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Looking Over a Four-Leaf Clover

Written on March 17, 2009 by George Krueger & Mary-Lynn Foster in Balance, Happiness

clover Happy St. Patrick’s Day everybody! We hope you’re having a good one. We have to celebrate today with song!

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marylynn
Does that mean you’re going to sing, George?

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george I hope not. We want our audience to keep listening. I only put you through that torture, Mary-Lynn.

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We do like music here at Bigg Success as you may have noticed by all the songs and bands we talk about.

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marylynn
I’m more of a melody person and George is the lyrics guy.

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With it being St. Patrick’s Day, we started thinking about the song, I’m Looking Over a Four-Leaf Clover. What a happy little jingle, written all the way back in 1927 but, ironically, overlooked until Art Mooney popularized it in 1948.

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george The song opens, “I’m looking over a four-leaf clover that I overlooked before.” And in the lyrics … see I am a lyrics guy … are three great lessons.

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Sunshine + Rain = Roses

The second part of the song goes, “One leaf is sunshine, the second is rain, Third is the roses that grow in the lane.”

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marylynn This is the first lesson we see in this wonderful song and it seems particularly appropriate right now as we face tough times. Sometimes the sun shines. I just love sunny days. The sun represents the good times.

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Up until about a year or so ago, we were living in pretty good times, economically. We often aren’t thankful enough when we’re in the middle of them.

Then it rains. And we’re in the middle of a storm right now. But the thing is – if the sun was always shining, if it never rained – would we really appreciate the sunshine?

It’s the change of weather that makes weather more interesting. It’s the change in circumstances that makes life more interesting. And boy, are they interesting right now or what!

This part of the song wraps up talking about the roses that grow in the lane. And here’s where the lesson comes in. Without the sunshine and the rain, those roses wouldn’t grow. Without the rain, those roses wouldn’t bloom into their full beauty.

So it is with us. It takes sunshine and rain, good times and bad, for us to reach our full potential. Because in the down times, when the challenges may be the greatest, we gain wisdom, strength, and skills that we would never have otherwise. And those things carry us to greater heights than we could have ever imagined when the good times come.

The fourth leaf

The song continues, “No need explaining, the one remaining is somebody I adore.” St. Patrick’s Day is all about luck. The fourth leaf of a four-leaf clover is often associated with luck. And how lucky we are if we have someone to adore! That’s the second lesson from this song.

Isn’t it interesting that the song doesn’t talk about having somebody who adores us? It’s showing us that to give our love, our adoration, is so very important. Because we can’t really love someone else fully unless we love ourselves enough to have some love to give, some extra capacity. Then we can experience the joy of giving love.

Let’s not overlook the third lesson

Believe it or not, that’s the whole song … it’s like the whole song is a chorus.

So you may be saying, “Wait a minute. They said there were three lessons in this song and so far they’ve only talked about two of them.”

Good catch. The third lesson is in the first part of the song. “I’m looking over a four-leaf clover that I overlooked before.”

Since we view four-leaf clovers as a sign of good luck to come, we wonder …

How often do we overlook the good luck that is right in front of our faces?

We have wonderful people in our lives. We have the basic necessities we need. We have so much and we often fail to stop and be thankful for it. Yes, today is a day to realize how lucky we are. Our stocks and the value of our houses may be down. But we shouldn’t overlook how fortunate we are.

We feel fortunate that you spent time with us today. Thank you so much.

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If we don’t have enough of this one thing, we’ll fail. If we have too much of it, we’ll fail. Join us next time to find out what this one thing is … and exactly how much you need of it to succeed bigg. Until then, here’s to your bigg success!

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(Image in today's post by woodsy)

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Making Change Count

Written on March 3, 2009 by George Krueger & Mary-Lynn Foster in Financial Freedom, Money

piggy_bank Last time, we talked about the lost art of making change. As we prepared for that show, we remembered another little tidbit about change:

You can save your change for a change.

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If you find that you’re running out of money before the month runs out, this is one of the easiest ways to get started saving. Give yourself an allowance. Pay for everything with that cash. At the end of the day, put all of your change in a jar or a piggy bank.

Did you ever have one of those cool banks where you get to see the coin going down into the bank? It made saving fun and is a great way to encourage kids to save. Or adults for that matter … why should the kids have all the fun?

It’s amazing how much you can save with this simple little technique. Ever so often, say at the end of the month, go to the bank and deposit your change. Once you get your money in a savings account at a bank, you can start earning interest on it. Your money making money on your money … that’s what you want.

The five little piggy banks

Richard Jenkins, editor-in-chief of MSN Money and author of A simpler way to save: the 60% solution, has an outstanding idea:

Spend sixty percent of all you make!

We know what you’re thinking – you’re having a tough time getting by on 100 percent. It’s ludicrous to think anyone could get by on only sixty percent!

But hear us out. You just might like this program …

Set up five piggy banks (or envelopes, accounts, or any other way that works for you). The key thing is to segment your money right upfront. Here’s what the five piggy banks are for:

Piggy Bank #1 – This little piggy stays home. This piggy bank gets sixty percent of your gross income. You’ll use it to buy the basics – things like food, clothing, household expenses, taxes, insurance, donations, and the like.

Piggy Bank #2 – This little piggy goes to the market. This piggy bank gets ten percent of your gross income to invest in long-term assets, like the stock market. Most likely, your investment vehicle will be a tax-advantaged account, like a 401(k) through your employer.

Piggy Bank #3 – This little piggy gets the beef. Set aside ten percent in this piggy bank to beef up your long-term savings even more. You’ll also invest this in long-term assets, but you’ll want to maintain enough liquidity so the money is available for an extreme emergency.

Piggy Bank #4 – This little piggy gets none. The ten percent that goes into this account is for irregular expenses. So you won’t get any long-term benefit from this piggy bank. What you will get is the ability to pay for large expenses upfront instead of with a credit card. So from this account, you’ll pay for your vacations, major repairs, replacement of appliances, gifts and the like.

Piggy Bank #5 – This little piggy cries “Wee, wee, wee” all the way home!
This ten percent is your fun money. It’s your reward for setting aside the money in the other piggy banks the way you planned to.

Think about it this way – If you meet your goals, you get to spend an extra ten percent!

Managing your finances with these five little piggy banks will help you live bigg now and retire bigg later!

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Thanks so much for reading our post today. Join us next time as we wrap up this series. We’ll discuss making change work. Until then, here’s to your bigg success!

Subscribe to The Bigg Success Show in iTunes.

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Direct link to The Bigg Success Show audio file:
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(Image in today's post by woodsy)