Excited About Money

Excited About Money

I recently noticed that I love talking about money or investments… much more than I have in the past.  When a conversation turns to money, I realized I perk up and get excited about the conversation.  I get animated with a passion in my voice.  Whether it’s with friends, co-workers, or family, this subject seems to bring out a different person in me.

Money, money, money.

It’s not that I’m some Scrooge McDuck and all I want is money.  It’s actually quite different.  The more I learn about money and financial independence, the more I want to share the information with others.  I find the subjects completely fascinating and compelling.

I also realize that there are a lot of people who don’t know enough about the subject, as well as a lot of people who don’t care about it.  And they should.  They need to.  Many people just assume that because their grandparents or maybe even their parents seem to be alright financially, that life will just work itself out for them as well.

That’s probably a big reason why one-third of Americans have $0 saved for retirement.  They’re just not worried about their future and they need to be.  Our grandparents and some of our parents had pension plans that carried them.  Our society has switched from a defined benefit plan (e.g. pensions) to defined contribution plans (e.g. 401(k) plans) so the load has been dumped on the employee.  A person’s future is no longer handled by the employer – it’s handled by the individual.  And most people are completely unprepared for this.

One of my favorite stories is about when my cousin thought the total amount he had in his 401(k) would be the amount he would get every month for the rest of his life once he retired.  If you haven’t read this one, be sure to check it out.  He’s in far better shape now and on track to where he needs to be, but the point is that he definitely needed some direction that he might not have even known he needed at the time.

So when someone brings up the subject of money… game on!

That’s the truth – discussing the world of money and investments and financial freedom seems to really get the juices flowing for me.  I do love talking about my own plans (if someone asks and is interested), but more often than that, I love hearing about others’ plans.  I find it truly captivating to hear some of the different ideas out there.  I learn a lot of things that I can apply to my own life.  And on the other side, I love to share what I know that may help others (if they inquire).

The most exciting part for me is when a newbie starts to get the idea of passive income and starts coming up with ideas of their own and what would work for them.  I can see the gears cranking and the ideas flowing.  Does something always come from this?  No, not usually, but I do know a handful of people who have benefited from conversations that we’ve had and have made some major changes to their finances in a positive way because of those discussions.

I love every idea that has to do with moving closer to financial freedom:

  • IRA accounts – 401(k)/403(b) plans, Roth IRAs
  • Emergency savings and other ways to keep money liquid to have ready to go
  • Real estate investing – rentals, flipping, wholesaling, notes, etc.
  • Business income – starting a business that you can step out of and still get paid
  • Royalties and licensing – passive income
  • Finding ways to optimize bills, insurance costs, etc.

I would probably actually engage in more conversations about money and financial freedom, but I know that this isn’t a topic that a lot of people like to discuss.  So, it’s almost an area of conversation where I have to pull back and just put some feelers out to see how if there’s any interest.  If not, then we continue with the mundane talk about movies, TV, blah, blah, blah.  Otherwise, I still need to contain my excitement to determine how far the conversation can go.  A lot of people are slightly interested in the topic, but then I can see it wane.  Yes, I actually gauge my conversations and yes, that might make me insane.

That’s a huge reason why I love writing articles for my site and joining in on conversations on other related sites.  The financial independence community is great and, obviously, the focus is centered around finding your way to a more solid financial future.

Not everyone – in fact, very few people – will actually find their path to financial independence at an early age, if at all.  But, every discussion that might be able to get someone pointed in the right direction is well worth it to me.

Do you get excited when the subject of money or financial freedom comes up or am I just an all-out nut job?

Thanks for reading!!

— Jim

You know you wanna share this!!

14 thoughts on “Excited About Money”

  1. You’re definitely not alone. I can also relate to that moment when somebody asks about something financial. I get excited and start talking. Before I know it I’m explaining Roth ladders when all they wanted to know was the difference between a Roth and Traditional IRA. Sometimes I need to be reined in.

  2. I am the same way. It was always an interest, but I wasn’t nearly as vocal until I started blogging about it. Now I can’t stop talking, thinking, and acting on ideas about personal finance.

    I even missed watching the Players Championship (golf) last weekend because I was working on an investment idea.

    I might be the crazy one!

    1. Blogging seems to make me a little more vocal as well – it’s almost like it helped me line up and better structure my plan and now I want to help open the eyes of others as well.

      I hope the investment idea works out for you!

      — Jim

  3. Same here. Super excited about this topic, which used to bore me to death about 2 years ago!

    That story about your cousin’s 401k is super scary though. That’s some huge mis-alignement on the money he actually owns!

    1. He definitely was off-base on finances, but at least he’s on track now and gave me a nice story to talk about and to periodically embarrass him with… which, of course, is what family is all about!! 🙂

      — Jim

  4. I also get very excited when talking about financial things. Particularly with my wife. Mainly because we love to talk about our plans and goals together (anything, not just money goals) so when we have a great idea, or we’re coming up with a plan – it excites us about what our future can be.

    Trisatn

  5. FI feeds on FI, a self licking ice cream cone.
    The stealthy FIRE’d initiate has a small circle of peers, three cheers for the blogosphere that allows for the expression of the excitement with being FIRE’d

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