travel books: Even that competence might be swept away. Well, then, they will still have what is being saved for them every day, what goes not into banks or bonds but into mind, and facility of body, and happiness. There remains the other problem-that of saving"for myself; for my own old age. I must admit that I find this much less interesting. That independent old lady sketched by the insurance agents isn't nearly the incentive the children are. She may never exist. But still I suppose I must take some thought for the care of her, if only to keep her from being a nuisance to other people. Here again expenditures and savings dovetail. Much of the money put into experiences that are apparently transient I consider savings. The concert, the voyage, the visit with friends-I'm putting by a few of those things as I go along. What does one save for, anyhow? For a few tired hours at the end? Or do we save so that those last years will not be mentally barren or esthetically shabby? I try to save a few things to furnish my mind decently, on the theory that no auctioneer can get in there to sell off all the furniture. Still, one must be practical. Probably I can save enough for a small income unless things change too radically. But I must be able and content to live on a small income. That means that I had better save all the simple tastes I have. It is a comfort to me that I really enjoy a boiled egg, a cup of tea and a piece of toast. I'm often extravagant about clothes. But I have some historic garments-aa blue bathrobe and a tweed suit-that prove that I can wear things threadbare. I like possessions, but I mean to keep from being dependent on them. I'll scrap the expensive tastes, if I must, and save the frugal ones. And if, in the end, I go over the hill to the poorhouse, I'll go in no slinking spirit. My tax receipts will be clasped to my bosom, and I'll feel at last I'm getting my money's worth! We worry too much about money and possessions. Is it because we forget that the only thing each man is required to save-the only thing he secretly wants to save is his own soul? Original Article - Copyright 1933. The Curtis Pub. Co., Independence Square, Philadelphia S. Pa. (The aturday Evening Post, March 18,'33) Condensed Version - Copyright 1934. The Reader's Digest Assn., Inc. (-The Reader's Digest, February, '34) books

Books > Old Books > Getting The Most Out Of Life (1948)

Page 72

Savings of Lifetime

Even that competence might be swept away. Well, then, they will still have what is being saved for them every day, what goes not into banks or bonds but into mind, and facility of body, and happiness.
There remains the other problem-that of saving"for myself; for my own old age. I must admit that I find this much less interesting. That independent old lady sketched by the insurance agents isn't nearly the incentive the children are. She may never exist. But still I suppose I must take some thought for the care of her, if only to keep her from being a nuisance to other people. Here again expenditures and savings dovetail. Much of the money put into experiences that are apparently transient I consider savings. The concert, the voyage, the visit with friends-I'm putting by a few of those things as I go along. What does one save for, anyhow? For a few tired hours at the end? Or do we save so that those last years will not be mentally barren or esthetically shabby? I try to save a few things to furnish my mind decently, on the theory that no auctioneer can get in there to sell off all the furniture.
Still, one must be practical. Probably I can save enough for a small income unless things change too radically. But I must be able and content to live on a small income. That means that I had better save all the simple tastes I have. It is a comfort to me that I really enjoy a boiled egg, a cup of tea and a piece of toast. I'm often extravagant about clothes. But I have some historic garments-aa blue bathrobe and a tweed suit-that prove that I can wear things threadbare. I like possessions, but I mean to keep from being dependent on them. I'll scrap the expensive tastes, if I must, and save the frugal ones. And if, in the end, I go over the hill to the poorhouse, I'll go in no slinking spirit. My tax receipts will be clasped to my bosom, and I'll feel at last I'm getting my money's worth!
We worry too much about money and possessions. Is it because we forget that the only thing each man is required to save-the only thing he secretly wants to save is his own soul?

Original Article - Copyright 1933. The Curtis Pub. Co., Independence Square, Philadelphia S. Pa. (The aturday Evening Post, March 18,'33)
Condensed Version - Copyright 1934. The Reader's Digest Assn., Inc. (-The Reader's Digest, February, '34)