Seven Cures for a Lean Purse Part 4
“The HOLE in our pocket/purse is usually larger than the money we are putting in – there is a cure for HEALING this HOLE – the medicine however, may hard to swallow and a bit bitter to the taste…” — Rick Cox
“But the result is worth the inconvenience of having to put up with the taste and taking the time to swallow…”
Rick Cox
Part 4
If you are faithful over the little things you will be made ruler over the big things – if you are good in taking care of that which is the least you will be put in charge over that which is much larger, so we are told as children, as teenagers, as young adults and as new employees on many occasions. Most do not recognize how important it is for them to prove they can take care of the small stuff first. They only think it is important to show they can handle the BIG stuff therefore; they gloss over the little stuff acting as if it isn’t important when it is the determining factor for whether they will be given more. Truth is if you are not diligent to save and properly handle a small amount of money you will seldom if ever be given much more than the amount of money needed to get you by…so…
Cure #4: Protect and guard your money from losses… The Richest Man in Babylon
When you decide to do something or set out to accomplish anything rest assured, THE DECISION MADE WILL BE CHALLENGED. It is as if the universe has been designed to test the decisions you make and the goals you set. The manner, in which you can rise to meet these challenges, is to make a quality decision to commit and follow through at all cost. It is important to remember however, your decision to save, to control your spending, to increase your wealth, will be challenged, and trust me it will be greatly challenged.
It will be challenged in the same manner as the person who starts saving their ten percent. The problem is their ten percent may wind up being only seven hundred fifty dollars per year. If they are not careful they will talk themselves out of continuing with the savings plan believing it isn’t worth the effort because the amount is so small. It is at this point it is good to remember to be faithful over the little amount for if you are not faithful over the little amount, your mindset more often than not, will be what is the use? And to think it only took a negative thought to challenge their savings plan thus causing them to get discouraged and quit.
It is important to keep in mind the need to follow through with your commitments; for the time will arrive when you will become romantic over an idea for growing your money after hearing or watching some slick sales presentation. This romantic notion will allow you to be seduced into losing all or most of your savings. After two years of saving seven hundred fifty dollars per year plus interest you will have about fifteen hundred fifty dollars (depending on the interest), which if you invested in a romantic notion and lost it all would be hard to recover. The result just might be that you will get discouraged and quit. You were challenged and instead of rising to meet the challenge similar to when you stumbled or fell, you allowed the challenge to defeat you. Don’t be so quick to be enticed by large earnings where your principal is at stake.
About twenty years ago I met a senior sales executive. We will call him Tim though this was not his real name. He was with one of the largest golf cart manufacturing companies in the world. We met through a mutual friend who had a golf cart dealership representing this manufacturing company. Over the next couple years I was invited to and attended several charity functions, which Tim was involved in or solely responsible for making happen. At each function he had managed to have either a professional sports or TV celebrity. In every case Tim knew them all so well he would call them by their first names or a nick name. One of the sports celebs was Mike Piazza. He and Mike were great friends even to the point Mike would come to his house and or call him to meet him for a beer, etc. Well, when someone knows so many people and they all like him it is not hard to find yourself liking this person as well. Little did I know at that time that all of us were being seduced?
Tim asked me if I might be interested in participating in a ‘growing’ business he had going. He invited me to one of his presentations to some local business men. I showed up to find twenty five other professionals such as myself in the room. In the presentation his plan showed how he would purchase the used year old golf carts from the more affluent golf courses; recondition and resell them to the smaller less affluent golf courses for a handsome profit. He had this advantage because he not only worked for the company that made the golf carts; he was responsible for the oversight on the sale of the golf carts to the golf courses. On top of this he was donating twenty five percent of the profits made to the many charities in which he was involved. Bottom line, I was ‘hooked.’
Even though I had seen all of these celebs and met other execs of the large golf cart manufacturing company for which he worked, I still asked for some references from a few of the golf courses from which he was buying and a few to which he was selling. I called all four references and found them to hold him in very high regard.
Since the references checked out I decided to invest and over the next six months invested a quarter million dollars. To make a long story short I never saw the money again. He wound up being indicted on several fraud charges. He is still serving time. I never saw a penny of that money again. It was devastating not only to me, but to my wife. Here I was, Mr. Entrepreneur, and I couldn’t guard my own money. It seemed I could make it, but I couldn’t seem to keep or grow it. To say I was depressed was an understatement.
There was a similar situation, which happened several years ago where many high profile actors, directors, business professionals and even seasoned investors were duped out of billions of dollars by a man named Bernard Madoff. Those who knew him would say this man was extremely personable, cordial, considerate and very convincing. None the less, as cordial and personable as he was he took many of them for all they had. Why, because they were looking for a larger than reasonable return.
In the past decade, scores of people were caught short because they were trying to exact or extract more than was reasonable for a return on their investment. Many who were riding the early to mid-2000’s phenomenal real estate bubble, which was similar to the dot com bubble, took quite the tumble when it finally burst. Unfortunately, the tumble for most has been a plummet to devastation.
Guarding your money from loss is a skill, which will not fall on you like a ripe apple off a tree. You must work at learning this skill. It does not come without burning the midnight oil. It does not come without seeking the advice of those wise in the handling of money and it will not come without some heartache and disappointments. This is why it is best to learn with the ‘small stuff’ and not when you wind up having ‘lots’ to lose.
Seek the financial wisdom of individuals you know that are wise in the handling of money. By seeking this wisdom you will put yourself ahead of those that don’t. There are many who will not seek this wisdom due to the fee required to have it shared, but trust me you will be much better off paying to help protect your money then you will by trying it on your own only to wind up losing it all.
Best of LUCK as you
Labor Under Correct Knowledge…
Respectfully,
Rick Cox