Little lessons.

I have a friend. I wont disclose his name due to confidentiality reasons but he is one of my closest friends. He is a vault. He lifts me up. He makes me laugh. But most of all, he surprises me with wisdom, especially given his life story. If you think you had it bad growing up, try again. 

Today he sent me an article on gaining trust by putting yourself out there and being vulnerable enough to tell someone the “lesson,” you learned from your negative experience. Not just telling them your experience. Most people genuinely don’t care about that, but with a lesson, there is at least some kind of wisdom that you have imparted and being vulnerable makes you human, and we are all human. Well, most of us (for my alien theorists.) 

So I thought about a simple story. A simple life lesson. One I took from church this past Sunday, ironically, from a church that I felt the need to go back to. 

The lesson was on tithing. A lost art. For myself too. Not surprising. I would guess, if you were to take 501c3 donations over the past couple of years, non profits have NOT been as profitable, or so I have noticed. The hands that raise the paddles at live auctions are less. The starting bids called by the auctioneers deduced when no arms reach to the sky.

It ties into what is going on right now with Buyer’s lack of disposable income to save for a home and renter’s not being able to make rent. Really, the American spending habits in general. 

How easy it is for us to spend at a finger tap. The “in your face marketing,” after you google, “most comfortable couch,” “best wrinkle creams over 40,”…etc, you get my drift. Your social feed is FILLED. You can’t escape the incessant ads. Well, ladies and gentlemen, they work. 

I could not pin down US specific, but globally, Capitol one shopping puts social commerce sales on Instagram a total of $42.8 billion in 2025. 

For the US savings rate : 2026 forecasts expect the rate to fall about 0.8 percentage points to roughly 4.8% for the year, as persistent inflation, home owners insurance, utilities, housing costs and rising consumer debt eat into disposable income. While a lof of consumers saved during the pandemic area, those savings have largely run their course.*

Previous paragraph info is from AI Claude, when asked specifically about consumer savings in 2026. 

I will be the first to say, it is tough financially and if you tell me it is not, then take me out to dinner, baby!

Work has been declining for Real Estate since 2023, remember, rates were around 7.5% at the end of 2023 and we have not seen more than a 1-1.5% drop since then. There are more listings, fewer buyers and a LOT MORE real estate Agents. It’s simple math and the math doesn’t math. 

However(as my daughter like to dramatize,) one outlook that has genuinely changed my life is gratitude. I have found, that if I will wake up and immediately give gratitude to the God of my own understanding, give my worries away and know that one way or another, my girls and I will be taken care of, then my priorities also shift. 

My priorities shift to giving, volunteering, doing for others, making an impact and providing for those in need, which then leads to a happier self, which people see and are drawn to. Which in turn, creates more business. It is the old sales adage, “people buy from people they like.” 

Let’s not lie to ourselves, being financially stable calms a lot of tension in the soul. 

It’s full circle. 

Be genuinely grateful, give, support, be the love. People see the love and want to be around that and be a part of that. 

The lesson : 

Skip the 8th instagram skin cream that probably doesn’t work, take the $40 and give it back somewhere. Your soul and the soul of someone else, will thank you!

Peace, 

J.