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In this issue: Coping with information overload, identifying what purchases bring you joy and viewing happiness as a catalyst.

"Helping parents raise money-smart kids."

​​3 Ideas to Share & Save​
​(Click the link above 👆 to read this week's edition on the web.)

Hello, friends,

I decided to give you Veterans Day off. So welcome back!

Since it's "budget season," I want to remind credit union folks about our partner program, The Art of Allowance Project featuring The Money Mammals for younger kids and Adolescent$ for tweens and teens.

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Are you curious about the impact working with our team can have on your institution? Here's what several partners have said. And if you'd like to find out how we can collaborate, please sign up for a 15-minute Zoom meeting today.

Now on to this week's ideas!

— 1 —

Knowing vs Knowing About: Social media is overwhelming. However, information overload is not as modern a phenomenon as you might think. In his book Amusing Ourselves to Death, media critic Neil Postman explains that the seeds for infinite information were planted over 150 years ago.

Before the telegraph debuted, most immediate information streams were local and practical. With Samuel Morse's invention, though, we suddenly gained access to, as Postman puts it, the "news of the world." The telegraph began to shift our society toward knowing more things but knowing much less about them. This access to information has only grown, and it often creates the illusion that we're clairvoyant.

The future is exactly that — unpredictable. Behavioral economics pioneer Daniel Kahneman describes this phenomenon as WYSIATI — "what you see is all there is." For example, Kahneman notes that companies will make a "big decision [for the future] on the basis of a good report from one consultant." In short, they don't know what they don't know, but they're confident that what they see is all there is.

We want our kids to realize that access to an infinite information stream doesn't make the future more predictable. It only fools us into thinking so. When children are young, we should emphasize the meaningful money skills of setting and saving for goals, distinguishing between needs and wants and making smart money choices. And while there is a lot to learn to become financially literate in the teen and young adult years, if we focus our kids on the simple tenets of meansliving, portionsaving and longinvesting that I wrote about here, perhaps they can spend less time trying to know everything there is to know and more time knowing about the habits that do matter.

— 2 —

An Unhappy Vanderbilt: George Vanderbilt built a 135,000-square-foot home. That is a stunning amount of space. More warehouse than home. The Biltmore, which required 400 people to keep it running, almost led to his financial ruin. Morgan Housel explores this story in the first episode of his excellent eponymous podcast and shares the following sad quote from Vanderbilt himself.

Like I said, more warehouse than home. Vanderbilt's folly is an obvious example of using money to harm happiness. Moreover, it is a clear illustration of someone being owned by his possession. And while it's trite to say money can't buy us happiness, we've discussed before how we can use money in ways that can make us happier.

Several years ago, I agonized over the purchase of a $200 bag. (I'd never paid more than thirty or forty bucks for something similar.) Making up my mind took me six months. I wanted to be sure there wasn't a less expensive alternative with the features I desired and to model "the waiting period" for my kids. Ultimately, I needed to justify to myself (and to them) that I was making a pricey (relatively speaking) choice for practical and not emotional reasons. When I eventually pulled the trigger, I discovered something surprising. The bag still brings me joy. My family even calls it "the office" because it has everything I need (which isn't much) to work effectively and remotely.

Of course, identifying which purchases bring you joy only happens through personal experience. (I've made plenty of less joyful purchases.) The importance of individual experience in learning is one reason we want to tip the scales of time in our kids' favor by starting the money conversation (and getting the green stuff into their hands) early.

— 3 —

Weekly Wisdom: Thank you for joining me on this money-smart journey. I appreciate your time, and I enjoy pairing quotes I've collected to connect ideas I hope will help us think more deeply about how we (and our kids) can use money as a tool to live more fulfilled lives.

Happiness is not an endpoint. It's something we experience occasionally — hopefully more often than not — and, as Schweitzer notes, it can even act as a catalyst to help us continue onward.

Until next week, don't forget to enjoy the journey!

John,
Chief Mammal

📗 Get The Art of Allowance (for parents)
📙📘📗 Get the "Share & Save & Spend Smart" series (for kids)
🫱🏻‍🫲🏼 Become a Partner (for businesses)

P.S. Please consult with a financial or investment professional before making any decisions that might affect your financial well-being.

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