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With the arrival of the new Millennium a few years ago, it was impossible to
avoid the feelings of many that this was a good time to look forward, learn
from the past and truly plan the rest of your life. Most likely, you
probably reflected back to the previous months/years and weighed whether
they were great…good…so-so…or dismal. Usually that measurement is based on
money—did it increase? Because we are in a new century, I would like to
challenge you to probe deeper, asking yourself, “Are you rich?”
The Past Changes the Future
To help set the tone, let me probe into my own past decade or two. I had
great years…good years…so-so years…and absolutely dismal ones. My own answer
to “What does being rich mean?” started with a phone call in November of
1981. Back then, my family had "it" all. A beautiful home (including pool
and hot tub) in an exclusive section of Northern California, two Mercedes,
investments, kids in private schools, a vacation condo at Lake Tahoe, a
prosperous business, respected in our community and unlimited friends. Life
couldn't be better. . .or so we thought. That phone call was from one of the
banks I worked with in San Francisco. It changed our lives—radically and
overnight.
In the old days—the great, good ones--I use to raise money for various
ventures, usually in the millions. I loved old buildings, buying and
restoring them was something I felt immense pleasure in doing. One of my
favorite projects was the restoration of an old laundry. Its new life would
be that of a small European type hotel with 17 guestrooms. The financial
projections looked terrific. All the partners would get tax deductions,
annual cash flow and a handsome profit when the project was projected to
sell in five years. What more could we want?
The day after the November phone call, I had a "Be here with your most
recent net worth statement" meeting with the bank that had underwritten the
construction loan. It was a horrible meeting, with a series of other
meetings following in quick succession. I discovered that my partner of two
years and her partners had taken on another partner. Unfortunately, she
didn't advise me of the relationship and I was too naive and trusting to
discern all the warning signals. My partner and friend was deeply involved
in drugs. The other investor partners and I had unknowingly paid for them.
After an audit, we determined that over $450,000 was missing from a
construction loan that I had personally guaranteed. Gulp. The loan officer
(at what was quickly becoming my un-favorite bank) wanted to know how I was
going to pay off the discrepancy—could I write a check to cover it? The only
answer he wanted to hear was, "Of course." I was stunned. And angry,
incredibly angry. My husband walked around in a cloud, not fully
comprehending what "paying off the loan" meant to us.
A family "powwow" was called. Everything was laid out for all to see and
hear. Our three teens had no idea how much their life style would change in
the coming months. They were told that there was a very high probability
that we would lose everything--the house in the tony neighborhood, the
resort condo, private schools, no more expensive vacations. And they were
told, "We did not want any BS from any of you. No demands--we our fighting
for our lives."
Where did the fight take us? Down an incredible journey. In the end, we lost
everything that we had worked for. The home, the condo, both cars, jewelry,
antiques, artwork, the business, private schooling, investments,
savings--everything. Over $1,000,000! Our comfortable net worth was now in
the red. We even lost many of our "friends." In the middle of it all, my
health took a nosedive, landing me in the hospital for three surgeries,
including cancer. I felt that my life was a mess, that I would never be able
to make the money I had in the past, that my reputation would always be mud,
and that I was a total loser. The childhood ditty—nobody likes me, everybody
hates me, think I’ll eat some worms … or just disappear, forever… ran
through my head.
Truth be told, I didn’t feel rich. I felt homeless, which I was; I felt
lonely, which I was; I felt betrayed, which I had been; I felt hurt and
angry, which I was; and I felt sick, which I was. Did I recover? Yes I did.
Did I become rich? You bet. So can you.
# # #
Judith Briles holds
both an MBA and DBA. Prior to her career as a full time speaker and author,
she was a stockbroker with EF Hutton & Co. and headed her own
financial firm. She’s the author of 24 books including Money Smarts:
Personal Financial Success in 30 Days!, Smart Money Moves for Kids, The
Dollars and Sense of Divorce and The Confidence Factor..
Judith lives in Colorado. Her website is www.Briles.com and she can be
reached at Judith@Briles.com.
©2006 Judith Briles, All Rights Reserved |
