Hi Cheri; ===== For those who would take offense at the suggestion that increasing personal net wealth is a postive thing, I can only say that this is not about greed, it's about creating personal security so that others are not required to be responsible for your continued comfort and sustenance. To me, it's a personal responsibility issue. ===== Bravo!!! Seriously. I completely agree. Sometimes you put things into the clearest words!! I have one child and if there's one thing I never EVER want to do is put her in a position where she has to be responsible for me financially because I didn't plan for old age. It's one thing to have 8 kids that can pitch in to take care of an elderly parent. When there's only ONE... different story. : ) Linda P.S. I sure miss the PHPBB icons sometimes. lol

Hi Cheri, Your forums are a great wealth of interesting and informative articles. These are some great forums: Money 101 Never Too Late ======================================================== I completely disagree that they should learn from their financial institutions or depend on them for help. ============================================================ Here in Canada, the banks can often provide a lot of help in dealing with an overwhelming debt load. It may not be the same in the US or elsewhere. However, long term help needs to come from those who genuinely desire to and know how to help, not from banks, as while it IS in their best interests to make sure you can be a good, paying customer, it isn't in their best interests for anyone to get out of debt completely. =========================================================== For those who would take offense at the suggestion that increasing personal net wealth is a postive thing, I can only say that this is not about greed, it's about creating personal security so that others are not required to be responsible for your continued comfort and sustenance. To me, it's a personal responsibility issue. ============================================================== I agree absolutely - it is our personal responsibility to provide enough for ourselves and our families AND enough of a surplus to be able to help out others. Education really needs to start from the first nickel we put in our childrens' hands. We have always taught our children to put a minimum of 10% of their income into savings, a minimum of 10% aside for philanthropic spending, and to only spend what they have in hand. That, hopefully, will give them a solid financial foundation to build on. God bless, Dave

Howdy Dave, Gee there are some interesting comments here. As Linda said: ================== It's very true that money doesn't buy happiness. It's also true that success is about more than money. There's a LOT of unhappy people with money. lol ================== Very true. Here's my take: I'd rather be wealthy and miserable than poor and miserable. Hey Cheri, In view of what has gone before I'm glad you said this on one of Linda's threads: ================== "At other times and in places where it seems appropriate, I join others in going wildly, joyfully and sometimes goofily off-topic. You ought to see the silliness that goes on in Larry Anderson's Weird Facts forum. We go out of our way to take the facts in whatever twisted way we can to make an attempt at a funny post, make sly digs at the other players and in general just have a bit of silly fun." ================== Now I don't feel so bad - LOL. Gary

Hey Dave and Linda and Cheri... Will you guys slow down? I'm having trouble even reading fast enough. This is more like a chat room at the moment than a forum. As Dave said: ============= "These are some great forums: Money 101 Never Too Late" ============= I can attest to the fact that Cheri is passionate about educating people how to get out of debt. Cheri and I have swapped a few emails on this subject and her sincerity really shines. And Dave... ============= "Education really needs to start from the first nickel we put in our childrens' hands. We have always taught our children to put a minimum of 10% of their income into savings, a minimum of 10% aside for philanthropic spending, and to only spend what they have in hand. That, hopefully, will give them a solid financial foundation to build on. ============== FANTASTIC! I did the same with my son and daughter, Shylock and Portia (only kidding about the names - but if you get my "drift" then you'll know what I mean -LOL!). They have both recently purchased a property and they have already shown a VERY healthy increase in capital gain - somewhere between $40,000 and $80,000 - depending on whose valuations you take notice of. And it all started out with that 10% principle. From tiny acorns great oak trees can grow. From nickels and dimes dollars can grow. Gary

Hi Gary, You have just presented solid evidence that taking the time to properly teach our children will give them the proper foundation for their whole lives. I cringe in absolute horror at the terrible injustice being done to kids whose parents trust the education system, TV and Harry Potter to provide them with all the life skills they need. What will become of them... God bless, dave