Charlie Brown

Show of hands: who remembers Charlie Brown and the rest of the gang from Peanuts?

Sure you do. In the spring, he gets out his kite, hoping to soar among the clouds, only to have it - inevitably - wind up tangled in a tree before it even gets truly off the ground. In the summer, he stands on that pitcher's mound, pitching his heart out, hoping that this time they'll win a game, only to be knocked out of his shoes by a line drive. In the fall, Lucy promises she'll hold the football for him to kick, and he believes, and runs to kick it, only to find she's pulled it away just as he's fully committed to the kick, so that he lands flat on his back once again.

Poor, trusting soul. He wants so badly to believe in the inherent goodness of the world, and he tries to everything right, even though almost every time, the world just gives him the finger. What keeps him going - what lets him hang on to hope - is the fact that every now and then, the world gives him a taste of something decent. His friends act like friends, and decorate his little orphan branch of a tree, and show him that, at least sometimes, it really is okay.

I find myself feeling like Charlie Brown a lot lately. Especially where money is concerned. That's my football. Every time I think I'm actually gonna get caught up, and maybe even manage to save a little toward making our life better, it gets yanked away and I wind up flat on my back with the wind knocked out of me. And then, just when I'm about to tip over the edge into utter disaster, something comes along to hold me up awhile longer. Never enough to get me safely away from that edge, mind you, and never before the moment when I begin to fall. Just enough to keep me hanging on. And when that happens, I remind myself that it always has, in one way or another, so I really should quit panicking. But every time I find myself teetering at that edge, I panic. It's too scary not to.

Some people balance their budgets. I feel more like I'm juggling live badgers.

Rich, to me, is not having a six-figure income - from your investments. I mean, I'd love to have the big house and the staff to maintain it, and all of that but really...to me, "rich" means having enough money that I can quit worrying about having enough money. Is that really so much to ask?