24 Apr 2015 Take Me Out To The Ballgame

Turner Field. Atlanta, GA. — https://www.flickr.com/photos/davidberkowitz/

I talked to my friend Brian on the phone the other day, and among other things we discussed his desire to go see the Atlanta Braves play at Turner Field this summer. Brian is a diehard Braves fan, but has never been able to get down to Atlanta to see them play, and would love to do so before they tear that stadium down and build one way out in Cobb County (suburb of Atlanta).

But what difference does it make? Why incur the cost and travel time to experience the game live at Turner field rather than simply enjoy it from the comfort of your couch? To anyone who has ever been to a professional baseball game, the answer is glaringly obvious: the live game is better, BECAUSE IT JUST IS. There’s no comparison. Heck, even people who hate watching baseball on TV love to go to the games (my wife Amy included). This is because the experience of a live game involves all your senses, it involves people you love, it’s a memory maker, and on and on–and all of that together creates an environment that is infinitely more enjoyable and meaningful than sitting in front of a TV.

To draw an analogy from that scenario, we live in a world where it is becoming increasingly easy to “sit in front of the TV.” In other words, we can read about doing something, we can listen to others describe doing something, we can write about doing something, we can see pictures of doing something, and we can even post pictures of doing something–but actually DOING something has become a more and more foreign proposition. The internet is a wonderful invention, but it can very easily coax us into the illusion that we’re doing things when in fact we’ve just read 8 articles about those things.

The “live” version of financial advice involves people. It’s about memories you’re making and hope to make, the goals you’re striving for, and the confidence that your striving is not in vain. It’s about discovering why money is important to you, and making sure your actions align with those values.

So, are you sitting in front of the TV? Or are you heading out to the ol’ Ballpark?