I never knew I was poor……

Funny, that.  As a small child, and far into my teenage years, I never understood poverty nor ever felt poor. I am beginning to wonder if I ever heard the word spoken.  In fact, I always felt rich. We certainly were really poor, years of The Great Depression (no, not the one recently)  sank Australia into the mire of workless and moneyless desperation  and life was lived from hand to mouth.  We only had a house by managing to avoid the landlord when he came for his rent.  I seem to remember moving quite often. Our clothes were basic and we only had some because our late mother, Connie, could sew.  Shoes came and went, most often we went barefoot. After all, this was Queensland wasn’t it? The credo then, as it probably is today, was to “toughen up”.

On looking back, I know my feeling of being a person of high breeding and wealth, even though I was penniless, came from my grandmother, Mabel Carlton Craven.  Although reduced to  extreme poverty herself, through no fault of her own, she was thoroughly indoctrinated by her family,  with the knowledge that she was the niece of the Earl of Craven, the owner of estates and money, in the far away fairytale land of England.  All of the things she told me were true, although I didn’t understand that she was brainwashing me, but now as I look back, I certainly appreciate her efforts in the face of what could have been a total destruction of my psyche.  Unfortunately, because we had very little money all through my young life, I never had anyone to guide me on the road to wealth. I always had the instincts but, without solid knowledge and direction, I came very close to never lifting out.

So my message today.... Take a little time to explain to your children how money operates. Teach them about profit and loss. How the banks handle their money and how they can get swindled.  Encourage them to become entrepreneurs. Give them Napoleon Hill’s book “Think and Grow Rich” to read, and also “the Richest Man in Babylon”.  Might do you some good too.