Many of the e-mails I get involve subjects pertaining to faith, empowerment, emotions, and how overall to continue to evolve in life. There are some things in our lifetime we may never truly understand, so that leaves us with that which we do have some control over. There are many who believe that by not owning one share of stock keeps them out of the stock market. Quite the contrary… if one works, has a mortgage, and pays down debt they are one of the main components of the stock market. On a basic level, we are the CFO (Chief Financial Officer) of our lives… the buck stops with us first.

The CFO of our own lives, you may ask? Yes indeed. We are a physical body that has emotions, and makes multiple choices daily. By not seeing this, and understanding the full range and scope, we are at a tremendous disadvantage over how many of our problems are created and handled. Let me give a few examples of how this scenario works: Each week we work at an occupation which hopefully at the end of a one or two week interval pays us a check for our services. That check is converted into money. Money is our primary financial asset of each week. So stick with me here… picture in your hands the money you have earned for the week. I know… in many cases it doesn’t stay in your hands for very long!… but it’s what we do with it that matters. So, in our hands is the money, and over the coming week we transfer that asset of cash into other assets. Some assets appreciate, while others depreciate. Have a guess…what do you think is the most depreciating asset that is in our lives on a daily basis? Food. Yes I know, we need it to live on… we can’t starve to death! but think for a minute. We go out… we take some of that cash from our hands, buy some food, bring it home, cook it and eat it… and guess what? It’s gone. The money is spent to pay for the food and then one trip to the bathroom and voila! To throw insult to injury, they tell us Americans that we have an obesity problem that is reaching epidemic proportions… well, that’s great to know… that means we are burning through more of our money then usual! It falls upon us to educate ourselves on where all of our money goes… it doesn’t just go away by itself.

Being the CFO of our lives, we know over time we have to balance the books. Yet so many of us get buried in debt. Most of the items we purchase deteriorate in value with age. Yet we still seek out the latest and greatest version with all the bells and whistles. I understand… the car is a more convenient form of transportation than a horse!…but are we aware that once driven out of the showroom, we can cross off half of it’s value? As we look back on our choices over the years, is it any wonder how we can so easily end up with half of the value of that money that was originally held in our hands? Wall Street holds each company to standards to set a fair market value for its stock… the earnings are supposed to increase or the stock gets punished. In our society, the same holds true for the CFO of the household. The more debt we accumulate, the more stress and emotional anxiety. Still, the rich are hated, yet why do so many play the lottery to become one of them? We may never be able to get all that we feel we are entitled to in life, but can we appreciate and enjoy what we already have? How can we enjoy the wonder of our lives if all we do is focus on what is missing?

The wise person on their deathbed listens to what their heart is saying… even though all through their life they may have only heard their own mind. As the Rolling Stones say, “You can’t always get what you want, but if you try sometimes, you just might find, you get what you need.” There is a CFO within us… that knows, that feels, that understands what the right thing to do is. Choices are sometimes not easy, but it’s not impossible to run a tight ship that shines in the harbor.

Set sail,
love, Jennifer Avalon
© 2005 Jennifer Avalon