Teaching an old dog new tricks

Do you ever think you are to old to start a business? To old to change? That you don't have the energy? Don't believe it. My mother surprised me today. My father, who passed away last year was the consumate banker, handled all the investments, paying the bills, picking the tax advisor and anything financial. My mother is now 61 and has never had to really do any of it till now. What surprised me today, and pleasantly surprised no less, is the question she asked.

"When we went to the tax guy, how come he didn't tell me to contribute to my IRA?" I was speachless. So I probed and asked if she had been talking to other people about her finances (a no no in our family)? No. Did she see it on TV? Not that she could remember. So someone who never dealt with finances in 40 years of marriage, learned to start asking the right question. She also pays her bills online, learned how to trasnfer stocks and question the bills if they don't look right.

If a woman who barely got through highschool can do all this, how can we ever question our own abilities? I am inspired and when i doubt myself I think about the question, why didn't he have me deposit funds into my IRA?