Balancing Things Out

And as with everything in life, once you start looking you always find the yin to the yang of what you’ve just read… “Being Responsible is the Key”.

And what is interesting about this is that it basically says the same as the the gurus of wealth creation, Rich Dad, Poor Dad about poor struggling young first time buyers, ie sort out your financial independence FIRST and then buy property – don’t expect everything to be handed to you on plate and stop whinging if you are daft and it all goes South.

We couldn’t afford it either, and neither could your grandparents, but we managed – either badly or well, but we managed, and during tougher financial times as well. You can too if you give up the drink, the toys and the gadgets and simply concentrate on finding solutions (like starting a second job from home… lol!).

Wouldn’t go so far as to say send your children to work in a Primark factory, but when needs must and all that

I mean, no one seriously thinks those children are working in those factories RATHER than going to school or working elsewhere for more money do they? If they are it’s because that’s the best option for them and their families, which then leads to the uncomfortable question of what happens when the contracts dry up from Primark et al…? Where do those children turn to then to earn money for the family pot…? Prostitution? Crippling themselves to beg?

OK, 60p a day isn’t much, and no kids should have to go to work, and yes we have to care, and do care, that the environment they are working in is less than good, BUT presumable the other options for their families are worse, and that’s where we will have pitched them by getting all self righteous and holier-than-thou to poor old Primark.

And what about Mrs UK Average and her kids, the ones she’s raising on a shoe string? If Primark can’t supply what she needs on a budget, is she just to shrug and feel all green and smug and go spend her last pennies at M&S like these short-sighted middle class do-gooder protesters who can’t follow an action through the end consequences or seeing that their world view isn’t necessarily the right or only one?

And on that note, I have been seriously discussing first time businesses with my girls, ages 12 and 10. They have to earn their pocket money, it doesn’t come as a given, because that’s how it is in the real world, and I want them to be financially free by the time they are in their 20s.

Felice (age 10) is determined to do something about animals, perhaps write a guide or ebook about dog care or having a puppy (since she is pretty experienced now!), and has put a postcard advertising her services as dog walker locally, and started her very first blog “The Latest Sniff“, which we will incorporate in the new revamped Funky Angel if she sticks with it

Cecily wants to do something “random” online for her peers, details yet to be confirmed, and is interested in doing a mayhem radio show or perhaps interviewing people she admires, such as J K Rowling. I can’t see where the money is in that, but knowing Cecily she’ll already have a biz plan and niche market already mapped out in her beautiful head, so we wait with interest…

But what I do know is that I will be getting ‘Cashflow for Kids‘ for them for their birthdays next month. No middle classs daftness about buying doodahs on debt for my kids, thank you very much! The ubiquitous Jones’ can go their own sweet way as far as I am concerned – a healthy credit balance on the bank statement and no debt to trip you over is much more desirable than any amount of race horse shares, fast cars, and kids at private schools, and I don’t care if that means a kitchen garden, canal or road kill, frugal gourmet in the kitchen, and shopping at Lidl and Primark!

They are privileged, we all are in this country, and the best way to give thanks for that is to make the most of what you have and not abuse it.

Here endeth the lesson. Amen