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It’s 5:35 on Tuesday evening and I’m trying to clear up my desk to leave for my Downeast Thanksgiving Holiday.  One of my last tasks is to talk with the IRS.  Fortunately, I have time to write this blog because after 49 minutes I’m still waiting to connect with them!

I’m still on the phone holding because after the first thirty minutes a real person answered, rattled off her name and ID number and regretfully informed me that her computer was down and she could not access any taxpayer information.  Luckily, I’m in a thankful kind of mood and what flashed through my mind was, “Boy, am I glad I’m not her!”  

Not only can she not do her job, she still has to answer the phone to tell people she can’t help and would they mind calling again because not everyone has computer problems.  “In other words,” I said, “call back and hope I don’t get you?”  She laughed and said “I guess you’re right!”

So this Thanksgiving season, I’m thankful for the small pleasure of working on the other side of the IRS!  What small pleasure are you thankful for?

Family, turkey and pie – doesn’t get much better…

Last week I had a client ask, ”what do you think caused the recession?”  What a lead in for letting me get on my soapbox—it’s the exact reason I’m writing this blog!

I’ve been a CPA long enough to remember other recessions and our reactions to them.  When we’re in thick of it, we bemoan our fate, think deeply about what they did wrong and swear we’ll never be so stupid again.  During the energy crisis of the 70s when we were shocked by rising energy costs, we switched to the smallest cars possible, turned off our lights and even gave up daily light savings time to cut our energy usage.

Thirty years later, the giant gas-guzzlers we drive are a testament to our escalating energy consumption.  Likewise, we forgot the real estate crisis of the early 90’s and once again bought bigger and bigger properties and drove up prices and mortgages.  We knew we were heading for trouble, but closed our eyes, held our noses and jumped anyway.

Why do I think this happened again?  Because we never take the time to really talk about money or to examine the beliefs behind our behaviors.  It’s much easier to make a few mechanical changes, keep on moving and hope it doesn’t happen again.  But little by little, the troublesome behaviors return because we never really understood why we got there in the first place.

We will get out of this recession.  But, if we don’t want to end up back here again (next time in worse shape), we must talk about more than the mechanics of money.  We need to really understand the money beliefs that drive our own financial choices.  Because once we start living our true beliefs, the world will shift around us.  

It’s not about them, it’s about us.  Living our own examined beliefs will straighten out the world’s finances.  Because really—is accumulating more and more and buying bigger and bigger things really what’s important to us?

I could go on and on…  What do you think?

A lot of you know my passion for taking The Problem with Money’s message out to the world.  I want everyone to know It’s Not About the Money.  Just like most of the problems in our lives (money, weight, health, etc.), it’s not the surface issue that creates the problem, it’s our behaviors and the beliefs behind those behaviors that create and sustain the problems.

Anyway, in my quest to spread this message, I’ve been preparing for a video-promo shoot for getting out there as a speaker.  Every morning for over a month, I’ve practiced my presentation on my morning walks.  My poor dog, Random heard it so many times, I think she could have done it herself!

The day before I flew to California for the video shoot, I came down with a cold.  Now, I’m not saying whose fault it was, but a person very close to me who shall remain Wayneless, I mean nameless, had the same cold the week before.  So, Friday evening I arrived in California with the sniffles, worked with my trainer on Saturday and woke up Sunday, the day of the shoot,  with absolutely no voice—not even a squawk.  All I could do was whisper!  I suggested lip-synching or a ventriloquist—but they didn’t buy it—so it just didn’t happen.

But not to worry, all was not lost.  I learned a lot from the other 14 speakers and will try again in early March.  And most of all, I learned that all this money business is really much too serious.  I mean after all, if we can’t keep our sense of humor about money as well as all the twists and turns this life takes, what would our lives look like?  We really have to keep it all in perspective.  Don’t we?

I have not been silenced—at least, not for long.

While talking with my daughter-in-law about 5-year plans, the topic of my house in Freeport came up.  Wayne and I have only been there for 4 years but the house really feels like home—my home.  I lived in the same house in South Portland for 20+ years and raised my 3 sons there but it never felt like home to me.  Freeport, in the woods, close to nature instantly felt like home.

Anyway now that we’re empty nesters, we’re questioning why we have this large house.  We love it for family gatherings because we have 7 children and 7 grandchildren.  But evenings when we walk through the empty living room and dining room to get to the den, we wonder why we have it all?  Is it really necessary?

We have a tiny little house in remote Washington County and ask ourselves, could we live in something this small all the time?  I think yes, but there is something holding me back.  If I can afford the Freeport house, why can’t I have it—I love it!  But then I ask, is this really where I want to spend my money?  Would I rather do something else with the extra funds it takes to live in and maintain this home? 

Interesting thought—especially since I’m working on refinancing the mortgage for a lower rate.  Is it worth paying closing costs on a new loan if we’re going to sell?  And, is this really the right time to think of selling?  Do I want to do anything?

Hmmm—seems like I’ve been here before!