Written by R. A, Stewart
“A good man leaves an inheritance for his children’s children.”-Proverbs 13:22
My great grandfather Robert Stewart started a brewery in 1905. This proved successful that by the time he died in 1932 just short of his ninetieth birthday he was a wealthy man in comparison to the average person. He also owned quite a bit of land when he died.
My grandfather Archie, Robert’s youngest son inherited the brewery and some land. Archie by the time he died in 1967 left land to my father, Doug some 250 acres. At some point he must have gifted him the land years prior to his passing. He also left my father cash when he died.
Going down another generation.
My brother and I have possession of the land once owned by Granddad Archie. Talk about leaving an inheritance to your children’s children.
Robert, my great grandfather and Archie were good with their money in that they lived a modest lifestyle. Did not try to keep up with the Joneses and generally lived within their means.
The generations after the 1970s are ruled by greed and selfishness. The common use of credit cards is an example of this.
The flashy advertising on TV taps into all of this by feeding into the narrative “You can have whatever you want and you can have it now.”
It is the fear of missing out which the loan sharks are tapping into.
I have heard some bad money attitudes from people over the years and the most common is “You cannot take it all with you.”
This may be so but then why do these people go to work to earn money? People who spend all of the discretionary money with no thought for the future have no vision.
At some point in the future people will need money for medical expenses, dental expenses, new cars, retirement, and so on. The person with vision will set up their finances in such a way that they will have this money ready when the time comes.
“Men who have lots of money are selfish” is another one I have heard. If this is true then the men in our family who left large sums of money to their descendants must be selfish.
Only a gold digger would think like that and I will leave it at that.
“You have to spend your money on something.” is another comment I have heard.
I am unaware of a law which says that you have to spend it. This kind of attitude will eventually lead to poverty at some point because there will come a time when your level of income will drop due to health or retirement. Making provision for your later years requires vision and maturity. It is the responsible thing to do.
Living within your means is a timeless principle. It was applicable to my great grandparents and it is still applicable today. The only difference is that in today’s society there is more pressure on people to part with their money and unless you learn to exercise self control and learn to discern then money will easily part ways with you. There is no magic formula, it is just a matter of applying the three basic rules of money management.
The three basics of personal finance are:
- Live within your means
- Save
- Invest
Once you have mastered the three rules then you will be better off than people who never look beyond the next pay day and just spend everything they make.
About this article
This article is of the opinion of the writer and is not financial advice. It may not be applicable to your personal circumstances, therefore discretion is advised. You may use this article as content for your website/blog or ebook.
Read my other articles on www.robertastewart.com
