Reason #568

Today is our third monthiversary. As I told you before, we have made a point to celebrate every month on the tenth. Being the financially minded girl I am, I decided that this should be a bigger celebration because we've reached our first quarter. Quarters are big deals in the financial world. We have quarterly statements, and usually each quarter, you look to see how we'll you've done. In fact, a lot of investments have quarterly returns, and I'd like to think we should do the same for our relationships.

We have a lot of customers who invest in CD's. A lot of the CD's are coming due this month, and so I've been helping customers look at new rates. CD's are quite popular among the grandparent generation, as a lot of them live off the interest earned each month. But for the most part, people leave their CD's alone, letting the interest roll back into the CD so that their earnings are even greater. Because, for those of you who may not be up to date on CD's, interest is normally compounded quarterly. What that means is that at the end of 3 months, a deposit is made based on the amount of the CD and the interest rate. I you let that quarterly interest add to the CD, your earnings the next quarter are even greater. But it's those 3 months in between that you wait. It's those three months that you just keep going and doing, and at the end you are rewarded for the wait.

The nice thing about CD's, unlike most investments, is that you know you are going to earn money. You buy a CD at a fixed rate, so you can even calculate how much interest you will earn. But because CD's are a safe investment, the return is pretty low. You don't make as much money as you could have had you invested in stocks, however, you also have a greater risk to lose you money in stocks. So, the risk is up to you. How much are you willing to invest? How long are you willing to invest it? Because the truth is, the longer you wait, and the more you invest, usually the more you get in return.

Three months. That's not a long time in the grand scheme of things, but for Aaron and me it is. This is the longest we've been married to one another. And so each month we not only try to celebrate, we try to look back and see how things are going. Evaluate what all has gone on from the previous month. What is working, what needs to be changed, what needs to be added? Truth be told, we've had some tough moments over these past three months. But when we look back, we realize that they are far and few between compared to the good ones. And even though we may have a rough patch here and there, that's when we learn. That's when we make changes. That's when we take a look at ourselves, at our relationship, at what we are doing and we either stop, start, or do it another way. But it's time that does this for us. It's a willingness to invest in each other's lives, even if the return is low at the moment, and wait it out. To hang in there because we know that over time, we'll earn so much more than if we gave up and moved on to something else.

The stock market is volatile, but any investor will tell you, as a young person, to leave your money. Even when it's at a loss, leave it. Because it won't be that way forever. Eventually, things will turn around and you'll gain so much more than you initially had. And that, my friends, is how marriage is, too. It's worth staying. It's worth investing for the long run. Because you'll have losses, and you'll have gains, but in the end, you'll realize that because you stayed, you ended up with more than you ever imagined.

#568 - For a third monthiversary and a beautiful return!

"To those who use well what they are given, even more will be given, and they will have an abundance. But from those who do nothing, even what little they have will be taken away." - Matthew 25:29

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