A few years ago, November 15, 2003 to be exact, my wife and I committed to getting our financial life in order. I can remember a few things about that day, but one thing I recall is our level of commitment. I recall that because I see clients who are partially committed, just like my wife and I. You make a decision, but too many things influence your ability to discipline yourselves and you wind up right back in the same mess you started in. Lisa and I, I am quite sure, were no different. However, the greatest day in our financial lives came less than 48 hours after our Saturday decision.
Many might not understand, but what happened on November 17, 2003, changed our lives forever. It was that day that I was laid off. Honestly, that day was not one that I look back and say I would like to experience regularly nor that I would want anyone else to experience, but it is the day that turned our future around.
Two things happened that day. First, I recognized for the first time in my life I did not have a plan B. Secondly, and equally important was that my job loss that day was what made us change our level of committment that we had made just two days earlier.
Not knowing what we would do next made us significantly increase our commitment to getting out of the debt mess we created, getting on a solid plan, and being financially positioned to do what we would be required to do in the future.
Do not misundertand, I did not sit down and say, “this is great, it is wonderful to be unemployed”. In fact, it was a tough few weeks of uncertainty that many today are going through. However, what it did was make us look at everything and cut back drastically where we needed to.
Today, so many people do not cut all that they can. As I mentioned in my earlier blog, The Misconception, too many people feel that they can get things on track without some wholesale changes in their financial lives. It does not work that way and, fortunately, we found that out.
Looking back today, years later, it was a great day. Today, I am married to my wonderful debt free wife, with three debt free children, living in a debt free house and helping others become just like us – debt free.
What was, or will be, the most important day in your financial life? Jack Welch used to teach us at General Electric, “Control your own destiny, or someone else will”. Who is controlling yours?
