have the money to meet the minimum payment 😢
As a result, I did not make my minimum card payment and I was referred to the bank’s collection department!
Lesson learnt: I live my life for an audience of one. I am not going to go broke trying to impress people. And who is “people”? People are busy living their own lives, they aren’t concerned if my clothes are from Dubai or Dubois.
3) Did God Really Say?
This one was painful! So painful that it deserves its own post…which I will probably put in Noni’s Musings. But the long and short of it is I started a business simply because someone said, “God said…” As sure as sky is blue and my name is Noni, I can confidently say that God did NOT in fact say…
Now, before you roll your eyes, know I have rolled my eyes enough for the both of us 😂😂😂
I can laugh at this now, but I went through the 5 stages of mourning before I could get here and even publicize this folly!
As a result, of this great foolishness I lost so much money, which I have not yet recovered.
Lesson learnt: “God is saying” statements should always lead me back to God and should not be a trigger to jump off the cliff.
Your Turn
It is often said that unless you learn the lesson, you will keep repeating the class.
What mistakes have you made with your money?
What lessons have you learnt from your mistakes?
Don’t waste the mistake, learn from it ☺
By wisdom a house is built, and through understanding it is established;
Proverbs 24:3 (NIV)