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Money.
Why did we invent it?
Seems to me, the idea was to make life easier, right?
Coins being easier to carry than chickens or goats.
We used money to trade for things.
To buy food, clothing, wives, and so on.
We minted more and more coins.
Until it reached the point where our money pouch was bursting.
And we couldn't get a good night's sleep because of all the money stuffed under our mattress.
That's when we invented the bank.
A place that looked after our money until we needed it.
Then let me ask you this:
When exactly in the 5 or 6,000 years since then did money get so complicated?
Because it is, isn't it?
Money is a pain in the ***.
You spend half a life earning it
and the rest of the life worrying about.
Some people worry about having enough at the end of the month.
Others worry if they can afford a bigger house
or another child.
Some people worry if they have enough to retire.
We're all riding this crazy money-go-round.
Chasing it.
Being chased for it.
Envying what the next guy's got.
Protecting what we've got.
Sometimes I think we should forget the whole thing
and go back to the chickens and the goats.
And then I think: No.
Wait a minute. What about the banks?
What are they doing to help?
I've seen the commercials: "Bank with us, have all your dreams come true."
That's the kind of thing they say, which sounds great,
but somehow the reality doesn't live up to the image, does it?
No bank in the world can make me rich. Only I can make me rich.
So don't show me pictures of big houses, yachts, and sports cars.
Just tell me how you can help me worry less about money.
It's 1998. The euro is coming.
New problems. New opportunities.
Isn't it time for a new kind of bank?
You live. We'll take care of the details.