The older I get, the more I am so happy that my wife Betty and I have a go-to list of go-to guys and go-to gals who have skills and abilities we simply don’t have or the time to complete the projects that always mount up.
There was a time in my life when I was always about doing things on-the-cheap. I’ve pulled and replaced toilets; I’ve crawled up into the attic to string wiring for ceiling fans; I’ve replaced simple sheetrock; I’ve moved a dump truck full of garden stone by wheel-barrel around the foundation of our commercial building and I have spent three-day holiday weekends painting rental properties to save a little bit of money before our new renters moved in, while friends were on the river in their boat with their families. The time comes when you have to have a list of guys and gals who can do a professional job that they were trained to do; and you were not. You and I can’t be an expert at everything and I don’t want to count the times I needed to hire someone to fix “the fix”, I thought, I had fixed.
Now we have a long list of plumbers, electricians and handymen who are qualified and professional at the unique skills they’ve acquired during their lives. Each time they work for us, I write them a check with a smile on my face, because I know that they’re doing something I can’t, I don’t want to do, or I don’t have the time to do.
The task of money is very similar. Many people try to plan for the future, but my experience for the most part is that it’s a lost cause; a cause that has fallen to an amateur who never really had the desire or the knowhow on how to do it like a professional. Recently, I laughed to myself when I saw an app promoted by a well-known financial firm as the “sink or swim” app. Really? Sink or swim? That’s the choice you want to make with your financial life? This commercial shows a guy making trades while he’s boarding a plane, while he’s coaching his kid’s ballgames and the last picture is of him upstairs in a darkroom with three monitors doing stock research while his spouse is downstairs alone. Can we all see a future divorce in this guy’s future? Oh, and I don’t think he’ll get custody of the kids either.
If you want a project, an important project done, hire a professional and begin living your life.
