Money Memories by Edmund Marsh

Six years ago, Jonathan Clements published an article in HumbleDollar recounting some of the  anecdotal influences on his financial thinking. Rather than research and facts, he explained, it’s often the exploits we experience, the tales we’re told or the comments that come our way that shape how we view money matters.

I know that holds true for me. Years later, I can still hear the voices and see the faces attached to these events:

1. In the summer of 1973, the gasoline shortage had our nation waiting in line at the pumps. I was age 11, and excited about spending the first of several summers with my grandfather. Meanwhile, he was unhappy about President Nixon asking gasoline sellers to restrict sales, and remembering wage and price controls from two years earlier. He was also intent on giving me an economics lecture.

 “Supply and demand” was his incessant mantra, meaning the markets should be allowed to freely operate. At the time, I was too young to grasp the significance of his words, but they apparently sunk into my psyche. Today, even public policy decisions that appear sound or necessary make me wonder what possible unintended consequences time will reveal.

2. During most of the last two decades, with savings account interest rates bumping along the bottom, I often thought wistfully of a conversation I had in the early 1980s with my great-uncle Jake. He was elated with the 9% interest he was collecting on his certificates of deposit. What would it take to return to those heydays, I mused, with cash actually paying its keep? During the last couple of years, I found out. It’s true that everything comes with a price.

3. In my early 20s, at one of my sales jobs, I worked for Gene, who owned a small automotive parts rebuilding business. In the late afternoons, after I returned to the shop, I often saw him manning the counter, tending to walk-in business. At times, discussion of price for a part led to haggling. When Gene had his fill of the conversation, he’d politely show the would-be patron the exit door.

After the customer left, he’d turn to me and say, “I want all the good business I can get, but that’s not good business.” Later, when I owned my own marine construction business, I’d recall his words when it became apparent that a prospective client was asking for charity, rather than service.

4. Some years ago, I would occasionally tune-in to Dave Ramsey’s radio program as pitiful callers related their financial predicaments to Dave, then listen to his response. Ramsey created his niche among listeners woefully in debt, often from overspending. As he quickly worked through their problems, he had his ear tuned to hear of spending he considered unnecessary. “Would you borrow money to buy that?” he’d ask.

That logic probably doesn’t resonate with everyone, but it did with me. As my wife and I were paying down our debt, I came to view every dollar that wasn’t buying a necessity or paying off a loan as borrowed money. That thinking may have cut down our fun, but it quickly shrunk our debt, as well.

5. Sometime in early 2009, with the stock market down over 50% from its peak in October 2007, a young co-worker asked me if I was still buying stocks. I told her I was “buying all I can.” At the time, my talk was more bravado than bravery. I knew stocks were on sale, but I was still shaky from seeing my savings cut in half. Looking back, I’m glad I followed my head, instead of my gut.