STUD figmo Al - Posted - 10/17/2025:  04:33:42

The lack of $ ...Sucks..

But I do wonder if folks get too emotionally caught up with $..
For thier own good..

banjoy - Posted - 10/17/2025:  04:46:19

Money is its own God. Folks tend to worship false idols. Just my 2 cents. I'm cheap.

localhost - Posted - 10/17/2025:  05:05:36

It's hard to not get emotional when so much of modern living is tied to it. One medical bill or major home repair is enough to push many past the edge they live on which is 'just barely making ends meet as it is'. I'm getting stressed just thinking about what would happen if me or my wife got hit with a major medical bill right now. I agree with you that its never for one's own good to be locked in perpetual stress about it. Stress literally changes our minds and bodies and not in a good way.

banjoy - Posted - 10/17/2025:  05:12:06

Last night I had a dream that I had forgotten to register my car and was given a ticket for that. I went to pay the fine and was told it was $480 due right then, and it would be more for tow fees, etc later on even though the car was never towed. Weird dream, but true, and it caused me stress in the dream.



But I guess all those folks with gold bars and silver ingots stockpiled don't have these kind of stress points. Or weird dreams about financial stress. A place where being near the breaking point is a thing of long ago or just a theoretical concept to ponder now.



Must be nice.

Edited by - banjoy on 10/17/2025 05:13:19

BanjoLink - Posted - 10/17/2025:  07:14:02

Quote: "But I guess all those folks with gold bars and silver ingots stockpiled don't have these kind of stress points."

I'm not sure that is true or completely true anyway. I tell people all the time that I have saved all of my working life so that I won't have to depend on the anyone else, or the government, for my well being once I am no longer able to work. I guess that is the reason that I still work. I am not sure having some money, or gold bars, stashed away ever relieves those fears ..... maybe at some point, but I don't know when that point is, and guess I will never know. I admit I am lucky, but worked darn hard to be lucky.

RB3 - Posted - 10/17/2025:  07:49:36

Money is not the most important thing in life, unless you desperately need it and don't have any.

chuckv97 - Posted - 10/17/2025:  08:02:23

Money can’t buy me lasting happiness, but it does relieve some stress. “I’m not broke , but I’m badly bent”

first recording of,,,

youtu.be/d14k4ZnnFig?si=uOonm2u_arb73QBQ

Edited by - chuckv97 on 10/17/2025 08:07:51

 

Texasbanjo - Posted - 10/17/2025:  08:16:00

Dave and I saved for years for our old age. We had great plans of touring the country in our motorhome. We hoped to have enough left to take care of us for as long as we lived.

Well, Dave didn't last long enough for our dream to come true. I'm fortunate in there's a nice savings and a few little dividends to keep me solvent and make sure all bills are paid with enough left over for emergencies. What else does one need money for if not necessities and possible emergencies?

I think nowadays many people want to live above their means and that gets them into financial troubles. I remember saving for months to be able to buy a dryer. People now just put it on their credit card and worry about how to pay for it later.

banjo bill-e - Posted - 10/17/2025:  08:41:33

Not sure of the source, but I remember this quote "I have something that rich man will never have. I have enough." There is no end to wants. If your belly is full and you slept secure in your bed last night, then you are doing really well by historical and current global standards.

BanjoLink - Posted - 10/17/2025:  09:29:11

quote:

---

Originally posted by banjo bill-e

Not sure of the source, but I remember this quote "I have something that rich man will never have. I have enough." There is no end to wants. If your belly is full and you slept secure in your bed last night, then you are doing really well by historical and current global standards.

---

Bill-e ..... that is kind of what I was talking about ........ some never think they have enough.  But I also guess it depends on your motivation, as in my case never to have to depend on anyone else for my upkeep ....financially.

Jon Borcherding - Posted - 10/17/2025:  11:10:18

It is remarkable to me how we convert so many things into money:
Water, food, shelter, clothing, and then we convert our money back into those things as we need them.
Except time. All the money in the world can't buy you another minute when your time is up.
Some say money is the most renewable resource, while time is absolutely non-renewable.
Maybe we think too much about money and not enough about time?
I feel like I should apologize for the 10 seconds you just spent to read this.
Now I'm going to go do something valuable with my time because:
Tick Tock.
(There is a 2000 year old ideology that deals very effectively with the question of money, but that discussion would quickly be labled "religion".)

localhost - Posted - 10/17/2025:  13:32:52

The desire to earn in order to provide VS the desire to spend what you don't have on things you don't need. I grew up watching my widowed mother work 3 jobs to barely make enough for us to get by. She didn't lack desire or effort, only a livable wage from it.

STUD figmo Al - Posted - 10/17/2025:  15:16:11

quote:

---

Originally posted by localhost

The desire to earn in order to provide VS the desire to spend what you don't have on things you don't need. I grew up watching my widowed mother work 3 jobs to barely make enough for us to get by. She didn't lack desire or effort, only a livable wage from it.

---

Been there n done that to..

We got by..but not by much..

After me father left..

steve davis - Posted - 10/17/2025:  17:51:13

I don't have a lot of money,but I know how to live with what I have.
I do a lot of figuring on what I can afford and what I can't by living by my favorite word "DONKY" which stands for "DON't Kid Yourself".

I find a lot of interest in free things like games of cribbage,pool and Scrabble and lots of local music with talented players.
When I need parts for my old tractor I have to buy Chinese pieces.
If they get as expensive as genuine Ford parts I would then buy from Ford.

donc - Posted - 10/17/2025:  18:13:51

From the downhill side of the fence one thing never ceases to puzzle me. Think of the top 5 or 10 people constantly in the news. Half of them are into major wealth which has lead them to a high position in the political world.. That segment often seems to be constantly b****ing about some other person, some other country, some other political ideology, or the unfair media who carries their sad stories to the world. As I see it the real problem with too much money is not having enough to do or not having enough to worry about. If you are really wealthy you have enough to promote yourself to whatever rank you can create. The problem is that the people around you may not recognize your own self promotion. For someone with major ego issues that is a really big problem.

slammer - Posted - 10/17/2025:  18:55:00

My Dad thought me……….other than a house or car, if you can’t afford to pay in cash, ya don’t need it !!! I’ve lived by that, and it’s served me pretty well.
Slammer!!!

banjoy - Posted - 10/18/2025:  05:18:32

As a youth, I never had anyone in my life that ever talked sense or ever tried to help guide me through growing up, to think about my future. Rudderless as a kid, would be the describe it. I never lusted after or needed much money throughout my life. I've found that we create our own realities, and focusing on something, good or not so good, can make it happen. So as I'm entering my waning years, the sunset of my life, I look back and see life courses and trajectories that make more sense now. Decisions and actions made decades ago affect today's reality, and lack of resources most definitely affects what choices I have available to me in this time. It narrows the field of vision to what is most important.



So, I've learned that we usually get -- are provided -- what we need, rarely what we want. And for me, that seems to work still to this day, as I, like everyone else, create a daily reality. Money, and wealth (or lack thereof) not the least of it. The folly and illusion of wealth and money. It's all temporal. Life is but a dream.

 

Edited by - banjoy on 10/18/2025 05:22:29

mike gregory - Posted - 10/18/2025:  10:05:52

quote:

---

Originally posted by chuckv97

Money can’t buy me lasting happiness, but it does relieve some stress. “I’m not broke , but I’m badly bent”

first recording of,,,

youtu.be/d14k4ZnnFig?si=uOonm2u_arb73QBQ

---

"Lattie"? His money MAY have been spent buying overpriced coffee with his NAME on it!!

Edited by - mike gregory on 10/18/2025 10:10:29

mike gregory - Posted - 10/18/2025:  10:16:08

I've got a charming wife, a solid house, a reasonably healthy dog, and vehicles all paid for.
Plus more banjos than one man needs, and tools to make more, if I ever WANT more.
Life is good.
And the religions or philosophies that talk about how TIME is irreplaceable go back a lot further than a mere 2,000 years.

steve davis - Posted - 10/18/2025:  15:08:26

Having been close to death a few times has helped me be very satisfied with whatever life throws at me for the rest of this ride.

donc - Posted - 10/18/2025:  16:00:11

When I was younger my job was driving around the city fixing and installing land line telephones. There were no competitors. The company supplied everyone rich and poor. Sometimes I would work among the poor folks in the East End. In one day there I was given a dollar tip and later on it was a large bottle of Coke. It wasn't much but but it would have been 30 minutes of take home wages for many of them. During the same week I would be working in the British Properties. That is Vancouver's imitation version of Beverly Hills. New money with flashy houses and luxury cars. Working over there seemed to be an illogical contradiction. Instead of people with an abundance of everything many of them behaved like perennial victims. If they were not being ripped off by the telephone company it was some other enterprise they hated. As a blue collar intruder I was suppose to be impressed by their superiority. Tips were never expected anywhere especially from a grateful customer in the British Properties. On one of our rare hot days I asked the housewife if I could have a glass of water to go with my bagged lunch. She directed me to the hose laying on the back yard. Many years later my wife and I were in Versailles, France. She wanted to tour that famous palace with all the gold plated plumbing. I told her that she was welcome to go but I would prefer a hike through the village. I don't think she really understood my lack of interest in seeing another decadent house.

Edited by - donc on 10/18/2025 16:02:07

Mad Hornet - Posted - 10/18/2025:  18:03:38

quote:

---

Originally posted by donc

When I was younger my job was driving around the city fixing and installing land line telephones. There were no competitors. The company supplied everyone rich and poor. Sometimes I would work among the poor folks in the East End. In one day there I was given a dollar tip and later on it was a large bottle of Coke. It wasn't much but but it would have been 30 minutes of take home wages for many of them. During the same week I would be working in the British Properties. That is Vancouver's imitation version of Beverly Hills. New money with flashy houses and luxury cars. Working over there seemed to be an illogical contradiction. Instead of people with an abundance of everything many of them behaved like perennial victims. If they were not being ripped off by the telephone company it was some other enterprise they hated. As a blue collar intruder I was suppose to be impressed by their superiority. Tips were never expected anywhere especially from a grateful customer in the British Properties. On one of our rare hot days I asked the housewife if I could have a glass of water to go with my bagged lunch. She directed me to the hose laying on the back yard. Many years later my wife and I were in Versailles, France. She wanted to tour that famous palace with all the gold plated plumbing. I told her that she was welcome to go but I would prefer a hike through the village. I don't think she really understood my lack of interest in seeing another decadent house.

---

Pretty sad testimony.  I had a few similar interactions back in my days in the field.  It's hard to understand how much the so called elites truly hate regular people.  But once you understand that, a lot of other things start to make sense.

Mad Hornet - Posted - 10/18/2025:  18:06:18

I have worked very hard, made some smart decisions and have truly been blessed. But none of that would be possible were it not for my heavenly father and his son Jesus, to whom I owe everything, the true source of happiness and everlasting life.

Owen - Posted - 10/18/2025:  18:50:25

.... well, I guess then my happiness* is fake.  C'est la vie?

* though I typically see it more as contentment.

STUD figmo Al - Posted - 10/18/2025:  19:28:33

There's alot to be said for ...
For being content... :0]

donc - Posted - 10/18/2025:  21:48:12

Many years ago an elderly person told me that rich people are just poor people with money. Think of your own life over the past year. A typical problem may have been a physical abnormality [like a cold or flu], or maybe a major disagreement with a family member, or maybe an adverse event in your community , or even a period of boredom or frustration which you can't explain. These and many others are typical examples of problems shared by rich and poor alike.

banjoy - Posted - 10/19/2025:  05:16:49

One of the things I've leaned in life is how sooooo many people conflate wealth and religion. I alluded to this in my first post, about worshiping false idols. That is not a joke. So many times I hear from folks "I've been blessed" as they list all the material things, the success and love of their family, and often their wealth. In other words, God has been good to them. The unstated assumed implication being, if God was good to them, they must be good and have done good. There is no correlation at all. There are miserable, horrid wealthy folk, as much as there are godly, wonderful but financially poor human beings. Luck and being born in the right family and time and place has a lot to do with this.



The unstated and ugly flipside of this is, there is an underlying assumption and sometimes, a belief, that those who were not so blessed, are frowned on by God, they must have deserved it, they must not be good people because they're not blessed like me. This results in an attitude of greed, hoarding, not only wealth, but love and compassion for others. Basically, I got mine, so go f*** yourself. Lots of that going around these days. It's sad.



So there are misconceptions and stereotypes on both sides, the wealthy towards the poor and poor towards the wealthy and affluent. Things are seriously out of balance when one wealthy person can make decisions and take actions which affect millions. That's wrong. Again, greed and fear rule theses days. Never mind, life provided ample resources for all. Those with the gold make the rules. That's the illusion. But we live it as real as gospel, and it determines our reality. Sad.



All my personal opinions only.

Edited by - banjoy on 10/19/2025 05:17:40

STUD figmo Al - Posted - 10/19/2025:  06:22:24

There is alot we can agree on there Frank.. :0)

steve davis - Posted - 10/19/2025:  06:52:45

The great equalizer is our health.

Owen - Posted - 10/19/2025:  08:16:56

Fwiw, I "wonder" about how widespread the conflation and underlying assumptions that Frank mentions ^^ actually are, and how deeply rooted they might be.  Maybe they're something "handy" to say without having to put mucho thought into it.

However I do agree with his observation about "I got mine, etc." ... though from my limited vantage point that mindset doesn't seem to be spread equally across the globe.

Jon Borcherding - Posted - 10/19/2025:  08:56:45

Interesting comment, Frank.
I would say there is a pervasive tendency to conflate wealth and money. How quickly we forget (or is it hypnosis?) that no modern form of money has any real intrinsic worth. Paper is paper. You can eat it but it's not very nutritious. You can wrap yourself in it but it doesn't make effective clothing or shelter. Gold is a maleable and easily workable metal, but once again, utterly worthless as food, shelter, water, or clothing.
I'm sure we all know people who are wealthy in terms of their bank accounts, stock and real estate holdings, yet they are absolutely miserable. I suspect many of us also know people who don't know where their next meal is coming from and they consider themselves blessed and highly favored by God.

How should we define wealth?

A very wise woman once asked me this rhetorical question:
"Why do people get so worked up about the first 80 years of eternity?"

banjo bill-e - Posted - 10/19/2025:  10:07:17

I have had a thankful heart lately, though I am rather vague about who I am thanking, and why. And I have also pondered Frank's point about the appropriateness of feeling "blessed", as it seems to imply that those facing hardships and misfortunes are NOT so blessed. So perhaps feeling "fortunate" is a better choice, but I do feel that it is possible to feel "blessed" without thinking that you deserve any special favor or status. It is feeling blessed from a perspective of humility rather than from hubris.

Owen - Posted - 10/19/2025:  10:29:37

^^ Without knowing the background, I've tended to use the expression, "There but for fortune.... ."  But then a couple of months back, in some thread or other, somebody tried to "show me the error of my ways,"  so  now ............. ???

I'm pretty sure I get Steve's ^^ drift, but I think stats show that the treatment that rich folks and poor folks get for their ailments is mucho unequal.

chuckv97 - Posted - 10/19/2025:  10:49:31

I’m not big on believing in a cosmic power that plays favourites. I can’t imagine a starving peasant in Africa uttering prayers of gratitude.



“ Life isn't fair. It's just fairer than death, that's all." - William Goldman

"Life is not fair; get used to it." - Charles J. Sykes

"Life's not fair, it never was, it isn't now and it won't ever be." - Matthew McConaughey

"Life's not fair. Don't expect it to be." - Monty Williams”

otoh, if it's any consolation: " the first now will later be last" 

Edited by - chuckv97 on 10/19/2025 10:51:35

Jon Borcherding - Posted - 10/19/2025:  11:18:11

I can’t imagine a starving peasant in Africa uttering prayers of gratitude.

That is a remarkable statement considering the genre of music discussed on this site is chock full of spiritual songs that were composed and joyfully performed by enslaved people who suffered every kind of misery imaginable.

Jon Borcherding - Posted - 10/19/2025:  11:19:10

Laurence Diehl - Posted - 10/19/2025:  12:10:39

I’m not religious but there is some good stuff in the Bible. Such as:
The love of money is the root of all evil.
Oh yeah, I like that one about a camel passing through the eye of a needle too.

Eric A - Posted - 10/19/2025:  12:21:09

As somebody once said, "if the rich are unhappy, it's their own fault"

chuckv97 - Posted - 10/19/2025:  13:03:16

Somebody also once said, “if people are poor they didn’t try hard enough”. Ugh

Owen - Posted - 10/19/2025:  13:38:33

I’m also not religious [i.e. I don't know what context, if any, might be applicable] but there is some good stuff in the Bible.

Such as: the advice (?) about not planting fields with two kinds of seed and not wear clothing woven of two kinds of material.



Back when I was trying to farm I routinely underseeded alfalfa in barley, and oats/pea hay was supposedly pretty good, though I found that the peas seemed to pass through apparently undigested.  [Now, aren't you glad you asked?  ]

banjoy - Posted - 10/20/2025:  05:09:30

Interesting. Please understand -- and I think you all do understand -- in my post above I am not trying to cast a large blanket over everyone. What I described are what I believe to be the *extreme* expressions of wealth or poverty. The worst expressions of those extremes. And, unfortunately, extreme positions and thinking rule these days IMHO. Most of us don't live extremes. In my opinion, wealth and money are tools, that's it. If one adds religion into the pot, as I did, then the one thing that seems constant to me, as I understand , is we were given free will to choose. We choose how to use the tools given us, the tools we create. The free will to choose to be kind and loving, to share, or to be cold, vindictive, and punitive. It's a choice we make. Individually, and collectively.

Having said all that, money is a pretty dang powerful tool. You can accomplish lots of things with lots of it. No doubt about that. But it ends when we do. Thus, it's temporal. But I do wish I had more of it, at least temporarily.

Forgive me, it's early still and I'm wondering if this makes sense at all.

Owen - Posted - 10/20/2025:  09:14:13

I see a l-o-t of gray.

On a theoretical level I understand free choice, but when the subject of "choice" come up, I generally think back to how working on remote reserves really drove home the distinction between choice and realistic choice. 

And another tidbit that sticks with me [from an old National Geographic that isn't where I am], comes from a migrant from Central America trying to get into Mexico: "It's just need that makes you do certain things."