Monday, February 09, 1998
Out of the Mouths of
Babes
by Joe H. Hall
([email protected])
A little over a year ago I was considered one of the original Wise men. Big house, expensive toys. Long-term pharmacist with a national drug chain. 401(k) plan locked away tight. Ready to sail right into the sunset.
Then a friend gave me the book The Millionaire Next Door, after which came the long weekend of introspection and soul searching. Then things got very Foolish indeed.
The first thing you do is evaluate your need for toys. Some just had to go. The second thing is to downsize your house. Keep enough room to be comfortable but get rid of the payment or get that payment low low low.
The next Foolish thing is to determine whether you are really happy with your job. Find out if you can take early retirement, and start a new job in a totally unrelated field. Go figure, a pharmacist to SAP. Basis configuration. Roll that 401k over into a self-directed IRA.(Naturally to buy your choice of stock)
You find that when you don't have to deal with the public and explain exactly how you use that suppository, you really do enjoy life. But the most Foolish thing you can do is set your children and your granddaughter up in drip stocks. That kid is the monitor for all of us. She reminds everyone with almost every purchase that they could be buying more stock and that we are just frittering away our (her) money. Fool on.
Have
a similar tale?
Talk about it in the Fribble Message Folder!
[Did you know that you can pen a Fribble, yourself? We welcome submissions from readers. Just click here and read "What's a Fribble?".]