The Words of George Washington Carver January 5, 2019

With today being the anniversary of the passing of George Washington Carver, one of his favorite quotes stands out to me. We're a society that is driven by name brands, having the biggest and shiniest cars, electronics, baubles and clothes. Don't let me get started on the people trying to show off the size of their bank accounts.

If there's anything I've learned in the last five years is that none of that matters. You can walk just the same wearing a reasonably priced $50 pair of sneakers as you can with a $200 pair. A $10K auto gets you from point A to point B just as well as a $50K auto. Having a pair of no name pants fit just as well if not better than a pair of pants with a premium brand name. A phone is basically a tool. Like most tools, you should try to maximize time and cost of your device instead of falling for the ads that say only the cool people have the brand spanking new phone every year.

I get it. We all like having nice things. We all like to treat ourselves. We work hard enough to do so. But to put ourselves in the financial hole in order to do so makes no sense. To sacrifice our future lives for the now makes no sense. I know many people live by the "YOLO" way of life. But if we're lucky we will grow old. We need to make sure we can prepare ourselves for that time in our lives. How can we do that? By saving and investing in ourselves, not in our possessions. And we do that by the work we put in, the sweat off of our brow and the blood that we have running through our veins.

Many of you are chanting "New Year, New Me." If you truly meant it, stop drinking the consumerism kool-aid and take that money that you would spend on the shiny stuff you covet and invest it in yourself. Your older self will thank you for it.

Until Then Keep Stepping,
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