_ My first memory about money occurred when I was about five years old. My father had just been discharged from the military, and we were very poor, living in a trailer park. One day, I went with my mother to check the mail. When the box was empty, I could tell she was really sad and anxious. I realized she was looking for a letter with some money in it. After she went back to the trailer, I went to check all the other mailboxes until I found some mail to bring back to her. I wasn’t the most observant five-year-old—I thought all mail included some money. (I hadn’t gone to law school, so I didn’t know I’d committed a federal offense!) The manager caught me, and he wasn’t too happy about it! That day, I learned that money has the power to make people happy or sad, and I wanted to do anything to make my mother happy.

_Another experience shaped my drive to make money. When I was ten or eleven, I had a paper route with the Detroit Free Press. The newspaper had a contest: Whoever got the most new subscriptions would win a huge case of assorted candy (M&M’s, Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, Snickers, Hershey Bars, etc.). I was motivated! I gave up kickball, family picnics, and everything I enjoyed so I could devote every waking hour to sell the Detroit Free Press. I wanted the prize, so I went from house to house, apartment to apartment, and trailer to trailer to talk to people. I was tenacious, and I wouldn’t take “no” for an answer. In a few weeks, the results of the contest were announced, and I had won first prize. All my friends came to my room to see the stack of goodies and select their favorite candy bar.

That experience may not seem like a big deal. After all, it was only a case of candy. But it demonstrated to me that if I was driven enough, I could get anything I wanted. It would take me years (and a lot of pain) to realize that being driven to achieve financial success might cause me to miss out on some far more important treasures in life (like a great game of kickball). Those two events—looking for money in other people’s mail when I was five and the intense drive to succeed in getting new subscribers for the Detroit Free Press—are connected. I probably wouldn’t have had the emotional intensity about being successful if I hadn’t been propelled by the fear of not having enough.

        Some of us can easily think of our “first memories” when we were very young, but others more easily recall the delight of getting their first paycheck from their first job in high school or the finances related to some other important event in their lives. Most of us can remember several events pertaining to money that shaped our lives. The important issue is to reflect on events that are important enough for us to remember them. Each of these is probably significant in more ways than we first imagine.

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