I was driving to work the other day and decided to give a re-listen to the newest Rise Against album. In the album, there’s a particular song that caught my ears, lyrically – Miracle. While they aren’t exactly singing about FI, the concepts can be applicable across the board to so many different things. In particular, the following few lines:
Are you gonna wait here for a sign to let you know now?
Are you gonna sit there paralyzed by what you’ve seen?
Or are you gonna finally grip the wheel? I think you know how
This is more than you expected it to be
Don’t wait for a miracle
To tumble from the sky
To part the seas around you
Or turn water into wine
Don’t wait for a miracle
The world is passing by
The walls that will surround you
Are only in your mind
When the weights we carry breaks us, we’re tempted to stay down
But every road to recovery starts at the breakdown
Pretty good stuff. This resonates a lot with my personal philosophy and especially when it comes to money. So many people go by their financial lives without really ever realizing that they may be in trouble or are, in general, not setting themselves up for success. I ended up having a long conversation between another couple of NCOs in regards to one of their shopping habits that same day and kept going back to the song. This NCO in particular was feeling pretty bogged down. She talked about wanting to change her habit and get in a better financial place, but as we continued the conversation, it started to seem just like lip service until it finally clicked.
It all started with saying she could not afford to do certain activities because she was always broke. When pressed, she confessed that she uses shopping as a coping tool of sorts and needs to do it. Turned out she had dresses for just about every occasion. Tops to match every bottom and bottoms to match every top. Add in shoes for all occasions and make sure you do not forget all the accessories!
A few minutes later and after doing some very quick math with fairly small price points of purchase, we estimated her clothing collection was worth about $10,000. You read that right. Ten thousand dollars. Of clothing. She does not know how to save because she never did. Now, she admits that it is difficult for her to break that mindset and stop going out shopping, or even imagine why she would NOT need a different dress for every day of summer (while we’re in uniform 90% of the time anyways.)
But, just as the lyrics say, don’t wait for a miracle and get on that road to recovery no matter at how low of a point you are in. If you spend $1,000 on something every month that you don’t really need, drop it down to 800 and save the extra 200. If you feel that didn’t impact you much, change it to 500/500. I am not saying to cut out all your desires, but make sure you keep a balance in life, and your checkbook. I know this is a trend in my post, but it honestly is the biggest thing of being financially successful. Start early. If you could not start yesterday, start today. Try to limit the delay as much as possible.
-Art
The Military Saver 