What does it take to get you to smile? Are you more excited by a monetary windfall, or something hilarious that randomly happens in life? That is a loaded question. Would you rather receive $100,000 or see something crazily funny like a turtle riding on a deer’s back? Yes, that is the stupidest question ever asked.
The reason I ask…I spoke to a group of retirees the other day at a local University, and I saw the funniest think that I have ever seen. I was in the midst of my presentation, and I was scanning the crowd of about 200 to see if anyone was still listening to my mindless banter. There was a guy with a seeing eye dog in the front row. Let me digress for a second. Seeing eye dogs are the most incredible things in the world. They completely change blind peoples’ lives. A dog leads the person around! It is incredible! Anyway, back to the story. My eyes wander over towards the blind gentleman and his German Shepherd. They were yawning at the same time. The guy was stretching his arms upward while he was yawning, and his dog was on his side stretching all four paws out. It was easily funniest thing I have ever seen. Not only was I boring the guy, but I was boring his dog. I was trying to figure out what that moment was worth to me. Honestly, I think it was worth at least $1,000. I truly believe that I would have turned down $1,000 in order to see a blind guy and his seeing eye dog yawn during one of my speeches. It was awesome.
Am I crazy?

Peter Dunn a.k.a. Pete the Planner® is an award-winning financial mind and a former comedian. He’s a USA TODAY columnist, author of ten books, and is the host of the popular radio show and podcast, The Pete the Planner Show. Pete is considered one of the foremost experts on financial wellness in the world, but he’s just as likely to talk your ear off about bass fishing.