The Writers Coin

My wife went for a walk with a friend of hers yesterday and had a really interesting experience:

So we’re walking along the sidewalk and up ahead we see this cute little five-year-old boy standing there with a little table in front of him. On the table is a little plastic bag with some money in it and some construction paper of different colors. And he says to us, “Hi! Do you want to look through my drawings and buy one? I’ll take anything, but I’m trying to get a 20-dollar bill.”

He was so cute so we were like “Sure, let’s take a look at your drawings.” So we’re looking through his drawings and the whole time he’s talking.

“That one’s not very good, I wouldn’t take that one. This is the money I’ve made so far, but my sister gave me the coins. I’m trying for a 20-dollar bill. I’m not very good at selling but I’m working on it. My sister gave me all the coins.”

Then we realize that neither one of us has any money, so we tell him we’re really sorry but all we have is like 25 cents. I tell him, “Sorry but we don’t have any dollars.”

And the kid goes, “Oh. Really? Well, here, you can have some of mine!”

And he starts taking money out of his bag and giving it to us! He gives us each a dollar and we both smile and I say to him, “Thank you so much! Now we have a dollar to buy a drawing from you.”

And the boy says, “No, it’s OK. You can keep it. You don’t have any money, so you can take it. Now you have some money.”

But of course we gave him his money back. We wished him luck and as we walked away we saw his parents sitting on the lawn a few steps away and they asked us which picture we “bought.” We told them it was a Pokemon and that they had a very cute kid. They smiled waved at us goodbye.

Forget about the cute-factor of a story with a five-year-old boy trying to sell his drawings on the sidewalk for a second (I know it’s hard), and think about how his mind worked when my wife and friend said they didn’t have any money. His logic went something like this:

They have no money. I have a bag filled with money. I should give them some of my money.

He wasn’t interested in giving to make himself feel good. He wasn’t interested in getting something in return. He just figured he would share because these two girls didn’t have money and he did.

Why is it so hard for us to share our money with others? At what point does the little boy’s logic disappear and turn us into greedy, money-obsessed adults? Why do wealthy people get so angry when they have to pay more in taxes than poor people who have no money?

I don’t know the answers, but if a five-year old gets it, then it shouldn’t be impossible for the rest of us to get it too.

Photo by Orin Optiglot

This post was an Editor’s Pick at the Carnival of Money Stories. It’s the inaugural edition so make sure to check it out.

I love boxing. More specifically, I love to watch the weigh-in interviews when both fighters are so cocky and so convinced that they’re going to knock the other guy out. If you don’t know anything about their records or their abilities (which I usually don’t), then you’d be hard pressed to pick a winner from listening to them talk. Each one seems legitimately convinced that they’re going to—not only win, but completely annihilate their opponent. It’s a blast to watch because you know one of them is 100% dead wrong. I love that.

Anyway, boxing has a real lesson to teach us about personal finance and spending. More specifically (love that phrase), when certain situations come up like an emergency, a product comes out that you just have to buy, or something else.

It all comes down to one thing: preparation. When boxers step into the ring, take off their robe, and dance around the ring, the match has already been decided. Very little of what the boxers do from that point on has any effect on the match. Confused? Think about it: they’ve trained for months, worked out, gotten into the best possible shape, gone over strategy, film, and talked to their trainers extensively about how they’re going to approach the fight. All the work has already been done—now it’s up to the fighter to just go in there and execute. Granted, the match could bring unexpected surprises, but a boxer can’t win the match without preparing. Even a “perfect” match won’t bring the boxer a win if he hasn’t done all the preparation beforehand.

The boxing world has seen it countless times: boxers that are superior fighters losing out to lesser opponents because they didn’t prepare properly. Whether it’s not being in shape or not working on footwork or not tailoring the approach to the specific strengths and weaknesses of the other fighter.

The same goes with your finances. You may not have an emergency fund, a budget, or realize how much you’re spending on frivolous things like chocolate ice cream every month—and that’s fine. But when the sh** hits the fan—when that bell rings—you’re in some serious trouble. If you lost your job or if your car needs a new johnson rod, it’s going to be a rude awakening.

What I’m trying to say is that what you do at the specific moment that a situation comes up has very little impact on how well or how badly it goes. Most of the work has to be done beforehand, when things seem to be going fine. Think about any sport under the sun and you’ll see how much sense this makes.

• A marathoner can’t “will” himself to win a race if he hasn’t trained thoroughly.
• You can’t decide to throw a 94mph fastball by a hitter if you haven’t worked up to that.
• You can’t skip ahead to level 17 of your favorite video game and expect to clear it.

Preparation is key. The problem is that we don’t see the warning flags that something needs to be prepared for until it’s too late. So take this article as an uppercut to your face and snap out it! Better to realize now that you need to get ready before you have more than you can handle on your plate.

Everything I know about boxing I learned from watching old ESPN Classic fights, the books Rope Burns and Cut Time, and the movies Million Dollar Baby and The Power of One. So all this comes accompanied with a fine grain of salt. Enjoy.

One of my favorite phrases out there is “You stay ready, you ain’t got to get ready.” I don’t know whose phrase it is, but I remember seeing some random guy on MTV saying it years ago and it stuck with me. Think about it: it’s brilliant!