When my mom passed away recently, she left me a modest inheritance — really, from both my parents. My dad passed before her, but like many couples of their generation, everything they built was shared. The gift came from both of them.
As I often tell my clients, an inheritance should never be part of your financial plan — at least not for most people. Unless you come from an exceptionally wealthy family (and I don’t have many of those clients), it should be treated as a windfall, not a retirement pillar.
So what do you do with a windfall?
I like Dave Ramsey’s Total Money Makeover approach: Spend, Save, Give.
Most of what we received from both @Wild_Woman_MT’s parents and my own will be saved. Part of her inheritance helped us buy our Bozeman townhouse, a place that has quickly become a second home. We also decided to spend a little from mine on something meaningful. Since moving to Montana, both of us have fallen in love with photography.
The Moose That Got Away
Like most people, our go-to cameras are our smartphones. In our case; iPhone 16 Pro Maxes. They’re amazing for almost everything — landscapes, lifestyle, food, you name it. But for wildlife, even the best smartphone hits its limits.
Last Sunday, we drove from Livingston through Wilsall and back to Bozeman along Bridger Canyon Drive. We wanted to see the Crazy Mountains. The peaks were fogged in, but the day had a gift for us anyway: a bull moose lying in a hayfield, maybe 300 yards off the road.
If you know anything about Maine, you know we Mainers are proud of our moose. Since buying our Bozeman townhouse last October, we’ve only seen two — this one and another last winter on our way to ski at Bridger Bowl. Both times, I pulled out the phone, zoomed in, and… pixel soup. The shots were basically unusable.
That’s when we decided it was time for real cameras.
Investing in the Learning Curve
We bought two Canon EOS R50s — great little beginner cameras that teach you the fundamentals of 35 mm photography if you’re willing to learn. With a good zoom lens (say 300 mm), we could have captured that moose beautifully.
But these cameras are nothing like the iPhone. They can run on full auto, sure, but that defeats the purpose. A real camera gives you control — over aperture, shutter speed, ISO, depth of field — and that control requires education. Hundreds of settings. Endless combinations. It can feel like piloting a spaceship.
At first, we just pointed and shot in auto mode. The photos were fine, but not much better than the phones. So we made a pact:
Every day: 30 minutes of YouTube learning.
YouTube is a gift for lifetime learners. Pause, rewind, replay until it clicks. We’re learning not just our camera’s menus but the principles of light, composition, and storytelling.
Sharpening the Saw
That brings me back to a book I first read in my twenties: Stephen Covey’s The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.I just bought another copy — less than ten bucks on Amazon — to reread it.
The seventh habit, Sharpen the Saw, has always stuck with me. Covey says we sustain all other habits through renewal — physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual.
I’ve built up my strengths on the physical, emotional, and spiritual sides. But the mental one? That’s where I sometimes fall short. I jump in, assume I’ll figure it out, and skip the slow, deliberate learning.
Kerry’s dad had that one mastered. He was a lifelong learner who loved technology and photography. Every time I visited, he’d have a new gadget and a question: “What can you teach me about this one?” I admired that. He never stopped learning.
The Modern Meaning of Mental Renewal
In today’s world, sharpening the mental saw means more than reading books. It means staying curious — learning new tools, technologies, and methods. I meet too many professionals who stopped sharpening years ago.
They’re still marketing like it’s 1985 — business cards, Chamber events, newspaper ads — then wonder why they’re not getting results. They don’t understand the AIDA funnel (Awareness → Interest → Desire → Action).
They tell me, “Networking still works!” Sure, sometimes. But when I look up their name online, I find a gray default box where a banner photo should be. That says it all.
If you’re a professional and your LinkedIn profile isn’t dialed in, you’re leaving opportunity on the table. You don’t have to spend a fortune — search “LinkedIn marketing” on YouTube or grab a $50 course on Amazon.
Because here’s the truth: People hire learners. If your digital presence says “stuck in the past,” they’ll assume your skills are too.
Learning, Earning, and Living Fully
That’s what Covey meant by Sharpen the Saw. Learning keeps your brain young, your creativity alive, and — let’s be honest — often your income growing.
Even on my site, you’ll see links to the brands I use. If someone clicks through and buys a product, I get a small commission. That’s another example of how learning (in this case, affiliate marketing) can literally earn.
The more you learn, the more valuable you become — to yourself, to others, and to the world around you.
So whether it’s mastering a camera, fine-tuning your business, or finally understanding the exposure triangle, remember: Be a lifetime learner.
Not just for your mind, but for your soul.
