Of course, the world was a bit different when those words were committed to paper. Henry Miller led a lusty expatriate life in Paris, in the 1920s and '30s. His days (and nights) were spent in colorful cafes, raucous bistros and racy brothels, not wandering the streets searching for a job or a handout. Honing his literary skills, Miller enjoyed the company of other rising stars in the arts who'd taken up residence in France.

Whether it's making money or handling it, I qualify as a full-fledged incompetent. Unlike Mr. Miller, I can hardly call myself "happy." But like him, I'm not terribly distressed about this particular form of incompetence, either. All told, I'm quite content with my financial life. My dissatisfactions with life rarely stem from economic woes of any sort.

On the other hand, for a person who's never cared much about money, at least not in recent decades, I've sure spent a lot of time and energy worrying about it, lamenting its absence, fretting about where my next dollar was coming from. That's an inevitable drawback to the freelance life, where a steady income is something that other people get.

Freelancers can do well one year, fall apart financially the next, and revive again in the next season. Or, those dismal years of few and unrewarding assignments can linger on and on, depending on what's happening out in the business world. And on pure chance.

Though worrying about money puts me in league with most Americans, I differ from the majority in one crucial way: Unlike practically everyone in the universe, it seems, there's nothing I want. Nothing that can be bought with money, at any rate. In that respect, at least, I'm vastly more content than 99 percent of Americans, who seem to be constantly searching for ways to bring in more bucks. Not to mention the wealthy 1-percent, most of whom never seem satisfied with the largesse they already possess.

Evidently, money worries have never been an uncommon phenomenon. Even the prolific ancestor of communism, Karl Marx, spent much of his lifetime fretting about money and debt.

Actually, anyone who's been an independent worker, regardless of his or her political preferences, cannot help but worry about money. When there's never a steady flow of income, and you don't know where your next assignment is coming from – or if there will ever be one again – how can you help being anxious, at least a little, about your near-future?

All the more so for some, such as myself, who don't have the option of choosing to return to a regular job. After being without a "real" job since 1967, and now well into senior-citizenhood, the prospect of being hired for anything at all, even as an unpaid volunteer, falls far short of slim.

Especially in later life, though, I’m far more satisfied than most people with what I have. How many of us can make that claim, much less believe it?

One expatriate friend, despite earning a good income compared to the average in his region, worries and complains regularly about lack of money – past and present. Why? Most likely, because he knows that back in America, with degrees from prestigious universities, he'd be making considerably more in his chosen profession. Of course, he'd also be without the many advantages that he enjoys, living in a foreign country.” ...

Note: This chapter is intentionally incomplete at this point, intended to serve as a sample.