Sometimes you simply have to change it up; but change is hard. People don’t like change. In fact, there is a famous business book which came out years ago titled – “Who moved my cheese?”. The idea the author was trying to share was to accept change and unfortunately in today’s world, if you don’t change with the times, you will be forever living a yesterday life.
I have a client who isn’t connected to the internet, who doesn’t have a cellphone. In fact, their phone is a rotary-dial land-line. You might say that they’re stuck in yesterday. There are times I envy that quiet life. They deal with less noise than the rest of us; but their opportunities maybe limited, as well.
Even people that like new opportunities sometimes don’t like changes. Think of traffic circles, as an example. Over the years, many four-way stops have been converted to traffic circles. It’s been proven that the flow of traffic is smoother, the amount of traffic can be greater and when there’s an accident, because of the slower speeds, they’re less damaging. Yet, I hear many complaints over the installations of these circles. The first time I ever entered a traffic circle myself was years ago in the country of England. So, not only was I new to the circle, but I was new to the left side of the street and the opposite driving position in the car I was steering; talk about an abrupt learning curve.
So, what’s the bottom line in our discussion today about doing things the same or doing things differently? When I see a news story on how to build wealth, I often hear the same drumbeat of advice – eliminate your debt, establish an emergency fund, max-out your 401K and invest aggressively in the stock market. If all of your problems could be solved by these supposedly four basic rules of wealth, why isn’t everyone rich? Perhaps an adjustment needs to be made to individualize your financial road. Maybe there’s a traffic circle turning you to a road less traveled. Instead of simply following a preprogrammed financial GPS, perhaps there might be an off-road trip you might consider instead.
One plan does not fit all situations, nor does one set of financial recommendations get us to the same destination.
