The Daily Meaning
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Good Ideas Are Good Ideas
While in a meeting today, my Media Director casually mentioned what may be the best idea I’ve heard all week. It’s a new concept for the podcast that could be a game-changer for us. A few hours before that, my assistant dropped an amazing idea in my lap. Just yesterday, while having coffee with a youth group kid, they dropped a little brilliant gem of an idea on me. A few days ago, a client shared a totally fresh idea about how we can handle our finances well.
Debt Ceiling, Through a Different Lens
A few people recently asked me about the U.S. Federal Government debt ceiling situation. It’s definitely a hot-button issue in the news cycle, and many people have vastly different opinions about it. I find it helps to reframe the discussion and look at it as if the US government were just a family, using the same ratios as the government is dealing with. With that context, here we go!
Excuses or Impact
Yesterday, we published episode 227 of the Meaning Over Money Podcast. Just typing that number feels absurd. Based on available data, 90% of podcasts don’t make it past the third episode. Of the ones that do, 90% don’t make it past episode 20. Knowing this, 227 feels wild. According to Listen Notes, we are in the top 3% of podcasts in the world.
Nothing Is Wasted
My young friend Cam, an accomplished track athlete, just finished her high school athletic career a few days ago. She’ll soon graduate and move on to the next chapter of her life. In the aftermath of her last formal competition, she posted something on IG that caught my eye. Her words were profound, and I thought they were worth sharing:
You Just Never Know
Nearly a decade ago, I met a couple at church…..good people. I got to know them over a period of time, and they started to know me as someone who helps people with finances. At one point, the wife said, “Travis, you need to help my son…..he’s a mess!!” Her son was in college and recently engaged. She was correct, he was indeed a mess (with money). He was a good dude, though, and his fiancé was pretty awesome, too. They were a top-notch young couple. I was blessed with the opportunity to serve them over the course of a few years, and during that time, I watched them transform their life.
Unwinding Your Way to Contentment
The pursuit of more is a slippery slope. It starts innocent enough. We enter the real world and get our first place. We see how nice our friends’ place is, so we also get something nice. Maybe we’ve been driving a beater for a while, so we decide to get an upgrade. After all, we’ve been working hard and we’re finally making grown-up money. Then the new iPhone comes out and we realize ours is already a few years old……better get a new one. One small step, then another, then another.
A Friendly Reminder
This is just a friendly reminder that using credit cards in no way makes our life better. In fact, it brings a litany of negatives that range from minor inconveniences to utter destruction. This is an opinion I’ve had for more than a decade, and each week I get more convicted in it.
Embrace the Dash
In yesterday’s post, I reflected on my grandpa’s legacy. It was through the lens of a long life, well lived. It’s somewhat simple to look in the rearview mirror to see what legacy was written over the course of decades. In general, the entire idea of legacy is assessed through the lens of what happened in the past, and the future-looking possibilities of what could come from it.
Legacy Multiplies
I attended my maternal grandfather’s funeral yesterday. It was a great service and it meant a lot to spend the day with so many in my extended family. He was the third grandparent we’ve lost in the past 40 months.
“I Couldn’t Say No”
“There’s no price tag for my happiness…..it doesn’t seem like something I could put a price on.” Yet, they just knowingly sold their happiness for $20,000. $20,000!?!? It’s safe to say they disagreed with my assessment of the situation. The conversation eventually moved on to something far less controversial and emotionally-charged……politics.
Letting Opportunity be Opportunity
We work, work, and work some more. All the while, we’re hoping that opportunity finally comes our way. We wait, wait, and wait some more. When will it finally happen?!?! So we work, wait, work, wait, and work some more. Finally, the opportunity of a lifetime slaps us right in the face. It finally happened!!!
Work That Matters: SAHM Edition
“So you just stay at home?” I was standing about 8 feet from Sarah when she was asked this question at a social gathering, but I could tell from the minute I looked at her eyes, that one hurt. We had recently become parents to twin boys. Considering her dream in life was to one day stay at home with her babies, she was in the midst of living her absolute dream. But in that moment, her confidence was wavering and the self-talk was starting to creep in. It wasn’t the first time she had received an innocent-sounding comment with an insult attached to it, but this one hurt just as much as the others.
Creating Traditions
As I write this, I have one little boy snuggled up to my left side, fast asleep. On my right side, the other little boy, equally exhausted. I’m laying in a tent, using my thumbs to peck away this post. I can hear birds settling in for the night, and thunder in the distance. I’m exactly where I am every year on this night. The boys and I are on our annual pre-Mother’s Day camping trip. We rode horses, shot BB guns, played dodgeball, swam for far too long, and ate s’mores. It’s a tradition.
Sometimes Surviving is Thriving
We’re in the middle of a tough financial season for many. Between groceries, fuel, vehicles, and housing, inflation has been squeezing people from all sides. I’ve talked at length about this topic on the podcast, but I like to categorize people into three different groups:
Muscle Memory
I absolutely love the NBA playoffs. Growing up west of Chicago in the 90s, there was nothing better than watching the Bulls raise a banner nearly every year. Though I’m no longer a Bulls fan (see The Last Dance if you’re curious why), the NBA has stuck with me for decades. The other night, as I was watching another stellar Lakers/Warriors game, a very peculiar play unfolded before my eyes.
Memories Are Memories
In a world obsessed with more, more, and more, we can often lose sight of what really matters. In the last week, I’ve had several conversations with parents about how they are spending thousands upon thousands of dollars on their kids. Sometimes they classify these expenditures as wants, and other times as needs. But as a general rule of thumb, if it doesn’t involve a doctor, there are very few purchases in the $1,000+ range that classify as true kid needs.
Being Right vs. Getting it Right
While serving a client yesterday, I was in a team meeting for a project we’re working on. It’s a complex project that intersects with several different departments. For that reason, it’s always helpful to bring the team together to get a second set of eyes and fresh perspectives.
Marty Was Right!
When my kids were babies, I remember asking my colleague, Marty, what his favorite stage of parenting was. At the time, he had two college kids and a young high schooler. Without hesitation, he answered, “every stage was my favorite stage.” What?!?! What a cop-out answer! C’mon, Marty, give me something I can use!! He went on to explain how every single stage of parenting was better than the last. It felt like the inverse of this classic scene from Office Space.
Even Work We Love is Still Work
Can I tell you a secret? Please don’t tell anyone I told you this. I detest giving kids allowances. It’s the quickest way to teach entitlement, laziness, and create a disconnect between money and work.
For Good or For Evil
I’m on the board of directors for an organization in SE Asia, and have been for going on 8 years now. My fellow board members have become a second family to me. As with any group of people scattered around the globe, it’s not often we get to meet face-to-face. We try to do at least two board meetings in-person each year (one in the US and one in Asia), with the rest being via Zoom.