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Happy Independence Day

Happy 4th of July everyone!! This week was filled with lots of fun and some traditional activities for my family. One of those traditions is that we always do fireworks at our house. When I was a kid we always went to a festival or a downtown park and watched fireworks but my kids have created a new tradition. They like to stay home! They enjoy picking out fireworks with their daddy and then spending their evening anxiously awaiting darkness so that we can all pile out the door and watch my husband shoot them all off. It's never anything fancy but there is always family and friends in attendance and that's what really makes it special for my kids. This year, as we were watching the fireworks and listening to the kids cheer and yell, I thought about why we were doing this in the first place. I thought about the celebration that we were having and the meaning of independence.

According to a quick Google search, the definition of independent is this:

1. free from outside control; not depending on another's authority.
2. not depending on another for livelihood or subsistence.

This really hits square in the gut for me, given our current situation in our country. Things are changing rapidly. Things that used to be honorable are looked at as being ‘shameful’. ‘Tolerance’ is forced on us. Robots are the norm, even though everyone knows how dangerous they could be. Food is being cloned, and vaccinated. Criminals are being honored. Pictures of the devil and people impersonating him are being shown more and more in our media experience. And someone who has a healthy body and diet is now the minority.

I say all of this to say, our personal independence and more than that, our children’s personal independence is going to be crucial in the next decade, in my opinion. If our kids leave our homes and go out into the world as it is today knowing the direction that it is headed, they had better be able to have some independence from the government, from institutionalized companies and universities, and, most importantly, have some financial freedom.

If our kids are desperate for money, desperate for work, desperate for shelter, they are destitute. They will no longer be able to stand up to people and companies that force unethical ideals on them. They won’t be able to say no to vaccines if they choose. They won’t be able to say no to things that go against their religion or their ethics. Of course, it has been this way since the beginning of time. Everyone knows the saying “beggars can’t be choosers” but think about how drastically different religious freedom, values, and ethics are these days than they were just 10 years ago. I don’t know about you but I want my kids to be able to say NO. “No, I don’t need this job.” “No, I don’t need this apartment that bad.” “No, I don’t have to comply with that rule.” My thought is that if our kids start out with a firm financial foundation, they have the freedom to go to the school they want and one that aligns with their family values. If they have a firm financial foundation, they get to choose what job or corporation they work for. If they are financially stable, they could buy a business instead of working for a company that they don’t agree with. AND, let's take that step further, if our kids continue to support and buy the local businesses that we, as communities, have built, then the locals are still in control. That's what I want for my kids and I think most people feel the same.

Did you know that there are corporate giants that buy small businesses every day through acquisitions? Did you know that they come into towns and cities, just like ours, and scoop up the small businesses there? What if the next couple of generations cannot afford to or loses the desire to own small businesses? Businesses like dry cleaners, car repair shops, tree trimming companies, car washes, laundromats, restaurants, cleaning companies, etc. Think about the outcome, all the businesses on YOUR Main Street, YOUR downtown, in YOUR neighborhood are owned by Blackrock? Then, all the people who work there are employees?! I don’t know. Are they employees at that point or a form of serfs?!

I think that this can be turned around though and I think we can prepare our kids for this as well. I think that if our kids are financially free as young adults, they stand the best chance of STAYING FREE.

You know that kid that is intelligent, does ok in school and is pretty independent but has no interest in going to college? What if he was financially prepared as a high school graduate to buy or invest in a local business?

What about the kid who would like to go to college but wants to stay close to home? What if he took some business or accounting classes and bought a financial planning or accounting business locally when he graduated?

Or, the girl that loves cosmetology and wants to go to school to be an esthetician. What if she is financially stable enough as a young adult to invest in or buy a local salon when she's done with her courses, instead of having to start from scratch?

Bottom line, kids have the gift of time. They also have the gift of endless opportunity. If we start saving for them, investing for them, talking with them, and teaching them about money and financial stability now, they could have and carry on TRUE FREEDOM.

Happy Independence Day everyone!!