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The Whisperer
By Mona Lease
Hi, all!! The following intrigues me. The American dollar...the
Eurodollar...pesos...lira, etc. Whatever you want to call it...it's an
attention-getter. Pull out your wallet...pull out your purse....all
eyes are on you. All you have to do is riffle through a few ones and a
ten and...you have center-stage.
I heard a woman saying a friend of hers had parents who were going to
buy their daughter a house. Pick one in the $40,000 - $60,000 range.
The woman I heard said it was too cheap as the Father "made a bunch of
money"...selling cars. I've listened as people who own or rent
something less than $40,000 drool and say "those people got a mansion."
Yet people who own or rent above the $60,000 mark say "it's ok for a
starter home."
And vehicles...why do we determine the worth...the "prestige" of a
vehicle someone drives by "the dollar?" We look and drool over a
vehicle with the latest gidgets and gadgets...mirage paint...standard
voice gps...sensors that tell you when a tire is low...sensors that
tell you how close you are to something...heated mirrors/seats...now
they parallel park themselves (I don't know if those are available yet,
but I've seen prototypes on the computer...google this), etc.
With a house payment of $700 and a car payment of $500 (using the above
example) and before insurance is added to that (to be legal for a
vehicle)...you could be paying $1,200 - $1,500 a month. House insurance
could be $600 a month...using the above example...depending upon
whether you live in the city or the country. In the country, you are
farther from a "recognized fire department." This will cost you more
insurance dollars...volunteer fire departments do not "carry as much
weight" in this situation. Sorry about this. Your credit score plays a
big part in this equation, too. Again...sorry. I suppose the thinking
here is that if you are faithful to your debt, you will be faithful to
the upkeep of your house. So for the home and the car that look like
the owner has "made it"...the price tag here could be $1,800 - 2,100 a
month. This is before taxes on the house, gas/oil for the vehicle, no
one gets sick...and you sit down to eat.
As usual...I wonder about all of this. Money and it's supposed power
are a "slide-rule" sort of thing. Fifty dollars to you might not be
that much. But there are those...maybe even those who are making the
above-mentioned payments...that fifty dollars might be food for a
week...food for a week if you actually cook. See how deceptive the
money is?? It whispers to us that we need more of it. It whispers to us
that it can define our lives...make us great. The Little Paper God
tells us that we can be a god ourselves...if we have enough of it. The
Little Paper God tells us we can live on a street called Easy...if we
have enough of it. The Little Paper God assures us that people will
look at us with our big house...our nice flashy car...and they will
concede that we have, indeed..."made it." I'll leave you with the
following:
"In the best of times, our days are numbered anyway. So it would be a
crime against nature for any generation to take the world crisis (or
money's supposed power - my insert here) so solemnly, that we put off
enjoying those things for which we were designed in the first place:
the opportunity to do good work...to enjoy friends...to fall in
love...to hit a ball and...to bounce a baby." - Alistair Cooke
For more information detailed to your specific need...call any
insurance agent. The point of this column is to demonstrate that
money's value will keep changing depending upon to whom you speak...the
age of the desired item...location, etc. But everyone wants to be
loved....have good friends...and bounce a baby...don't they? The value
of these things will never change will it...even if the stock market
crashes today??
Remember the kiddies and our service people. Take good care of the
furry and feathered ones out there. Be safe and healthy. See ya next
time. Ever Toodles!!! MONA
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