How money went from very exciting to very boring in old-time Phoenix

When it comes to money, my favorite expression about it is that "it's like manure, and really only works if you spread it around". I have never had much money, but what I've had I spread around, mostly spending it locally, encouraging the businesses that I want to stay in my neighborhood. Other than that, I have to admit that money has never been all that exciting for me.

Of course if I lived in old-time Phoenix, I know that it would have been. Let's time-travel back to 1892, and find gold. You can be Sam Webb. If I had been with you when you found the gold, chances are we would have been VERY excited, maybe jumping around and shouting. We might have polished off the last bottle of your whiskey, and kept celebrating at the Central Hotel, until we were thrown in the hoosegow to sleep it off.

That's the exciting part, and then it gets very boring. In fact, dull, dull, dull. At least from my point of view. That's because at that point it has to be weighed, and measured, and calculations have to be made, and numbers written down in a ledger, and receipts given. I apologize to you if you find accounting exciting, but it's not for me, and it's not for most people. I took a semester of accounting at ASU, learning about debits and credits, and I found it dangerously dull. You would write numbers down, and add them up, or subtract. Then you would do it again. Not what I considered exciting!

When I started working for Valley Bank in 1989, I signed up for automatic deposit. A letter would arrive every month with numbers on it, showing numbers in (credit) and numbers out (debit). As a responsible adult I kept an eye on it, but I don't ever recall shouting "eureka!"

Don't get me wrong, I was pleased that they gave me money in exchange for my work, and was happy to be able to pay rent, and get groceries. Working for a bank I learned a little about money, about interest, about equity, that sort of thing. And while it's important stuff to know, it really can't compare to the excitement of making a rich find of gold!

Eureka!

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