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- Exploring the obituary, character vs reputation, and creative solutions
Exploring the obituary, character vs reputation, and creative solutions
Logan
October 16, 2025
In partnership with
Exploring the obituary, character vs reputation, and creative solutions
Happy Thursday! Thanks for reading Intentional Dollar — where we look at old money ideas through a new perspective.
What’s inside?
One idea to experiment with
Two quotes from others
Three questions to dig deeper
Four lines of poetry for the point
Disclaimer: This is not investment advice. These weekly posts represent my simple thoughts, a few quotes, and some questions — for educational purposes only.
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One idea to experiment with:
The Obituary:
None of us writes our own obituary. When that fateful time comes, it’s our friends and family who are left with the quiet task of stitching together who we were.
Who were you?
Have you ever read an obituary that lists like a scorecard possessions, net worth, or size of home owned?
No.
Yet we spend so much of our lives chasing and accumulating things that the people who care so much for us care so little about.
The things never make the list in the end, so what does?
It’s the qualities, the virtues, the traits, the smile, the warmth.
Were you kind? Were you a good partner, parent, friend, sibling, community member How did people feel when you were around? What will flash in their mind when your name comes up?
So many of us chase money to buy things for the people we love, thinking that will make them feel loved. But sometimes the money becomes a stand-in, a justification for the life cost we’ve sacrificed earning it. The stressful job to pay for the massive TV. The endless conversations about spreadsheets and dollars that steal time we’ll never get back.
Let’s be clear:
Wanting nice things is not bad. Having money is not bad.
But making money and stuff the center of your life is.
Money is a tool. It can amplify the good or bad that’s already within you.
However, it does not create a new version of you. It simply reveals what’s already there.
When someone finds wealth and subsequently treats people terribly, people say, “money changed them.” But that’s not right. It exposed them; it exposed what was always there.
So this week, in the spirit of Jeff Bezos’ regret minimization framework, project yourself to the end. Write your own obituary, the one you’d want read.
What does it say?
Who were you?
What will people miss about you?
I’m willing to bet none of the great trinkets you accumulated will make the list.
If the life you’re living now doesn’t tie to those words you want read, it’s not too late to change your course to match the things you want said.
what would your obituary say now? what will people remember?
Two quotes on character vs reputation:
Really, three quotes, but Warren’s analogy does more for the idea behind these quotes than I could possibly cobble together:
“Would you rather be the world’s greatest lover, but have everyone think you’re the world’s worst lover? Or would you rather be the world’s worst lover but have everyone think you’re the world’s greatest lover? Now, that’s an interesting question.”
“Character is like a tree and reputation like a shadow. The shadow is what we think of it; the tree is the real thing.”
“Be more concerned with your character than your reputation, because your character is what you really are, while your reputation is merely what others think you are.”
Three questions on creative solutions:
On the fringe of something new there is no manual, no guidebook, only creative solutions born of creative experiments.
Where am I looking for an established path vs machete whacking my own?
What creative, low risk experiment can I run to advance forward?
If I couldn’t spend money to solve this problem, how would I get started?
Which question stuck with you? Questions like these are spotlights for the mind. Reply to this email and let me know which one shined light on a previously dark cave.
Four lines of poetry for the point:
The things you have don’t matter in the end.
Were you a good partner, parent, person or friend?
The world will forget what you bought with zeal.
Who were you? How did you make people feel?
Contact Me:
Content ideas, questions? Reply to this email or reach out to me at [email protected]
Disclaimer: This is not investment advice. These weekly posts represent my simple thoughts, a few quotes, and some questions — for educational purposes only.
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