The Money Field Trip

The Money Field Trip Two weeks ago, I was in Sewickley, Pennsylvania visiting for my nephew's confirmation. I went for a run one morning and noticed a dramatic change in environment from one town to the next. This change was so profound that I decided to take my 9 year old daughter on a "Money Field Trip" the next day. More on this in a minute... If you haven't heard of Sewickley, it's a wealthy little town just north of Pittsburgh. It actually has the "Main Street" feel that Disney captured in the Magic Kingdom. The little town is always hopping and everyone knows each other. I would have to guess that the average home value in Sewickley is around $800,000. I honestly don't know this for sure, but this it is an educated guess. Sewickley borders several small towns. One of these towns seems to be depressed because of steel mill closings. I'm guessing that most of the residents in this little town worked for the steel mills. With their departure, the town is left without many job opportunities. The homes are run down and it is extremely sad to travel through the community. As my daughter and I leave for our little field trip, I tell her to start paying attention to everything she sees as we drive. We start our trip in Sewickley surrounded by large, beautiful homes. Her observation: "big homes." As we cross over into the bordering town, the scenery changes dramatically. I ask her if she notices anything different. Her response: "small homes." I ask her if she notices anything else? She does. She notices that most of the homes are in a state of disrepair. I asked her if the homes in Sewickley needed to be fixed up in the same way. She said no that most of the homes in Sewickley were in good condition. I probed a little further. I asked if she noticed anything else different about the homes in this bordering town. Her response was: "They have a lot of stuff. The stuff they have is nicer than their homes." This was a great observation. Many homes were cluttered with stuff in the yards. Some had several cars, tires, equipment and more. Now for the money question - I asked why do you think these people live in small homes that need a lot of work when the people in Sewickley live in larger homes in good condition? Her reply - "Dad, you're torturing me with these questions." I got a little irritated and said "If you don't learn why, then you'll be living in one of these small, beat up homes when you grow up." Yes, my answer was pretty dramatic, but I wanted to get the point across. I proceeded further and told her that nobody else is going to teach her what I'm trying to teach her. I explained that she won't be able to learn these life lessons in school. I explained that I had to read hundreds of books to learn what I'm trying to teach her. Nobody taught me these lessons. I had to learn them on my own. I think she got the message! I took it one step further and asked her what she thought the people in this bordering town do in their spare time? She thought about it for a minute and said "Watch TV." Next, I asked her what the people in Sewickley do in their spare time? Her answer "Make Money or Work." I wanted to continue the lesson and talk more about the "stuff", but she obviously wanted to finish the "Money Field Trip." I figured I would save the "stuff" lesson for another day. Now I realize this blog post might irritate or upset some people. If this is the case, I'm sorry. I'm trying to show that to be successful, you need to go make things happen in your spare time. TV is fine and dandy, but it destroys wealth. What you do in your spare time determines your income, wealth and overall fulfillment in life. I'm also trying to show you how easy it is to learn through observation. What differences do you see between successful people and unsuccessful people? We must study successful people and do what they did to become successful. We must also study unsuccessful people and avoid doing what they do in their lives. Please understand that I'm not saying small houses are bad. My house isn't very big. I'm simply pointing out that successful people are always looking for ways to improve. This trend permeates everything in their lives: Their homes Their health Their incomes Their wealth This is not the same with unsuccessful people. The reality is that unsuccessful people stop caring about improvement. They let their homes go into disrepair. They let their health go. They perform poorly at work. Their financial situation slides. They simply stop caring and give up. Alright, today's money field trip is over. I'll stop torturing you too! Rob Minton