On my desk sits a small Buddha statue. I have had it for several years, and it serves a few purposes. First, it reminds me to live in the moment. Seeing it there also helps me remember to meditate, and to be aware that life is full of suffering.

It certainly does those things, but it also has a secondary purpose: as a paperweight for the receipts I gather during the week. I keep meticulous track of my spending and every weekend I enter receipts into my financial tracking software, MoneyDance. (A fantastic application, by the way!)

My wife likes to joke that our receipts go "under Buddha's bum" - and she is right! I feel like that is a great metaphor for how we should look at monetary concerns in life: when financial matters have you concerned, you should put them aside for a time and meditate upon them.

I also feel like that advice applies double to me. I have been very concerned about money and financial matters all my life. Yes I have a nice rainy day fund, but I have also had problems being too miserly as well. Perhaps I should take a clue from my small Buddha friend and not worry so much about money, but meditate more instead.