When you finally find a reason… That makes you want to live…
When you finally find a reason… That makes you want to give…
Hold On…
Sometimes a person needs to be inspired. Tonight, I watched the SEC Women’s Volleyball game on ESPN. Both teams played great the entire game
What a match! Texas led 2 sets to 0 and was up 2 points on its way to win set 3. Then Kentucky found a way to come back and win set 3. Then Kentucky won set 4. A 5th set… 15 points to be champions… The 6th set was tied at 9 each. Kentucky won 1 point, then 2, then 3 and suddenly 6 points. Kentucky had completed a reverse sweep and won the SEC Women’s Volleyball Tournament Championship game. It was a great game and all players on both teams should be proud of how they played…
The game, and effort on both sides, inspired me to get out of bed and start typing. Yes, I had watched watch a replay of the game early Sunday morning. The game was on TV when I woke up. The championship replay was over at 5:30 a.m. I wrote the last half hour before going to church. Your game, especially your efforts, inspired me. Thank you Ladies.
This brings me to “woulda, coulda, shoulda “ The thoughts I am sure many young ladies thought after the game… Please let me share…
“I believe you all gave everything you had during that game. A fraction of an inch on several plays, was the difference. There were several challenges to referee calls during the game. Each call made a difference, you each gave your all… Yet… You may have thought if I woulda or I coulda or I shoulda… This is what the story is about: Woulda Coulda Shoulda… It’s 6:15 AM and I am going to church.
This Volleyball recap was written on Sunday morning December 14th. This morning is Friday, December
19th. As of last night, Kentucky has made it to the Finals of the National Volleyball Championship on Sunday, December 21st…. Hopefully I will have the opportunity to watch the game.
A lot of thoughts have gone through my mind since that game. First I want to be sure , before I start talking about money and Woulda, Coulda, Shoulda that you understand the following:
1.) God is first in my life. I do not always act like I keep God first, however, God is who I think of whenever I need help and reassuring thoughts about life. My life has many moments were I wish I “woulda, coulda, shoulda” kept God first.
2.) My family is 2nd. As involved as I sometimes allow myself to be, in many things, I place family 2nd. I wish I “woulda, coulda, shoulda” spent more time with my wife… my family…. my step kids…. my grandkids…. my dad… my mom… my brothers… my sister… and my relatives….
2b.) I wish I woulda, coulda, shoulda been more appropriate with many people in my life that I cared for……. I acted very poorly with several people I loved…. I’m still learning to act better with everyone.
3.) I place our country 3rd. In times of need, alongside my family and friends, our country has allowed me to have a great life. When I was 18 I wanted to join the Airforce and fly a plane. My eyesight did not allow me to be a pilot. There were other things I could have done in the airforce, however, I did not join. In college a friend tried to recruit me into the army. I passed a test, was in great shape, however, did not join. When I was 35, I called about joining, however, was told I was too old. Today I still hope there is something I can do to help the military…I own vet assisting .com, .net, .org . If you know how I can help with these sites, please contact me.
Now, having listed items I believe are most important in life, we have made it to items related to money…What I now wish I “woulda, coulda, shoulda” done related to money.
Woulda…………Coulda……………Shoulda….#1
1.) Dad onceoffered to sign a note for me to buy a farm. The farm had become available for sale.
Dad offered this opportunity the same day I had just packed my car to go to college…I said, “Dad, I would love to farm and our cousins are going to college part time and, also… Could I do that please…. Could I farm part time and go to college part time.” Dad’s response was, “No Son, you have to go to school or farm.”
I responded to Dad with, “Dad, I am the first in our family to go to college. I have planned on going to college for several years. Is there any way I could do both?” Dad’s reply was, “No, you have to pick one.”
I responded to Dad with, “Thank-you, however, I want to go to college.” My car was packed. I drove to the end of our lane and turned around. I drove back and hugged Dad and said, “I love you,” and then drove two hours to Iowa State in Ames, Iowa.
1 month later, in one of my first agriculture classes, the professor said, “There is a shortage of land. Land cannot be reproduced. Its value will continue to go up as people will want it.” I shared that information with Dad, however, did not leave college. I stayed. The farm Dad had offered to sign for went up from $600 per acre until current price of $12,500 per acre. The farm value went from $96,000 to $2,000,000. Woulda, Coulda, Shoulda Additional thoughts on the farm will be another story.
When you finally find a reason…… That makes you want to live…….
When you finally find a reason….. That makes you want to give……
Hold on………
Woulda….. Coulda…. Shoulda….. #2
In 1981 I moved to Huron, South Dakota. A beautiful town on a river. The teacher I was taking over for had been very successful with his FFA (Future Farmers of America) students. He was going to work for a computer company. I never discussed why or which company he was going to work for. I did not discuss why he was leaving a successful teaching career. What could have I learned?
Then, in my first year teaching the school got its first table top computers. I received one. It was put in my office and I bought a book about basic Dos programing. I shared some of the information with my classes. Then students were allowed to use the computer ½ to 1 hour per week. The only other computer I had ever seen was one at Iowa State
that needed its own small building to hold it.
Some student were very interested in the computer and also read the book on the Dos system…
Within a few weeks they made a program that showed a kernel of corn being planted. The roots grew into the ground (on the picture on the computer) and the leaves grew upward. It grew a tassel for pollination. I was impressed. They, however, wanted to be chefs. I do not know what they finally did in life….
Later the next year we got computer programs that allowed us to pretend farm and then an analysis program from the US Government to help dairy farmers evaluate if they should stay in the dairy business or sell their cows. The only farmer I helped with the program was told he should sell and I believe he did.
During 5 years in Huron I was shown many uses of computers that were going to be important…. What if I started investing at that time? Woulda, Coulda, Shoulda…..Then in 1986 I moved from Huron to Sarasota Florida. In Sarasota I got an opportunity to work for AG Edwards Stock Brokerage Firm…It was a family owned business out of St Louis. I was being paid $400 per week and I loved working with people and helping them with investing. I found an office close to my office. I could see the NASA rocket launch area on my walk to work. What if I would have started investing in 1986? A little company called Microsoft just started trading. They sold a $22 stock that today would be worth $190,000 for that original share…Woulda….Coulda….Shoulda….
I had a client that wanted to invest over $200,000 for a child that had been hurt. They said there was a judge that wanted conservative investing…..I put together a plan with bonds and several items I had been told were safe. I never got to meet the judge…..What if they just had a few shares of Microsoft with the “safe “ items….
Then there was a Friday evening where I was doing some research with a friend. WE found a situation existed similar to the 1929 stock market crash…..On Monday a crash happened.
We were told to call our clients and tell them to be patient and hold. That turned out to be a good idea. For some reason, I just did not buy into stocks…Not then and not ever. What if?
Woulda, Coulda, Shoulda
I was soon let go….I made more than I did teaching however not enough. I went on my own for a few months and even went to work for an insurance company that allowed me to keep my stock broker license active. What if? Woulda, Coulda, Shoulda…..
With that insurance company I once sold 20 term life policies and told my clients to by the life insurance policy and invest the difference. Almost all of them dropped their policies in one month.
Today I realize I should have called each client back. I should have asked if they had tried to invest some of their funds. I could have asked how they and their families were doing. Instead I just kept selling and never made them feel a part of a family of clients….I could have done a bit more that would have made them feel good , feel a part of my family and gave them a chance to talk about any concerns. I just kept selling with no follow up… ….Woulda….Coulda…..Shoulda…….
I had one other great opportunity in the investment world in my time in Titusville, Fl. While at AG Edwards
the opportunity to offer a program for investments was shown to us. An investment that we were told had so many good opportunities to save tax dollars in the future that it would never be allowed to stay on the market. It was $5000 and that was a lot of money. It was a deaI I could even put a house or other property in it.
I talked to Dad, my cousins, a few friends…..I tried a few wealthy clients….My presentations were not good enough….No one purchased the product.
Only recently I began asking myself….Why did I not go to a bank and try to borrow funds to purchase the product myself? I believed it was as good as I was being told. And then the opportunity to market it was gone…..I may have been told “no” however I should have tried the bank. I will never know.
I never bought one share of stock in 1986-87 or even up until now.…The sad thing today is that I never thought of trying to invest in something that I was marketing…. Did I really believe in what I was doing? Woulda, Coulda, Shoulda….
Term life insurance was something I really believed in. I had a policy almost all of my life….The people I sold policies to really needed them. Then I had cancer and a heart attack. My policy, I had for 20 year, was running out. To find another was hard to do. I got in better shape and went to several companies. State Farm took me as a customer.
Now I did have car insurance and a renters policy with State Farm. I had been a client for almost 20 years. I really felt the need for life insurance…..I got a policy for $299 per month and it was in my budget. The policy is for $250,000. It is good until I am 82. That sounds like a lot of money to me, however, it is purchased for the right reason….to help my family if I am gone… My wife pays the policy as one of the first items she pays every month…..
As an insurance agent one policy I delivered a check for was a 12 year old child that passed away… That was sad. Almost as sad was telling people that our underwriters found problems with their health and I could not write a policy for them. I had at least 7clients I could not write a policy for while I was an agent….I was fortunate to get a policy. I could get a policy and I did….Coulda, Woulda and Did……
When you finally find a reason….. That makes you want to live…..
When you finally find a reason….. That makes you want to give….
Hold on………….
My last Coulda, Woulda, Shoulda was buying a house. In 2010 the president offered $7,000 to first time home buyers. I had never purchased a home. Adrian and I went shopping…..6 weeks and 35 houses later we found a house we could call our home. I was not 100% sure so we left for Iowa to visit family…. While in Iowa I suddenly felt like this was the home. It had a small pond and across the pond was a church like I attended when I grew up….
My aunt worked at the Ute bank. She helped us with paper work along with the realter from Sarasota. We submitted an offer through the mail….Our lender said we offered too much…We then lowered our bid from $129,000 to $125,000. I felt bad as the bank was making the owners sell. I was tough times….Surprising to me, they accepted the bid. With some help from Dad, we closed. I was able to pay Dad $2000 back with the funds from the government. What a great deal….
I did explain how good a deal it was to dad and hoped he could put a down payment on 3 or 4 houses and I would take care of them. That did not go so well with Dad. No deal…It was a great day for our family in Florida.
The house kept increasing in value to be worth $430,000. It is still worth $380 – $400,000. It has been used to get extra finances and we still owe around $175,000. Because of the house we still have a net worth of around $200,000.
This was a woulda, coulda, shoulda time that we did. WE were blessed and in the past and present we have helped
our daughter, son-in-law, and grandson stayed with us for 6 years and other relatives are staying with us now. I have also been able to help family members in Iowa.
This house is a great gift from God.
This wraps up Woulda, Coulda, Shoulda for now…..I am hoping the story touches many people with similar experiences. Have a Merry Christmas…..
When you finally find a reason…..that makes you want to live…..
When you finally find a reason……that makes you want to give…..
Hold on…….
