A number of months ago, we were launching our pontoon boat. It is twenty-two feet long and eight feet wide but easy to launch and load. My wife Bev is the one who backs it in, and I hold onto the rope to ensure it doesn’t get away after unloading.
This particular time, we were excited to get going as the weather was hot, and the lake was incredibly still. Bev lined up the boat in the water in her usual position and opened the window of the Jeep, so we could hear each other. I grabbed the rope as Bev proceeded to back into the lake. She went as far as she normally does and quickly applied the brakes to help float the boat off the trailer into the water but to no avail. After trying the procedure a couple more times, she said, “I’ll pull out and move over to a deeper spot.”
My frustration level was beginning to show as we’ve done this dozens of times with no difficulty, but Bev moved over and backed in, confident that it would work this time. When the exhaust from the pipe began to bubble under the surface of the water, she quickly applied the brakes, but again, nothing happened!
I raised my voice, “Try again or do you want me to do it?” I was quite frustrated as there was a line up of other people waiting to launch. Bev, feeling the pressure of all eyes on her, pulled out again, this time rather quickly and began the process one more time. Just as she began to back, I realized I hadn’t unlocked the boat from the trailer, so I yelled, “Bev, hold on; I forgot to unlatch the cable!” Her irritation with my unnecessary frustration and loudness made our pontoon boat experience a little quiet . . . until she caught her first fish!
Financial lesson:
Have you ever wanted to be released from something that was holding you back? For instance, when you count up your payments each month – Visa, car, insurance, line of credit, furniture store, mortgage, etc. – you’re astonished at how the list goes on! A multitude of payments with no where to go brings on frustration upon frustration. By the time you meet just the minimum requirement on each obligation, there’s no extra money for a vacation or any of the little extras that would make life more enjoyable.
Here are a couple of great secrets! First of all, keep track of every penny you spend in a small note book, and categorize each expenditure as either a need (N) or a want (W). As you see how much money you spend on “wants” rather than “needs,” you may see a pattern emerge. Usually our “wants” out-spend our “needs” with the end result being frustration!
Begin to rectify the situation by trimming off half your lattes, clothes purchases or eating-out costs, and put that money against your highest interest debt. Before you know it, you’ll have some breathing room again to make wise financial decisions. Lack of financial margin is like trying to launch our boat while it’s still hooked to the trailer.
The second idea is a bit dicier. Instead of making payments that didn’t increase my margin, I borrowed $15,000.00, invested it and paid it off over three years. After three years, the investment was worth $20,000 ($5,000 growth). I began to redirect these payments from things that decreased in value to items that increased in value.
Once the $15,000.00 was paid for, I borrowed another $15,000.00 and paid it off. Slowly margin became a reality. We learned that first we had to discover where the money was going and then direct it into things that increased in value instead of areas that stole our margin.
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