CHAPTER 16
The Gift of Action
YOUR PLAN FOR MONEY AND LIFE
We have made reference in other chapters to the oft-quoted phrase about death and taxes. I enjoy history, so I had to trace its origin. It appears that Daniel Defoe, in 1726, was the first to make this now-famous claim, albeit more eloquently: “Things as certain as death and taxes, can be more firmly believed.” Much closer to the modern-day phrase, however, was Ben Franklin’s redux in a letter to Jean-Baptiste Leroy in 1789, in which he wrote, “In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.” Regardless of the veracity of this line of thought, I find it all quite depressing. But I do think that we could turn this into a phrase on which we’d all agree:
One guarantee in this world is change.
Ultimate Advice
Any change, even a change for the better, is always accompanied by drawbacks and discomforts.
Arnold Bennett
Fundamental and Practical Change
Do you embrace, reject, resist, or retreat from change? That you purchased this book tells me you probably don’t reject it. That you’ve read this far tells me you likely don’t resist it. The question now, however, is whether you will embrace it or retreat from it. The easier path is to retreat, because initially change is attended by anxiety. Regarding the intersection of money and life, there are two different types of change: fundamental change and practical change.
Fundamental change is seeing the world as a risk manager; practical change is altering ...
