How do you know real VALUE?

Unfortunately for most of us, the true value of a thing is only apparent after the opportunity has passed, whether we took action or not. Have you ever thought to yourself, "If only I would have..." or "If I knew then what I know now...". Shoulda... Woulda... Coulda! We've all had experiences that we can look back on and wish we that we had done something a little differently. The reason we do this is because we have grown since that experience. We know more now than we did back then. The real kicker is, we probably wouldn't think differently unless we had gone through the very experience that we wish had gone differently.

We often look back on these negative outcomes in our past and think to ourselves something like;

• "I would give anything to be able to do ____________ over again."
• "I could have saved $_________ if I only would have known how to __________."
• "I will never do that again, if only someone would have told me _____________."
• "My life would be so much better right now if I would have ________ 5 years ago."

The real problem with this way of thinking, is the negativity of the thought process. We can easily find ourselves focusing a lot of our attention on the very things that we don't want. We need to be able to look back on our experiences both good and bad to learn. We can learn from all that we go through in life. And that brings me to another point I would like to make. We can also learn from the experiences of others, with all of the good and bad they they have gone through!

For example, do you know anyone that thought it was a great idea to finance the purchase of their home with an short-term, interest only, adjustable loan a couple of years ago? Many thought they could buy a bigger and better house this way because the payment was so much lower than locking in a fixed interest rate. A lot of these people are in trouble now that the "short-term interest only" rate is over, and their loans are now adjusting to a much higher payment. Not only is the interest rate is usually much higher after this adjustment, but now they also have to start paying down the principal. Unfortunately many people are at risk of losing their homes because they simply cannot afford the new higher payment.

My point is, I believe that many of these people would have made a different decision if they would have talked with someone they trust, who had been in a similar situation before, and had give them some first-hand advice on the pros and cons of their decision. I'm not saying that everyone that took out such a loan is in trouble, but a lot of them are. And those individuals that are in trouble would probably put a very high price on an opportunity to go back and do things differently.

What kind of VALUE could be placed on advice that effects your entire financial future? Why do we place a higher VALUE on advice that we never received but wish we had, than we do for advice that is readily available? To put it into perspective, what do you think it would be worth to those individuals who lost or are in jeopardy of losing their homes, if they could have the opportunity to do it all over again?

Let me bring up another big concern facing a lot of people today, RETIREMENT. You probably know someone that would give just about anything to have planned better for retirement. But in reality there is no going back. We are where we are, and we have what we have. The reality is that our decisions and our actions (or lack of action) of the past could have produced nothing different. We cannot continue to do things as we have always done them but start expecting different results. Our choices and our actions must change first.

I am writing to those of you who want something better for your future, something,better for your spouse, kids and loved ones and are willing to DO something about it. When you want something different than you already have, you must do something different than you've already done!

Think of your answers to these questions;

Is it possible to put a price on happiness? 

What value would you place on a more secure and stable future?

What actions are you willing to take now, so that you may benefit later?

Now, picture what your life will be like in 5, or maybe 10 years in the future. Picture your life as if everything was just exactly like you want it to be, at that time in the future. Looks great doesn't it!

Be honest with yourself!

Are you taking action TODAY, to make sure that future becomes REALITY?

Or are you just hoping it all works out?

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