Raising Kids in the Age of Foolishness

There are enough fools in the world!

Raising Kids in the Age of Foolishness: Financial Advice #2 Integrity Over Ill-Gotten Gain

•             “Dishonest money dwindles away, but whoever gathers money little by little makes it grow.” — Proverbs 13:11

•             “Better a little with righteousness than much gain with injustice.” — Proverbs 16:8

•             “Ill-gotten treasures have no lasting value, but righteousness delivers from death.” — Proverbs 10:2

How you acquire your money matters. The concept of DOGE is a good one. Search for waste, fraud and corruption and root it out. The fraud and corruption part is what we are talking about. Remember Tom Sawyer’s way of earning money while painting the fence. He pretended to be having so much fun doing it that it caught the attention of the other boys. He told them he would let them paint some if they would give him something of value. He collected a dead rat, a key that wouldn’t open anything, a tin soldier, and a one-eyed cat. Was this fraud? At least they thought they were having fun, and he thought he was getting treasures.  Now consider TV Info Commercial. Promise BIG, deliver little.

The wise man identifies three types of ill-gotten gain. The first is easy money. As they say, “easy come, easy go.” You see someone dropping $20 and you stick in your pocket. Most of the time that $20 will be gone in no time. Why? You only value what costs you something. If you save $20 a month for 50 years at 8% compound interest, you will not blow it in one day on trivial things. The second path to ill-gotten gain is injustice. This may not be illegal, but it is unjust. The boss who will skimp on health care for his employees to make more money. The person who sells something without disclosing the risks involved in its use. Trading shinny bobbles of no value for land. Any transaction that takes advantage of people is unjust. Offering a poor person a ridiculous price for something with far more value just because the poor person is desperate is unjust.

The third type of ill-gotten gain is illegal activity. Unrighteousness can pay off well. Selling drugs on the street instead of getting a job at a fast-food place is appealing to a young kid from a poor family. A politician who gets a kick back from a friend for securing a government contract is illegal. Lying on your employment application about your academic career is illegal. Making some extra cash by falsifying your income tax return is illegal. Withholding wages from your workers is illegal. Insider trading is illegal.

A day’s work for a day’s pay. Work for the full eight hours. Never lie. Make an honest living. Don’t steal from your workplace, not even a paper clip. You will sleep better at night.