Getting value for investment is something in which we are all interested.  I’ve been in parts of the world where haggling over prices has been elevated to an art form.  If you want to see impassioned negotiation in action, I would advise you to visit a market in a developing nation.  Tourists may be looking for good deals, but the locals, often with limited economic resources, demand need good deals in order to have enough money to go round.

There are many proverbs with have to do with money.  Here are a few examples: "Money can buy anything, but happiness."  "Money begets money."  "Money borrowed is soon sorrowed."  "Money breaks the arms of justice."  "Money doesn’t grow on trees."  "Money grows on the tree of persistence."  "Money in the purse dispels melancholy."  "Money is a good servant but a had master."

It’s hard to miss the importance of money in cultures that use it.  But money, especially the paper variety, is largely symbolic.  How it is used says a lot about a person, a family, a business, a society.  What it reveals is something that people often try to hide, even from themselves.  That something is their values.

We allocate more money to things we value more.  That for which we have disdain or contempt gets none at all.  Some people refuse to keep track of how they spend their money.  They may be lazy, disorganized, or perhaps they just don’t want to confront the truth about what matters most to them.

As I’ve travelled around and seen other cultures in action, I’ve noticed that in some places it is entirely appropriate to ask your friend how much something cost.  In other cultures, it is the height of bad manners.  One of the things that makes many of us nervous about talking about the money value of things (and I include myself here) is that we can never be sure how the other person is going to react and that makes us jittery.  I might tell three people that I paid a thousand dollars for an item.  The first might say:  "That’s a great deal!  Where did you get it?"  The second might say:  "That’s terrible.  There are people starving in Africa and you’re wasting money on that junk."  The third might say:  "You really should go for quality when you buy things.  I paid twice that for mine."

Why all these different reactions?  It all comes down to values.  What matters to us.  What do you suppose your use of money says about you?