Challenge With Dr. Jerry - the First

  R ECOGNIZING   T RUE   W EALTH N OW IT IS TIME to answer the question, What is true wealth, true financial freedom? This question is the real bottom line of life and each one of us must address it, regardless of the bottom line that shows up each month on our bank statements. Why? Because the quality of our lives does not depend only on how we accumulate, save, and spend our money. True financial freedom lies in defining ourselves by who and what we are, not by what we do or do not have. You are the person you are right now. We cannot measure our self-worth by our net worth.   RUTH’S STORY   I have a friend named Ruth whom I love dearly. Now ninety-four years old, she’s the most extraordinary woman I’ve ever met. She received her Ph.D. in ancient Greek literature from Yale at a time when that was still a rare achievement for a woman, and has spent her life learning, teaching, read...

  U NDERSTANDING THE E BB AND F LOW OF THE M ONEY C YCLE W HEN THE THINGS that occupy us so intensely in the present have receded into the past, we look back at these events, which produce such turmoil and pain, with an entirely different eye. How often have you heard, for example, of someone who is devastated by being fired, only to land a much better job and end up happier? Or of someone whose spouse leaves her, and who decides—one, two, five years later—that it was the best thing that could have happened to her? Or of someone who emerges from a serious illness with a wisdom and appreciation of life that he had never had before? The passage of time always offers a new perspective. “If only I knew then what I know now.” Haven’t you ever uttered these words? Time can reveal many lessons, but often it takes us too long to listen. The eighth step to financial freedom is about und...