Re: Re: More Landscapes

[Guest guest]

Kitty,

Thanks. Its looking good right now but even two years ago it was a real mess all around. My uncle had charge of things then, but he was in bad health so he couldn't do the things that needed doing and his care was taking a lot of money. That's ok though since it was his money. Its coming along a bit at a time. Hopefully by this fall we should have the grass in all those bare areas. Certainly it will be up by this time next year though.

[Guest guest]

Kitty,

It does seem that many in the younger generations just want the money. Therefore they sell the land as soon as they get it. There is one case in my family where the children were trying to get the parents put in and old folks home so they could assume control of the farm. All it was was that they wanted to sell the farm and take the money. Fortunately my cousin was smart enough to sell the land to another farmer, that is all the land save for the house. Now the kids have nothing to squabble over, well aside from how much the parent's medical costs are. But hey, its their money. If they want to spend it to live at home, then they are well within their rights to do so. Lots of that kind of thing goes on.

My great grandfather had a lot of little sayings. One of his favorites was "the best investment is land, the second best investment is poor land." The point of that is this (this is from me): "Some of us are land rich and cash poor. We've got money but its all invested in land. We could get that money, but to do so we would have to sell the land. Pretty soon after that, the money would be gone and so would the land, leaving us with nothing. But if we keep the land and live within its means, we'll always have something, and if we handle our affairs right, we'll end up with more land in the future."

I've seen a lot of people, my father included, who sold their land. They did indeed get a pretty nice bit of money for it at the time. Problem was, the money didn't last. Every one of them could have been living comfortably, but now they are scratching for a living. My father squandered his on a previously failed business and a second wife. I've heard the business cost him about $200,000 and the wife at least that much more (and that's in roughly 1982 dollars). If he'd followed my advice and invested that money, he'd be so rich right now it would be disgusting. Oh well, people don't usually listen to 10 year olds especially about investing, even though said 10 year old would watch the financial shows on the weekends instead of cartoons.

[Guest guest]

Kitty,

It does seem that many in the younger generations just want the money. Therefore they sell the land as soon as they get it. There is one case in my family where the children were trying to get the parents put in and old folks home so they could assume control of the farm. All it was was that they wanted to sell the farm and take the money. Fortunately my cousin was smart enough to sell the land to another farmer, that is all the land save for the house. Now the kids have nothing to squabble over, well aside from how much the parent's medical costs are. But hey, its their money. If they want to spend it to live at home, then they are well within their rights to do so. Lots of that kind of thing goes on.

My great grandfather had a lot of little sayings. One of his favorites was "the best investment is land, the second best investment is poor land." The point of that is this (this is from me): "Some of us are land rich and cash poor. We've got money but its all invested in land. We could get that money, but to do so we would have to sell the land. Pretty soon after that, the money would be gone and so would the land, leaving us with nothing. But if we keep the land and live within its means, we'll always have something, and if we handle our affairs right, we'll end up with more land in the future."

I've seen a lot of people, my father included, who sold their land. They did indeed get a pretty nice bit of money for it at the time. Problem was, the money didn't last. Every one of them could have been living comfortably, but now they are scratching for a living. My father squandered his on a previously failed business and a second wife. I've heard the business cost him about $200,000 and the wife at least that much more (and that's in roughly 1982 dollars). If he'd followed my advice and invested that money, he'd be so rich right now it would be disgusting. Oh well, people don't usually listen to 10 year olds especially about investing, even though said 10 year old would watch the financial shows on the weekends instead of cartoons.

[Guest guest]

Your philosophy just sounds like good logic to me, but I don't think seeing the big picture that way would occur to many people. I wonder if this desire to hold on to things of value rather than going for a 'quick fix' is another positive aspie trait? Kitty

Kitty,

I don't know if that is an AS trait or not. It probably has more to do with how you are raised. If anyone is always taught to take the easy road, then they will. On the other hand if people are taught to conserve and use money wisely, then they will probably continue to do so, though it might take a painful lesson or two to reinforce the wisdom of that principle. I think that is why you sometimes hear about a life long janitor who never made much more than minimum wages sets up a scholarship endowment worth millions. It is also why a few people I went to school with ended up moving back home around their 30th birthdays because they went broke while earning $40,000 plus per year. One girl that my mother had "picked out" for me back in the 6th grade was like that. She moved back home from Florida because she wasn't able to make it on only $50,000 per year. Glad I didn't end up married to her.