The saying I’ve been rich and been poor… rich is better. It’s almost true for me. I was pretty well off but was not quite rich.
I was poor when I was a little boy. My father brought the family out of poverty with his own effort and intelligence. But, I was on my own after college. I did ok, then well and really well… until I hit bottom poor.
I was on track to becoming a millionaire by 35. I was close to earning 5 figures per month and was at a point that I didn’t have to think about money. I had plenty of money and didn’t worry about making money.
You might think that I was a spender. Well, no. I was and still pretty frugal. I don’t like to spend what I don’t have and only buy what is needed.
I bargain hunt. I don’t buy things unless it’s a good price… except for those items that I might need immediately, like medicine.
Except for a few things, I don’t mind buying second hand items or off brand goods. My friends and family knows that I’m a good bargain hunter and not flashy at all.
For example, I don’t buy used computers, but I would buy a nice one that will last me for at least four years. I would buy a used desk since they are very durable, and they are a lot cheaper than a new one.
Looking back, if I know what I know now, I didn’t have to lose my wealth and be poor.
First, I went through a nasty and long divorce.
In the meantime, I invested heavily in a business with a couple of good and trusted friends. The business went south pretty quickly. My friends did not work as hard as I thought they would. I was trying to save the investment that just kept sinking. Needless to say, I loss everything.
A few months after that, I decided to go into a business myself. I took a loan and bought an existing business that was just under performing but had a lot of potential – so I thought. I broke even in the first two months and then, it took a dive. After 8 months, I used up all my savings to keep it going. Finally, I liquidated the business to pay off my loan.
I was devastated. All the money I saved for 11 years was gone in less than 2 years.
It was depressing because I went through frustration trying to get the business going. I felt I was paying to be tortured.
I kept knocking my head and said I should had just spent it all in fun instead of using to tortured myself for almost 2 years.
That wasn’t the worst.
About 3 months later, I got sick and was hospitalized for a week. My bill was over $30,000. Two months after that, I was vomiting so much I ended up in the hospital for a couple of days and ran another $7,000 bill.
I was almost in $40,000 in debt.
I didn’t have any money and no jobs. I applied for jobs… and no one was calling me. I would call or send a follow up letter and never heard anything back. I went to job fairs and didn’t seem to impress anyone.
It was just tragedy after tragedy. I even asked my parents for some money… I was just barely 31 years old and felt like a 7 years old with no pride.
In the meantime, I stayed with my grandmother so I can help her on something in the house and do some errands which she appreciated. I went to live with my younger brother for a few weeks to get to know him better since we are 5 years apart and missed a lot of his life when I was in college in another city and went to work in another city when I graduated.
So, what happened?
For once, I did not let the worst get to me. I did what I thought it was right and kept at it. I told the hospitals that I did not have the means to pay them, but I was willing to pay my debts. After some negotiation, one hospital put me on a payment plan of $50 a month for the first few months so I can at least afford the payments until I could find a job. The other hospital agreed to $100 per month payment with almost the same condition.
It took me about 5 months to find a job. Even though I felt down, I learned from my mistakes and got better in finding jobs. I finally got 2 interviews in about one week apart. One made an offer a few days after the second interview. The other was about to make an offer when I contacted them to let them know that I took the other offer — they said they were disappointed and told me to contact them if I changed my mind.
So things started to look brighter and got better.
With a new job, I started at the bottom with a very low pay. I didn’t mind the low pay since I enjoyed the work so much. After all the depressing events, I wanted to be at a fun place.
In a few years, I worked my way up to a managerial position. I paid both my hospital debts in about 2 and half years. I was able to get a loan to buy a small condo too.
I put the same principles of finance to work consistently. I was frugal, paid my debts and bargain hunted.
I’m not rich yet. But, if I do what I’m doing, it won’t be too long before I get there.
One note is that I’m still making mistakes, but I’m learning from them and getting better at it. Every mistake is like a debt… once you pay it off, you can continue with your life. Larger mistakes are bigger debts and require more time to pay them off.