Financial Personalities: The Unhappy Money Lover

Today we are going to discuss more financial personalities in my family. The more I thought about it, the more I realized that my individual family members all have very different financial personalities.

My Uncle Daniel is a middle child on my mother’s side of the family.  My Uncle Daniel is extremely successful in the car industry.  He manages a Honda dealership, and he also sells cars to his long time loyal customers.  You could say that selling cars is the family business; my Grandfather also worked in car sales. As the dealership manager my Uncle makes a great annual base salary; he also makes a bonus based on the sales of the dealership as a whole, and a commission every time he sells a car.

I would say that my uncle is very successful, but I would say that he is not very happy. My Uncle Daniel is very good at his job, but I am not sure that he enjoys it. The money is good and he has an obligation to provide for his family which includes my Aunt and my 18 year old cousin.

The reason why I think that my Uncle may not be happy is because selling cars was not his first career choice.  He started selling cars with my Grandfather when he was in his early 20’s. Now, 25 years later I think that my Uncle is comfortable with his job, as opposed to being passionate for his job. In the early 2000’s after my Grandfather passed away, my Uncle Daniel left his life of car sales to explore new opportunities.  With my Grandfather gone, my Uncle felt that he could finally make his own career decisions. My Uncle Daniel enrolled in culinary school.

For as long as I can remember my Uncle has loved to cook; and he has always wanted to open his own catering business.  However, by 2005 my Uncle Daniel was back at the Honda dealership selling cars.  There is not a lot of money in catering, and the cost of culinary school was very expensive.  Sometimes we become so addicted to money that our personal happiness takes a back seat to our financial (and family) obligations.

My Uncle’s strong work ethic has crossed over to his daughter.  My cousin who is in her last year of high school currently works two jobs.  At the end of the school year she plans to buy a car (from my uncle of course) and move out on her own at 18 years old.  She plans to attend a private culinary college.  My cousin does not want any help from my Uncle, even though he can afford to pay for her college degree and for her car several times over.  My Uncle is a prime example that Money Can’t Buy Us Happiness.

Who is the unhappy money lover in your family?

Kristina Tahnyak

Tahnya is a Certified Financial Planner and former Investment Advisor turned marketing and communications professional She holds a degree from Concordia University, is debt free and currently works in the field of digital marketing.