Our Hero’s and Advisors

Recently, on a trip through the wondrous land of YouTube, I happened upon a segment produced about on very public figure that I had had some curiosity about over the years, but never taken the time to delve into. I have always been a fan of the financial information guru's, but had not found her information or type of delivery to be terribly appetizing. 

It would seem that this particular self-proclaimed expert is actually a very deceitful person, with deep seated goals that were designed to provide a false reality to her followers. All for the goal of creating a great deal of personal gain for herself, with no consideration of the impact on others. In much plainer speak, she was no more than a very well-spoken con artist or huckster (as my Grandmother would say).

Her goals became more and more apparent when the statements she made were compared over time to previously made statements and against simple facts. She, in my eyes, became nothing more than a modern-day P.T. Barnum who lived by two axioms… 1) Never give a sucker an even break and 2) There is a sucker born every minute.

1) Never give a sucker an even break.

2) There is a sucker born every minute.

In his time P.T. Barnum's entire goal was to simply create illusion and temporary euphoric feelings in his clients with the end goal of giving them nothing more than a smoke and mirror feeling and finding any way to separate his marks from their hard earned money. But, as the old saying goes, “A fool and their money are soon parted”.

I question the greater ideal of this thought.

Is it acceptable for these people (con artists) to take the uneducated masses money due to the their lack of desire to do the actual research needed to make an informed decision or choice? A choice that allow them to keep their money?

In other words, is the person giving their money willingly to a huckster getting what they deserve? Or is there a greater responsibility in our society to protect those around us, even if they are unwilling to protect themselves from themselves? Should we, the educated populous allow these people who intentionally prey on the uneducated to remain unchecked?

I strongly feel that this is the true death of what used to be the middle class as well as why a great deal of people in our country live in poverty.

Rather than take the time to educate themselves to the reality of the world and how key things such a money and credit work, they fall to the temporary enticements provided by these practitioners of deceit.

The education that is needed to protect oneself from these things is readily available from a variety of sources and in most cases at no cost. Our public libraries are still free and the internet is available to the largest portion of us. The key is that these sources is to actually take the time to use them rather than spend that valuable time in pursuit of another pretzel at the mall. The reality is that these misfortunates simply need to decide that the knowledge gained is more valuable than the devices that they choose to enroll their time with instead.

So, how do we avoid falling victim ourselves?

The first goal should always be to be finding fulfilling information on any subject that we are engaged in! Read, study and educate yourself on the subject matter fully, taking the time to find both the pro’s and the con’s on the subject.

Do you desire to be out of debt, make more money and be better with your credit? Simple, take the time to begin reading up on the subject.

Second… Know where the information that you are digesting is coming from. I might become a bit skeptical about a book on finance written by anybody with a lifetime in the entertainment industry or a book on sailing written by somebody who had never seen the ocean.

We need to choose where we take our information from and whom we take it from.

I watch people following public figures very easily with no regard for who they really are, how they achieved their fame and what they really stand for.

We should seek out and find those people who are honest and successful in the areas we desire success in and follow them. If I desire to make a million dollars, I probably won't figure it out from somebody who has never made more than $30,000 a year in their lifetime. Taking time to seek out those people who have blazed the path before us and learn from them will always get us farther ahead.

Finally, in our daily life, shouldn’t we seek out those people in our own lives that lift us up, not bring us down? While there is nothing wrong with lifting others up, shouldn’t we seek out people who want us to be better than we were yesterday rather than tear us down to their level? In taking advice, shouldn’t we find people who are successful in the area we wish to be successful in that area? 

I have heard it said that if we look at our 8 closest friends and that is who we are! Surrounding ourselves with a circle of influence that can actually influence us to the better certainly can't hurt!

Finally, we need to realize that true discipline is simply “choosing between what we want now and what we want most!”

Ok, I will step off my soapbox for now, but not before I add the following simple thought…

I am just a small town kid but I was raised to believe that All of us have it within us to be great! Success is far less about intelligence than it is about determination. Failure is only a failure if we don’t learn, grow and move forward from the lesson! It is easy to sit on our duff and say that we don’t know how and can’t do something. This is lazy and a lie! We can, but only when we see the value of the effort and make the choice to do so.