Check, check, check. checking......

A straw poll has revealed that men (and some women) prefer money to  love. In fact, what the poll states is that men love money above all….more than their mothers, fathers, wives, partners, siblings and even children.

However, by a process of inverted psychology, when men achieve great wealth and are firmly in the mill-billionaire stakes their attention then turns towards to family.

Men in the middle income range are said to squeeze their families out….of their wallets and heart.
Neglected wives, partners and children will bear testimony to that. When there’s no one to play rough and tumble with, no one to teach you a little car maintenance or to talk over your stressful day, you know that money is usually keeping a father away.

Waiting for Dad to get home

Earning a living, managing a business keeps many a parent away from their children during the most important hours of the day. That’s the way the world is organised and until another way of bringing home the bacon is found, that’s how it’ll be.

Money is a powerful force. You can’t have one without the other. Men will sell their souls for it. What money buys them is as important as what their families bring to them. A truly great man has the ability to stoke the fires of his finances whilst keeping the home fires burning.

Once he gets home though he might find himself burn out but there’s one activity he’ll always have time for…..checking his bank balance…often several times a day.

A man’s worth is wrapped up in money. He only understands how completely misguided this is on his death bed.

I eat, sleep and breathe it

Good money management is a skill worth cultivating but not at the expense of personal relationships with kith and kin. A healthy bank balance does not warm the cockles of your heart…..or am I wrong? Does it warm the cockles of the cold heart of avarice?

Checking for errors is the reason that many guys give for logging in to their account. “You can’t trust banks to not make mistakes,” they claim. Well why keep your money in institutions then?  “I’m checking to see that the regular bills have been paid” – they’re regular, so why wouldn’t they be?

Men, being the left brained (and sometimes bird-brained) creatures that they usually are choose rationale and logic over their emotional and creative sides. Numbers can be added, subtracted, multiplied, divided and square rooted. There’s endless fun to be had… but staring at digits never changed your income or expenditure. That usually always remains the same unless you receive an unexpected windfall. Spending less that you earn is what’ll make you all breathe easier though.

For long suffering family, it’s a dull past-time, unless they feel the benefits. A trip of a lifetime for quality family time, a surprise birthday treat or a labour saving gadget…all these will aid fatherly appreciation. Money doesn’t buy love but it sure buys a little gratitude.

Hostile take-over

After all that’s what it’s for…. except to be spent on making people happy and not just with goods but experiences too.

Checking your bank account five times a day may decrease congeniality. People who number crunch – more than once a day– may need to get a life or just get out more. There are numerous things that cost little or nothing that are pleasurable, necessary and vital for bonhomie. 

Just walk into any bank and take a look around at the faces  - they're gloomy, glum and miserable. Money isn't rewarding but sharing it always is. Becoming uber meticulous makes you miserly.

Enjoying a sunset, a roll in the grass, reading aloud, singing in the bath, rustling up some “man food” to share with the  people in your life and playing golf with your young ‘uns. There’s a ton of stuff you can do which doesn’t involve staring at a screen or spending a fortune.

Wealth is not the mere creation of figures on a spreadsheet. Wealth is a feeling and an investment in contentment is trading up. Some of the fithy rich never feel this emotion and that’s when we know it isn’t all about making the six figure bracket.

If a man watches his money so that it accumulates for his family and he’s generous with it…then earn on. If he’s money watching as a past time then he might find his bed cold at night. If you want to add some zing to your life then counting the pennies is not the way.

Numbers in my eyes

Money doesn’t change but it changes relationships and brings disenchantment. Treat it with respect and you’ll never be without.
The finest asset you can have in your life is wisdom, not money alone, and intelligent men know it.

On your deathbed, you won't be worrying...'cos you're not taking it with you!