TheCrazySquirrel

It turns out that all your “life’s hopes and dreams” are worth just less than $400. Or at least mine are. Ok ok, maybe it’s not “all” my life’s hopes and dreams, just the ones that could make me independently wealthy.The story goes like this…

Iit all started a long long time ago in a far off distant land called “Waco.” In this land the local youth were oppressed with excruciating amounts of work in a forced labor environment called “Baylor.” With no hope of ever coming out from under the excessive amounts of tuition, the future looked bleak for most non “trust fund daddy” individuals.

Then one day the unthinkable happened! A phone call with unimaginable news. No, not the one about The Great Watercress Shortage of 1999. This phone call would bring wonderful delights and hopes of a future that needed no epoxy on a car mirror for the third time, or a 500 sq ft. home to live in. This phone call said “you too can be a trust fund baby.” Goodbye 1994 Pontiac Grandprix, Hello 2008 Honda Accord Hybrid!!

Well, it sounds good and it’s probably going to be the story I tell my grandchildren one day, but it’s not entirely true. The truth is back in 1998/9 there was a small trust fund set up by my aunt in a startup company. There were 9 of us in the trust and it was invested for $100,000. You can do the math to how much each person is worth in it. This was the second company my aunt and her husband had started. The first one “went platinum” so to speak and now they just do whatever they want to. So I had VERY hi hopes for this one. If it did half as well as the first one I would retire when I was 30. Or at least that is what I told Trish.

Well, I turn 30 in a month and a half. Earlier this year the trust was…sadly…closed. In the end after 10 years of nothing but loosing money and whatever taxes had to be paid, I got a check for just under $400.

So in the end, my hopes and dreams of being rich, funding mission activities all over the world, not having to worry about bills and work, just doing whatever God led me to and being able to finance it myself, and buying Trish a car (promise I made 10 years ago)…I wound up with three hundred bucks and some change.

So now I’m forced to decide what to do with my “hopes and dreams.” What would you do with $300+ that was once your dream of sticking it to the man? What do I spend it on? Do I just put it in the bank and have it assimilated with the bills, living, etc.? Do I put it toward some type of loan (student, house, car)? Do I stash it as part of a fund to buy a nice camera? Do I buy and Xbox 360 (or PS3)? Do I give it to Wife at Christmas for a shopping spree?  Or maybe I give it to wife because, as she said with her silent look, “you always have to figure out how to spend large sums of money, when do I get some large sums of money?” Or do I do something else with it? What do you think? I’m giving you input on what to do with what was previously part of my life’s hopes and dreams. So vote in the poll and leave me some comments.

**UPDATE** - While the poll result was an overwhelming majority of votes for a Wife shopping spree, I spent it on an xbox 360.  Wife ended up getting her own money to spend!