WARNING! THIS IS A LONG RAMBLE!

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"Money, money, money
must be funny
in the rich man’s world
money, money, money
always sunny
in the rich man’s world
all the things I could do
if I had a little money
it’s a rich man’s world "
-Abba

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It's easy to say in the changing room that the winning the race isn't all that matters. It's having a good, clean race that's important. It gets slightly harder when you walk out onto the track in front of thousands of spectators. It gets shoved to the back of your mind by the time you reach the door. And when you start your engine...

You want to win. Period.

For me, the rat race hasn't started yet. For some it has. For some, the race to get out of the rat race has started. However you're playing the game (yes, please think of all connotations here), you're still playing it.

Money works by some rules. Even the "financial freedom" literature acknowledges that. And builds on it.

We are quite clear about our priorities with food. We quite accept that we eat to live, not live to eat. We frown on gluttony, shake our heads at those who pile their buffet plates high.

We are quite clear on the lines for drugs. We raise our eyebrows at the head-banging throes of amphetamine-induced party animals. We look pityingly on the ruined lives of drug addicts.

Let's draw the same lines with money shall we?

Oh horror! I've actually dared compare money with food and drugs? How dare I?

There, we have enshrined money as something of a deity. All powerful. "It's always sunny in a rich man's world", isn't it? The rich man's demi-god status bestowed by having Lady Wealth around his finger?

"But money can do good! It's not wrong to want money, is it? YOU wouldn't mind being rich, wouldn't you, you long-winded hypocrite?"

One thing at a time, then. Money can do good. Agreed. But let's see exactly what money does.

1.Money buys.

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...

..

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Ok, what else?

So, money buys. So what money can do is limited to what it can buy.

"Everything is for sale at some price."

Now, examine yourself honestly as you read that statement. It is more than a statement. It is a judgement. A judgement on all things as having a "FOR SALE" sign hanging from it. It says that there is nothing priceless.

Wait, I haven't answered the question, have I? Money can buy things that are used for good. Well done! Money is the hero then, is it not? Why not reverence it then?

Hmm. Where did the good come from? Was it not from the heart that directed the money to be put to good cause? What's the price tag on that? A good upbringing? A good conscience? A good sense of social responsibility? A compassionate heart? What is the price of that?

So money can be good if it is put in good hands.

My point is that good hands are priceless.

So what's wrong with money in good hands? Nothing. It's just that the wrong hands know how to make money too. Let's hope the good hands make more.

Me? More money? Why not?

Money is responsibility. Somehow I don't really buy the "your money, your business" thing. There's always this nagging feeling that I should be putting it to better use. That I'm somehow being a mini-Scrooge.

"You're just avoiding responsibility by claiming that there's a minimum level that demands that you manage your money, including its charitable/benevolent/prudent uses. You'll just keep raising that bar so however much you carry, you'll be able to fit under it."

My my, what a long ramble. Suffice to say that I will leave my finances well alone for as long as I can and try not to be bogged down with it just yet. Or till the day I die if I can help it.

Maybe I'll die poor.

Maybe I don't care.

I lost a dime. So what?