Falling off the Cliff

By: Roshawn Watson

It is Oscar season, and recently, some of my favorite movies have been action-packed dramas. For example, I saw Collateral for the first time a few months ago and was blown away by how good both Jamie Foxx and Tom Cruise performances were. Of course, Tom is no stranger when it comes to action movies or risk. In Mission Impossible 2, he did the majority of his own stunts, even the one where he was hanging off some precipice. Maybe, I am somewhat naive, but it looked down right dangerous to me. However, I realize that many people lead far more risky lives when it comes to their finances. For example, many refuse to have an emergency fund, are leveraged up to their eye balls in debt, and are quite simply one paycheck away from financial disaster. How long could YOU survive if your earned income suddenly stopped?

Sure, many people do not see it that way. They claim that to live in debt is “The American Way.” I use to think the same way. I saw Barbie and Ken with the big home, BMWs, vacation home, and boat. I assumed that Barbie and Ken were the very portrait of success. However, a closer look revealed that my vision was distorted. That mortgage payment is over 50% of Barbie and Ken’s gross income, and the BWM is leased (more on this later). That boat was financed too. Once I realized that Barbie and Ken likely had plenty of credit cards and student loan payments too, I had a profound revelation. Barbie and Ken are broke! They are just a lot more risky and have more toys. They could not write a $20,000 check of their own money because they literally spend all of the wealth they can get their hands on. They have borrowed money to look and feel rich. Suddenly, I became forced to deal with my own financial demons because I like stuff too. Initially, it was depressing because I did not want to tame the inner child. However, the poor and broke make decisions that only benefit their present whereas the wealthy make decisions that benefit their future. Wealthy people think generations ahead.

You may say, ok that is interesting, but where would someone start? I say you start with risk management. I agree it is hard to live without credit cards if you do not have any money. In a sense, the credit card is an emergency fund, albeit a very poor one. Even if one pays off the balance of his or her credit card monthly, consider that people spend on average 12-16% more on their credit card purchases compared to when they spend cash. Apparently, there is something emotional about parting with cash that causes people to shop around for better deals whereas we have a certain level of detachment with credit card purchases. Additionally, no millionaire ever attributed his success to cash back bonuses.

One of the simplest ways to minimize risk is by having an emergency fund of 3-6 months worth of expenses in a liquid account (no c.d.’s here) . It is somewhat paradoxical that having an emergency fund decreases the number of emergencies that one has. An emergency fund is murphy repellant because it keeps the wolves at bay if something goes wrong. Do not forget that a plan where everything goes right is a pipe dream. It is so critical and is life-changing. Consider what it would be like to be able to cover any reasonable expense that came up.

Today begins a series of 6 blogs that I am doing on “cleaning house.” I hope to see you next month.