This is the mantra Suze Orman gave to a fellow YF&Ber on her weekly TV show last night, and while it sounded cornier than a cob, I've repeated it several times since then and have been surprised at how empowering it is. Only recently have I been introduced to the world of Suze; my friend Gina swears by her, and as I'm in this what-to-do-with-my-money phase, I bought her latest book to expose myself to the world of finance in terms I can understand. Thanks to Suze, I learned about FICO scores in 15 minutes.
It's so easy to blame money for our problems, but as Suze said last night, "Can a dollar bill hit you in the face? Can it drag you into a store and make you buy something you don't need? No. YOU control your money, which means YOU control your financial destiny." How calming to believe that you don't have to postpone financial goals because you're not making your ideal salary. Some people complain that they don't make enough, but they find ways to throw money in the garbage just as well as those better off. It doesn't have to be that way, girlfriend/boyfriend! says Suze. (She really would say that. Apparently she coins pet names for all of her fans.) The sooner you take responsibility for your current financial situation, the sooner you can improve it.
On that note, I finally did my taxes and was surprised at the hefty refund I'll be getting in the mail. (I'm still too chicken to include my checking account number on my tax returns. Who knows what The Man will do with it?) I'm thinking this would be the prime time to open a Roth IRA, since I'll be paying off all debt (except for student loans, which will follow me to my grave) with my very last tuition refund check from DePaul. For those of you concerned with my fashion welfare, don't fret: just this weekend I had a marvelous time at the mall. To Suze's credit, though, every time I whipped out my cards, I felt slightly guilty.
And you bought me a yummy cookie and some milk.
Posted by: Luke | March 21, 2005 at 10:35 PM