Good morning & happy Monday!
“When you make a mistake, there are only three things you should ever do about it: admit it, learn from it, and don’t repeat it.”
–Paul Bear Bryant, legendary Alabama college football coach
About a month ago, I took my wife and 2 sons to Daytona Beach for an end-of-summer weekend getaway. The boys were greatly enjoying the pounding waves and riding them with their boogie boards. The waves and undertow were pretty strong, so I was staying pretty close to them to ensure their safety (not to mention that my wife made it abundantly clear that I was to keep them right next to me 😉).
We were having a wonderful time and I helped my youngest son Paul catch a monster wave with his boogie board. As I pushed his board to ride the wave, the wave caught me off balance and knocked me off my feet. In and of itself that would be no big deal … the problem comes into play that I was wearing my glasses and the wave knocked them off my face. Instantly I instinctively swipe the water frantically trying to grab them, but it was no use, the Atlantic Ocean claimed them.
Without my glasses I am a -2.75 in each eye, so my vision without the glasses is really bad. Fortunately, this happened our last evening of the trip and we headed home to next day.
Now, the ironic part of this story is that at home I had 2 extra pairs of glasses not to mention a dozen or so pairs of contacts. Those items don’t do me a lot of good at home when I’m a couple of hours away. In fact, when I was packing, I thought to myself “why would I bother packing an extra pair of glasses or a set of contacts?” and actively removed them from my bag. Obviously, that was a mistake.
Being unable to see for roughly a day was a costly mistake, and I think the part that was most frustrating about it was that it was so preventable had I simply packed an extra pair of glasses and/or contacts.
Lesson learned.
You can bet that I will always have back backup eyewear on future trips 😊
I once had a business coach I consulted with after making a costly business mistake. His advice was “Costly mistakes are the ones you don’t make again.” I wish there was an easier way to learn lessons, but I guess the school of hard knocks is a very effective teacher.
Bankrate did a survey in May 2021 and asked participants what their #1 financial regret is (Survey: Americans Reveal Their Biggest Financial Regret | Bankrate).
- Too little emergency savings – 20%
- Too little retirement savings – 19%
- Too much credit card debt – 18%
- None – 15%
- Too much student loan debt – 10%
Now, we all have regrets in our life, many of us have financial regrets. But, mistakes are an incredibly powerful growth tool … if we allow them to be.
This is where a plan is so critical. With a plan we can know how much we need to save to meet financial objectives. With a plan we can know how much money we can spend in retirement. With a plan we can have such a greater level of peace in our lives. Alternatively, without a plan the likelihood of regrets dramatically increases.
I would far prefer to not make mistakes than to learn from them. A plan helps that happen.
Now that we are in mid-September we are over 2/3rds through 2021 … wow, that happened quickly! 73 days from today is Thanksgiving, Christmas is in 103 days and 2022 is merely 110 days away. It’s been anything but an easy year, but no matter what the months and years ahead bring, please know we will continue to work hard to provide the best guidance possible. We are honored to be your financial planning team and so grateful for the opportunity to be on this journey with you.
Make it a great week ahead!