Is Debt Destroying Your Life?

These are not the ne'er do well gamblers, drug addicts or simply lazy lay abouts, that we might expect to slip through the safety net of financial security, rather, hard working, fiscally responsible and frugal 'battlers'

Two colleagues of mine took different journeys on this path toward financial oblivion.

Let's call them Larry and Bob

Larry has always been a hard worker. Never reluctant to work seven days a week if need be, to pay the bills and provide for his family. Circumstances have conspired over the years to attract ever increasing debt into his life. Bad timed investment decisions. A few periods of unemployment and erratic income over the years has seen Larry gradually slip into a precarious tight rope existence. If his income were to dry up for a week or two, then his whole financial world would unravel.

It's not all bad news though. At least not for his bank. He's currently paying interest only on his $400k loans. A tidy $26k profit a year to his bank with no reduction in principal. With luck, this could go on for years, before the inevitable crash and burn happens. Of course, he could win Lotto.

This losing battle hoping for a miracle strategy is impacting pretty heavily on Larry's health. He has started smoking again, it seems to help with the stress. Food has become a comforter, and his girth has expanded by a couple of belt notches. Family relationships are deteriorating on a similar trajectory to the bank balance. Stress has become a constant. Yet, Larry would never entertain the idea of submitting to humiliating defeat and declaring bankruptcy.

Bob, is more practical. More irresponsible and less weighed down by guilt and ego. Bob was heading down a similar path to Larry a few years back. Business ventures turned sour, credit cards maxed out, and the tax man came calling. Bob doesn't do Lotto. incidentally he doesn't do stress either. He reckons that life's too short. Family life is pretty important too. He subscribes to the 'just do it' philosophy. He thinks ego is an expensive luxury. One day he assessed his financial situation, and decided that he had a choice to make. Become a slave to his lending institution? Become creatively impotent? Embrace a future of stress and feelings of hopelessness or abdicate responsibility?

Bob's lending institution barely noticed his default. He moved into the column of Bankrupts that the lending institution had factored into their risk and return balance sheet.

Bob is now unencumbered. A few years later he's more productive and creative than ever. Some of his newer ventures are paying off. Stress is still a relatively foreign word. He's fit and happy. Irresponsible Bob has moved on.

It's not a question of right or wrong. Moral or immoral. The point to be made, is that actions produce consequences. This is often forgotten as many of us spend too much time trying to live up to unspoken social and peer and family expectations. Unfortunately these expectations that we try to live up to are often a figment of the imagination. Invariably most people are too concerned with their own lives to really spend much time considering us at all.

Moral of the story from this scribblers point of view, is to make your own decisions and accept that nothing is pervasive except your attitude.

Kiaran Finn of http://www.adversity2success.com Sourcing stories, interviews of success over adversity.

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