Currently Reading: No One Ever Told Us That

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DT's Aunt E went to the Boston Book Festival, which sounded amazing, and saw John Spooner speak.  She found him to be incredibly interesting and honest, and recommended that I check out this book of his.  It is written as letters to his grandchildren, Alyssa and Wesley, offering them life advice that no one ever tells us.

Spooner wanted to be a novelist, but ended up working in the world of finance and money management for the past fifty years, while continuing to write on the side.  He jokes about how bad he was at math and his initial surprise at liking finance.  However, his thoughts that he would rather hire someone with a fine arts or liberal arts degree, no matter what the job, really resonate with me because that's what I've been telling myself since I graduated college.

The life lessons he shares are funny and true.  He shares anecdotes from his life, which is extremely interesting, as well as lessons that his own father taught him.  Most of the ideas are simple, which is the best type of idea to be.  Life is all just relationships.  Trust people, but verify them as well.  Stand out from the pack.

He also discusses many ideas on investing, which is totally out of my realm of knowledge.  The whole concept of putting your money into the stock market feels very much like a rich people thing to me.  Personally, I like my money right where I can see it.  Hanging in my closet.  Just kidding, I'm not Carrie Bradshaw.  But I was raised to have savings, savings that you do not touch until you absolutely need to.  No, my savings account doesn't give me huge amounts of interest or a giant return, but it's always there and it will never lose its value.  But his ideas have intrigued me enough to want to do some research on buying stocks.

This book has been eye-opening in many ways for me.  I tend to rest on my laurels and wait for opportunities to present themselves and to expect to be rewarded on my merits alone.  I need to realize that unless I get out there and go after them, things are not just going to fall in my lap.  And that it isn't cheating to use who I know to help me out, personally or professionally.  Life lessons!