When I was growing up, money was scarce. Not in reality, but certainly in my personal experience.

I was also sickly then (due to allergies that I thankfully outgrew), so I spent a lot of time inside reading, while my friends played outside.

Thanks to the library, I had a steady supply of books whose pages were filled with adventures that took me all over the world and introduced me to people, places, and experiences I never would have encountered playing with my friends.

Reading allowed me to discover new words and gave me a taste of life outside my family’s lower-middle class experience.

When an international travel studies group presented to my 9th grade class the opportunity to see seven countries in 21 days and earn both high school and college credit in the process, I knew I had to go.

My parents said I could, provided I came up with the money. I was 14 at the time and had less than two years to earn it.

That trip changed my life. Not only because it literally expanded my horizons, but also because I first learned about resourcefulness as I figured out ways to come up with the money.

Years later, when I began working with people and money as a financial advisor, I noticed that while most of my clients had resources in the form of income and/or investment accounts, few of them were resourceful when it came to money.

Resourceful, by definition, means “able to deal skillfully and promptly with new situations, difficulties, etc.”

Resourcefulness is a key ingredient of financial security, and no amount of money (resources) will make up for a lack of it.

In other words, until you learn how to think differently and respond skillfully to whatever financial circumstance you may encounter, your ability to feel secure is always at the mercy of outside forces.

Unfortunately, resourcefulness is not something most of us are taught.

Why?

Because the framework for our current educational system was developed during the Industrial Revolution when machines began replacing men to manufacture goods.

Factory owners didn’t need workers who were resourceful; they needed workers who would perform repetitive physical tasks until a certain age and then willingly leave to make way for younger workers. (The concept of retirement was also invented during this time.)

Even though the Industrial Revolution ended nearly 200 years ago and the ways in which a person can earn and use money are practically limitless, most people still operate within the limited framework established then:

• Go to school
• Learn to follow the rules
• Get a job
• Do what you’re told until a certain age
• Save what you can
• Stop working
• Live on a fixed income
• Hope your money lasts as long as you do

Nowhere in this formula of trading time for dollars do you learn to be resourceful in creating wealth or in handling money in new and different circumstances.

Unless you learn to be resourceful, you will always be on a fixed income, whether you’re retired or trading your time.

And I get that most people are good with that.

Most will follow this formula with the intention of getting by, putting in their time, and finding enough enjoyment here and there to make it tolerable.

And most will feel insecure about money for the rest of their lives, regardless of how much they’ve accumulated.

Most will fear pay cuts, layoffs, inflation, elections, wars, recessions, and every form of uncertainty and difficulty there is until they die.

Meanwhile, some will intentionally develop resourcefulness, which will equip them:

• To think differently.
• To act skillfully and promptly.
• To grow wealth using their existing resources.
• To develop the mental and emotional skills to deal with whatever new situation or difficulty arises.
• To establish security for themselves.
• To provide legacies for their families.
• To effect change in their world.

The good news?

Resourcefulness can be developed at any age!

As long as you're able to think, you can learn how to do it differently. More skillfully.

As we celebrate our independence as a nation this week, I encourage you to celebrate your personal freedom to develop resourcefulness as you accumulate resources. Or not.