The Daily Meaning
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They Come in Threes, Right?
You know the saying, “Bad things come in threes”, right? I always roll my eyes at this saying, as I’m not a superstitious person. Well, I’m no longer laughing. In the 36 hours leading up to our family trip, we got struck by the trifecta of terrible. First, a tree fell on our house. Then, we randomly had water in our basement, on either side of an interior wall. Just hours after that, the pipes under the kitchen sink burst as Sarah was doing dishes. I was already stressed as I was trying to finish my talks ahead of this hybrid work trip / family vacation, so needless to say the stress level in our house increased dramatically. .
Would You Buy it Today?
I once had a finance professor who framed up buy/sell investment decision-making in a unique way. I’ve heard this same perspective many times since, but I remember how much it made me think back to when I was a 20-year-old kid. If you’re sitting on an investment that you don’t know whether you should sell or not, simply ask yourself, “Would I buy it today at this price?” If the answer to the question is yes, then hold. If the answer is no, then sell. Why? Because not making a decision is still a decision. Every time you choose not to sell, you’re choosing to buy at today’s price.
If Not, What's the Point?
One of my clients was recently considering making a somewhat major purchase……in the +/- $25,000 range. This is no small sum of money, and they fully recognize that. The particular item they were considering isn’t greatly important to this conversation, and I want you to use your imagination so you can put yourself in your shoes with whatever type of item might be in your life.
How Do We Define Value?
In yesterday’s post, I made the argument we shouldn’t “support” small businesses, as that connotation “smells of pity, condescension, obligation, and guilt.” As expected, I quickly received a lot of feedback on this post. One such piece of feedback was from my friend Mike (yes, this Mike). Mike let me know he partially agreed and partially disagreed with my post.
Don't "Support" Small Businesses
Before I begin, I’d like to remind you I’m deeply invested and exceptionally fond of small businesses. My family’s livelihood is tied to my small business, I’m a part owner of a few other small businesses, and many of my clients are small businesses. So when you read my next sentence, I want you to know I say it with the utmost respect in mind.
Sharing What You Have: Pool Edition
Generosity comes in many forms. It’s not simply the money you give to church each week, or a monetary gift you leave someone in need, or a donation to a local organization. These are all examples of giving, but generosity is a much broader concept. As I’ve said before, we’re all called to share what we have, not what we don’t. What we each have to give is different. It’s a beautiful mix of resources, skills, time, influence, experience, and possessions. Every single one of us has something to give. if we’re willing to participate.
Rick Rubin on Creativity
“The goal of making art is not to show you just what everybody else sees. It’s to see what’s possible. And what’s possible is radical. It’s like we’ve built a very small world for ourselves with our reason…..We’ve learned what’s possible and what’s impossible. And if we accept what’s possible and what’s impossible, we can’t go beyond. If the Wright brothers accepted it was impossible for man to fly, we still wouldn’t be flying. All of the great revolutions that have happened, have happened because someone believed in something that everyone thought was impossible.”
What is a "Real Job"?
My latest article for the Greater Des Moines Partnership was published yesterday. In it, I explore the rise of the 1099 economy. If you haven’t heard the term “1099 economy”, I’ll give a quick summary. It’s a reference to people who do work without being official employees of a company. They don’t get an official paycheck and their engagement is typically shorter in nature. This is an ever-increasing trend in the business world, but it’s still largely misunderstood and demeaned by our culture.
5 Simple Steps to Avoid Criticism
After seeing the most recent of a long string of public criticisms of me and my work, a friend reached out and asked why I would continue to do things that result in criticism. After all, being ridiculed, demeaned, and ripped apart is never an enjoyable experience. I’ve thought a lot about this, and have come up with a simple 5-step plan to avoid criticism:
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!!!