The AHA Moment!

I had a deep conversation yesterday around what it takes for people to realize the true benefits of financial freedom.  In other words, what is the triggering event that forces people to change their financial lives?  What's that AHA moment?  We came to the conclusion that there isn't just one type of event or moment that makes everyone say.....OHHHH, I get it now!  Also, there's not one specific thing that I can say or do that will make someone else realize what I have realized, no matter how logical my argument could be.  Having said that, there are many life changing events that could prompt someone to re-evaluate their personal financial health:  death, newborn, career change, job loss, major injury, marriage, divorce, etc...  But I hope people don't wait for these extreme situations to make sure their personal financial house is in order.

For me, I can clearly recall my AHA moment.  Don't get me wrong, I have had many, many more lessons learned and self-realizations along the way that have pushed me down the path that I'm on.  But the following event was truly my life changing trigger.

AHA...I really need to start my debt free journey...and I mean really start. 

I remember the meeting so vividly.  My friend referred me to a local financial advisor that practiced Dave Ramsey's Total Money Makeover steps.  Just to back up a bit, this same friend was the one who suggested that I pick up Dave Ramsey's book in the first place.  I read the entire book (which is a major accomplishment for me since there are plenty of books that I've started which I just couldn't make it all the way through).  I thought the book was great, the steps were easy and the success stories referenced in it were absolutely amazing.  So, I proceeded to do what most people do after reading a book like that....I did nothing :(  So, fast forward to this meeting with the financial advisor.  I'm not sure what I was really expecting out of the meeting.  I guess I was thinking he was going to say something like, "stop eating out so much" or "you might want to hold off on a couple vacations for a little bit".  And I guess I was expecting him to have this grand plan laid out for me that would quickly get me out of debt and on track to build wealth like crazy.  I mean, that's what all the success stories in the book did....so why couldn't that happen to me?  I guess I was a bit nervous going into the meeting as I knew I had a lot of debt and I knew I wasn't being very frugal.  But hey, on the flip side, I had an awesome income and all the success stories in the book had crazy amounts of debt....so my situation shouldn't be anything he hasn't seen before and dealt with.

After the first 10 minutes (getting all the get-to-know-you stuff out of the way), it was time to get down to business.  I pulled out my laptop and showed him my spreadsheet that neatly listed all of my income and expenses on a monthly basis.  I felt so proud of how organized I was and how prepared I was for this conversation.  I was thinking inside that he was going to tell me that I knew what I was doing and that my debt problem would probably just fix itself, being that I'm so on top of things.  For the record, he did think I was organized and prepared :)  But more importantly, he was not at all impressed with the contents of my spreadsheet.  What happened next, I wish I could just erase from my memory.  We proceeded to walk through the details of our financial life and it was clear to me that he was truly amazed.  Only it wasn't in a good way!  I remember the summary was something like, so....you take home over $10,000/month and only $500 of that can be put towards paying down debt?  This summary was followed by a long, uncomfortable silence...at least that's what I remember.  I was waiting/hoping/praying he was going to follow it up quickly with...."don't worry, all you have to do is.......".  But nothing...it was like we stumped him....like our situation was something so bad he was a loss for words.  At that very moment, I knew something had to change...and change drastically!

I won't say the guy didn't have any feedback because he certainly had a few comments on what some potential next steps could be.  But he absolutely didn't have a full plan for us and I didn't leave his house feeling warm and fuzzy about my financial future.  In fact, it was flat out depressing.  Although, as hard as it was to recognize the truth of my financial situation, it was probably the best thing that could've happened to me.  My AHA moment served as a wake up call.  I used it as motivation to "fix" the problem and get on the right path.  It opened my eyes to what I really needed to do...it forced me to do things that I wouldn't have considered in the past.  In short, I'm grateful for the AHA moment...as it provided the necessary "push" in the right direction!

As hard to swallow as my AHA moment was, I'm very fortunate that it wasn't a result of a tragedy.  Moreover, I'm very thankful that I was able to do something about it and I'm ecstatic about the position my family and I are in today!  Actually, one of my reasons for sharing my stories with the world is in the hope that others will realize their AHA moment as soon as possible....or at least before their situation gets too out of control!