Your financial security could be slowly collapsing around you, and you have no idea. This is what is happening to you right now. It’s like the proverbial frog in the pot of water: As the water slowly heats up, the frog doesn’t realize that it’s being boiled alive and will let itself die. Financial difficulties sometimes creep up on you, and before you know it, you’re in trouble. It’s easy not to feel this sense of urgency, to think instead that you can simply carry on until things turn sour, and then change. What can we do? One way to avoid unpleasant surprises is by taking action before it’s too late. Suddenly, they faced foreclosure on the house.Īs in Sarah’s case, sudden financial setbacks can put us quickly in dire straits. One day Sarah discovered that she was losing her $45,000-per-year job. Feeling comfortable with their earnings and their debt, they proceeded to take out a large mortgage on their house.īut that’s okay, right? They could afford it. After her marriage she and her husband calculated their joint annual income to be over $75,000, and they had only a few debt obligations between the two of them. Take the author’s client Sarah, for example. Financial security is often more illusory than we think.

Imagine you suddenly lose your job: What would you do? Would you be able to pay your bills? Unlikely. You probably have a job, and perhaps a car and house, and financial difficulties therefore seem far, far away.īut no matter how secure you may feel at this moment, financial insecurity may be closer than you think. Would you say you’re financially comfortable? Many of us feel secure enough in our finances, even though we all could use a few extra dollars.

The money makeover