Instant Gratification versus Delayed Gratification. If Patience is a Virtue, then Impatience is a Vice. “You better have it today cause tomorrow you might not get a chance.” Today’s culture has become one of sooner rather than later. It’s what it’s all about. That’s why we max out our credit cards instead of saving up for purchases, and that’s why we spend our cash today instead of putting enough in our 401(k). Why can’t we wait for anything anymore? Why are most people acting like teenagers? Why don’t we accept our own responsibility? Why do we deem this behavior acceptable? Why is it so hard for us to do the right thing?

For one, the marketing experts’ continuous bombardments through the years have worn down our defenses. It’s hard to turn a deaf ear to the beautiful music of must-have messages. Secondly, like teenagers we want to be like everybody else. If other people can have it, we lower our own standards. Thirdly, we have the issue of short-term thinking. Most everybody is guilty of this. The auto industry and the union both wanted us to drive SUVs so they would be better off. We bought them to make our family safer, but at the expense of other people’s families. In the process, we made the Saudis richer and ourselves poorer. Now the auto industry and their unions want us - the taxpayers - to bail them out, just like we did the banks. Again, we’re supposed to bail out the guys that got us into trouble the first time. Immediate gratification. So why were we so short-minded? Why did we buy houses we couldn’t afford? Why did the banks borrow us the money to do it? Why did the government encourage the banks to borrow us the money? Because of short-term thinking. A donut today is better than two tomorrow.

We have ended up living in denial that there even is a future and we have not been adequately financially educated to make the correct long term decisions for ourselves. A few people out there are making a lot of money from our misery. We need to make sure our children are better off than we are. Take control over your own life! Seize the opportunity today to control what you can, and then work to increase that circle of control. Put the long term into perspective. Figure on it. Put in in a spreadsheet. Experiment. Ponder it. Do it! All of us will be better off, well maybe except the ones that are living of your misery right now.

Read on about Instant Gratification.

Love this poster!