Your Money or Your Wife

At age 21 I was married and living with Jo Anne in a one bedroom furnished apartment on Santa Monica Boulevard in West Los Angeles.  I was enrolled in law school, but during the summer I held a full time job with the National CPA firm Peat, Marwick, with offices in downtown Los Angeles.

I commuted to work each day, and figured it was cheaper to commute by bus for twenty-five cents than to drive fifteen miles each way and pay for parking.  When I returned home in the evening the cost of one additional “zone” on the bus was seven cents.  Even though I didn’t like walking, I left the bus at Beverly Glen rather than ride another few blocks for seven cents more.

As I wrote in my blog “Cheetos Now: Cheetos Forever”, a friend, Robert Berg, suggested at the time that I occasionally buy Jo Anne a new dress.  I said, “Robert, it’s not the $20.00 for the dress which bothers me.  But I figure I can earn 15% on my money, so that dress would cost me $3.00/year for the rest of my life.  That’s a pretty expensive dress.”

The $200.00 I saved by not buying ten dresses, with compound interest at 15%, is worth $286,627.39 today, 52 years later.  I am ignoring income tax, and also the fact that a consistent 15% return is very difficult to achieve.  But even if we use an “after tax” return of only 6% that $200.00 is now worth $4,139.38.

You’re right.  I was cheap.  But to me compound interest was and is amazing.  Fifteen years later when I was courting Daveen she seemed to be interested in money, so I took my calculator to bed.  Daveen became very excited about earning a possible return of 15% compound interest on whatever she could save and invest.  I followed up my tutorial by suggesting she would need me to help her earn that 15%.  My strategy worked.  We’ve been married more than thirty years, and even today she sometimes chooses compound interest over a new dress.

As a fanatic about conserving money, I used to become incensed whenever I wasted even seven cents.  If I thought I had twenty dollars in my pocket and found only ten I would search for hours and yell at everyone in sight.  If I bought a gift while traveling, and later found the same item at a lower price, my vacation was ruined.  Whenever I felt cheated my blood pressure rose to an unbelievable high.

I finally asked myself if the money was worth the aggravation.  I decided that, up to a point, my mental health was more important, and I established an annual “budget” for wasted money and being cheated.

The story is told about a thirty-five year old man who entered Freudian analysis five days a week to deal with the fact that he still wet his bed.  After four years of treatment he announced to a friend that he was no longer in analysis.

“Good for you!  So you don’t wet your bed.”

“No, I still wet my bed.  It just doesn’t bother me anymore.”

I still waste more than a few dollars here and there.  And, like anyone else, I’m cheated from time to time.  But up to my budgeted limit, which I am willing to increase, it just doesn’t bother me anymore.

Anyway, I figure that I more than make it up through the miracle of (free) e-mail, rather than spending almost fifty cents to mail a first class letter.

Alan

I’m excited – People Tools will be released on January 21, one week from today.  We have a good chance to be on both the Amazon and New York Times best seller lists.  Please tell your friends, order People Tools on Amazon yourself, or order today from your local bookstore so they will have copies for you next week.  The NY Times counts the date delivered, so give your bookstore enough time to order from the publisher.

I was interviewed last Thursday on Voice America.  After the show Dr. Irene Conlan said, “Alan is one of the most articulate and interesting guests I’ve had the privilege to interview.”

You can listen to the interview for yourself:

http://www.voiceamerica.com/episode/75053/the-self-improvement-show-with-guest-alan-c-fox

Last Friday I received the following e-mail:

Mr. Fox — you were on my Mom’s radio show the other day, and as I went to cook dinner tonight your book was on the counter.  So dinner is a bit late, but I’m full!  What a wonderful book!  I hope you don’t mind, but I passed around the Amazon pre-order link to everyone I know.

My favorite part of the book are the quotes.  I’m sort of a Bartlett’s aficionado.  Cruising along with Jung, Dickens, Lao Tzu, and BAM — Alan C. Fox pops in with what I consider poetry about the value of people!  Fantastic!

Your book is a wonderful achievement!  If there is anything that Mom or I can do to help, please let us know.

Christopher Conlan