Addicted to Money

ADDICTION is defined as the state of being enslaved to a habit or practice or to something that is psychologically or physically habit-forming, such as narcotics, to such an extent that its cessation causes severe trauma.

MONEY, is defined as any circulating medium of exchange, including coins, paper money, and demand deposits.

Last month I flew to Monterey, California for a seminar held at a beautiful conference center on the Pacific Ocean.  Unfortunately, both my wallet and my cash remained in the pocket of my jacket in Los Angeles.  So there I was at the front desk of Asilomar, checking in for the weekend, with no money and no credit card.

Fortunately, my daughter Jill was with me.  She kindly loaned me one of her credit cards.

Even though I had previously paid in full for the conference, I felt limited.  I used Jill’s card to register, but I did not feel comfortable charging anything to my room. I felt psychologically naked (though perhaps no one else noticed).  That feeling was exacerbated on Sunday when I used an App on my iPhone to arrange for a ride back to the airport.  The credit card I had on file for Lyft was denied.  A few months earlier that card had been replaced after a fraudulent charge.

I reluctantly entered Jill’s credit card number into my Lyft account, and my driver soon appeared.

There I was, three hundred miles from home, with no cash or my own credit cards.  I felt unsettled, angry, and scared.

Back in Los Angles when I found my wallet exactly where I had left it I felt reassured, reenergized, and relieved.

This was a minor experience but it left a major impact.  I began to think about the role of money in our lives and, frankly, I conclude that most of us, including me, are addicted to money because “…its cessation causes severe trauma.”

Let’s refocus.  Years ago I had a “smiley face” printed on each check for my personal bank account.  Several people asked me, “Why the smiley face?  After all, you’re spending money.”

My answer was, “Because I’d rather have whatever I’m buying than the money.  So spending money is a happy experience for me.”

How easy it is to forget that money has very little value in and of itself.  You might be able to fry an egg on a campfire fueled by dollar bills, but if you eat a dollar bill you won’t receive much nutrition.  And one day all of your money – every cent of it – will belong to someone else.  This is not a guess.  It’s a certainty.

So let’s take a deep breath, use the beautiful alchemy of transforming money into something we will enjoy a lot more, and remember that numbers on a bank statement are a means to an end, and certainly not and end in itself.

Alan