Minneapolis Star Tribune
Aug 2 2009
Having a financial plan allows you to take your dreams seriously
By CHRIS FARRELL
Last update: August 1, 2009 – 11:33 PM
The good news is that the downward momentum of the Great Recession
seems to be subsiding. The financial panic that seized the global
capital markets has eased. CEOs are no longer acting as if depression
looms. That said, the consensus forecast is for the economy to emerge
slowly out of the downturn. The recovery won’t feel much like one,
with the unemployment rate climbing toward double digits. This sure
looks like one of those times when conventional wisdom is right.
An occasional theme of this column is what personal finance lessons we
should take away from the traumatic experience of the past several
years. One thought is not to get too caught up in personal finance
products and tactics.
Yes, it’s important to figure out whether you put too much of your
retirement money into equities. It’s also vital to come up with ways
to pay down accumulated credit card debts.
Yet it pays to step back every once in a while and ask bigger
questions, such as where do you want to be one year, five years or 10
years from now? What about that dream you’ve always had in the back of
your mind? Should you let it go, or go for it?
As Woody Allen once quipped, "Life isn’t a dress rehearsal — it’s
reality."
Just ask the hot dog man. I met him in downtown Boulder, Colo., during
a shoot for the personal finance public television show, "Right on the
Money." He was rakish, charismatic white-haired man selling hot dogs
behind his cart. He had fun and did a great business. We got to
talking and I learned he grew up in Chicago in an Armenian family that
lived near Wrigley Field. There were two Armenian hot dog sellers on
the corners near Wrigley. "I’d go there, and I’d get hot dogs all the
time," he recalled. "My mother used to say: When other kids wanted to
be firemen or cowboys or policemen, I wanted to have a hot dog stand."
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From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
