The Tax We Impose on Ourselves by Our Failure to Manage Our Time…

Father Abraham continues...

“If time be of all things the most precious, wasting time must be, as Poor Richard says, the
greatest prodigality;”

Like most seekers of wealth and wisdom, Albert devoured books, articles, and training programs that could help him grow and prosper. In 1975 or thereabouts, he discovered a timeless treasure in Alan Lakein’s book ‘How to Get Control of Your Time and Your Life.’ He adopted the principles and practices the book advised, and adapted them to his life and lifestyle. He created a training program for employees and clients based on the ideas in the book. He was convinced

that Alan Lakein had discovered eternal truths.

A few years later Albert discovered ‘The Way to Wealth.’ Surprise! 225 years earlier Benjamin Franklin had not only known of these ideas but had also written about them. When Father

Abraham begins the discussion of time management it is with the premise that the ineffective use of time is a failing so great that it is the greatest failing a person can have.

Think about it…

It’s your time and your life.

The 21st Century Way to Wealth - Part 1 - Industriousness - A Ten Percent Tax…

Father Abraham continues...

“It would be thought a hard government that should tax its people one-tenth part of their time, to be employed in its service;"

Benjamin Franklin and the other Founding Fathers didn’t have to deal with the IRS, state, county, township, city and tax-district income taxes, property taxes, school taxes, taxes on gas, electricity, telephone service, internet access, cable and satellite service, water, sewer, gasoline, heating fuel, beer, wine, whiskey, tobacco, and sales tax on almost everything else thrown in just for good measure.

Add to that the taxes on corporations that are buried in the price of their goods so you end up paying tax on that hidden tax when you buy those goods.

Today’s governments in America take a lot more than ten percent of your time. They don’t require actual time. They take so much of the typical American’s work product — money for short — in the form of taxes that many Americans really work for the government up to 50% of the time.

It can get even worse if you are financially successful; add in estate and inheritance

taxes, probate fees and final expense costs. Even when you have well informed and qualified advisors, the government can confiscate a big chunk of your estate when you die.

Is ours, therefore, a “hard government?”

Hard indeed and getting out of hand, but recall the taxes we impose on ourselves by idleness, pride and folly. We control these taxes entirely.

We can control the taxes of government only by electing people who see government as the servant of ‘We the People…’

How does the current crew in DC measure up?

Did Father Abraham Foresee the Future?

Father Abraham continues...


"…and from these taxes the commissioners cannot ease or deliver us by allowing an abatement."

Today a few Americans clamor for the government to take over everything from health care to energy, the banking system to the auto industry.

Father Abraham reminds us that government can’t bail us out of our individual and collective idleness, pride and follies, although the Congress seems to think the government can do just

that.

“However, let us hearken to good advice, and something maybe done for us; ‘God helps them that help themselves,’ as Poor Richard says.”

Poor Richard, the Founding Fathers and Mothers, presidents, statesmen and women, and their families recognized that God created a universe where we are personally responsible for our actions and inactions, our decisions about our lives and our lifestyles, and how we care for the abundance that we have been given to steward.

Even those who do not believe in God rank personal responsibility highest on the stewardship scale. We all recognize that we create government to be the servant of “We the People” and that we the people are the servants of a higher power.

Think about it...

God is the true rule-maker.

The Tax We Impose on Ourselves by Our Folly...

Father Abraham continues...

"…and four times as much by our folly;"

‘Folly: a lack of good sense or normal prudence and foresight; an excessively costly or unprofitable undertaking’ - Merriam-Webster Online.

Have you ever followed a whim and found it to be a folly? Or just entered into a folly, eyes wide open?

Father Abraham identifies the greatest tax that we impose on ourselves as “folly.” The Behemoths have convinced us that folly is wisdom. They want us to believe it’s OK to lose real money today in order to have maybe-money at some undetermined future date. That’s folly: a lack of good sense, normal prudence and foresight; an excessively costly and unprofitable undertaking for you, but not for the Behemoths. That’s how they have become wealthy as we find less and less in our accounts.

Think about it...

We can do better.

The Tax We Impose on Ourselves by Our Pride...

Father Abraham continues...

"…three times as much by our pride,"

When Father Abraham talks about “pride” as a treble-tax he’s reminding America of one of its longest standing foibles: keeping up with the Jones’s.

Perhaps it’s just human. It’s been a recognized human frailty since Cain whacked Able.

Regardless, spending our money in an attempt to appear affluent, sophisticated, educated, informed, well-connected, etc. is real money that you trade for imagined gains that are no more substantial than smoke.

Many Americans believe wrongly that investments over which they have no control measures wealth, and possessions that they do not own, which they purchased with a loan, measures well-

being.

Darn Jones’s…

Literally more trouble than they’re worth.

Think about it...

The Tax We Impose on Ourselves by Our Idleness...

Father Abraham continues...

"...We are taxed twice as much by our idleness,"

Father Abraham’s math might be a bit obscure but one thing is certain; individually and collectively, we lose both income and assets by failing to act when action is appropriate or required.

Money comes from work. Success comes from handling that money well. That’s more work. Americans are the masters when it comes to making money from their work, but we have given in to idleness when it comes to managing our personal finances.

We have allowed the Behemoths to convince us that they know better than we do what is best for us. We have relinquished our power over our own money, and that is a greater burden than taxes ever could be.

A painful realization?

Father Abraham Begins…

Father Abraham stood up and replied, “If you would have my advice, I will give it you in short; for A word to the wise is enough, as Poor Richard says.”
Ah! The first words of Poor Richard and how profound are they. There’s more to come and, if Dr Agon Fly were as wise as Father Abraham, he might use fewer words with deeper meaning.

“[The crowd at the auction] joined in desiring him to speak his mind, and gathering round him he proceeded as follows.
“Friends,” said he, “the taxes are indeed very heavy, and, if those laid on by the government were the only ones we had to pay, we might more easily discharge them; but we have many others, and much more grievous to some of us.”

Father Abraham’s comment reflects one the most fundamental characteristics of Americans: the indomitable spirit that sees the insanity of governments and their attempts to manipulate the people and the economy with taxes, as a mere pot hole on the road of life.

His closing comment points to the next several topics, which illustrate how we create our own money problems.

Prepare to be surprised — and perhaps a bit embarrassed...