This is probably something you never thought I would share: my favorite swear word. What could I possibly say that I would be able to put in a video or on the Internet? It is the word that I use under my breath when something crazy happens. When something doesn’t make any sense to me, like when that person out on a country road has just blown by you in the no-passing lane just so the two of you can reach the stop sign at the same time. The word that I use is, “Really?!”.
It might seem simple, but there is a lot of emotion that you can convey with the word “Really?!”. I used this word recently as I was walking around the Financialoscopy building. I was looking for weeds that needed to be pulled or adjustments that needed to be made to our outside lawn care. While looking around, I came across a brand-new crack in our sidewalk. I looked down at this crack and very quietly, under my breath, I said, “Really?!”.
This crack caused me to run through a whole list of things in my mind. First of all, was the sidewalk correctly installed 20 years ago? If you look at a section of sidewalk, there are planned lines dividing each section so that, if the sidewalk needs to crack, it should crack in one of those predetermined cuts, but that is not what occurred. So, I said “really” because I was worried about what the foundation was like now that it was 20 years later. What could I even do?
Now, some other things came to my mind: first off, the government. Believe it or not, there are actually what I like to refer to as "sidewalk check-er-outers". When it comes to businesses, the city wants to make certain that the sidewalks are safe for the public. So, periodically, someone from the city will come by and they’ll tell me if I’ve got a sidewalk problem due to uneven pavement. Even if it’s just a ¼ inch off, you either have to grind it down or replace the entire section because you have a crack.
If we’re talking about a financial life, we might call that situation a “change in taxation”. It was fine one day, but now the rules are different. Now, you have to throw away what you originally planned and begin all over again. That is an example of a change that can be done by the government to retirement or investment programs. There was a certain kind of taxation rule, but now there’s going to be a different taxation rule. There is no rhyme or reason to it in your mind, but the reality is that now you have to deal with those changes. I would say “Really?!”.
Some other thoughts came to mind because now I’ve got to go to my local hardware store and get some sort of caulk or resin to put inside that crack to avoid additional problems. I have to worry about weeds creeping in and causing more damage. Now that there’s a crack, there are other things that can get down in there like water during the winter time. As the water freezes, it will crack more. This is what happens with our regular financial plans over a period of time.
You probably feel the same way as me when this happens to your retirement or investment accounts. You need to make certain that there’s a good foundation. You have to make certain that you are protecting yourself against what the government might dictate next. You have to make repairs along the way. You have to be able to either pull out weeds or make sure that weeds don’t get deep inside, which could cause bigger problems. You have to make certain that water doesn’t get in and freeze.
My problem with a crack in our sidewalk is very analogous to what your financial life is like. Even though it might have been perfect 20 years ago, you might take a walk around your financial property and say to yourself, “Really?!”. If you are in that situation today, or if you fear that situation could happen tomorrow, then perhaps it’s time to schedule your Financialoscopy®.
