Revelation Time

I have changed my mind. It was only a couple of weeks ago where I told someone that the child custody battle is the worst thing that's ever happened to me. I even said so on my personal finance blog. But then... I was reading Rich Dad, Poor Dad the other night and it hit me like a bolt of lightning. I am serious, it was out of the blue. I think God reached down and smacked me on the head. I was sitting on the couch when it happened and I even spoke up and said this to S: I now believe the child custody battle could very well turn out to be one of the best things--if not THE best thing, though I'm not willing to go there yet--that's ever happened to me.

No, this is not one of those "whatever doesn't kill me" posts or "if life gives you lemons" posts. Although I DO believe that if life gives you lemons you should at least try to make lemonade, or in my case, if life gives you gators you should make Gatorade! (I kill myself.) There is actually a not-all-that-noble-on-the-surface-anyway moral to this story.

Though this post sounds like it should go on the personal finance blog, this is really a life altering post. And it's kind of simple, but this is going to change the outcome of the rest of my life, and S's life, and our children's lives, and hopefully my mother and brother's lives too. I have become obsessed with economics and personal finance. Budgeting, investing, and everything else! I have read, literally in the past year or so, I would guess around 30 books on the subject. I read personal finance blogs every single day. I read Forbes and Money. I have opened numerous savings accounts and there's actually money in all of them. I have more in retirement than the majority of people I know. The bottom line is, I have become scarily intelligent about money, and I still have even more to learn. I am way ahead of the game and can see the finish line, and most people haven't even gotten out of the starting gate, metaphorically speaking. This I know for a fact b/c I see with my own eyes everyday how people live their lives and I read their stories in these books and I hear them on Dave Ramsey begging for guidance and I see them on Suze Orman crying in fear.

So it hit me: because of all that I've learned--and the proof is that S and I have not crashed and burned and declared bankruptcy due to our $30,000 custody battle--S and I are not only going to be JUST FINE in the near future, we're going to excel and prosper. It doesn't matter how much money you make, it only matters how much money you keep. Poor and middle class people acquire liabilities. The rich acquire assets. THINK about it...and learn.