This past weekend my daughter was involved in her school’s production of Alladin and His Magic Lamp. She played Alladin.
It was quite a whirlwind. Casting was on Monday, practices ran Monday through Friday (except for the ice day on Tuesday) with shows on Friday night and Saturday afternoon. Thanks to Prairie Fire Children’s Theatre, everything came together fantastically.
One of the challenges with such a concentrated schedule is learning lines, especially for the lead character. Thankfully, my daughter has two willing parents who actually met on stage and could be there to support her memorization efforts.
Unfortunately, that comes with the disadvantage of knowing most of the lines in the entire musical before it is performed which occasionally allowed my mind to wander into the appropriate application of Genies in financial planning.
In my 23 years of helping people make wise financial decisions, I have encountered some that actually believe a Genie will arrive to solve their financial woes. Just one rub of a lamp and their problems will be solved.
The better strategy is to be your own Genie and grant yourself three wishes starting at a very young age:
- Be content with living below your means.
- Avoid bad debt.
- Put compounding to work.
These magical wishes, if fulfilled consistently over long periods of time, could help dreams come true.
Taking that a step further, those three wishes have the potential to put you in a position to be a quasi-Genie in the future. Let’s face it, you don’t want to be a Genie living in a lamp and subject to your master’s occasionally misguided demands.
However, having the Genie-like capabilities to improve other people’s lives could be very rewarding.
Perhaps you could help your children graduate from college with less bad debt or assist them in purchasing their first home. Perhaps you could support individuals or organizations that work to help others with food, shelter, or other needs. Having the ability to make a positive difference would be magical.
As you likely know, there are no magic lamps or Genies in financial planning. Despite this disappointment, you will likely find that converting these wonderful wishes to practical principles eliminates the need for any Genie wishing.
Quote of the week: Michael Jordan: “Some people want it to happen, some wish it would happen, others make it happen.”
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