Sometimes Aunty has to brush the dirt off her shoulder, so this will be the beginning of “Auntyisms”.

Aunty cannot understand shoeaholics since her 2 pairs of Crocs are her go-to foot wear.  Crocs have the advantage of comfort, style, and long lasting durability.  The 3 year old black pair and 1 year old cheetah print pair will last forever and keep Aunty in style, iao (in Aunty’s opinion).

Joe (name change for anonymity), a daughter’s boyfriend, is in town. He is over 6 feet tall with shoes that look like bread loaves and in his first 2 days here, 5 pairs of his shoes are cluttered by the front door.  His plan for day 2 was to go shoe shopping.

Come to find out, he has the same fetish as Imelda Marcos – he is a shoeaholic – and he buys about 10 new pairs of shoes every year for his pleasure factor.  These are not cheap shoes – they are name brand athletic shoes or good quality shoes that are trendy.

Well, Aunty could not hold back.

“Joe…..”, says Aunty, “what will you have in 10 years if you buy 10 pairs of shoes a year?”

Aunty answered for Joe.  “You will have a hundred pairs of used shoes.”

Aunty’s Rich Dad, Poor Dad mentality had kicked into gear, and unwanted advice poured out in the form of a valuable lesson (iao) that the receiver doesn’t really want to learn.

“What would you have if you were to buy a silver or gold coin instead of a pair of shoes?”  Again, Aunty answered for Joe.  “In 10 years, you will have 100 silver or gold coins.”

The result of this conversation was that the pile of his big shoes disappeared for the rest of his visit and shopping bags were whisked out of sight before this opinionated Aunty would opine.

Imelda Marcos would not have heeded Aunty either, but then, Imelda Marcos could afford all those shoes as well as hoard gold – or so we have been led to suspect after the Marcos regime ended.

Of course, it is easier to preach than it is to practice.  It may take time to be able to actually see and believe in the benefits of investing/saving over spending, but slowly, over time, with commitment to one’s future, gold will win out over old shoes, don’tcha think?