Of course my child's happiness is important. However, spending time with him during his childhood (he is now 15) has been much more important than providing him with the latest gizmos. In fact, I made a point of keeping him away from all the electronic crap. He only recently got a cell phone, and only because he really needs it for communicating with us.
No latest plasma 3D geewhizbang widescreen in my house. An old 27" Sony which would be OK in an antique shop is the only TV we have. Didn't have cable for years, until my wife rebelled. Ditto VCR.
I was convinced that electronics are not necessarily all that good for kids. Then I read Nicholas Carr's "The Shallows" and was proven right. You might be familiar with the work. Briefly, it relates how heavy use of the internet and the machines literally changes the physiology of our very plastic brains, affects deep memory, etc., and on the whole kills the ability to reflect and think beyond the next keystroke.
Gold has fortunately allowed me to have the free time I crave to pursue the things I really like, which are spending time with friends and family, studying macroeconomics and markets, and practicing my profession at a leisurely pace without killing myself. I am not marketing to the lower paying clients, rejecting new cases which do not interest me or are not sufficiently lucrative and generally having a ball. I could shut it down if I wanted to, but I don't. And something very interesting could pop in the door.
The old days of negotiating with law partners, worrying about how staff, etc., will get paid are over. My partnership meetings are now 10 seconds long, which is about how long it takes me to make a decision, rather than 3-5 hours long with endless discussion.
Why is this happening? Because I am no longer a wage slave. You will find a phrase in latin in my profile. It means, roughly, that freedom is found in the knowledge of money. Learn about money, know how to manipulate it to your own ends, and you will be free. Earning a wage and being dependent on others will never allow this to happen. Fredom lies in being able to be the master of the brief period of time you are on earth. |
