Biggest Lies About Money

The Biggest Lies About Money

My poor dad was a great man, an educated, hardworking, honest-to-a-fault teacher and public servant. Yet when it came to money, he was a liar. When he talked about work, teaching, and life, he often said statements like,

"I'm not interested in money." Or
"I'm not doing it for the money." Or
"Money is not that important."

Every time I heard him make such statements, I would shake my head. To me these were lies. One day I asked him, "If you're not interested in money, why do you accept a paycheck? Why do you often say, I'm not paid what I'm worth'? Why do you look forward to a pay raise?"

He had no reply.

Like my dad, many people are uncomfortable with the subject of money. Many people lie or live in denial about the importance of money in their life. It is often said, "Never discuss sex, money, religion, or politics."

These subjects are too volatile and primal in nature. That is why most people talk about the weather, sports, what is on TV, or the latest diet fad. These things are superficial we can live with or without them. We cannot live without money.

Many people subscribe to the saying we discussed in the Introduction of this book, "The love of money is the root of all evil."

What they fail to recognize is that, in the context of that saying, money itself is not the root of all evil. Many people believe that money has the power to corrupt, and it can. Many people believe that if kids knew how to make money, they might not want to get a good education, and that, too, is possible.

Yet living life takes money, and earning money is one of the facts of life. Most people spend most of their waking hours, and hence their lives, working for money. Many di- vorces and family breakups are caused by arguments about money.

Keeping people ignorant about money is evil because many people do evil things for money, such as work at a job they do not like, work for people they do not respect, marry people they do not love, take what is not theirs, and expect someone else like their family or the government to take care of them when they are capable of taking care of themselves.