Appreciating Your Assets

Much of life in the United States runs on oil – and not just in your car’s gas tank. Right now a LOT of oil is floating around in the ocean – threatening to kill off a LOT of marine life and perhaps permanently ruin much of the United States’ southeastern coastline. The company “responsible” seems more concerned about escaping blame than fixing the problem and the U.S. Government doesn’t seem willing or able to step in and do what is needed – including accepting help from anyone else. (more…)

“Ownership” is over-rated – and so is money. Access, use, and control are MUCH more “valuable” and important. It is usually better to “own” very little – but be able to “access”, “manage”, “control”, or have actual, physical, or virtual (temporary or “permanent”) custody of whatever is needed or desired (through properly “structuring” business and personal affairs, agreements, and ideas about “ownership”).

There are MANY different ways people who do not “own” an “asset” (or “resource”) can still benefit from it. (more…)

The most basic definition of MONEY is whatever COMMODITY (be it a product, service, or information) that is perceived to have the most EXCHANGE VALUE for what we desire. Getting what we desire often requires trading, bartering, or otherwise exchanging something for something else (be it our time, attention, knowledge, labor, possessions, connections, future possibilities, or even lives). (more…)

We live in a “throw away” culture – that wastes much of its precious resources – including people and their potential to contribute. As a society, we are HUGE “consumers”. We not only USE far more energy and manufactured/material goods, let alone food, than we “need” (especially in proportion to our population) but we also produce more unnecessary “waste” than EVER before! (more…)