I have read and heard of so many different success stories where the main character hits rock bottom before they make their way to the top. Heck, it's the basis of every good Hollywood blockbuster. It's this emotional roller coaster (from the worst of the worst to the best of the best) that makes a success story all the more intriguing. "Hitting Rock Bottom" is defined in so many different ways. You've heard of people almost dying due to drug or alcohol abuse or others that have lost everything due to gambling or some other illegal activity. Sometimes it's not directly triggered by the person (i.e. a child might hit rock bottom due to their parents doing some of the above stuff). Specifically in terms of finances, the most common "rock bottom" situations that I've heard of are due to job loss, divorce, or a death/major injury occurring. Although these events are the most highly publicized ways for someone to hit rock bottom, they are definitely not an exhaustive list. More importantly, you don't have to hit the popular rock bottom places to start your way to the top.
My journey towards debt freedom began about a year and a half ago. It started subtly when my friend introduced me to Dave Ramsey's Total Money Makeover book. But just reading that didn't trigger the need to overhaul my life. You see, I was living a good life. I just received a promotion and I was now making $144,000/year in salary. My firm offered sales bonuses as well and they had very decent benefits. I owned a very nice house in a Seattle suburb and even had a rental property in TX that I was successfully renting out to "safe" renters (a doctor and his wife, who worked as a nurse). I was driving a sweet looking Infiniti G35 and every bit looking the part of a young consulting professional. I was very good at what I did. My clients loved me and I was a solid networker which was vital to business development. That's the thing, I wasn't even close to a rock bottom situation. My wife and I were still going strong, my firm wanted me to continue to do what I was doing and I was a young, healthy guy (although I guess I could've hit the gym and eaten better :) ).
But it wasn't all sunshine and rainbows. There were cons to my situation, even with things looking so great on the surface. To achieve my professional success, I needed to work long hours and consequently spend a lot of time away from my family. I also had aspirations of running my own business someday but I didn't know how that would ever come to fruition without me giving a lot of dedicated time towards it. Finally, we found ourselves basically living paycheck to paycheck. It's very embarrasing really but even with a salary well over 6 figures, we didn't have money left over every month to save or invest. So, I found myself in this constant internal struggle. I wanted to spend more time with my family. But to do that, I would have to take on a job that requires less of my time. But if I did that, it would probably result in less money so we would end up not being able to pay all the bills. And above all this, there's no way for me to ever start my own business and follow one of my dreams because I have to support my family and provide for them. So, I did what the great majority of people do, and stayed the course.
I now know why so many marriages end up in divorce as well as why so many middle aged men go through a mid-life crisis. The evidence is in the internal struggle I described above. Since most people are living in the "rat race", they have probably dealt with the same stuggle too. There are a few natural blaming mechanisms that result from the struggle above, I know I went through it. I blamed my job for taking me away from my family. However, at the same time, I blamed my family for forcing me to keep this job that I didn't like because I had to provide for them. Moreover, that turned into frustration because I no longer was able to pursue my dreams. I could only assume that my wife was going through similar blaming thoughts. I know she was frustrated that I couldn't spend more time with her and the kids because I was working so much. To top it off, she wasn't sure this job was worth my time since we couldn't afford to buy new clothes/toys for the kids freely, even with my high salary. Assuming these thoughts run across the minds of most couples, there's no wonder why America's divorce rate is so high and there are broken families everywhere.
It's this "blame game" that forced me to hit rock bottom. So, to recap, I was still employed and receiving a very hefty salary. I owned multiple houses and was receiving rental income from one of them. We ate out when we wanted to and took either my cool looking sports sedan or the new, fully loaded minivan. When we thought we needed something, we bought it without a second thought. On the surface, I was living the American Dream. And yet, I had hit rock bottom!
My journey towards debt freedom began about a year and a half ago. It started subtly when my friend introduced me to Dave Ramsey's Total Money Makeover book. But just reading that didn't trigger the need to overhaul my life. You see, I was living a good life. I just received a promotion and I was now making $144,000/year in salary. My firm offered sales bonuses as well and they had very decent benefits. I owned a very nice house in a Seattle suburb and even had a rental property in TX that I was successfully renting out to "safe" renters (a doctor and his wife, who worked as a nurse). I was driving a sweet looking Infiniti G35 and every bit looking the part of a young consulting professional. I was very good at what I did. My clients loved me and I was a solid networker which was vital to business development. That's the thing, I wasn't even close to a rock bottom situation. My wife and I were still going strong, my firm wanted me to continue to do what I was doing and I was a young, healthy guy (although I guess I could've hit the gym and eaten better :) ).
But it wasn't all sunshine and rainbows. There were cons to my situation, even with things looking so great on the surface. To achieve my professional success, I needed to work long hours and consequently spend a lot of time away from my family. I also had aspirations of running my own business someday but I didn't know how that would ever come to fruition without me giving a lot of dedicated time towards it. Finally, we found ourselves basically living paycheck to paycheck. It's very embarrasing really but even with a salary well over 6 figures, we didn't have money left over every month to save or invest. So, I found myself in this constant internal struggle. I wanted to spend more time with my family. But to do that, I would have to take on a job that requires less of my time. But if I did that, it would probably result in less money so we would end up not being able to pay all the bills. And above all this, there's no way for me to ever start my own business and follow one of my dreams because I have to support my family and provide for them. So, I did what the great majority of people do, and stayed the course.
I now know why so many marriages end up in divorce as well as why so many middle aged men go through a mid-life crisis. The evidence is in the internal struggle I described above. Since most people are living in the "rat race", they have probably dealt with the same stuggle too. There are a few natural blaming mechanisms that result from the struggle above, I know I went through it. I blamed my job for taking me away from my family. However, at the same time, I blamed my family for forcing me to keep this job that I didn't like because I had to provide for them. Moreover, that turned into frustration because I no longer was able to pursue my dreams. I could only assume that my wife was going through similar blaming thoughts. I know she was frustrated that I couldn't spend more time with her and the kids because I was working so much. To top it off, she wasn't sure this job was worth my time since we couldn't afford to buy new clothes/toys for the kids freely, even with my high salary. Assuming these thoughts run across the minds of most couples, there's no wonder why America's divorce rate is so high and there are broken families everywhere.
It's this "blame game" that forced me to hit rock bottom. So, to recap, I was still employed and receiving a very hefty salary. I owned multiple houses and was receiving rental income from one of them. We ate out when we wanted to and took either my cool looking sports sedan or the new, fully loaded minivan. When we thought we needed something, we bought it without a second thought. On the surface, I was living the American Dream. And yet, I had hit rock bottom!
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