A Lesson from Rick's Favorite Movie "Interstellar" and 5 Tips

Hey guys, it’s Rick at Elijah Tooling. Give me two minutes and I’ll make it worth your while.

Hey, today, we’re working on one of my tips, and it comes or it sort of comes from a movie that I really like. They said something in the movie that segues right into a life kind of thing for me.

So, Interstellar, one of my favorite movies. I love that movie. I get in trouble at home because I’m caught watching it and then everybody is like “oh, we’re watching that again?” and sometimes I don’t get my way. But, one of the things that happens during the movie is that the main character has to leave something behind so that they can get somewhere. This goes back to Newton’s 3^rd law. This reminds me of some financial tips that I have sort of formulated for myself. And I promise you that if you will follow them it will change your life, and that’s a pretty big promise.

So, the first tip that I have for you, is that giving is better than getting. That’s the part about leaving something behind. I promise you that when it’s all over everything that you own will be left behind. I don’t know of a person yet that has gone onto the next life and took something with them. So, my tip for the day is leave some of it behind. Be a giver. Be somebody that invests in other people’s lives in some way or other. That’s my first tip.

Second tip, and this one really changed me, is that saving is better than borrowing. So, I was for most of my life, and my entire childhood, we were in debt. I was in debt as an adult, my parents were in debt… but one of the things that has changed my life is that I have started paying everything off, and not mortgaging everything. So, the only reason that I would have a loan now is for something that appreciates. So, some of you guys, some of you financial guys, or really smart people are like “yeah, duh!”. But for me it wasn’t such a duh, because I came from a home in which we were constantly chronically in debt, and it caused a lot of problems for us actually. So, my tip for you today is don’t take out a loan, pay for it man! Now again, if it’s an appreciating asset or if it’s an income-producing asset. I’m cool with that. Otherwise, save up and buy it.

My third tip for the day is entrusting yourself to God is better than entrusting yourself to who? Anyone, and that includes yourself. Why? Because He’s your creator, because we can entrust ourselves to the one who created and designed us. And if we can do that it will influence our finances too because we will start realizing that there is a way, there is always a way, and He provides for you. I won’t get heavy into that, but that’s a whole life thing, and it will change you if you entrust yourself to Him.

The fourth tip that I’ve got today is being a proper steward is better than being an owner. And in fact, the reason that I can say that is that we don’t really own anything. That goes back to my first point that when you pass on, guess what? All that stuff, all those toys that you bought, the big house, whatever it is, it’s going to somebody else. It’s not going with you. So, it’s a lot better if you will learn to steward what you’ve been given, or earned, instead of just accumulating. Getting a big pile of stuff that somebody else is going to get in the end.

And then my last tip is that integrity—having integrity is better than having money. Who we are, what we are, how we treat others, how we operate in every aspect of our life including business, is significantly of higher value than just getting a pile of money.

So, I hope this has been helpful to you. I’ll tell you this, like in Interstellar, it just doesn’t make sense. But when those laws come into being and we need to obey it.

Hey, until next time!

- Rick Miller

Chief Executive Officer at Elijah Tooling