Dear Readers,
Thanks again for tuning in to this channel. I hope each of you had a wonderful Thanksgiving. Now it’s Christmas time, the time when families most go into debt during the year.
Here’s my Christmas wish for each of you:
1. Avoid going any more into debt than whatever debt load you already have.
2. If your kids want something that it would be tough for you to afford, sit them down and explain to them that you don’t have the money. Believe you me, you will not “scar” them. Many, many great men and women in this country came from modest means, and had to develop the fortitude to stand up to their more financially fortunate friends. It’s part of character.
3. Know in your heart that many of your kids’ “more financially fortunate friends” only appear that way because they are taking on MASSIVE amounts of debt to maintain a false appearance. Sure, there are some rich and fortunate people in this culture, but they are growing more scarce with each passing week as banks and finance companies hire business school graduates to do nothing but sit around 14 hours a day to dream up ways to get honest working people to take on more debt.
4. You declare that, beginning NOW (not on January 1st), you are going to be an exception. You are not going to let the debt vultures run your life any more. Period.
5. You then rearrange your life and your spending habits so you can actually afford your lifestyle. If your kids object, tell them to get a job. That certainly will not hurt them. They’re young kids? Well, can they babysit or help the neighbors with yardwork?
6. About the greatest gift you can give your kids this Christmas is the gift of financial responsibility. Have them read, “The Richest Man in Babylon,” which is inexpensive and available in any major bookstore. Teach them about a budget. Sure, some kids out there might have a pout on their faces when they don’t get their X-Box under the tree, but believe me, that pout will turn into an anguished wail over time if they don’t learn to put tough and dedicated controls in on their own finances.
Here’s a little message I received today from a lady I helped out with a simple referral. I dare say her little message applies to just about all of us:
“Thanks Robert for all the assistance with referrals…I have scoured the Internet and people like you and your colleagues are tough to find and no doubt very busy in your practice.
“Waking up from a 7 year semi-comatose state and looking at the reality of my life has been an “eye” opener in many regards. For many many years I worked overtime, became a slave to debt and wanting to do the “right” thing as I created the debt, but became exhausted just trying to keep up with the demands of paying credit cards and student loans; scared of the phone calls and what other people would say if they only ‘knew” what was really going on behind the facade–cutting myself from friends and family and feeling like a criminal. I now have the wherewithal and confidence not to be intimated, but it came out of my own painful journey and I now understand many people’s plight–I appreciate people like you that take on the the institutional “machines” that can grind people right into the ground physically, mentally, emotionally and most of all spiritually.”
Thanks for reading. Have a truly wonderful Christmas season.
Bob Brennan