Shutdown - Lessons Learned - Potencial Millonario

The Senate voted to pass a bill which will reopen the U.S. Federal government. The bill will raise the debt limit and President Obama has spoken about the vote. Excellent.

Now if you were one of the 800,000 furloughed employees, what is our take away besides the obvious. I ask, could you have gone two more weeks with the uncertainty of not receiving a paycheck? Let’s not talk about another month without one. I received numerous calls and comments via e-mail around the issue of not having enough money to pay the bills. And that was only after the first pay period which had several paid days missing.

My advice was simply, “You will have to borrow from a family member or make payments by using a credit card until the shutdown ends.” As you know, this is not what we want to do. We would rather receive a paycheck and make our payments on time. However, this shutdown should make you change how you handle your money. If you were not able to make payments out of your savings, you are not managing your money well and that needs to change in the future.

In my book upcoming book Potential Millionaire the third golden rule is, “Establish an Emergency Savings Fund.” This will prevent you from having to borrowing in case of another shutdown, which could happen again. Being self-reliant financially is always a great thing. If you are like me and have saved for a rainy day congratulations. You are part of 25% of America household that learned to manage you money.

Here is an excerpt from Potential Millionaire on the subject of Emergency funds:

“The unexpected can happen at any time. This is the importance of saving some money for an emergency. You never know what can happen with your work, family, health, among other things. So it’s smart to be financially prepared by having an emergency fund. An emergency fund is savings that you keep separate from your other accounts. Only when it is absolutely necessary is it used in case of true necessity. By stumbling you learn to walk, but it is not that simple. Starting an emergency fund is like the first year of a child’s life. They must strengthen their muscles and develop coordination. With the passage of time the child learns to rollover, sit, and crawl subsequently standing and will start walking. However, some will take more time to reach this achievement. This process will have a series of challenges and skills that require great efforts on your part. As you learned in chapter three, there are habits and attitudes that you must adapt if you want to have new and exciting experiences in winning with money. Once you overcome the challenge of obtaining and completing an emergency fund you will be on the road to financial freedom.

If you attempt to run without knowing how to walk, rest assured that frustration will come and failure will soon be upon you.”

Remember we are all Potential Millionaires

Best regards,

Felix A. Montelara

Author: Potencial Millonario