If We Knew Better, We'd Do Better

Did you know that about 95% of Americans fall into a financial category of making $99,999 a year or less? That means only 5% of Americans are reported to make $100,000 or more a year! As you can see, the financial gap is quite large and widening every day as the middle class is disappering with all of the economic hardships. So what can we do? Where do we look to for a real solution and not just a bandage cover-up? How do we set ourselves up to do better and maybe even set up a better future for our children amidst all of this? Remember the old adage: give a man a fish and you feed him for a day, teach him how to fish and he'll eat for a lifetime? My "job" and mission is to educate families about financial concepts that they, most likely, have never heard of. I've sat down in the homes of many people who first invited me in as a financial consultant and walked out as a family friend helping them through the most challenging area of their life. Finances are a very intimate part of our lives, whether we know it or not. Why is it that we protect our bank account information so fearfully? Who taught us to keep our money business private? Did our parents discuss their bills and accounts with us, or even teach us to balance a checkbook? Some of you have been exposed to such confidential and privelaged information. Most of us have not. The tricky part is that what our finances represent to us is very deep and fundamental to our lives. What I mean is this: money is not the thing we want, it's what the money can buy for us. For some it's more time, some an education for their children, for some it's where you live, for some it's the vacation you've always wanted. As you can see, the list can go on and on, but the thing they all have in common is that what we yearn for so much that it hurts to think about are the things that are so near and dear to our hearts, our past, our passions, our hopes and dreams. Most people don't want to talk about money and what they know or don't know because we can so easily offend or be offended. We're so guarded, as are the people around us, about our most secret dreams and hopes that to expose our finances would mean exposing the things that we want so much with it. Here's the catch: we can do better if we knew better. I understand how difficult it is to bring in an outside person who you're not sure if you can trust to take a look at your most guarded part of your life and tell you whether or not you did it right. Sometimes ignorance is bliss, but at what cost? I invite you to consider opening up yourself to finding a trustworthy person to help you with your finances and get a neutral third party to help you see where you are on your roadmap to your goals/dreams/hopes and then to set a plan to help you get there as close as possible. Sometimes understanding why we're so guarded about something can help us to lighten up on the grip when we're in need of assistance. Thanks for reading!