JohnRunchey.com

 Saving and investing money seems easy and straightforward to me; it certainly isn't a challenging process. Yet to many, investing appears a difficult, mysterious process that only some can succeed at, or even bother trying.
 
I wonder is this due to just a lack of understanding, or is it due to our brains being 'wired' completely differently - one person excelling at math, while another is a 'natural-born' artist. I can't draw worth a crap, never got past stick figures. Is money sense an equivalent type of skill? 
 
I was struck with this thought the other day when cruising around on the tv channel menu, searching for something worthwhile to watch. A challenge to be sure, but that's another story. Anyway I came across a reality show, 'Project Runway'. Several aspiring fashion designers compete in a challenge each week, are judged, and a loser sent home. As the season progresses the field of contestants narrows until season end, when the final winner emerges.
 
It struck me what a fundamentally different world these people live in compared to mine. I am an engineer, analytical and mathematical - as far from fashion design as is probably possible. Ok maybe not as far away as say a cement truck driver, but pretty close.
 
No matter how hard I studied, no matter how many hours I invested, I don't think I'd be able to attain the status of even rank beginner in fashion design. It's just not how my brain is wired.  If someone told me I could learn this, just by reading some books, I would be deeply suspicious and probably refuse to even try.
 
Is investing and succeeding financially, for the everyday joe, a similar type of skill? I don't see how it can be that difficult, but then it does come naturally to me. The contestants on Project Runway don't think their skills are difficult either, I imagine. Challenging to become the best maybe, but not difficult. 
 
In the end I believe money and investing is a total mystery to many, and will remain so. For while the mechanics of investing success may be simple, if the brain isn't wired this way, it just isn't. If you don't have a 'money sense', you can still succeed, if you realize your own limitations and are willing to get help.
 
This is where the likes of Dave Ramsey do a great service to the masses - providing a very simplistic, very easy to follow recipe that, if followed, ensures success. 
 
For geeks like me and others, investing is a great interest and we soak up all we can. But if you are a 'fashion designer', know your limitations - use a proven system such as Dave Ramsey and keep out of your own way. 
 
It really isn't difficult. Spend less than you earn. Set aside some money in savings. Eventually build up wealth in diversified mutual funds. 
 
Now, I'm off to design a blazer and slacks combo. Yeah right.....