Blog | Personal Finance

Take a Moment

Yesterday, the world observed the 10-year anniversary of 9/11. I still remember that horrible day when nearly 3,000 people were killed by extremist terrorists. It was tragic and unspeakable.

This week, I’m taking a break from writing about business, money, and investing. To me these are games — ones that I enjoy very much.

When I say they are games, I’m not saying they’re not important. I believe money is important. But money is important because of the freedom it provides.

The definition of freedom is different for many people. For me, freedom is the ability to spend time with my wife and spoil her, travel and visit new places around the world, and enjoy the finer things of life. Having money allows me to do these things without worry.

I don’t work for money. I work for the things money provides. And now, after many years of increasing my financial education, working hard, and building my assets — my money works hard for me.

Sometimes, people do work just for money. In the process, they sometimes sacrifice the things they love, whether that be family, hobbies, time, and more. This is short-sided because when you work solely for money, you don’t fully realize the power of money, which again, is to provide freedom.

On the day the planes hit the World Trade Center towers and the Pentagon, there were probably many people who went to work at those places thinking they had more time to enjoy life and the things they love. Tragically, for many, that wasn’t true.

Days like 9/11 are good times to take a moment and reflect about what’s important in life.

So, rather than talk about how to make money, I want to ask you to take some time to think about why you’re working so hard to make money — and to make money work for you.

What is it that’s important to you? What does freedom mean for you?

When you feel like slacking on your financial education, taking shortcuts, or not becoming the best at business and investing that you can be—when you feel like quitting—remember those things that you love and why you’re working towards financial freedom.

Life is short, and we all will die. That’s a fact that can be ignored—but it can’t be avoided. 9/11 serves to remind us of these things on a greater level than usual.

Today, take some time to do the things that you love and spend some time with those whom you love. Enjoy the freedom in whatever measure you have. Kiss your wife and kids. Do something that makes you happy. Go for a walk. Pray. Do whatever works for you.

But whatever you do, don’t spend the day thinking you can do these things later. You never know when your time will come.

On a side note, The New York Times, put together a great retrospective on 9/11 that is worth visiting: http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/us/sept-11-reckoning/viewer.html.

And to learn more about financial education, check out:

What is a Financial Education?

What Financial Education Topics Do You Want to Talk About?